Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!

Week 5 has not been the most productive week for diving unfortunately but we managed to do many other exciting stuff here in Pez maya!!

Friday saw problems with the engine on Ka’ay so we couldn’t dive because we didn’t have a rescue boat for our other boat, Vision. Instead we got on with exciting things like rescue diver theory and the weekly kitchen clean, a joyful task which involves taking EVERYTHING out of the kitchen, cleaning it and then putting it back. The day improved dramatically after lunch though with a volleyball tournament to get rid of everyone’s frustration.

On Saturday Ka’ay was ready to be tested but the sea was too rough to get the boats in the water. The rest of the morning consisted of the most enormous thunder storm. Most of the rain we’ve had so far has fallen in short, sharp, heavy bursts, but this was about four hours of persistent lashing rain and thunder and lightning. It was pretty impressive except for the fact it meant we couldn’t dive! It wasn’t the end of the world though. Saturday is our half day anyway so we got to leave nice and early.

Most of the group went to stay in Playa del Carmen that night to take advantage of the many luxuries that town offers; meat, cheese, air con, showers and maybe a civilised drink or two? They also went to see Andres, one of our volunteers, perform fire poi at one of the beach-front bars, which was amazing, especially with a very moody lightning-filled sky as a backdrop!

That weekend also coincided with the Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead festival. This is a time of year when people remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died. Liz, Sarah, Laura and Jo decided to head for Xcaret to see a bit of Mexican culture where there were traditional alters, loads of people with painted faces, lots of music and performances and thousands and thousands of candles. Saturday also saw the arrival of a new expedition member, Joe.

It was Jamie’s birthday on Sunday so she headed off to Dos Ojos with Liz and Vicky to do a cenote dive. The cenote is stunning. It’s so pretty with stalactites and stalagmites and crystal clear water.

On Monday there were more problems with the boat engine so there was no diving again. One group of volunteers went to a cenote to do some training dives and another group went to Akumal, a beautiful beach just up the coast. Akumal has a resident population of turtles, which sounded pretty appealing to Jenny in particular, who after almost 5 weeks still hadn’t seen a turtle! Thankfully she saw plenty of turtles that day and even got some lovely pics too!

For the rest of the week, even though there were still problems with the boat engine, we managed to find a boat to act as a rescue boat so we got one dive each. Hooray! It felt so good to finally get back in the water again.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays a group goes to Punta Allen to teach English to the kids there. Laura, Aaron, Mel and Jessie prepared a lesson and made worksheets and drove all the way down there only to find that there were no kids. Nevermind. They went back on Thursday instead, so all was well.

Fingers crossed, once again, for better diving conditions next week!

Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!