Cozumel México: Diving, Snorkeling, and Jokes (Friday Dives)

Before we got home from Cozumel I made sure to grab everyone’s pictures, especially those underwater since I didn’t take many myself; I focused on diving and getting that under control. Ocean diving is different, way different, than fresh water diving. Anyway there were 394 photos I had to go through for Friday’s dives. And I believe I actually took a few of these… Go me, right?

On our ride out to our dive sites, underneath the boat deck it gets a little warm. I wouldn’t want a boat without one though because it was great during the real heat of the day to get away from the sun. In the morning though, it was nice to sit out and get the air and water hitting you in the face!

One day Grady used the ladder (behind him) as a drying rack, the next day he let it “air dry.”

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Cozumel México: A Day of Pee and Currents and Wreck Dives (Thursday Dives)

Toward the end of the week it was just easier to tell them to be at the dock by 8:30, which meant that they’d be there by 7:45. I guess that just means that we were out early to get back early. On Thursday we made 2 morning dives and an afternoon dive. But this… this was a “fun” day of dives…. Let me explain……

Deb and I showed up in similar colors and I happened to be in her favorite color so that meant, Picture time!

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Cozumel México: La Mission and Cozumel

Wednesday night a few of us decided not to do a night dive, so we decided to venture in to Cozumel, especially since hubby and I had never been before. It was hubby, Jared, Karen, Deb, and me. Hubby and I said we weren’t sure where to eat so we told Jared, pick somewhere. In the lobby of the hotel we decided to go to La Mission. We had the concierge get a cab for us and we headed off to town. It really wasn’t that far but our cab ride was $7. Not bad!

They started us off with Chips and Pico style salsa. It isn’t salsa like we’re used to in the states, it is more like pico that we’re used to. The chips were also thicker than we have back home. They weren’t bad but they weren’t my favorite. I prefer a thinner tortilla chip.

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Cozumel México: Diving Stories Galore {Wednesday Dives}

Cozumel is known as a diving destination because of the blue waters and the visibility that seems endless. Seriously, you jump off the boat and 100 feet looks about 10 feet down. And before you know it, there are places you are 100 feet down.

On top of being a SCUBA diving destination, it is also a cruise ship destination. They told me that Wednesday’s are usually busy days in the Cruise ship ports and you could see as many as 6. They also warned to steer clear of town during the day. But This particular Wednesday there were 2 ships in port and that was it. There was also a cruise ship that made headline news with a lady near Houston, Texas, and apparently that cruise ship was in port here at Cozumel either Wednesday or Thursday. How weird is that? I really don’t know all the details, just heard bits and pieces of it.

Anyway back to our dive trip. We kept laughing because I swear these two are twins from another mother… not just brothers. A couple different times they showed up dressed similar if not exactly like each other and I just so happened to document one of the times.

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Cozumel México: Deep Diving in the Ocean {Tuesday Dives}

So if you’ve been around me or this blog any time at all, you know I love pictures. So take this as a warning… this will be picture heavy. As in 31 photos for one day. This is just Tuesday…. Enjoy!

I’ve never been on a dive trip with Deb and Grady before, but from the rumors/stories I’ve heard, when Grady says to be at the docks at 8am, that means the boat leaves the dock at 8am. Prior to heading down there, we said that this was a vacation for all of us and we didn’t want to have to be up early every morning. Grady & Deb use Cozumel Marine World to do their dive trips. Those guys know them well… Grady told them to be at the dock at 9am. I guess they didn’t believe him. Truth be told, our group was mostly at the dock by 8-8:15am because we got up and had breakfast and then didn’t dottle. Remember the boat was told to be there at 9, they showed up at 8:30am, 30 minutes early the first day.

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Cozumel México – The flight down

First thing Monday morning we were headed on our way to Cozumel México. To say we were excited would be an understatement statement. Hubby, Karen, and I neither one slept much the night before. Hubby was excited, I couldn’t get comfortable, Karen was kept awake by the snoring, and Jared said he didn’t sleep much either. Maybe we should have just turned on the tv and had a camp out. lol.

So when you’re going on a destination Scuba diving trip, it is best to take your own BC, your own regulator, your own mask, your own fins, your own dive computer, and your own wet suit. And that’s all fine and dandy but…… you have to do a checked bag to get that all there too. Currently with American Airlines, 50 pounds is $25. If you’re over 50 lbs…. it jumps to $100. That’s definitely a reason not to go over. You’d be better off putting in 2 checked bags because a second bag takes the price up to $40. We had our weights down to 49.something lbs. Yup, we were pushing that limit but we made it! Whew! Then we each had a carry on and a backpack (personal item).

