BBQ, diving, and spiders...oh my

Not diving today so I thought I would update the blog. Last I posted we were headed to, a BBQ at Bil Philips house. The BBQ was lots of fun and the food was even better. Grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and potatoes...mmmmmm. Bil is such a character and I really enjoy talking to him....picture someone who would use the term "cats" in reference to people and you get the idea of colorful scenic language. He told us about the Playa Del Carmen Jazz Festival he attended....I think next year I would like to come down early enough to attend! It sounded fantastic. We met alot of people and got re-aquainted with some we already knew.

As what usually happens when I attend dinner events involving drinks and divers, I found myself a new dive buddy for the following day. A girl from Poland had just completed her cave class and was looking for a buddy...John had to work on gear the next day so I was free to dive.....and John had to be our chauffer because she didn't have a car and I can't drive the truck. I took her to the Room of Tears as I thought she would enjoy the restrictions and it is a nice cave. We entered in Zacil-Ha (luke's hope) and had a really nice dive.

Two things worth mentioning...on our way to the dive site we had to stop at 7-11 for some water and ran Alex A from Tulum. As Marta, the gal from Poland, was exiting the truck...Alex asked, "Is that your daughter?" OMG! That is all I have to say about that.

And the other thing, on our dive we were heading out...Marta was in front and she came to the line going through a restriction. She looked at me and motioned "not sure how to get through there" so we switched positions and I told her to follow me. We had a laugh about it afterward. She told me I had no bones and I told her she was a good cave diver for day 1 post cave cert. She said she likes the small stuff now and I was glad she had a good dive and got to see some nice cave outside of class. I like the small cave too.

No diving today because I forgot that after a rebreather dive, I need a day off...too much congestion, but instead I went diving. So I had to take today off. Tomorrow we hope to go to Camillo on the rebreathers and retrieve our safety bottles. The gear is ready to go.

And here is a scorpion spider that was in our room....I took a picture. It was the 3rd one....two of them died.

Shake out Rebreather Dive

We decided not to go to Gran Cenote to sort out the new rebreather config with small tanks and went instead to Carwash Cenote. Wise choice as we had it to ourselves and tons of people were at Gran.

Here is a picture of the Cenote. Word in the jungle is that there is a 3ft (1 meter) croc living in the cenote. Some Cave 2 students saw it the other day on during their swim test...yikes. I was looking but did not find it...thankfully.

We put on our rebreathers and ran line to the main line...for our cave diving friends...the line is moved. It is about 100ft closer than it was before and is not hidden behind the outcropping rock. Rebreathers are a tool....I keep telling myself that. The good news is I didn't hate them today and was able to exhale easier to prevent chipmunk cheeks when going up a hill in the cave. It still takes a bunch of work because you have to make buoyancy adjustements all the time...and I mean all the time. You can't use your breathe and lungs to control it...you must use your wing (inflation device) and your drysuit.

Anyway, it was a nice 2 hour dive...we main lined it until it got to small and them jumped off to the Room of Tears again until it was time to turn and go home.

Here is some photos of us in our rebreather get up...we tried small tanks this time. John worked really hard to configure these bad boys and his efforts paid off. We are still hoping we will not need them for Camillo and can fit through the hole in that cave using the big tanks. Time will tell.

We are off to a BBQ in Tulum. We got invited but said we didn't want to crash the party, but Bil Philips insisted. Should be fun. The Czecks (who are exploring a ton of cave down here) will be there. Bil said, "come for burnt chicken" and we can't pass that up. Especially from Bil.

Shake Out Dive

Saturday we set out to do out first dive of the trip. That includes finding all the gear in the room, and checking it out to make sure there are no spiders in the regulators! As usual, we ran into some obstacles. The first was that the tanks we have are in Fernando's shop and he is in Mexico City...no problem we got those out...but they were not full. The guy who fills doesn't show up until 4pm so that option was out...luckily Zero Gravity has this really cool fill station that is now up an running, so the plan was to beat feet down there. We will also check with Xibalba to see if they fill on demand.

Our third hurdle was remembering where we keep the key that opens up the case with our primary lights in it...hard to dive without those. We go through this every time and last time we specifically came up with a solution which we would always remember....hahaaaa. We remembered but it took awhile. Finally gear was loaded and off we went to get fills and afternoon diving....lunch at Cas Cenote first, sans maragitas because we were diving..only Coca lights.

