Trouble in Paradise Re-cap

I’m not sure if you know this, but Gary and I scuba dive.  We learned 9 years ago on a trip to Key West and since then, we try and at least get in one diving trip in a year.  This year, our trip was to Cozumel (it’s a little island off the coast of Mexico, surrounded by the warm tropical seas of the Caribbean). 

That’s where I’ve been hiding out for the last couple of weeks just in case you were wondering what happened…

The day after we arrived, I got an evil cold.  Probably the same nasty virus that a lot of folks got over the last month or two.  I guess my body needed a rest or something, because I was stuck in bed for almost a week.  No diving for the first leg of the trip, just bed-rest, knitting and lots of ‘Charmed’ re-runs on one of the 2 english TV channels. 

At one point, feeling bored and under the influence of cold medication, I snapped some photos of the room (don’t even think that I’m complaining, because really, I had ocean views, my knitting with me and could take the elevator down to the beach to soak up some rejuvenating tropical sunshine anytime):

Once I was on the mend, we took some trips downtown to sample some amazing food and margaritas.  One of my favorite restaurants was Pancho’s Backyard.  As the name implies, Pancho’s was a very peaceful tropical backyard or more like a courtyard in the back of a large arts & crafts store.  All the waiters dressed in crisp white uniforms and served plate after plate of delicious delectables.

I wish we took some photos of the food there, but just got a snap of the really cute afternoon entertainment:

Are you getting bored yet?

After eating & drinking the cold away, I did get better and finally got some diving in.  The great part about our hotel was that it was right on the beach and had it’s own dock for the dive boat.  Basically, you just go up to your room, take your gear, go down the elevator and out the lobby door and your there.

Most of the dives were what’s called ‘drift’ diving.  That’s where they take you near the edge of a reef or ’wall’ (where it descends down hundreds of feet into the abyss) and kind of just drop you off there.  Then, you position yourself properly underwater (about 90 feet down) and then drift with the current and watch all the lovely sea creatures and coral formations that live along the wall.  The real trick, is sticking with the dive master while 6 other people ‘flail’ wildly about, going in all different directions in the current AND THEN  finally get picked up by the boat 45 minutes later.  We were definitely lucky to have both a great dive master and boat captain, because we all made it back every time, just like magic!

It’s sounding like a scuba blog isn’t it?

On the second week of our trip, we got take the ferry over to Playa Del Carmen.  Where Cozumel has mostly coral lined beaches, Playa has soft white sands and gently rolling waves.  It’s definitely the place to go if you want to shop, eat, relax on the beach and soak up the sun.

This is why I wear swim trunks, so I can sneak off to the beach and jump into the water when nobody is looking:

As you wander, you find these cute little ’boutique’ hotels (I guess that’s the term) off the main avenue with lovely gardens:

This wasn’t our first trip to Playa, so we knew exactly where we wanted to eat lunch.  We snapped a couple of photos of the waiter at Cafe Luna making our favorite dish Camarónes Diablos Flambé (so delicious):

Before we returned to Cozumel on the ferry, I got to take photos with my best friend ‘Chacho’:

To round out our trip, we (Gary, his mom, dad and I) rented a jeep and drove around the island of Cozumel.  We saw the beautiful ruins of San Gervasio:

And, the more rugged east side of the island:

I won’t go into all the cruise ships that visited the island every day, ‘inflicting’ it’s crazy passengers on us at every turn, just show you how pretty the ships looked at night (Gary setup the tripod and took this pretty and sparkly picture just for you):

And a balcony panorama too:

That’s enough, right?  I think that’s all the travel-photo-stuff I’m going to torture you with for now.

In the next post (when I get can find some time), I’m going to tell you all about:

• The surprise I found in the mail when I returned
• Progress on the brown cardigan
• My very first knitting group social (ever!)
• Friends I met at Renaissance Yarns in Kent
• And a new project