Scuba diving in Cozumel on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve morning was a beautiful 85 degrees and sunny. I figured why not spend Christmas Eve scuba diving so I went out in the morning in with Aqua Safari. First dive was Palancar Caves. A beautiful dive with numerous swim-thrus. Max depth was around 90ft. Palancar Caves is easily one of my favorite dive sites in Cozumel. Total dive time approximately 1 hr and 2 minutes. Water temperature was a warm 82f.
Spend my surface interval getting some quality sun and working on my ailing sun burn. I also decided that it was smarter to pack a lunch rather than try to survive on free fruit included with the dive. I could have practically sold my sandwich to anyone on the dive boat for any asking price. The second dive was at Paso de Cedral. A great dive with a variety of different marine life. Depth was about 62ft. My dive time end up being around an hour and 14 minutes because I went into deco. (Shh...dont tell anyone). Towards the end of the dive I saw Jose (the divemaster) catching another lion fish and I descended again to watch and see if I could assist. I grabbed Jose's dive flag so he would have an extra hand while he corralled the lionfish using a poker and half of a cut off plastic water jug.
After diving I hit up my usual spots Kelley's and Woody's for some cervezas and later spent Christmas Eve sitting on a beach reading a book. That's my idea of a white Christmas; A white sandy beach and none of this snow business.
In the evening I went to Rock n' Java Cafe for Christmas Eve dinner with some local friends. Dinner was about 180 pesos and included turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables and desert. It wasn't bad at all but a little cold. Overall, Rock n' Java does great food. I was a bit taco, torta and fajita'd out so any different food was a welcomed change. My friend Mark had invited me to go to his friend's party at her condo at Rescidencias Reef so I took a taxi to the other side of the island for 130 pesos. Not a bad little party though I had arrived a bit late and lots of people had already left for the night. Beautiful condo with a great ocean view. Good beer and wonderful free food. Klara and Chad from Wet Wendy's brought along their famous homemade tequila and generously provided the margaritas. Both great people; I really love their little bar.
It's funny I think almost all the expats on the island know everyone or at least know of each other. For an island of 90,000 people Cozumel certainly feels a lot smaller. If you spend any significant amount of time here you will find yourself running into the same people and getting to know a lot of locals.
Eagle Rays, Punta Sur and Kelley’s
Woke up early this morning for diving. Headed to El Coffee Cozumel for my usual cafe con hielo (Iced coffee) for 20 pesos. Great little price with great coffee. Way cheaper than Starbucks.
I did the smart thing this morning and packed two sandwiches for lunch or my surface interval snack. I definitely cant survive on pieces of fruit anymore. Especially diving Punta Sur which takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get there on the slow boat.
Anyway, dove Punta Sur (or rather Devil's Throat) today with a good competant group of divers. My dive computer hit 130ft. Spend about 40 minutes in the water, almost hit deco. I find the Suunto computers are really conservative. My old Aeris would have probably given me another 15 minutes. It was a pretty average dive for Punta Sur we did about 3 caverns.
The next dive we dove was Paso de Cedral. Hit 56ft for about 58 minutes. Same water tempature. We were lucky enough to see two Eagle Rays, a green moray eel, and a nurse shark towards the end of the dive along with countless other fish. Overall, it was a pretty quality dive.
Got back around 2pm and met up with an Australian girl for lunch. Went to La Choza. Great place as usual. Think I am going to splurg tonight and head to Pepe's for dinner. A bit more expensive than I want to spend but the food is great there.
Went back to Aqua Safari to check in with them for tomorrow which I think will be my last day diving before I take off Christmas and head to Belize the next day. In the shop I saw that one of the divemasters had caught an adult lionfish at Yucab today. I think that brings my total to 5 lionfish in my 4 days of diving.
Currently sitting at my usual watering hole, Kelley's drinking some Dos Equis draught and enjoying free wireless.
First full day in Cozumel
On the dive boat were 2 retired guys living in Florida named Courtney and Dave, a couple from DC, a guy named John from Holland on his first trip to Cozumel or Mexico for that matter. There was also a small family also diving but their names allude me; I believe they were from Colorado.
We dove Palancar Bricks the first dive at 81ft for 45 minutes and San Francisco Wall for the 2nd dive at 63ft for an hour exactly according to my dive computer. Both were fantastic dives with great visibility and lots of swim-thrus and about 4 turtles.
Unfortunately there were not enough people that wanted to do an afternoon or night dive so I couldn't partake. The dive master was Mariano whom I have dove with 3 times before. He is awesome and always knows how to find and point out the smallest things that one might not notice. His buoyancy is also incredible. He dives with barely any weight. I highly recommend Aqua Safari and Mariano as a dm if you're ever in Cozumel.
Later in the night I ate at La Choza again since it's close and you can't beat perfection. I was feeling like my adventurous self so I decided to take a walk about 5 streets back from the waterfront and I stumbled upon a nice Irish themed place called Kelley's Sports Bar and Grill owned by an American and struck up a conversation with the local bartender name Sergio. The longer I am here my limited Spanish abilities seem to improve. I told him I wanted to go to a local bar so he offered to take me to a local cantina once he closed Kelley's since there was no business tonight. The beer at Kelley's is cheap (I think 20 pesos/1.5USD) and they have about 5 flatscreen TVs to watch sporting events.
Off I went on the back of his scooter to god knows where inland on the island. I was taken on a little night tour of the island before heading to the bar. Unfortunately it was Sunday night so there weren't many locals out however the Sol and tequila were flowing like water and the bar had a nice little jukebox with a good selection of rock. Curiously - why is it that Mexicans love Metallica and Nickelback? I can never figure it out but have noticed about three times.
Anyway I didn't stay out late because I needed to dive at 8AM. For 6 beers my bill was extremely cheap. I think each Sol was around 20 pesos. (1.5USD) fairly certain I may not have been charged for some them too. We left around 1am and headed to a local taco/torta place but the name also alludes me. I'm guessing it may not even have had a name. Some of the best tacos I've ever had for around 50 pesos (Little less than 4USD) Cheap.
Oh yeah.. I'm still swine flu free.
