Cozumel

Sorry it´s been so long since the last update have been very busy being scuba student again. Went to Cozumel with Hannah and the boys but when Hannah realised that there was zero things to do on the island except dive (closest beach is 10 miles away) she headed back to the white sand beaches of Playa Del Carmen. Boys and I decided on different dive shops as we each got better deals for what we were looking for. They were doing the PADI Open Water and I was looking for Nitrox Coures. Was originally planning on doing the Rescue Diver course but they wanted $180 for a first aid course which was 2 days and another $330 for the course. I can do the first aid at home for free so will get that sorted when i get home. The Nitrox course means you can dive with more than 21% of oxygen, up to 40% in some cases. This gives you either longer on the bottom or shorter surface interval. Course was Ok but quite hard due to lots of various dive planners and index cards you need to refer to. but screwed the nut and actually studied for a change and suprisingly managed to get 98%. Got one wrong but it was just a case of putting the figures round the wrong way. So dived with Nitrox which is very cool and gives you a quite pumped feeling due to increase in O2.

The diving here in Cozumel is pretty amazing. Sea life is still not as good as asia but the visibility is out of this world. Up to 50m in some cases. The setting is stunning with lots of colourful coral and white sand on the bottom. Seen loads of Green and beaked turtles, even managed to stroke one when it came up to have a noisey around me. There are quite a few nurse sharks and spotted a huge (2.5m) one sleeping under a coral shelf, managed to get up to a m away from it and really wished i had a camera. Think that it going to be next on the shopping list, well maybe after the iPhone :)) Also managed to get a twilight and night dive in where i saw quite a few octopii (sp) and probably the largest lobster i´ve ever seen. No exaggeration this thing was the size of a medium sized dog. The dive master was right beside it when it started legging it away and shat himself...very funny. I´ve now also managed to master the art of blowing o2 rings under water which i have been trying for ages now. So all in all a very productive 5 days.

Now over in Playa Del Carmen where its party and posure tastic. Tried to go out for a session last night but everyone was fully done in from diving. So much sleep last night in the most comfirtable bed i´ve been in for a while and some beach today should recharge the batteries for tonights proper session!

Plan is to head to Tulum tomorrow for a few days then say goodbye to boys and head back North for some whale shark swimming and then back into Guatamala.

More later.

C