It all started when I saw a friend at the grocery store and they said, “I’m going to Cozumel July 14th through July 21st.” The trip was on! I went home, checked the flights and almost cried. The flights were booked solid on those dates. I always go to Coz for a week so what do I do? I know! I’ll go on the Wednesday before and stay until the Wednesday after. Wait a minute. That’s TWO weeks. I checked the flights and they were wide open. Now to sell the other half. She’s a lot like many here on SB who often want me to go away, and when I mentioned the trip asking her if she would like to go to Cozumel for a couple of weeks, she said, “No, not really, buy you go and have fun.” I almost fell over. Now to see if I can really get on the flights. Turns out that I could. So at 5:30 a.m. I get up and get my stuff all together, kiss the wife goodbye (she was awake already), and headed for Houston Intercontinental. Things went amazingly easy until I put my stuff in the container to go through security, when I dropped my phone. The holder for my phone hit the floor and broke. Uh-oh. Is this the sign for things to come? I pick up the pieces, put them in my pocket and press on with my fingers crossed.
I get on board the direct flight to CZM and have a good flight. I pre-filled my entry and exit cards using this link: ENTRY/EXIT FORM. It worked like a champ. I had creased the fold many times and tore it most of the way. I walked up to the immigration officer, handed my card and passport, watched him scan my passport and the barcode on the form, stamp, stamp, stamp, tear and I was out of there.
On to baggage. I had 3 bags and a young man behind me helped me with one of them to get it on the bag scanner. Got my bags through and the young lady interviewing passengers asked me what was in my bags and why I had some of the stuff I did. She bought my explanation, but then said “Hit the button”. There was a sudden wave of fear and momentary pause while I was thinking I would have to repack my dive bag and two suitcases. I pushed the button, and, just as sudden, a wave of relief swept over me with a green light, and I was moving again.
After a near argument with the shuttle ticket lady about which zone I was in, I finally paid for my ticket and headed for a shuttle bus. I was home by 1:30 p.m. I quickly unpacked and repacked my essentials. I called Pony at Tres Pelicanos to arrange dropping off of my gear for diving the next day. Since I stay at Villa Torre Blanca which is on Avenida 55 Sur Bis, I either have to rent a car or take a taxi everywhere. It’s 40 pesos to town unless they think you are a Cozumeleño then it’s 35 pesos. I got my gear to Pony and then the excitement set in.
Day 2 Thursday. I got to the dive shop around 7:30 carrying spares and my dry bag. Off to the marina and onto the Loan Shark. It was a Thursday and the boat had about 8 divers. The other divers had been together for a couple of days so I was the “new guy”. They gave me the choice of sites and I picked Columbia Deep for the first dive. I love this site. Not so much today.
It was my first dive of this trip and as such things weren’t as smooth as they could be. When we splashed, I was making a good descent. I had nasal surgery in November 2017 and wasn’t sure how my ears would clear. It was great. I could equalize by just breathing out through my nose into my mask. As I was passing about 50 feet I saw a weight fall out of someone’s BCD and watched it fall all the way to the bottom. I knew we would be around 80 – 90 feet for the dive, and I estimated the bottom where the weight was to be about 80 feet, so I descended to the weight which was 73 feet and picked it up. I was already about 2 lbs. heavy and the weight that I retrieved was a 3 pounder so now I was 5 lbs. heavy.
Things started to get interesting. The currents were swirling. First it took me in one direction, and then I hit a cross current. This repeated itself several times. It was a good 15 minutes into the dive until I was “under control”. I had gone to the DM, Edgar, and conveyed to him that I had excess weight and he took the 3 pounder so buoyancy became a little easier. About 18 minutes into the dive I was above the group and they went down into swim-through. I would have to fight the swirling current to get down to them, so I decided to follow their air and stay above the coral head. I watched the bubbles for a while and then the bubbles just disappeared. I wasn’t having any fun. I monitored my situation: gas, depth, current, etc. and watched for any sign of the group for a couple of minutes. Nothing. I went up to about 40 feet, made another sweep looking for bubbles, and, seeing none, sent up my DSMB. After my safety stop, I surfaced normally.
I didn’t see our boat, but another boat came by and I gave them the boat name, the marine radio channel, and the captain’s name as I had been briefed by Edgar. Before long Compeche got me back aboard, and I started debriefing myself on what went wrong and why. The 3P’s boat, DM, and Captain were great, I sucked. Note to self: Refresh your skills before “first” dive. Next note to self: Good job on having and knowing how to deploy a DSMB.
When everyone was on board we all agreed don't ask Michael which site to dive, and we all had a good laugh. After a long SI (at least for me) we headed north to Paso del Cedral. The current was typically swift and it was a great flying dive. It was good enough to make me “almost” forget the first dive. Back to the marina and then the shop, and I remember thinking, “I’m back”. So, back to Torre Blanca for lunch, a cerveza or two or three, relaxing in and by the pool waiting for dinner. I am on a somewhat special diet and the cook was amazing at providing meal diversity and still keeping me on my diet plan. While it may sound boring, this would continue for the next 13 days of tranquility and relaxation with a few afternoons/evenings in town meeting up with some of the guys on the boat.
