Current Obsession: Diving in Cozumel
¡Bienvenidos a México!
When I graduated college I got scuba certified because I thought it would look good on my resume for finding a marine science job. I got certified with my sister Courtney in the murky waters of Boston, and since then (10+ years ago) I have never been scuba diving 😂. When I took this year off from teaching, scuba diving was something I wanted to do, but it had been SO long. After hearing about the beautiful reefs of Cozumel from a friend, I decided to book a quick trip to Mexico, take a refresher course and get back into it!
I took an early flight out of Boston with a connection in Miami. I enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Miami airport for $12 (what a steal!) and then got on my flight to Cozumel. I stepped off the plane and immediately felt the warmth on my face. It was so nice! Customs and immigration was easy, my only mistake was forgetting I had a beef jerky stick in my bag which was confiscated! No fresh fruits or meats are allowed into the country. I took a shared shuttle to my hotel for about $14, and I was the first one dropped off. If you are solo, this is the cheaper way to get to your hotel instead of a private taxi. I stayed at Cozumel Hotel & Resort. I decided to go with the bed and breakfast package instead of the all inclusive. I am not a huge drinker and filled up on breakfast most days with snacks for lunch so this was the perfect option for me. It came out to about $89 a night. They have a large pool, hot tub, nightly entertainment, gym, and across the street there is a beach, restaurant and dive shop. They also have a tunnel that goes under the road to these locations so you don't have to cross the busy street. This hotel also offers packages with the dive shop (ex: stay 6 nights and 4 days of diving). I wasn't going to be staying long enough to make this work, but may take advantage of this if I come back!
I checked into my room which had a lovely view of the pool area, a covered porch, and a small fridge. The hallway that led to my room was alongside the back of the hotel, and there was always a family of coatis that hung out there. The noises they made reminded me of squirrels, but they were much larger. They looked a bit like a red panda crossed with a raccoon. I enjoyed looking for them each day. I also saw an iguana back there! I headed to the dive shop to check in and make sure I was all set for my dives over the next two days, then went to bed to ensure I got a good night's sleep.
Scuba Refresher Class
I woke up bright and early. I was nervous but mostly excited for my class! I ate a filling breakfast of eggs, sausages, lots of fresh fruit, and grabbed a banana and yogurt for a snack later.
I checked in for my class at Dive Paradise. They offer certification classes, refresher courses, and several different types of dive experiences that you can sign up for. Since it had over 10 years since my last dive, I needed to do a more extensive class called"Re-activate." This consisted of a lesson on land and two shore dives. My instructors name was Gener, and he was awesome! I really appreciated his attention to safety and making sure I felt confident in the water. He went over the most important rules of scuba diving, hand signals, and all the equipment. We practiced checking over the gear, connecting the BCD ( buoyancy control device) and switching tanks. Then it was time to head out for the first shore dive! The dive shop is located right on the ocean with a small pool like area that is about 6 feet deep for the lessons. We started in the pool and reviewed a few skills, then headed out into the open ocean. We spent about 20 minutes swimming around the area and practiced the skills once more. We saw a seahorse, several rock fish, and even an eel! Gener put his hand on the ground to make a little cave, and the eel swam between his fingers. Then we swam back, swapped tanks, and did a second dive. We did the same routine, but this time we did more difficult skills. On the second dive I got bit by a fish on my arm while I was in the middle of clearing my mask. It was pretty funny. We went back to the dive shop and made sure my gear was reserved and cleaned for tomorrow. I thanked Gener for my wonderful lesson and went back to my room to shower, rinse off my wetsuit and get some lunch!
For lunch, I decided to walk to downtown Cozumel. It was about a 10 minute walk from my hotel, and I felt very safe. There were sidewalks along the street and several convenience stores. Once I made it downtown, there were a lot of tourists. This area is where the big cruise ships dock for the day so people can go shopping and grab lunch. There is a big mall with several shops too. I looked around for some souvenirs but did not see anything I really needed. For lunch, I was trying to find a restaurant that wasn't right on the water, and a bit away from the more touristy spots. I ended up going to a cute place called Machete. I got beef tacos and a giant mango margarita! It was delicious and the waiters were very friendly. They also have huge taco plates that you can share with a group too. I was able to enjoy my meal outside in the shade. It was perfect! I headed back to my hotel and did some reading by the pool. I was exhausted from the dive lessons so I went to bed early.
Drift Dives
Today was my two tank dive off the boat. I went down to breakfast across the street and checked in. There were 10 passengers on the boat and two dive masters. I chatted with an older couple from Texas and a couple about my age from Wyoming. My dive buddy was a nice man named Tory from Washington state. He told me all about diving in the Pacific Northwest, which sounded beautiful but he did say it was very cold. He has a lot of experience diving, so it made me feel at ease knowing he was my buddy. We checked over our equipment and headed to our first dive site, Francesca, which was a drift dive. This means that there is a strong current, so you are dropped at one end of the reef, and you let the current push you along to the other end of the reef. We got in the water, and I realized I forgot my weight belt! This helps you sink down, so I wasn't going to get very far without it. The dive master was able to get it off the boat and help me. Whoops! We started our descent to the bottom of the reef and I could feel my heart start to beat fast with excitement. I tried to make sure I was clearing my ears and equalizing the whole way down. Once we got to the bottom, we made sure everyone was ok, and we followed our dive master along the reef. This reef was very tall and we drifted along the wall and looked up and down the reef. We were about 60 feet down. We saw so many cool things! Huge lobsters, a seahorse, a turtle, so many fish, a spotted eel, and tons of corals. It was time to head back to the surface, and we did a three minute safety stop about 25 feet down. This is to ensure that you don't surface too quickly and get "the bends." It felt like we were down there for only 15 minutes, but it was almost 1 hour. Time really did fly by. We got picked up by the boat and grabbed a snack on board. They had fresh cantaloupe and cake for us. I was so ready to get back in for the next dive!
