Week 3 –Suspicious package, Full Moon & Manatees

This week started like any other in Pez Maya, with a day full of dives and a night of “light conversation over drinks”, followed by a Sunday in Tulum. Although nothing eventful has happened on our trips to Tulum so far, it is a nice chance for everyone to speak to the outside world and do their weekly shopping at San Fran.

Monday saw a full day of diving, with most unqualified divers receiving their Open Water certificates, with exceptions for a few poor sickly people (who are thankfully now better and also qualified divers). However, the moon decided to interfere with our diving plans from Wednesday and forth, by causing huge waves that not even the bravest volunteers dare dive in. Even though we didn’t get to go into the water, the water came to us in the form of torrential rain. This luckily only lasted one day, and allowed for some long sunbathing/volleyball sessions on Thursday and Friday. Due to our new spare time, the staff obliged by putting up a basketball hoop, unfortunately right in front of some huge bushes.

The non-diving weather has also given us plenty of time to catch up on our fish and coral studies, and everyone has now passed their first tests. With over half the group having passed their second tests, we are well on the way to start monitoring.

Friday was an eventful day, as half of the group got to take a boat trip around the lagoon, spotting manatees and pelicans and listening to Vidal’s stories. Vidal is our resident guard who makes sure that everything happens as it is supposed to. Not all of us got to go this time, but we are not sorry since a few of us (author included) instead got to see a crocodile down by the visitor’s centre! The last of the group had a surprise of their own during the beach clean, when a mysterious package suddenly washed up on shore. Luckily, all of our staff are highly trained for dealing with these kinds of incidents. They contacted the army, who took it away and disposed of it properly.

We’ll be back with more news next week, when hopefully the moon will be kind to us and allow us to get back to our diving!

Peace and love, Crouz and Maja

Week 3 –Suspicious package, Full Moon & Manatees