Since I had such exceptional diving this time, I thought I would give a report on my short but wonderful Thanksgiving dive trip. I flew into Cancun non-stop from St. Louis. Never had a non-stop flight there and it was nice! 2 hours and 45 min. later we had arrived. There was no line in immigration and I breezed through customs with a green light. Went out to meet my cab guy (I pre-arranged with him and he drove me to Playa for 30.00 so I could make the next ferry over. I would not have made it with the bus.) Once in Playa I made my way down to the ferry and boarded. It was interesting to see a lot of Ironman athletes going over with their bikes in the special shipping containers. About halfway across the channel, we saw dolphins swimming next to us and then falling back to play in the wake and jump the waves. They were really putting on a show for us and I thought it was a nice 'Welcome' to my home away from home!
I arrived on the island and dropped my bags at the house then loaded up my gear headed out to the 3 p.m. dive boat. We went to Las Palmas. Saw several eagle rays, 4 tortugas, and the usual great fish. I was in a shorty and got cold so I made a mental note to wear my full wetsuit the next day. Computer said the temp. was 78 degrees.
Day 2 of diving we started at Dalila for the first dive. This reef never disappoints me. The diversity of marine life was fabulous, and yet again we saw eagle rays. There was a gentle current that day. Second dive was Yucab. More eagle rays! I was grinning from ear to ear when we got back on the boat.
3rd day we started out at Cedral Wall. Yep! Eagle rays again right when we got down. Also a couple of nurse sharks, 6 or 7 tortugas, small spotted eels, octopus squished into his hole and peeking out behind his empty shells, baby drum, HUGE crab and great fish, including a toad fish. Second dive was Chankanaab Bolones. The viz was a little off here, and there really were not a lot of fish that day. We did see 3 very large lion fish, one in particular was the biggest I have ever seen in more than 100 dives there. I think he was easily as big as a small chicken! I was in my full 3 mil for the dives and was still cold. I think a 5 mil would have been much better for me. I was surprised because I usually don't get cold.
On the last day we got two extra special treats. Our first dive was at Palancar Deep. Right away when we got down we spotted a nurse shark under a ledge, and a big morray. I always enjoy this reef and it's cool swim-throughs. We did one that I don't think I had been in before. It was really long with the entrance around 80 feet and coming out at 125. During our safety stop our DM found a tiny sargassum frogfish in the floating in the weeds. He was so little and had such perfect camouflage that I have no idea how Jaime spotted him, but boy were we happy that he did! And if that wasn't cool enough, on the second dive at San Francisco, as I was finishing my safety stop I had spotted the boat and was heading slowly towards it while the rest of the group was a little behind me watching a stingray feeding in the sand. I had been watching the boat but happened to glance down at the reef and could not believe my eyes. A large eagle ray was on top of the reef (about 30 feet) just slowly cruising around. I could not resist, and I verrrry slowly moved down to about 7 or 8ft. above him. He could have cared less, which shocked me. The rest of the group had spotted him by then, and luckily they stayed put and watched as he swam out towards them then cirled back under me again. After a couple minutes, he headed back out into the blue and swam away. It was an absolute thrill to be that close to one! I felt truly blessed. It was a pretty great way to finish up the diving (and yes, I did another safety stop just to be safe... I am a dork like that!) And of course, I didn't bring my camera on this trip!
Oh well!
I head back down Dec. 27th for a longer trip this time, and hope the eagles are still around. I would also love to see a reef shark. One of these days...
I arrived on the island and dropped my bags at the house then loaded up my gear headed out to the 3 p.m. dive boat. We went to Las Palmas. Saw several eagle rays, 4 tortugas, and the usual great fish. I was in a shorty and got cold so I made a mental note to wear my full wetsuit the next day. Computer said the temp. was 78 degrees.
Day 2 of diving we started at Dalila for the first dive. This reef never disappoints me. The diversity of marine life was fabulous, and yet again we saw eagle rays. There was a gentle current that day. Second dive was Yucab. More eagle rays! I was grinning from ear to ear when we got back on the boat.
3rd day we started out at Cedral Wall. Yep! Eagle rays again right when we got down. Also a couple of nurse sharks, 6 or 7 tortugas, small spotted eels, octopus squished into his hole and peeking out behind his empty shells, baby drum, HUGE crab and great fish, including a toad fish. Second dive was Chankanaab Bolones. The viz was a little off here, and there really were not a lot of fish that day. We did see 3 very large lion fish, one in particular was the biggest I have ever seen in more than 100 dives there. I think he was easily as big as a small chicken! I was in my full 3 mil for the dives and was still cold. I think a 5 mil would have been much better for me. I was surprised because I usually don't get cold.
On the last day we got two extra special treats. Our first dive was at Palancar Deep. Right away when we got down we spotted a nurse shark under a ledge, and a big morray. I always enjoy this reef and it's cool swim-throughs. We did one that I don't think I had been in before. It was really long with the entrance around 80 feet and coming out at 125. During our safety stop our DM found a tiny sargassum frogfish in the floating in the weeds. He was so little and had such perfect camouflage that I have no idea how Jaime spotted him, but boy were we happy that he did! And if that wasn't cool enough, on the second dive at San Francisco, as I was finishing my safety stop I had spotted the boat and was heading slowly towards it while the rest of the group was a little behind me watching a stingray feeding in the sand. I had been watching the boat but happened to glance down at the reef and could not believe my eyes. A large eagle ray was on top of the reef (about 30 feet) just slowly cruising around. I could not resist, and I verrrry slowly moved down to about 7 or 8ft. above him. He could have cared less, which shocked me. The rest of the group had spotted him by then, and luckily they stayed put and watched as he swam out towards them then cirled back under me again. After a couple minutes, he headed back out into the blue and swam away. It was an absolute thrill to be that close to one! I felt truly blessed. It was a pretty great way to finish up the diving (and yes, I did another safety stop just to be safe... I am a dork like that!) And of course, I didn't bring my camera on this trip!
Oh well!I head back down Dec. 27th for a longer trip this time, and hope the eagles are still around. I would also love to see a reef shark. One of these days...
