Michael is a scuba FANATIC. He dives in NYC, where the water temperature is in the 60s and visibility is 5 feel (both in the best case scenario). What dedication! I truly love diving, but I would never do anything like this to myself. I like the whole package: a nice view from my bedroom, beautiful sunsets, transparent water, good food, fun people around. To Michael, "bad dive is no dive" though. Oh well, it's all relative, I guess.
We brought Michael home from the airport around 2PM, and at 6.30PM he was already on the boat headed for his first ever night dive. And how did he spend the 4 hours in between the two events? Aha! Unpacking his scuba gear and lovingly laying it all over the couches and floors of our apartment, explaining to us in great (and I mean, GREAT!) detail the purpose and advantages of every newly acquired gadget. The book he took on vacation is on history of diving. Of course.
I really wanted to make sure that his diving in Cozumel is unforgettable (as if I need to do anything special for it though, silly me). And everything worked out perfectly!
- Day 1 - a night dive at Villa Blanca (it's really hard to pick a better site for the first night dive of your life, this place is absolutely magical).
- Day 2 - Colombia and Palancar Gardens in the morning. One Benadryl in between to take care of his motion sickness had two memorable side effects: (1) the best surface interval nap, and (2) awesome air consumption on the second dive.
- Day 3 - Devil's Throat (he surfaced in total exhiliration, but all his attempts to convey to us how he feels were in vain - for the life of him, he could not put two words together - too much excitement, although we did understand that he liked it from all the "BUT THE REEF!" "BUT I MEAN, THE FORMATIONS!" "BUT INSIDE! WOW" "BUT OUTSIDE NOT LESS" "AND THE SHARKS" "AND WOW") and Paso del Cedral, Paradise in the afternoon, and Delila at night. (How can people do 4 dives a day is a mystery to me, but he returned home so happy, that I'm guessing it works fine for him).
- Day 4 - Barracuda and San Juan. Those two are the definition of drift diving, and Michael is super proud to have made it (and not only did he make it, occasionally having to swim against the current, but he also enjoyed it tremendously).
Photography: Sallye Martin
- Day 5 - Cenotes on the mainland. This is so different from all the ocean diving, that's why I really wanted Michael to try it out.
Photography: Sallye Martin
When a friend is visiting with you, naturally, you want to show them the best of your "habitat". You try to create a perfect itinerary for their stay. You take them to the most interesting spots and most delicious restaurants. You get excited to show off the place where you live. And you hope that your friend will share your excitement and love your home. Sometimes they don't, and it is beyond disappointing. But when they do, it's one of the most fulfilling emotions! At least, for me.
To my utmost joy, all my friends absolutely loved Cozumel. And Michael went beyond just liking it, straight into euphoric exaltation. This makes me so happy. I get so proud, you'd think it was me who invented scuba diving, or put Cozumel on the map, or cooked delicious cactus huaraches. Silly... But it's a truly amazing feeling!
Highlights of Michael's stay:
Boat chimes
We usually go to the "Mister Sancho's" beach club for our surface interval, but that day the sea was too choppy to approach the shore, so we spent an hour in between the dives on the boat. I was sitting in he middle of the boat, on this little step next to the captain, listening to the church bells of air tanks hitting the edges of the boat as it was rocking from side to side on the waves. Very soon, this sound, gorgeous in its monotony, lulled me to sleep. I was not the only one taking a nap. Michael was a little sea-sick and took a benadryl. Apparently, dramamine's old formula was the same of benadryl, so you can expect sea-sickness to go away upon taking it. But of course, you can also expect falling asleep (unless you are Sallye, who somehow doesn't get this effect from benadryl). Michael swam to the shore and fell fast asleep. He claims it was the best nap in his life. I believe it - falling asleep in the middle of a jungle on a deserted beach is not too shabby.
Deco P
On our Devil's Throat dive together with Michael, I went into the deco mode for the first time in my diving tenure. I usually dive on nitrox, which extends my bottom time, but this time I wanted to dive on air to take advantage of all the beautiful swim-throughs of this site. Now I know how my computer reacts to deco - it's not that terrible, after all.
And there was something else that I did for the very first time! Something that has been a huge problem for me during any long dives - my inability to pee underwater - was finally conquered! Hurray! The curse has been lifted! Impossible is nothing!!! Sorry, I just had to share:).
Sallye, La Pirata Assassina
At Barracuda, 20 minutes into the dive, Javier already had somebody on the hose (sharing air). So when I found two huge lionfish hanging out on the wall, he simply gave me his sling and said (with a wave of his hand - I just love underwater communication by the way!), "Let Sallye do it". So I waited for her (she always hangs out at the very end of the group, busy with her pictures and art projects) and assisted in her very first sling lionfish kill. She has done it before with a knife or a ziplock bag, but those were small fish. This one was pretty huge. Everybody who has ever killed a fish with a speargun or a sling reports a massive adrenalin rush, especially during the first time. Sallye is no exception, although I would never have noticed it, if she didn't show me her shaking hand - she is always so collected underwater, moving with mesmerizing peace and precision, even when swimming against the strongest current. It must have been an interesting sensation for her. I got a pretty serious rush just from watching and trying to provide some moral support (I would have loved to be of more assistance, but La Pirata Assassina really doesn't need any help in her fierce independence - Go Sallye! - a spectacular job).
The Royal Dinner
Food is a key to our survival. Delicious food - for many of us - is a key to our happiness. On Saturday, the flavors of the team-cooked dinner meshed so brilliantly, that I just didn't want to stop eating, ever.
Here in Cozumel, scooter is the most common means of transportation. Mexicans can fit a family of 4, plus a cat and a dog, on the same scooter. When Michael was here, we had no choice but to experiment with "A La Mexicana" configuration to get to the boat in the morning. It worked fine. But we did get LOTS of cheering from cars and scooters passing by us on the road. Strange, when Mexicans do it, nobody finds it that amusing...
Conclusion: Michael will most definitely be back one day.
Hysterical!
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