Diving Into Blue

Our second full day in Cozumel (Sunday, December 3), and we already have our routine:

Wake up about 7:00 a.m. Wash face, brush teeth, and put on our scuba clothing for the day (swimsuit, t-shirt, and shorts). We go to breakfast, where Greg gets to eat whatever he wants (eggs, hash browns, ham, bacon, sweet breads), while I, on the other hand, only eat bland foods (banana, oatmeal, toast. I don’t want to tempt the Sea Sickness Gods.

We head back to the room to hang out a bit. Greg puts together our regulators while I take a quick siesta. About 8:25 a.m., we gather our stuff (regulators, camera, sunglasses, water), and head to the Centro de Buceo (dive shop).

Ramiro and his gang have the rest of our dive gear ready for us. Since the last time we saw our gear, they’ve rinsed it in fresh water and hung it up to dry. They know we’re on the 9:00 a.m. boat so everything but our wetsuits and booties are placed in the scuba bag. They’ll lug our bags to the pier and toss them to the deckhand on our boat.

Already in our wetsuits and booties, we board the boat and get our gear ready. We’re pretty particular about our BCDs and regulators otherwise the deckhand and Divemaster would assemble it all for us. Once the boat departs, we’re on our way to the first dive site (a deep dive)—it’s divers’ choice.

We dive, get back on the boat, head back to the Allegro Centro de Buceo for our surface interval and to pick up tanks for the second dive (a shallow dive). We finish our second dive, and head back to the Occidental Centro de Buceo. Ramiro and his gang are at the pier to pick up our gear, lug it back to the shop, clean it, and get it ready for the afternoon dive.

It’s about noonish and time for lunch! We eat cheeseburgers and fries, maybe some ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert. Back to the room for some relaxation and a quick nap.

It’s 2:55 p.m. and we headed back to the Centro de Buceo for the 3:30 p.m. afternoon dive—another shallow dive. We follow the same boat routine as in the morning. About 5:00 p.m., we’re back at the pier; another dive day has come to an end.

Dinner already? You bet! We shower and get dressed in shorts to eat at the buffet or in something bit nicer for dining in one of the specialty restaurants. 7:00 p.m. finds us back in the room in pajamas. Greg’s downloading any digital pictures we’ve taken that day and all our dive info from our computers. We record all the dive info in our dive logs—very important. By 9:00 p.m., I’m ready to pass out—you would too if you had four Bonines in one day to keep the Sea Sickness Gods at bay.

Nighty-nite! We’re looking forward to another wonderful dive day!