Home Again

Sorry about that last post -- I fell asleep several times while I was writing it, and there are parts I don't even remember! I don't know what I was trying to say about the do-rag, but I did buy one and it does protect my scalp from sunburn.

Anyway, we made it home safe. Our last dive was finished at around 4:30 yesterday (Sunday), and you have to wait 18-24 hours before you can safely fly. An airplane at 40,000 ft. is NOT a good place to develop DCS (the "bends").

I made this trip primarily for the purpose of training for a mega-dive trip that I have planned for October. It will involve strong currents, advanced buoyancy control skills, and the ability to get off and on small boats in rough seas. I practiced all of these this trip, except that the seas weren't rough at all. I had a de-brief with my instructor this morning and we went over lessons learned. As you could tell from my previous posts, one of my big lessons was to be more diligent in keeping up with my buddy and the rest of the group -- it's easy to get separated when the current is whipping along at 1-2 knots. If you stop, in no time at all you're pulled far away from your group and your chances of being recovered begin to fade, especially if you aren't in a country that has a good Coast Guard. I was diving into caves and holes in the coral formations and the current there is much lower than the rest of the water column. As a result, the rest of the group moved with the current while I stayed stationary. That was very annoying to the group leaders.

My biggest disappointment was the photography. Very few of my pictures came out well. I forgot to use the fiber-optic cable that connects the camera to the strobe, but I can't say that's totally to blame. The camera I have is simply not the best underwater camera -- it doesn't give you enough control over the detailed settings, and VERY slow, and you can't turn off the pre-flash, so it scares fish off before it takes the actual picture. It's a Sea and Sea DX-860G camera/housing/strobe package. The land pictures it takes are great -- I've just had fits getting it to take good underwater pictures. In all fairness, drift dives in strong currents aren't the easiest place to get good pictures. You have to contend with tweaking the camera, tracking your subject, maintaining excellent buoyancy, and contending with the current at the same time. I'll post a few of my better ones here soon.

On the whole, this was a good trip. The service at the Cozumel Palace was outstanding -- very luxurious and convenient to downtown. There is a cruise ship dock nearby, so there's a Carlos 'n Charlies, Senor Frogs, Hard Rock, and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville right there, in addition to a bunch of craft, jewelry, and souvenir dealers. There's plenty to do, even if you don't dive. Here's a tip: Most of the shops sell exactly the same stuff, so the farther you get from the main drag and the cruise ship dock, the cheaper everything is. You can even haggle some in the shops deeper in town.

Cozumel is a very safe place. The community survives on tourism, and the locals simply don't tolerate crime -- I understand that criminals are booted off the island. We never felt nervous (except when crossing streets: ALTO seems to mean "slow down if you want to").

If you want a nice long weekend getaway, I would recommend this trip. Just check into the best time of year to go since it can get really crowded. You DON'T have to be a diver to enjoy it, though Cozumel is definitely known for diving. FunJet vacations will arrange air transport and lodging for a fixed price. The Palace is all-inclusive for its entire network, so if you want to go across the channel to the mainland, there's a HUGE Palace hotel there, and you can use their facilities, eat their food, etc., as if you were staying there. There are cheaper places to stay in Cozumel, without a doubt, but the Palace offers some pampering and service that we all deserve once in a while. You will, however, need to be aware that some times the planes get delayed a couple of hours, so you need to stay in contact with FunJet to avoid wasting time or missing a flight. They track the schedules of the Aero Mexico charter flights.

If you want to give diving a try, the hotel offers a SCUBA "resort course" which will let you dive once a day without getting certified (you spend a few hours in training and are supervised through your dive). Snorkling isn't limited and can be a lot of fun. The pools are magnificent, well-maintained, and interesting (one has a swim-up bar, of course). There's even a little channel so you can swim from the main pool around to where the live entertainment is. If you are into sun-worshipping, there are ample opportunities for that, as well.

Physical fitness: I never swam so hard in my life. I'm going to start tagging along with some of Deep Blue's open water classes in the pool so I can practice swimming and build up those muscles and my stamina.

That's all for this trip -- I'll put some photos up somewhere and let you know where to look.

Thanks for reading!