Ships Ahoy!

Posted in | at 11:46 PM

Saturday, June 26^th

This morning, we get up extra early to embark on our first dive as a family of certified divers. Lo and behold, it looks like someone else got up before us. Why good morning, outer fringe of Tropical Storm Alex.

Nevertheless, we wrap ourselves up in towels and begin the trek into town. Luckily, we manage to hail a cab halfway there, so we are only moderately soaked to the bone upon arriving at the dock. After a few minutes wait, our ride arrives: the Ana Luz. Ana Luz is a small speed boat. Ana Luz is designed for 6 divers. Ana Luz is designed to speedily cut through the waves. Ana Luz is designed to quickly carry us to exotic dive locations. Ana Luz is not designed to keep us dry.

Dive #1: Wreckage Abound

We board the boat and greet our dive master Martín just as the rain picks up. Soon we are speedily zooming along, being whipped and lashed by razor sharp rain pellets that leave stinging reminders of their passage. We try to thwart the malicious tendencies of these evil droplets by huddling like penguins and minimizing skin exposure, yet these tiny water knives unfairly whip out their ace-in-the-hole and attack us horizontally. No fair! Stick to what gravity gave you!

Needless to say, the ride to our first dive was not conducive to conversation.

Arriving at our first dive site, we don our gear as Martín explains how to properly roll from the boat. It’s actually super fun because we get to fall off the boat backwards and upside down! Funnily enough, the rain abates just as we enter the water. Typical.

The first dive? C-53. A boring name for an AWESOME dive. This dive site contains the wreckage of an old US mine sweeper that was built in the 1940s and is available for divers to swim around and throughout all 1000 tons of her. The dive is a max depth of 80 feet, which technically is deeper than several of us were certified for, but hey, who’s counting?

The dive is spent swimming all throughout the ship, through portholes, in between rooms, up masts, and just generally exploring (as we faithfully follow Martín, who is the only one who knows where he is going). It is a perfect test of our buoyancy control and spacial awareness, as we are forced to navigate through tiny holes and occasionally through pitch darkness sans light. Unfortunately, we didn’t run into any dead bodies, sharks, or cursed pirates, though Mom (apparently) saw an eel that was as thick as a human.

All in all, one of my most favorite dives to date, including past dive and snorkeling experiences. Oh and we saw a bunch of eels waving from the ground like blades of grass! That was cool too.

Dive #2: Shallow Reef Dive

We reboard the Ana Luz at the end of our dive, and in a manner that makes me wonder if I have somehow offended the Mayan gods with yesterday’s pictures, it starts raining again. Regardless, we take off for our second and final dive: Paradise Reef, a shallow 35 ft drift dive (meaning we travelled along with a slight current).

First though, we have to decompress on the surface for about 45 minutes or so, so that we don’t suffer from decompression sickness (or the bends). Once in the water, we spend about 50 minutes or so exploring the reef, travelling along effortlessly (more or less) with the slight current.

Cool sights:

· Several spotted eels

· A flounder and its baby! Who was about the size of my thumb :)

· Several barracuda

· A scorpion fish who looked like Big Al (the children’s book)

· A weird sea centipede thingy

· Lobsters!

It was a pretty dive, but by point, I am tired and cold (for I am only wearing a dive skin since Mom has reclaimed her wetsuit). We finish up and head back to the dock, once again battling the drizzle that so plagues us. I don’t remember much of the trip since I believe I looked something akin to a small, curled up lump of flesh hiding under the captain’s giant raincoat.

Afternoon

We arrive back at the dock, soaking wet and in search of a cab. I pull out my towel and spare clothes and wring them out. Hmm it appears there is something wetter than I am. Delightful. Cab drivers that normally fight for our service now shy away, grimacing in horror at the thought of the mess we’d make in their vehicles.

So we walk home. Or at least partly. Since I have no other clothes, I just wear my dive skin down the street. It’s actually rather funny how I get more stares and hidden grins from people when I am in reality more covered up than the majority of the populace. I just happen to be covered up by skin tight spandex material. Felt a little like a superhero =)

The afternoon is once again spent relaxing and enjoying the company of Tropical Storm Alex. Since there was still half an hour til the World Cup game (US vs. Ghana), I decide to briefly doze. 2hours later, I awake to a tied game being sent into extra time. I then proceed to watch the US allow an easy goal and I gripe and complain about the fact that I woke up for this. Pshh. I could’ve napped a little longer.

So the US is out of the World Cup. Alas. Well, Mexico is still in and playing tomorrow, and España is playing later this week. Hooray! The evening is spent watching a movie with the fam (Three Kings – a okay movie about the Gulf War where you weren’t entirely sure if you should be laughing at the horrible things happening…).

Well, that’s all folks. The sound of buckets of water being hurled from the skies is causing my eyelids to droop. Over and out.