Nicks blog

Monday 13th May.  Day 13: Mystery of the legs in a hole…

Slow start today after a bad night’s sleep.  Awake a fair bit with bad stomach & worrying about mum.

On the way to breakfast we noticed these holes and that there was a LARGE set of what looked like spider legs inside.  The legs disappeared when I poked my camera nearer.

If it’s a spider that would be a scarily big spider but enquiries revealed it was a crab hole.   (audible sigh of releaf as these were near our room)

In the afternoon we took a tour to the Xcaret theme park for a wander round & the evening show. 

There’s so much to do at Xcaret you could spend a full day there. We went for a swim down the river before the show.

Xcaret show in the evening was brilliant.  A music & dance celebration of Mexican culture.

Saturday 11th May.  Day 11: Hummer Day 😁

Another diving day.  As walking to the dive shop I was thinking it was going to be rough as the wind had increased.

Yep the waves had significantly increased since the previous day.  Luckily Rudy had a plan – the boat was moored at a more sheltered location at the next hotel west of us. 

Our transport to the boat was a Hummer.  Never been in one of these 😁

It’s MASSIVELY wide and long.  Really no good for UK roads.  Thing is its quite tight inside.  Bit like an inverse Tardis !

Launching from the new location was much calmer which was was good for my old bones.

A great dive was had by all…

A good days diving 😁

Sunday 12th May.  Day 12: Last dive before the winds..

Last diving day…  Again windy so I was taken to the alternate boat mooring again – this time in a Hilux.  Just not the same as a Hummer 😕

Very rough getting out over the shallow reef, the boat slammed a lot.  After one particularly hard slam the elderly American screamed in pain with his back.  Thought it was going to be a hospital job but he recovered after about 10 mins.

The dive wasn’t great until we met this old guy…

After the dive we chilled by the pool…

Friday 10th May. Day 10:   Diving Cozumel…

On the way to get picked up I met this fella grazing in the hotel grounds…

A mixed group of 5 divers + us were picked up by minibus & taken to the Cozumel ferry.

Our dive guide for the day was Chris, a cocky lad from near Hull.

After the crossing we were  transferred to a small boat & taken to the dive site past very large cruise ships.

We did two shallow dives, both like swimming in a warm aquarium.

A good day 😁

Thursday 9th May. Day 9:   Tulum

Today we had a trip out to a Mayan temple, cenote and seawater lagoon.  We were picked up in a small minibus with a driver (big bearded mexican) & a tour guide (young mexican girl).  As on one else was in the bus we effectively had a private tour.

While on route our guide told us about Mayan history and then informed us of a “BONUS” extra excursion in our day.

Alarm bell started ringing !  Nothings for free in Mexico so this’ll be a hard sell & cost money in tips 😒

The bonus trip was to a Shaman for a “blessing/healing” ceremony.  This is what Wikipedia has to say on Shaman  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism

Yep I was right.  After a quick “cleansing ceremony” & obligatory tipping, we were shown into a shop selling Mayan trinkets.

From there it was on to the temple site of Tulum.  This is what Wikipedia has on Tulum…    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulum

Tulum was VERY hot & we jumped to areas of shade as we walked round.

The on-site shop was expensive so we avoided that & the “free” Taquila tasting.  Interestingly there was also a pharmacy at this national monument site.

Next was the cenote. This was a cooling swim pool & swim through cave. Sadly I didn’t take a camera so no photos. 

From the cenotes we went to a saltwater lagoon for snorkeling.  This was like snorkeling in a warm aquarium.

Then it was back to the hotel.  A good day was had by all…

Wednesday 8th May. Day 8:  Another diving day…

Another early start for an 8am dive.  Really quite windy today so the short boat ride to the dive site was uncomfortable !

The dive was again great.  Today’s treat was seeing a Swordfish swimming in free water.  The picture is poor but it’s definitely a swordfish.

After diving we chilled out on the beach for the afternoon 😎

Tuesday 7th May. Day 7:  Diving day…

Another early start to get to the dive centre by 8am.  Again two others on our trip – from Wales though she had an American accent.

Now I have to put some context to my next comments.  This dive by all UK standards was BRILLIANT.  28°C water, 20+ meter visibility & loads of fish.  

Problem is that after the previous dives it was a bit shit.   No sharks, rays or turtles despite Rudys best efforts.  30m, 55 minutes duration with a profile that meant we were close to stops for most of the dive.