(to be continued)
I get on board the direct flight to CZM and have a good flight. I pre-filled my entry and exit cards using this link: ENTRY/EXIT FORM. It worked like a champ. I had creased the fold many times and tore it most of the way. I walked up to the immigration officer, handed my card and passport, watched him scan my passport and the barcode on the form, stamp, stamp, stamp, tear and I was out of there.
On to baggage. I had 3 bags and a young man behind me helped me with one of them to get it on the bag scanner. Got my bags through and the young lady interviewing passengers asked me what was in my bags and why I had some of the stuff I did. She bought my explanation, but then said “Hit the button”. There was a sudden wave of fear and momentary pause while I was thinking I would have to repack my dive bag and two suitcases. I pushed the button, and, just as sudden, a wave of relief swept over me with a green light, and I was moving again.
After a near argument with the shuttle ticket lady about which zone I was in, I finally paid for my ticket and headed for a shuttle bus. I was home by 1:30 p.m. I quickly unpacked and repacked my essentials. I called Pony at Tres Pelicanos to arrange dropping off of my gear for diving the next day. Since I stay at Villa Torre Blanca which is on Avenida 55 Sur Bis, I either have to rent a car or take a taxi everywhere. It’s 40 pesos to town unless they think you are a Cozumeleño then it’s 35 pesos. I got my gear to Pony and then the excitement set in.
Day 2 Thursday. I got to the dive shop around 7:30 carrying spares and my dry bag. Off to the marina and onto the Loan Shark. It was a Thursday and the boat had about 8 divers. The other divers had been together for a couple of days so I was the “new guy”. They gave me the choice of sites and I picked Columbia Deep for the first dive. I love this site. Not so much today.
It was my first dive of this trip and as such things weren’t as smooth as they could be. When we splashed, I was making a good descent. I had nasal surgery in November 2017 and wasn’t sure how my ears would clear. It was great. I could equalize by just breathing out through my nose into my mask. As I was passing about 50 feet I saw a weight fall out of someone’s BCD and watched it fall all the way to the bottom. I knew we would be around 80 – 90 feet for the dive, and I estimated the bottom where the weight was to be about 80 feet, so I descended to the weight which was 73 feet and picked it up. I was already about 2 lbs. heavy and the weight that I retrieved was a 3 pounder so now I was 5 lbs. heavy.
Things started to get interesting. The currents were swirling. First it took me in one direction, and then I hit a cross current. This repeated itself several times. It was a good 15 minutes into the dive until I was “under control”. I had gone to the DM, Edgar, and conveyed to him that I had excess weight and he took the 3 pounder so buoyancy became a little easier. About 18 minutes into the dive I was above the group and they went down into swim-through. I would have to fight the swirling current to get down to them, so I decided to follow their air and stay above the coral head. I watched the bubbles for a while and then the bubbles just disappeared. I wasn’t having any fun. I monitored my situation: gas, depth, current, etc. and watched for any sign of the group for a couple of minutes. Nothing. I went up to about 40 feet, made another sweep looking for bubbles, and, seeing none, sent up my DSMB. After my safety stop, I surfaced normally.
I didn’t see our boat, but another boat came by and I gave them the boat name, the marine radio channel, and the captain’s name as I had been briefed by Edgar. Before long Compeche got me back aboard, and I started debriefing myself on what went wrong and why. The 3P’s boat, DM, and Captain were great, I sucked. Note to self: Refresh your skills before “first” dive. Next note to self: Good job on having and knowing how to deploy a DSMB.
When everyone was on board we all agreed don't ask Michael which site to dive, and we all had a good laugh. After a long SI (at least for me) we headed north to Paso del Cedral. The current was typically swift and it was a great flying dive. It was good enough to make me “almost” forget the first dive. Back to the marina and then the shop, and I remember thinking, “I’m back”. So, back to Torre Blanca for lunch, a cerveza or two or three, relaxing in and by the pool waiting for dinner. I am on a somewhat special diet and the cook was amazing at providing meal diversity and still keeping me on my diet plan. While it may sound boring, this would continue for the next 13 days of tranquility and relaxation with a few afternoons/evenings in town meeting up with some of the guys on the boat.
(to be continued)
I decided to go back to Tres Pelicanos for the remainder of my trip because of the heavier boats, which provided speed and a much smoother ride. The 6-pack may be good for many, but with my back condition, it wasn’t my cup of tea.
I was fortunate enough to be invited on the afternoon Hunting Trip. There were 6 hunters and the DM Julio who is deadly when it comes to Lion Fish. I had an absolutely wonderful day! These were recreational dives, but I was close to deco. I stayed within MOD and NDL limits, so at the end of the two dives, which had 5 minute safety stops because I was deeper than 100’, I was a very happy camper. 
I didn’t personally harvest a lot of fish but my skills improved as the day went on. When later asked how my day was I couldn’t think of a word better than FANTASTIC (maybe Fanwondertasticful).
