With both doses of Moderna vaccine acquired we were ready to go traveling again. This time to the Island of Cozumel in Mexico.
Masks were still required but boy did it feel good to be back on a plane!
My favorite thing about flying is always going to where it's sunny----above the clouds.
Then four hours later(and a stop-over in Houston) the view out the window previewed the beautiful Caribbean Sea we were going to be in for the week.
After renting a car we decided to "tour the island" before checking in to our hotel for the week. We booked our first all-inclusive resort at the Occidental Cozumel. We picked this hotel because it was located closest to the reef we wanted to dive.
The grounds were beautiful. With beautiful landscaping.
And nice walkways to my favorite place on earth-the beach!
It was located in the jungle so spotting iguanas
and dining beside coati were a daily occurance.
Each morning started with drinking our coffee at the beach.
My breakfasts looked like lunch with chilaquiles and potatoes. Delish!
We had a balcony overlooking the jungle. We didn't have to meet the dive boat at the resort pier until 9:30am so mornings were spent knitting and bird watching after breakfast.
We booked three days of two tank dives with
Scuba Life Cozumel plus a "free"day. On the first day both of our regulators failed during pre-dive checks. We rented regulators for those first two dives. After our first day of diving we headed downtown to a
scuba repair shop to see if they could fix our regulators.
Javier was amazing and I wish he was closer. My husband's was an easy fix that he had parts for. Unfortunately mine wasn't repairable as he didn't carry parts for my brand of regulator.
I was able to rent a regulator for the rest of my dives so the next day we were back underwater. My first swim throughs.
Our group was only 4 divers to a dive master but wow was it crowded under water. We were told there are 100 dive shops in Cozumel!
After our morning dives we headed to have lunch "beachside" at the resort. It was fabulous to sit for hours by the sea.
And each night before dinner we headed back to the sea to witness the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen.
On our third day I awoke with stomach issues and a rash from head to toe so we had to cancel our dives for the day. The dive shop said we could join the following day's group if I felt better. So I spent the day hydrating, getting our Covid tests at the downtown hospital, and snorkeling at Palancar Beach and the Dzul-Ha Reef at The Money Bar.
After a day of rest and another sunset I felt good enough for another two dives on our final day in Cozumel.
On my first dive this barracuda came by to say hello.
Then I was on my first drift dive when this hawks-bill turtle was directly underneath me!
Then not one but two nurse sharks went swimming by me!!!!!
What a way to end our dives.
It was time to return home. But first a stop right by the Cozumel airport to get TACOS! At
Diegos tacos.
Then it was back on the plane to Chicago.
I don't like to fly so I was thankful for knitting and the included streaming movies on the way home.
Cozumel was the place that inspired me to go get my open water scuba certification 5 years ago. I'm so thankful to have experienced the world under the water in Cozumel.
We'll be back some day!