After diving it was down to the beach for a chill with cocktails

Evening meal was in a Japanese restaurant.  We were seated round the chef who made a show of preparing our food.

Entertaining evening and lovely food…

Monday 6th May.  Day 6:  Cozumel day…

Today we’d planned a day round Cozumel island.  In our usual style we booked an eBike tour.

It was an early start with a taxi to the ferry port in Play de Carmen

The tour itinerary was ride to a Tequila tasting, snorkeling on a reef, lunch and visit a center on the way home.

Bit of a shit tasting with hard sell at the end.  Their cheapest Tequila was £67 for a 75cl bottle.  As there was only 2 of us there was an awkward conversation about not paying that much for booze !   We moved on quick…

Moved on for snorkeling & lunch

After lunch on to cenote…   You can read what Wikipedia has to say about them here…    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenotehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cenote

From there we went back to the cycle hire shop, dropped the bikes off and headed town.

We met Becca at Chili’s Taquila bar for some shots before the ferry.

On the way home we WhatsApp the taxi driver.   He tried it on with a sob story about us being late & him waiting hours for us.  That fell on deaf ears…

Poseidon fish restaurant for tea before an early bed 😴

Sunday 5th May. Day 5: Another dive day…

Lazy 10am start today for diving.  Sarah off for a Spa day with the girls.

Todays dive is a shallow one & we find there are two other divers on “our” boat.   It’s a windy day which made it a rough 10 mins to get to the dive site. 

Because of the swell, Rudy told us to get in & go straight down to the bottom of a line where we’d all meet up.

One of the divers, was having his first open water dive.  He seemed to do OK descending the line and Rudy met us pretty quickly.

Great dive – we saw shark, rays and turtles.

Going for a Brazilian tonight 🤪

Saturday 4th May. Day 4: Baby Shark…

Early start for diving – 8am at the dive shop.  Just the three of us again with Rudi.

Deeper dive planned today but again only 5 mins in the boat to a submerged reef.

Better vis today despite a fresh wind.  Dropped into 16m onto reef.  Brilliant dive & saw sharks.  The first was early in the dive & the last was towards the end.  

The latter encounter (at approx 20m) put us into deco.  Ended up doing 2 min @12m, 3 min @ 6m & 2 min at 3m.  Max depth was 30m, total dive time 55 minutes.

After diving we had an afternoon swimming in the pool with cocktails. 

The evening plan was a meal in an Italian restaurant.  Power cuts blighted the evening, first because no lights & water for showers & secondly no lights in the restaurant.

Without air-conditioning the restaurant was boiling but the staff were great & so was the food.  A good day.

Friday 3rd May. Day 3: Diving…

Woke early & met this fine fellow on the way to breakfast.

Met with Rudi the dive guide at 9:45am. A five minute boat ride took us to a sumurged reef.

55 minutes, maximum depth 14m – Great dive.  Photos to follow…

After diving it was time to chill on the beach & drink mojitos…

The mojito drinking was cut short by tennis & badminton with Alex & Jess.  That really knackered me out !

Evening meal was in a Mexican restaurant.  Really nice though we could only manage the “1 out of 4” chilli sauce ☠️💥

After that it was bed time as I’ve an early start tomorrow for a second dive.

Wednesday May 1st.  Day 1: Getting there…

It was a 4am start & we didn’t sleep much.  The minibuses arrived late so we could have had at least an extra 45 mins in bed !

The drive to Manchester airport took about 1.5 hours on very busy roads.  This showed what a horrid commute it is into Manchester !

The airport was relatively stress free.  The stress started when we boarded the flight.  Like a lot of people on the flight, the seats we thought we’d paid for had been changed.  We’d lost our isle seats & others were split from their young kids. 

Luckly we got to change seats with a family – they got to sit together & we both got isle seats 😃

10 hours – a long boring flight.  Got through a lot of pods.

Luckily there was free G&T…

The chav kids who sat behind us on the coach transfer thankfully slept. This made for a stress free 1 1/2 hours transfer to the resort.

The coast road is full of resorts surrounded by barbed wire.   Ours is the Grand Palladium White Sands.  

We chilled for an hour or so before meeting the others for drinks & food.  The resort is massive !

After a buffet meal we all went to bed shattered – it had been a long day !