Eric and I didn’t really have a plan for travelling around the Yucatan. As usual, we were pretty flexible. Enter Eric’s uncle and mom making a secret plan to include us on a scuba trip in Cozumel if we could arrive by May 1st. OK, done. More detail to this would be that Eric’s uncle Coronel owns a dive business, Landshark Scuba, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and would be in the area for a quick dive trip.
Eric has been diving in the ocean before, but I had not. Being a new diver I was nervous about the depth and the general idea of the open water. Lucky for me and my nerves, Coronel was the best teacher. While on land he may be the largest, goofiest person walking down the street, possibly yelling inappropriate things, BUT underwater he is calm and calming. He is unbelievably patient and gentle. And he doesn’t want to see anyone fail or give up, so he pushes just the right amount to give you the confidence to do and enjoy what he knows you can. Coronel said that if we could manage getting there, he would make the rest happen, and boy, did he. Eric and I agreed that between everything we saw, watching a turtle swim from the bottom where we were and swim to the surface get a breath was the coolest underwater sighting. We dove 7 times in three days and truly enjoyed experiencing the new-to-us world that exists under the surface of the ocean!
The scientific names for what we saw are below:
Fish, shark, fish, coral, fish, turtle, fish, lobster, fish, ray, and other fish.
We are so thankful for our time spent with Coronel and Sandy, the Landshark Scuba divers that let us join in on their trip, as well as Eric and the whole team at Challenge Diving for the best gear and instructions and tuna slaw! Travelling for this extended amount of time, we’ll say it again, it isn’t really a vacation. So while we joked about a vacation within a vacation, Cozumel was truly a treat to have minimal concerns and just enjoy some time diving and hanging out with family and new friends!