A Boys Trip Gets Us Back in the Water - Part 1

Like everyone throughout the pandemic, we were at home. Not going anywhere. And definitely not flying off for a dive trip. Fortunately, there were a couple opportunities to keep our skills up. Late summer we got in a couple of day trips to our local quarry. I wrote about one of them in the previous post. Then, in the middle of Chicago winter, with 2 feet of snow on the ground, the time when we'd usually book a vacation to a warmer climate to maintain our sanity, we rented our dive shop's pool. Yes, we were desperate.

But at the end of March, things opened up. COVID numbers were low in Chicago. And very low in Cozumel. Plus, I'd received my first vaccine. So, my son and I were able to find a direct flight to Cozumel. We added the precautions of renting a house (vs staying in a resort), renting a car (vs relying on taxis), etc. My wife was knee deep in a certification class for work, so she decided to stay home and take care of our cats and fish

Day 1: My son and I arrived mid-day Saturday. We got our car, got checked into our house, and did a quick run to the grocery store so we'd have some basics around the house. After that, we tossed our gear into the car to get in a quick shore dive that afternoon at Roberta's Scuba Shack. Our own personal "refresher". Sure, we'd technically been diving in the quarry and the pool, but we figured a nice easy 25ft shore dive would be a smart thing to do before we jumped on a boat the next day for an 80ft deep drift dive. We've dove this spot several times, so we know where to look for things. We saw a yellow stingray, several parrot fish, a handful of French Angels and assorted triggerfish. Because it was just the two of us, I knew I'd have to manage the DSMB, so I didn't bother to bring my camera.

As you can imagine, COVID has been very tough on the island. A few dive operators weren't running, some have completely closed down, and a few others have been laying off their best divemasters. We had to do a bit of research on who to dive with. Based on a couple recommendations, we decided to go with Scuba Life 

Day 2: We drove down to Marina Fonatur nice and early. Because we did most of the check-in process online, it was a nice and easy morning. The boats were well-equipped and modern. It was just the two of us and 5 other divers on the boat. And the boats were fast, it was less than an hour from stepping on the boat to my first photo at the bottom. 

Our first dive was Palancar Bricks, part of the 3km Palancar Reef. Immediately upon arriving at the bottom, we were welcomed by a stingray in the sand. 

From there, it was the elaborate set of swimthroughs near the wall. Max depth of around 85 feet. Being my first proper deep dive in a year, my breathing wasn't so great so I was limited to about 40 minutes.

We did our surface interval near a beach, anchored in about 6 feet of water. Our son decided to snorkel a bit. 

After about an hour, we headed back to make Palancar Caves our second dive of the day. The rest the reefs received during various lockdowns was evident. Coral looked amazing and wildlife was more plentiful than usual. Because this was our second dive of the day, we stayed above 65 feet.

Day 3: Our first dive of the day was Palancar Caves. Doing Palancar Caves as our first dive of the day, meant we went through a lot more of the swimthroughs near the wall, with a maximum depth of about 90 feet. I love the sense of scale you get from this first photo. It's always one of my favorite dives for the topography and amazing swimthroughs. 

Our second dive was at La Francesca. Max depth of around 60 feet. This is always a great dive for seeing turtles. Including those that swim so close to you that you can't get them in frame. And, of course, amazing coral and barrel sponges.

Day 4: We took a day to rest and just hang out. We took a drive doing the loop around the island.

(Part 2 coming soon)