Our first dive was in Zacil (the back part of Carwash). They had a birthday fiesta going on but they caretaker said we could dive...so we provided a bit of the entertainment apparently. We choose to go to the Room of Tears and maybe to Dreamland which is really cool and tannic. As a first dive it is great because you have to work all the time and fine tune your buoyancy quickly....plus it is a really nice cave. We ended up not going to Dreamland, but took the T to the left, then another T to the right, then another T to the left until we hit the end of the line.

Mission accomplished, we are back in the caves!

On to rebreather shakedown dive tomorrow at Gran Cenote.

On a side note, each day we drive by Camillo and the gates are open....could be a good sign as Fernando said he could not get ahold of the owner.

Another side note; there are new owners to the hamburger stand in front of Fernando's. We chose to eat there last night. Burgers are really good grilled over charcoal and they grill vegetables and potatoes too. Quite a feast for very few pesos....and really tasty. The girl is from Spain and the guy is from Mexico, it is fun talking to people from other countries. Apparently Spain is in a bit of an ecomonic crisis as well.

Happy Sunday, we are going diving!!

Made it to Tulum

We arrived in Tulum late afternoon on Thanksgiving Day! Unloaded our cargo and headed over to Puerto Aventuras for a Turkey dinner and to meet up with some people we know. The 6:30 seating was full so we had to wait until 8pm....not so bad as it allowed time for a margarita or 2 at the Pub.


Fun time. Ran into some folks we knew (lamont and Jen) and had a nice Thanksgiving meal. I also learned (I kinda already knew), that the class I had signed up for was definately not going to go because there isn't enough students. Ran into the instructor at Cafe Ole and met him in person. Cool guy. Hopefully, I can arrange some one on one training while I am here...or more than one training.

We spent John's birthday sorting out the room nad had a nice lunch at the Mezzanine. Tomorrow we dive!

Across the border and into Mexico

We crossed the border at Brownesville into Mexico at 6am. No issues at all with immigration...we were bracing ourselves for the worst. Last April when we drove the truck out, we got in the wrong line and literally... just drove across the border without having anything stamped or turning anything in...who knew? Anyway, we were a bit worried about that. John learned a new rule about the FM3. Apparently, you can't stay out of Mexico for over 6 months...you must return within that timeframe. The officer was really nice about explaning the rule and also since there was no stamp to prove when we left...John got to keep his FM3. We know the rules now :)

This leg was long but uneventful. There was a particular song, "shakedown street" by the Grateful Dead that was ringing in my head after Tampico. Yep, we got shaken down by the policia. The funny part was, there was absolutely no pretense....we want money for drinks was what was said. John said "no" followed by "no ingles" and then they shifted over to me. I gave them a few pesos (ok...$100 pesos) we went on our way and I am sure the traffic behind us was greatful since the "road stop" disappeared after the contribution.

One last thing, if you ever get to Tuxpan, Mexico....the Holiday Inn is awesome. Tuxpan is a really neat place because it is right on the river and the Holiday Inn has great rooms, fast reliable internet, stunning views of the river and really cool lighting both inside and out. We used to stay at the Best Western here....Holiday is has that beat hands down.

On to Villahermosa tomorrow.... diggity diggity

The journey has begun

We made it to Ft Stockton, TX safe and sound. On to Brownsville tomorrow morning and if all goes well, we will be crossing into Mexico first thing Tuesday morning. Two days across Texas and three days through Mexico to our final destination, Tulum.

We were home less than 24 hours before we started this roadtrip, having just returned from Vegas where we attended the DEMA show (Trade show for SCUBA). That was a blast... seeing all the "scuba celebrities", friends, new equipment, and just overall fun. No rest for the weary!

Preparing to head back down to Tulum

We are busy getting ready for another trip down to Mexico, driving the truck back down. Last April we drove it back to the US as it needed some work. Truck is repaired and very soon to be Mexico ready. John already got the new sticker at the Mexican consulate....which is so awesome, I can't even tell you.

We are making a pact to have more pictures and less writing for our Fall 2010 trip blog. Sometimes though, diving, margaritas, friends and food get in the way of our "pacts".

We will also be attending the GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) conference during our stay. Also heading back to Camillo for more exploration and survey ....should be a great trip.

Keep checking for updates.