Waitress I need 2 more boat drinks

We decided to do the night dive last night to see what it was like. I didn’t care for it too much. I mean…there is really not much to see. The fish are sleeping. We did see 2 or 3 lobsters and a big crab. But no octopus. And that would be the most fun to see. I wasn’t really scared because there were so many people and lights flashing around, but it was a bit disconcerting to try to find the strobe flashing under the boat and not see it. As dark as it was, it wasn’t dark enough. Too much moonlight made it hard to see the luminescence in the water. I saw a few sparkles here and there….but not much. So now I can say I have done the night dive, but I probably will not do it again. It just didn’t do anything for me. But at least it wasn’t as cold as I was afraid it would be. I wore just my skin and did ok. Which is surprising because I have been cold on most every dive. Not freezing cold…but chilled.

We skipped dinner again because we got back at 8:45 and after cleaning all our gear, we just didn’t feel like hiking up the hill.

Had to get up early this morning to catch the boat for Mary’s Place at 7:15am. It was 2 tank dive so I was afraid to eat too much for breakfast. Yikes. So I settled for a bowl of cereal.

Mary’s Place is on the other side of the island, past the airport and I think near CocoView Resort, where Tonya is staying. The water on this side of the island is rough! Our side of the island is nice calm glassy water….over there we had 4-6 foot swells. It could have been worse I guess, but it was a long boat ride. Fortunately our boat had all of it’s engines working, unlike last years boat ride to Cozumel. We were soaked and tired by the time we got there.

Mary’s Place is listed as one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. After that boat ride, it better live up to that! So after the harrowing boat ride, we suit up like Navy seals and jump into those 4 foot swells. Awesome. Mary’s Place was pretty awesome too. There are these HUGE crevices to swim through. Over 100 feet deep. We stayed at about 80 going through them. It was beautiful. Not much sea life that I remember, just the scenery of the walls was beautiful.

The highlight of the dive was at the end during our safety stop. A remora came around and swam between Matthew and I several times before the other people in the group saw him. He seemed to like us though. He kept getting closer and closer. Every time he got close to my face I blew bubbles at him cuz I didn’t want him sucking onto me trying to get a free ride. ( Later, a guy on our boat said one sucked onto his chest and he didn’t know it. Other people in his group finally told him after laughing at him for awhile. ) I think I got a good picture of him…I should have, considering how close he was.

Remember the swells? Well, getting OUT of the water was a rather challenging event. But I made it…after banging my shin on the boat.

There is a couple on our boat from Atlanta, the lady is annoying as hell. She wears make-up and lipstick to dive. I know her husband’s name is Frank cuz she is always whining “Fraaaaaank”, but I have no idea what her name is. Anyway, she had to go potty after that dive so we had to go to the dock on West Bay Beach and try to find a bathroom. Everybody was like….just pee in the ocean!!! She was not amused. Nor were the rest of us.

Our 2nd dive was right there off of West Bay beach at Mandy’s Eel Garden. This is the reef where we learned to dive 2 years ago! So nice to be back. I had buoyancy issues on this dive though. All of my weights had shifted to my back and my back was hurting so bad. It was so distracting. So I thought for sure I was over-weighted, but I was having trouble staying down. I have had perfect buoyancy all along, don’t know what happened on this dive. During our safety stop, the boat captain starting throwing bits of oranges into the water. So when we were trying to come up the ladder, we were getting bombarded by huge schools of Chubs and Sargeant Majors. It was weird at first cuz I didn’t know what was going on. But it was kinda cool.

After we ate lunch, I went down to the photo shop and told them I wanted to get a copy of the 2 videos they shot on a couple of our dives. I hate spending so much money, but we watched them and they are really good.

Our last dive today was on Canyon Reef. More crevices to swim through. I think I have had my fill of crevices. They are everywhere around here though. But we always seem to get behind stupid people. And I don’t have the patience for it. I think Miss Atlanta gets freaked out by the crevices and always has to turn around to find Fraaaaaank and he prods her along. I finally gave up, it just wasn’t worth it. So I swam above for the last couple of them. Matthew popped down into one without me knowing and that scared me. I looked around and he was just gone. I didn’t even see any bubbles. He got the finger for that one. That is my special underwater communication sign.

We did see a green Moray eel. Poor thing. He had no place to hide and all these scary bubbling creatures are chasing him. He was trying so hard to find a hole to hide in. People with cameras are obnoxious underwater. And on land too.

Fraaaaaaank!

Well it’s about time for me to take a shower…I think it’s been a day or 2. I am always wet, so I forget. There is a beach party tonight right outside our house. I think it starts at 6:30, so I have an hour.