20 April 2010

Wow, 5 days in Cozumel and it still feels like Island time. Had a beautiful trip. Weather was very pleasant. It wasn't real hot and not too much wind. It would rain a little every afternoon but that was OK. You wouldn't believe the rainbows. On Wednesday we had a double rainbow. The colors were absolutely fabulous.

My thought for the day: "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." Henry David Thoreau

The diving was truly amazing again. All of our dives were on the south end of the island. Monday we dove Devil's Throat and Palancar Cave. Tuesday we dove Maricaibo and Columbia Deep. Wednesday we dove Punta Sur and Cedral Wall. By the end of the third day I think we could have gone into deco in a bathtub. For those of you that don't dive that means we spent a lot of time in deeper water and had a Nitrogen load in our bodies. (That's what happens to divers.) The Nitrogen eventually works its way out of your tissues and you're OK. Well, you're OK even with the Nitrogen in there, just better when it's out. Our dives averaged out to 88 minutes. Our average depth was 134 feet. We saw huge turtles (Hawkbills), a lot of large Black and Nassau groupers, we didn't see any green Morays though, that was a bit strange. We did, however, see and kill 46 Lionfish. They are on the deep walls and have no natural predator in the Carribbean. They will kill and eat anything so they are not a welcome site. They will find a nest of another species and wait until the eggs hatch and literally eat every fry that hatches and exposes itself. Most of the divemasters carry a small hand spear gun and a pair of shears to cut off the poisonous spines. There is a restaurant in Coz that will cook them for you if you bring them in. I don't eat fish so I left that pleasure to the others. LOL.

We stayed at the Wyndham. It is a beautiful place but extremely large. We think it was actually 4 separate resorts and Wyndham bought them and made them into one giant complex. The Wyndham proper is open to families etc; the Sabor, (where we were), is adults only; the Aura is also adults only and is a step up from Sabor; the Regency is a time-share complex. Each has its own pool, restaurants and spas. You have to wear a bracelet to get into anything. Each level has a different color: Wyndham - yellow; Sabor - brown; Aura - black; Regency has to go through a locked access so you need a pass key. The meals were all very good but a bit strange. On Monday night it was Asian night - all the restaurants were serving asian food. Tuesday was Middle Eastern food and Wednesday was Italian. It was a little weird to be eating a formal Italian dinner in a Mexican restaurant. Oh well, I enjoyed all the food anyway. In Sabor, if your room is on the ground floor, you walk out your patio door and step into a pool. If you want to go down to the main pool you simply get on the water slide and take a ride down. Each unit has a slide into the main pool, it was really neat. There was access from the ends of each of the small pools so everyone could use the slides.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the Monday before we left for Cuzumel, my dive buddy and I drove to Black River Falls and did a dive in Wazee. Water temp 43 degrees. Then we get to Cozumel and dive in 85 degrees.

We're headed back to Wazee this weekend. If the weather looks OK (no rain), we'll probably camp. I am so happy when dive season starts. Okay, I've rambled on and on for long enough. Check back tomorrow for even more fun.