Monday, March 29, 2010

License to chill....and I believe I will


Dock where boats pick us up to go diving and Beach club where we sat a few days ago and enjoyed a cocktail. Dock needs some quick repairs after today's wind and the Beach Club had water everywhere.....suffice it to say, no diving on Cozumel today.

The line from a Jimmy Buffet song sums it up pretty well...here is what has been going on since I last wrote.

John was supposed to pick up the key to the Ranch on Thursday and we were going to do a big dive. The key wasn't ready, so the Senora told us to come back manana...not too surprising. No diving in Camillo that day. Instead, Kim and I went for a dive at Dos Palmas. Nice cave, way more flow than expected...going in we were kicking our legs off and coming out it was like Mr Toad's wild ride...not exactly but you get the idea. That was Thursday.

Friday we headed to Cozumel for a few days of ocean diving. John had never been there, and for our scuba friends...yes you read it right...John finally agreed to go to Cozumel. Before we left, we went to the Senora's house in an another attempt to pick up the key.....luck was with us and she handed t over. As a side note, as to why having the key is such a big deal.....she goes to Merida around Easter. No key, means possibly no access to dive the cave we are exploring. Key equals access whenever we want. We now hae the key for the duration of our stay.

Back to Cozumel, we did 4 dives....3 were awesome, 1 was ok. We saw 2 white marlin on our descent during the last dive....that was awesome!!

Today we were supposed to go diving but Mother Nature and the Wind, had other plans. Tomorrw we return to Tulum. Very relaxing jaunt over to the island....and I think John even had a good time. And for the record, the cruise ships don't dock in Coz on Sunday's.
Until next time.












Thursday, March 25, 2010

Pet Cemetary and the Abyss


Yesterday , Butch, Lynn, Kim and I dove the Abyss . The Abyss is part of the Nohoch system even though the entrance by car is through the Dos Ojos system. Anyway, it was a great dive and here are some photos. Pet Cemetary is the name of the cenote and the Abyss is the name of the room that we travelled to.
















Lynn Heading down the hole.





















View looking up out of the hole.
























Kim, Me and Lynn standing on platform down in the hole. Butch is taking the photo. The platform stands over a beutiful centote. We didn't dive from this spot. We started our dive at another entrance in the same area. The next photo are the steps down to the cenote.....I am glad we didn't bring scooters as I am sure I would have fell down the steps and ended up injured!






View from where we started our dive.


The goal was to get to the Abyss. Three jumps and 54 minutes later we were at the Abyss. The Abyss is a huge room that is very deep. It is like you entered into a huge sinkhole....you can't see the bottom. There is a halocline (salt water mixing with freshwater causing a visual distortion)present that distorts the view and makes it that much more spectaclular. Truly impressive!


Tomorrow we are supposed to do a big dive in Camillo, but first we have to pick up the key. That was the land owner relations John was working on. Maybe it will be a go and maybe it won't...only time will tell.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Made it to Tulum and other first day ramblings

We made it to Tulum yesterday, thanks to our friend Kim and the Atos (a small car) we didn't have to take the bus. We weren't sure our bags, us and Shirley would fit in the car....Kim was right, we all fit....amazing.

The Room was exactly as we had left it. So far no wolf spiders have shown their hairy little faces. We had our arrival dinner at Buenos Aires, the usual first night in town dinner spot. The magaritas are still wonderful.

John and I did not dive today as we wanted to get gear all set up and had some stuff to pick up at Zero Gravity (a dive shop in the area owned by some great cave explorers and educators). Kim, Butch and Lynn dove Cenote Del Mar by the the Tulum Beach. Sounded like fun; I will dive with them tomorrow. I heard about the dive over a "chayagra" drink at Don Cafeto's. Chaya is a green leafy plant kinda like spinach that is grown in the area. The "agra" part was a mystery but I found out it is a mixture of fruit juices...pineapple and lime and maybe some cucumber. It is awesome, today was my first time drinking it...thanks for the recommendation Lynn. Supposedly it is loaded with vitamins...and I could always use more of those.

We also learned that on Monday, Felipe Calderon (el Presidente de Mexico) himself was in the Tulum. He wa here to dedicate or survey the site of the new Tulum airport. From a selfish standpoint, I was hoping it wouldn't go in....more on that later.

Tomorrow I will be diving with Butch, Lynn and Kim to the Abyss. John has some land owner relations to tend to.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Resurrecting the blog...headed South

We are heading back to Mexico in a few days. More diving, more adventures, restaurant reviews, and maybe even more pictures...if I remember the camera. Flying down and driving the truck back...stay tuned Karen