Day 34 - Darling it's betta, down where it's wetta; under da sea!

19th Feburary, 2009

We had just arrived in Isla de Cozumel. After checking into a decent place in town we proceeded to investigate our diving options - the main reason we came here. I wanted two days of diving, and following some discussion Lukas decided that it made sense for him to get his PADI Open Water certification, so avoiding the induction training every time we decide we would like to dive. So we based our dive centre choice around who could get him started straight away, loosing as little time as possible.

We found a few who seemed reputable enough, but one stood out by way of the very friendly French couple who ran the place. Lukas was in the water that afternoon (shallows off-shore), and I spent the time snorkeling alongside, watching his lesson.


Lukas' first day he was accompanied by a young American (LA) couple doing a day discovery dive. The guy was nice enough, but the woman was truly repulsive, the kind of self-centred, spoiled brat you wish would never leave their country. You know the type. After a dive in 1.5m of water (shallow enough to stand), she got a little nervous and so thought it a good idea to neck a Xanax. After that she was high as a kite, chasing fish around, swimming in circles trying to catch them, swallowing loads of water; generally acting nuts. I couldn't believe it.

With them behind us, the following day Lukas was in for day 2 of training while I did a 2-tank boat dive. Had a very pleasant, but very Texan man named Steve join me for my dive who was far more experienced than I, making my experience all the more enjoyable. He bought some great sausage made from a deer he'd shot, whose slaughtered body he proudly kept an image of on his phone (along with his riffles, boat and host of natural plunders). We dived an amazing reef garden; formation stretching 20m above, with plenty of dive-through's. The second dive was across 'Paradise Reef' where I saw 3 nursing sharks (one about 2m long) and a green turtle, among other various sea-life.

The third and final day of Lukas' diving was with me on the boat, putting into practice what he had learned. It was great to be diving together, and we were accompanied by a lovely Canadian girl called Sarah (a pilot for Air Canada) and an American couple who were also lovely, if not a little nervous in the water. We dived the famous reef wall here, that drops off  never-endingly into the deep dark depths below. Life was abundant here, and we followed a 3m wide Eagle ray for a while - amazing! The second dive for the day was in a different part of the reef I dived the day previous, this time seeing mostly fish including a few large schools that allowed us to tag along for a while.

Lukas also had to do all the theory work, and test at the end of the day, to complete his certification, which he passed with flying colours! We both enjoy doing it and hope to make a few more dives in different countries before the travelling is done.
We spent our free time here exploring the island. We drove Herbie around the coastal road, stopping in a lovely "Rasta bar" on the S.E. Side of the island (pointed toward Jamaica).


Following our drink we continued along the coast, and then ran out of fuel... How embarrassing! We'd not taken the petrol gauge to it's limits before, and seems the tank empties before you might think it does. After hitching a lift to somewhere inhabited, we had some help from the cops (for a change), who arranged some fuel to be delivered to our location.


As nice a place as Cozumel is to dive, it's really not for us. The sheer volume of tourists, westernisation of the community, and cost of staying has us eager to move on. We're not expecting the culture level to increase much through Belize either, being a former British colony, English speaking, and even more of a US tourists draw than here in Cozumel. But we're curious, and would be good to see what it has to offer regardless. As well as dive again :) But we shall not linger, and likely be making our way to Honduras with some speed.

Despite out best efforts, seems the various levels of Police here really don't know their own laws, and we can't get a definitive answer about taking Herbie into Belize and beyond. So we're just going to try it, bribe a few people if necessary, and hopefully make it through... Failing that we'll retreat to the nearest city to sell her on and continue by coach.

Afraid we're a little shy of interesting pictures for this one due to the diving. So for your entertainment, the reference to the blog title.
Take it away Sebastian.

More picture from Lukas.