Cozumel: Feeling Like A Real Diver

A trip designed to dive as much as possible and spend as little as possible. It exceeded all my expectations. And that girl at the airport is still lingering in my mind.

My favorite diving crew: Captain Marcelo, Barta and Aldo

The dive trip that I wanted to do finally happened. Last trip but was cut short due to weather, leaving with me strong desire to finish the unfinished business. I bought full set of gear right after the last trip too, so I was eager to use my own gear for the first time.

The game plan was the same – dive nonstop and then leave. Over the 4 nights 3 days there, I logged 13 dives, including one night dive. This trip was more that I could hope for.

I chose Scuba Life Cozumel as the dive shop again. The crew in Scuba Life made every trip so much more enjoyable. Still fresh from my last trip here 2 months ago, we still remembered each other names – Aldo, Barta, Cheche, Carly and Captain Marcelo. I also dove with Cheche, Chino and Manuel (Manu) in this trip. Of all of them, I was closest to Aldo. He was my Advanced Scuba instructor and we dove pretty much all day together the first two days. He has spent a few years in Canada and Argentina before settling here. Aldo was very patient and passionate about his job. In fact, all of them are. Barta was a little different. He may seem rude at first but once you understand that everything he said was his attempt to be funny, you will get quite comfortable with him. Captain Marcelo was my boat captain most of the time. He was a funny guy in this 50s. Knowing that he has captained around this water for more than 25 years was reassuring. Looking across the organization, Scuba Life has a very good culture – professional, friendly, and passionate. I would dive with any of them on any day.

Most of the dives were amazing, and some of which I was in awe of. Unsure it was intentionally planned or not, they started me with some regular dive sites, and ended with some amazing and not-often-go dive sites towards the end. The reef and marine life in dive sites like Paradise, Yucab, Santa Rosa were pretty live, but it took it to another level when we dived reef with complex structures such as the Columbia, Dalila, and Punta xx.

We were weaving through the natural reef tunnels, canyons and overhangs, chasing after Eagle rays, tagging along the grumpy looking sea turtles and hunting the invasive but beautiful lion fish. Also, for the first time, I saw a 6’ long nurse shark resting under the reef and black tip shark wandering around. I saw pretty much everything that one could reasonably expected to see here!

I got somewhat comfortable under water rather quickly, though I did not do as well when there was current. The number one thing that I picked up was – be slow in everything. It was island time, and nobody was in no hurry. You should try to spend as little energy and oxygen as possible. My gas consumption was quite inefficient. One tank usually only lasted be 40-50 minutes. Everything I got on the boat, Aldo usually had 1000 psi (200%) more than I did. I also had the bad habit of breathing through my nose unintentionally, which fogged up my goggles and made the dive much less enjoyable. I also picked up a different kicking style to avoid kicking up the sand when we were going through the swim throughs.

Chino and Manu introduced me to some swim-throughs at the Columbia dive site. Though clumsily, I never thought that I could weave through the narrow reef structures and tunnels underwater with confidence. It was really a whole new world for me. I also finally dove with JP the owner (a young looking, constantly smiling guy his late 30s) and his diving friends Bob and a couple running a dive shop in Mahahual.

Because we saw shark!

The dive sites that we went to (Dalila and Palancar Garden) were nothing short of impressive either. With luck and experience, we swam with several Eagle rays, saw a black tip reef shark and tagged along several sea turtles.

I also had a local hookup – Roberto. I met him when he was selling tour and rental package at the square. I had no doubt that he was trying to get business from me but he was helping me to solve problems also. He had the scooter delivered and picked up at the hotel. The $90 day rate for 4 days was quite reasonable also. When I needed a night dive guide, he hooked me up with Pepe (Coral Reef Divers) for a $65 one-on-one night dive, though the boat and setup were not as nice as Scuba Life. I also texted him whenever I had questions and needed services. At times he would try to up-sell or cross-sell a little bit, but not overly pushy at all. I would probably do the same if I were him.

My sole mission on this trip was to dive and dive and dive, so my schedule was rather intense. I woke up at 7am every day to have the buffet breakfast, and then packed my scuba gear into my newly-bought Akona scuba gear backpack and rode my moped to the marina by 8:30am. With a steady diet of street tacos, mangos and cookies onboard, I dove at least four times until about 6pm everyday, except the first day where I also had a night dive at 6:30pm. My underwater time was around three and half hour a day minimum. I spent so much time underwater that I started diving with Nitrox towards the end to avoid nitrogen intoxication. I was usually exhausted by the time I finished the buffet dinner and was in bed by 10pm. I did not even have the time nor energy to play the guitar I hauled all the way from Denver. But I was pretty proud of efficient.

This dive trip was an experience of a life time.

Now about that that girl at the DFW airport. She caught my eye because she was wearing a maxi dress and a backpack with two finds attached to the sides and walking with an older woman. She looked cute (at least upper half of the face, Covid time man...). Those fins would a good conversation starter, I was thinking to myself. Just when I thought I had lost the chance forever to talk to her, I saw her in the Starbucks line. I needed Starbucks too (no I did not)! While we were waiting for our coffee, I struck up a conversation with her and her mom. her mom definitely seemed more eager to talk, telling me about her daughter's Instagram and Tiktok account. She was an artist based in Hawaii. It was a short conversation but now we are connected on social media. I need to go to Hawaii soon.