Now when you’re traveling with all your dive gear, make sure you carry on your regulator, your mask, and your dive computer. Also if you take an underwater camera, carry that on too. Hubby’s BC is heavier than mine, and that is without weights in it. So he had to put some of his stuff in my bag to make sure we were both under weight. We both took a 1 1/2 mil wetsuit. That was totally enough for diving in the ocean… down there anyway. In fact I dove without a wet suit once and so did he. I just had a long sleeved rash guard on with my swimsuit.

Anyway…. back to traveling down there. Checking in was easy. Note: carrying on regulators/dive computers/etc sometimes causes bag searches. Hubby’s got searched. Deb said hers usually does but they got by without being checked.

Hubby and I have TSA Pre-check so we went right through. You don’t have to pull out laptops, you don’t have to take your shoes off, you don’t have to take jackets off… stuff like that. Then we went and waited on our crew to come through. Once they got through, Doug found a Starbucks so I ran and got some too. Yup, because of that I was one of the first through but then everyone wound up waiting on me. haha. That wasn’t too big of a deal though because we have to be there 2 hours before anyway. We had time to kill.

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Cozumel México: Rolandi’s Pizzaria & Mr. Chelato’s Ice Cream

So I’m working on going through the couple thousand of photos taken between me and 10 other people in Cozumel. There are so many great photos and so much great stuff to put out there, but boy, going through and deciding how I really want to proceed is a bit tedious. So I decided to start with one of the restaurants we ate at the second night we were in Cozumel.

Deb and Grady told us WE HAD to eat at Rolandi’s Pizzaria. At first we laughed and said, but we can get pizza at home… Okay, I must concur, this was a great place to eat! Totally worth it!

Grady had us start out with their garlic bread. Now this was a lot more like a tortilla than bread, but again… very good. It was grilled flatbread covered in garlic. Then we made an olive oil/balsamic vinegar mixture to dip it in. Even better.

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Chiefs fans know how to do it right!

Do you ever get worried when you see a scene like this? Don’t worry, Chris got meat for us to do for the Chiefs Bonfire Cookout. I don’t know details but they were getting the meat out of Chris’s truck and moving it to hubby’s truck.

The meat was Ribs and Meatloaf. The guys did injections of flavor into the meat as well as dry rubs. Then they smoked them. The meatloafs were smoked as well and wrapped in bacon, except for one loaf. The one loaf was done in the oven, that way if someone didn’t like smoked something, there were options. One of the meatloafs contained our candied jalapeño’s. It gave a sweet and spicy flavor to it, then add in the smokey flavor and yum! They also did up baked beans. Deb provided the potatoes. Her potatoes are awesome. I’m not sure where the dessert came from but it was Pillsbury brownies and ice cream. Then there was potato salad, chips and dip. It was a feast for a large army. There were only 40 of us there…..

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Graduation parties are what Saturday’s are made for!

It is that time of year when graduations are going on. I actually had a bunch of friends who were graduating high school this year, one being SW.  Yesterday I attended her graduation party. When I got there I jumped in and helped Deb start with some of the preparation while SW and her mom Michelle worked on decorations. Then once all the inside prep was caught up, I went outside to check out what was going on. They were working on heating up the pool, building a bonfire, and decorating the pool area.

I just sat down and was talking to Karen when Karen said, oh no, there go the balloons. I guess all the balloons escaped. Woops!

There was food galore! Ham and Cheese sliders, BBQ Pork rib sliders, Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Chips and guac, a fruit bowl, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, and more desserts than you could shake a stick at. I must say, I sampled quite a bit of it…. and it was good. Hey, if there’s one thing I can say, we know how to cook :). Welcome to the Midwest!

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Once a Gorilla

As they say, Once a Gorilla, Always a Gorilla.

I hate to say it but I’ve taken more pride in being a gorilla these last couple of semesters than I did when I first started out on this journey. Sad, now it’s over. There were a few things I wanted to do that I didn’t, such as attending a football game (while a student). But I guess we all have regrets now and then.

I would say my biggest regret right now, not being more excited on Graduation day. Why you ask? Well I was waiting on results for comps and I was afraid that I didn’t pass which meant I didn’t technically graduate. I felt like a fraud and a phony. I also wondered in the back of my head if because I felt that way and was afraid I’d regret the feelings, if I wouldn’t actually pass comps. I did on both accounts… I also think I owe my family an apology because while they were extremely excited… my guilt took over and I kept saying, “I’m not real sure I graduated…”

That morning we got to the school early. I wanted to take a photo shoot, kind of like “senior” photos. It didn’t turn out exactly like I would have liked. Oh well… I still got some good photos. I wasn’t taking them, hubby was and I couldn’t convey what I wanted. Sad how sometimes you see it in your head but can’t get it in words.

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