Push-ups, Cenotes and Looooooooooooads of Diving!

After a hectic first week in Pez Maya, we deserved a break. So last weekend we had a relaxing Saturday afternoon in the hammocks. At night we had a few beers and a few cocktails and then the peculiar “Goggle Game” was born. If you get caught you have to drop what you are doing and do three push ups which sounds fine until you get caught by 5 people in 10 minutes. It’s now Friday again and we still see people dropping at the floor at random intervals. The group is really starting to bond. We’re an international mix with a Norwegian, Swede, Kiwi, 2 Americans, 2 Mexicans and a lot of no longer pale/faced Brits.

On Sunday, we ventured into civilisation with internet, shopping and some meaty tacos in nearby Tulum and some beautiful snorkelling at Dos Ojos cenote. A cenote is a freshwater lake in a cave and Dos Ojos was absolutely stunning. It also seemed to provide some temporary respite for our Saturday night mosquito bites.

Back on base this week, nearly everyone is now a qualified diver and most of us are working towards our Advanced Open Water certification which will allow us to dive to a depth of 30 metres. This is to enable us to monitor fish and coral living below the 18 metre limit of our basic open water qualification. We are also learning how to perfect our buoyancy in the water. As a new diver, I’m still amazed that I can now control whether I move up and down by how I breathe. Incredible. We have had a second week of spectacular sightings including loggerhead turtles, an octopus, some marlins, a bull shark and an iguana fight. On Thursday, we started the birding surveys and next week we will start some community work. Looking forward to that. For now, it’s time for a swim in that turquoise Caribbean sea…..

Push-ups, Cenotes and Looooooooooooads of Diving!