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| Gearing up @ Tank-Ha dive shop |
From our dive boat, we descended a secure vertical line to
the bottom, then crossed hand over hand to a horizontal line along the sandy
bottom, hanging on to avoid being swept away by the strong current. During the
dive briefing our dive master, Boris, was very adamant that if any of our group
of 5 let go of the line and drifted off, we’d all have to abort the dive and
miss our shark experience. Diving with the bull sharks is highly regulated, for
good reasons: Stay tightly together and follow all instructions. No problem.
I had a couple of pre-dive issues (my Nitrox tank didn’t get
transferred onto the boat, my air hose wouldn’t connect to my buoyancy compensator
and once I back rolled into the water with my gear on, the current was so
strong I couldn’t make way past the boat to the safety float). So not a good
way to start a dive of this nature. Boris
addressed the issues and ensured I was OK before we descended – she was super
calm and did a great job. I descended slowly, eager, anxious and trying not to
suck up my air too quickly.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_shark |
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| watermaker membrane prep |
Backtrack to Mazatlán
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| installing the watermaker |
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| installing a pump and wiring |
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| head rebuild |
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| installing the exhaust fan |
Lest you think it’s all work, we’ve been having a great time hanging out with friends, exploring Mazatlán on Sundays (our day to take a break) and enjoying the holidays and winter in the sunshine. After weeks of boat stuff, Mike was ready for a break. Since we were anxious to dive again, the Caribbean coast beckoned and we decided on Playa del Carmen. We dove there in 2006 and 2018 so it was time for another visit.
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| 2 classical concerts in Mazatlan |
We flew to Cancun and taxied an hour south to the tourist mecca that is Playa del Carmen. It’s a loud, bustling place full of hustlers hawking everything from tours to T shirts to pot. With Mike’s ponytail, we often get offers of drugs (“hey long hair, don’t care”…they’d call after him since he ignored them).
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| every flight routes through Mexico City- off to Cancun |
We arranged for 10 dives with Tank-Ha, the same dive shop as
previously, and as repeat customers, we enjoyed 10% discount, free rental
equipment and free Nitrox. For non-divers, Nitrox offers a higher level of
oxygen to reduce fatigue when doing multiple dives.
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| funky but perfect - Santuario Playa Hotel |
Bonus, the new dive shop location was literally a one-minute walk from our hotel, separated by a sex shop, massage parlor, pharmacy and OXXO (ubiquitous mini marts on every block - kind of like Starbucks in the US). Plus, the added interest of a shop being built out, Enzo’s Lavanderia (read on: there’s a story there).
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| cool staircase - not at our hotel |
We selected Santuario Playa, a quaint, older bright pink hotel. Truly funky but functional, and a large apartment with room to relax and dry our dive gear. The location is great: right off 5th Avenue, the main drag where the action is; near the shop and the beach. However, the music was so loud on the first night, we requested a room change. Score! The new room was so much better (no plumbing smells, a cushion on the concrete couch, better wall mural, views and several more items in working order).
The Diving
One of the things I like about diving is the international
community, encountered everywhere you go. We had dive masters from Uruguay,
Argentina, Spain and Mexico - they each offer their experiences and sense of
humor plus skills to enrich our dive excursions. They also know how to find the
good stuff since they ‘know’ the reefs and dive sites. Divers we were with
hailed from Austria, Trinidad and Tobago, Germany, France, Canada and the US.
And that was just our little groups!
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| sculpture near the bus station at Playa del Carmen |
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| beautiful tile work |
There are often strong currents on the mainland side where Playa is and stronger currents on the walls and reefs on the island of Cozumel. So when you drop into the water, you start your journey at the surface and truck along – there’s no going back or stopping to check out a cool fish, shrimp or coral. And once again, stay with your group for safety. Our groups were between 3 and 6 plus the dive master.
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| welcome camel at the Turkish taco shop |
The reefs are teaming with fish, thankfully, and we
encountered many schools of fish – some probably 1000 and others, 100 fish.
Since some of the dive sites are nature preserves, we’d see some pretty large
specimens – giant lobsters, huge hermit crab, angel fish, parrot fish, box fish
and so much more. On the large species, we saw lots of sting rays and other
rays, eels, turtles, an amazing spotted eagle ray and a nurse shark. And in the
tiny category, arrow and other types of shrimp, blue tangs – and the lists go
on. They were good dives.
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| tequila tasting shops are everywhere - no thanks! |
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| Enjoying a refreshing Pisco Sour |
One day as we walked to a watch shop to get a new battery for Mike’s dive computer, we passed a sign that beckoned: when life gives you lemons, make a Pisco Sour. We chatted with the nice Peruvian owner and promised we’d be back. We enjoyed our tasty dinner at that tiny Peruvian restaurant on Pisco Sour day! We discovered Pisco Sours from our “evil neighbors” at the moorage, so we had to stop when we saw the sign in Playa.
Enzo’s Lavanderia
We walked daily past a storefront being built out and
noticed an artsy mural at the entrance of a guy and a bunch of bubbles. We
stopped to try and figure out the message, long enough for the guy represented in
the mural to come out and welcome us in – it was Enzo. Same glasses, same hair,
a good rendition. He explained he is creating a high- end laundry – we didn’t
figure out what the offerings were going to be, except there was a foosball
table in the empty salon. And the mural painter was busily creating yet another
fabulous mural with spray paint cans, standing on scaffolding. He stopped long
enough to wave as we congratulated him on his artistry!
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| Creating another mural at Enzo's |
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| Enzo's Lavanderia |
Enzo offered us his biz card and entry passes to a beach resort where you can hang out for the day on rental chaise lounge chairs, under umbrellas sipping your beverage of choice. That turned out to be the perfect way to spend our last day – we had to decompress after diving for 5 days so why not relax? We’d walked a zillion miles over the course of that week so a dry and somewhat sedentary day was just the ticket.
Now we are back in Mazatlán, finishing up some projects and
we hope to head south this week. Not sure yet where we’ll go.
But today is Carnaval here and Mazatlán boasts one of the
most famous and large in the world so off we go to take the bus and wander
around town, waiting for the estimated 4 hour parade this evening. Wish us well
on that crowded outing!
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| iguanas at the marina- this 3.5' guy got on our boat! |
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| marina sunset - life is good even when working |
