Diving, Part III - Playa reefs

Tuesday, the first dive day, after retraining the fiancee, the skipper powered up the boat and we headed north to our first dive.  Jason explained that, due to Tropical Storm Matthew that had passed to the south, and the wind and rain that had been happening the last three days, the current was still strong, but he was taking us to a reef that was shaped like a hand, with fingers.  When you were between the fingers, it was relatively calm.  When you rounded the end of a finger, the current was going to be swift.

We peeled off the boat, falling backward into the water and immediately swimming to the bow to the anchorline, and down we went.  White sandy bottom next to the reef, and, oh yes, the current was swift.  This was more than a drift dive; it was a drift-with-a-fast-current dive.  I was amazed by the way the ocean appeared at the bottom - white, white sand going off into the distance, where it formed an ethereal border with the blue water.  The visibility was great, but so great, with just a flat bottom, the transition from white sand to blue water formed a dramatic horizon.  Jason started showing us critters on the reef, but if you wanted to really take a look, you had to hold onto a rock.

 
We had a moment of confusion when Jason pointed out a black and white moray and put my hand on a rock to hold on and take a look.  I thought he meant to hang on there and he was going to bring the others to show them.  Next thing I knew they were all trying to swim back to me, wondering if I was in trouble!  We got the misunderstanding straightened out, and on we went.  It was exciting going around the fingers, but a relief to be in the quiet between the fingers, though we were still moving along at a good clip.

I think we were all a little overwhelmed by the current on the dive.  When we got back to the boat, Jason promised a peaceful dive in the next location.  Again, falling from a sitting position backward into the water, we swam to the anchor line and descended.  Again the beautiful underwater horizon.  But this time, just enough current to be able to fly over the landscape without effort.  It was a nice, peaceful dive after the first one, and I started to take in the Caribbean landscape of sponges, lobsters, shrimp, corals and rocks colored brilliant hues by low-level life.

These first two dives, I was focused on reviving the skills I mastered in my Advanced Open Water Dive Certification in Kauai September 2009 - weighting, puffing just enough air into my vest once I bottomed in order to achieve neutral buoyancy, doing a minimal amount of adding and removing air from the jacket to go up and down, using my breath instead.

You can see many more photos and video footage at Jason's web site:  Fantasea Diving, Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico
The "News" link has lots of great video:  Videos of Playa del Carmen


We surfaced, satisfied and motored a short distance back to the beach directly opposite the dive shack.  Rain was threatening by this time, and we happily waded into shore.  After depositing my gear, I went next door - described in another post - and was ushered back onto the beach where I lingered, enjoying grouper under the umbrellas out of the rain.

After lunch, I wandered up Avenida Quinta, avoiding the salespeople, stopped for a frappachino at a Starbucks, and made it about a mile north to the point to meet the shuttle from the hotel at 3 PM.  While I was trying to figure out where, exactly, the shuttle bus stopped, a guy in front of his shop offered me a chair as he confirmed where the bus stopped.  I was a bit wary at first.  But we ended up sitting there and talking for a good 15 minutes.  Like so many, he spoke pretty decent English, and he was appreciative of my efforts to speak Spanish.  And, like so many, he was a wonderful conversationalist.  He had worked in Oklahoma as a welder.  He could work as a welder in Mexico too, but he actually made more money selling to the tourists, even though it was not his shop.  Up to $1000 a week.  The biggest problem in Mexico, he said, was how long the hours were.  He worked 14 hour days in the shop.  But it was easy work compared to welding 14 hours a day.  He was from Veracruz and had come to the Yucatan for work.  This interaction was one of many I had with the Mexican people in this area - pleasant, eager to connect on a human level, warm and emotional.

Finally the bus came, and I saw that the bevy of tourists waiting 25 feet away were from the resort, and I hustled over.  The bus driver checked off my name on the list (you had to make a reservation), and we headed back through the back roads, just like the cab the day before.  This was the only time I ended up taking the shuttle bus back.  I got back to my villa and fell into bed, only rousing myself at 8 to go to dinner.