The second dive was at a different site about 30 minutes away called Yucab (I think this was the name, but I am not 100% sure). This site was also a drift dive, but the terrain was different consisting of several large hills of reefs that you swim over. We dropped in (I remembered my weight belt this time) and we descended to the bottom. Within about 1 minute of being down there we saw a huge spotted eagle ray! It was so majestic. I saw another spotted eel which I made sure to point out to my group. They were so excited about it. It came out of it's hiding spot and swam towards us! We also saw a giant loggerhead sea turtle which was probably as long as I was! It was feeding on the seagrass. We saw a very large nurse shark as well, and of course more lobsters, several fish, and coral. On the way up during our three minute safety stop I got stung by some little jellies on my legs, but the marks went away quickly. It feels like several little bee stings. This is why a lot of people wear full length wetsuits even in the tropics where the water is warm. We got in the boat and headed back to the dive shop to unload. Tory very kindly sent me some pictures of me scuba diving. I think it is time for me to get my own underwater camera!
I felt so grateful that I was able to have this diving experience and I felt safe the entire time. I was worried that I would have trouble or that I would be scared. Once I got underwater I felt so calm and all the things I learned in my course 10 years ago came back easily. What I really enjoyed about this experience is that it doesn't matter what language you speak, everyone communicates the same way during a dive. I don't speak Spanish (I know a few words) but it did not matter, I was able to respond to my dive master's questions about the air in my tank, and knew what he was talking about when he told us it was time to surface and do our safety stops. After my dive I was so tired, but I knew I wanted to go get some food! I took a hot shower, rinsed off my wetsuit and headed downtown.
I walked down to the ferry area and it started down pouring! I did not bring my rain jacket this time so I got a little wet. The streets flooded and there was water everywhere! Luckily I wore my sandals so I just walked right through the puddles. I waited underneath an awning for bit but I was so hungry so I braved the rain. I found a restaurant called La Choza which was a little off the beaten path. I ordered steak fajitas and chips with guacamole. It also came with soup. This meal was HUGE! I did not even come close to finishing it, so I brought it home to pick at over the next day. This restaurant was busy and full of both tourists and locals. I headed back to my hotel so full and so tired. The entertainment tonight was karaoke so I watched some brave people get up and sing from my porch. What an amazing day!
Reading & Relaxing
Today I wanted to just relax and lay in the Sun, and that is exactly what I did! I got a late breakfast and then spent the morning by the pool. I read my book, Red Rising, and decided to treat myself to a pina colada! I snacked on my leftover chips and guacamole for lunch. I could have gone diving or snorkeling today, but I wanted to give my body time to rest and recover. My ears felt a little weird after diving, so I think this was the right choice. It took about a week for them to feel normal again. My inner ear canal was inflamed from the amount of times I had to equalize, which is something that happens to new divers. I finished my book and I ate the rest of my fajitas for dinner cold right out of the fridge. I walked through the tunnel and watched the sunset for my last night in Cozumel. I also got to watch the cruise ship leave the port. I made some tea and headed to bed, sad that I had to leave the next day.
Leaving Cozumel
My last day in paradise. I had breakfast and checked out of my hotel around noon. I finished my book while soaking up the last bit of Sun that I could. I did end up getting a nice tan during my time in Cozumel.
I got a taxi from the hotel to get to the airport which was $20! Not bad. Driving in Cozumel was a bit crazy, everyone was all over the road and my taxi driver almost got hit by a few cars. I was glad I did not rent a car. The Cozumel airport is small, so I was able to get through very quickly. I did some last minute shopping in the airport and found hot chocolate, a chocolate bar, and some stickers to bring home and enjoy. My flight to Miami was very quick. The customs and immigration took about an hour and I had a few hours to kill so I got some chicken nuggets from Wendy's for dinner. The man next to me on the flight out of Cozumel was eating a full rotisserie chicken on the plane which smelled so good, so I was really craving chicken. My flight out of Miami was smooth and I landed in Boston safe and sound. It felt so cold once I got out of the airport! Brrrr.
I am so glad that I booked this trip! The reefs in Cozumel were so beautiful and re-ignited my love for marine life. I felt so confident scuba diving and now I will feel so much better about booking scuba trips in the future. It was also so nice to get some sunshine on my body and experience a different culture. I will be looking for an underwater camera to purchase before my next dive trip! I loved the hotel that I stayed at and I would absolutely stay there again! Till next time Cozumel!
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