PDC, Dos Ojos and Cozumel with Fantasea Dive Trip Report

[lovesmexico615]

Alright guys, I've had a chance to catch up on work since I returned home, so I've finally managed to get my trip report done.

Monday:
My flight out of Boston was at 5:45 in the morning, and I managed to catch a couple hours of sleep on the flights, and made it into CUN at about 11:30. I called Jason, and let him know when I would be getting into La Rana with all my gear. I caught a collectivo to Playa, which took about an hour. Easy, and it dropped me off right at La Rana, where Jason was there to meet me, get me checked in and haul all my gear to the docks, where he had the boat ready to leave for 1:30.

We made it to the boat on time, met up with Craig and Yessica to go out on our first day of diving- One dive at Moc-Che Deep, then a second at Moc-Che Shallows. Jason had his camera so he was shooting video, and I decided not to bring mine so I could trim out my buoyancy again in the warm water. Our first dive was in beautiful 81* water, with 75ish foot visibility, and depths up to about 95 feet. We were keeping our eyes peeled for sharks because Jason had run into one here last week, but to no avail. We did see plenty of other life though. I felt good in the water, and the dive was beautiful. I think we did about 35 minutes on this dive. Then it was back to the boat to off-gas until the next dive. The second dive was Moc-Che Shallows- about 60 feet deep, with about 60ish feet of visibility. Still beautiful. And still no sharks. We did about 57 minutes here, then made our way back to the beach by about 4:30. Perfect, because I was meeting up with friends at 5. I went out with friends for a couple drinks, and turned in early- it had been a long day.

Tuesday:
I grabbed breakfast at this cute restaurant I had found while I was there in October, then I headed out to meet Jason. We were planning on diving Tortugas and a yet to be determined reef. He had another diver coming with us today who hadn’t dived in Playa before. I guess it was lucky for me, but he never showed up.

We changed our plans and went out to the Mama Viña wreck instead. It’s an old live-aboard ship that was sank maybe 10 years ago. It’s all still in tact, and has plenty of swim throughs; but the really cool thing is the
barracuda that call it home. The bow is at about 85ish feet, and the deepest we got was probably 95 or so. I don't have my notes with me so depths might be off...

After exploring the wreck for a while we wandered out over the reef because we still had plenty of air, and ran into a beautiful school of Atlantic Spadefish- Jason got some really cool video of it. It was a great way to start off the day, and I still had a second dive coming
up!

For the second dive we went to Barracuda Reef. It is near Sabalos Reef which I had dived before, and Jason thought we would have enough air to maybe make it through half of Sabalos as well. This dive again was shallower, around 50 feet with medium currents and good visibility. It was beautiful. We ran into a bunch of Morays, and Jason pointed out a seahorse to me. The best part for me though was seeing a sea turtle at the very end of the dive- I could watch them forever!

After the dives I headed back to get cleaned up, then wander around and find food. I tried Babes Noodle Bar- the food was great, and the margarita was tasty and STRONG!!! I took a quick nap after (the diving or the drink, who knows?!) Then wandered around 5th, finally getting to bed- I did have to dive the next day!

Wednesday:
I woke up at 7:30 again, walked the beach and 5th again, and had some breakfast. I made it to Jason’s for 8:30 to meet Claus, the guide that Jason had picked to take me to the Cenotes. He gave me and the other girl diving with us a history lesson on the way out there. I'll skip the history lesson here, but suffice to say it's amazing.

The Cenote we were headed to is called Dos Ojos (Two Eyes). It was named as the way the gods of the other worlds saw into our world. Dos Ojos is about an hour south of Playa, and on the way we stopped to see an Ocelot, and some monkeys. The ocelot was very playful, but the monkeys didn’t really care for me.

The dive was amazing- just breathtaking. It was like swimming through space- crystal clear water, light everywhere. We finished our dives around 1:30- none of the cenotes are deep- maybe 45 feet or so, and I didn’t bump anything! We went pretty deep into the second one (the Bat Cave) and got to see the Halocline, where salt and freshwater combine, to skew visibility like crazy. It was trippy.

Thursday:
In the morning I was up to meet Jason at 8:30 at his place again to go to Cozumel. We were headed to do the Santa Rosa Wall and Paradiso Reef. The wall drops down into a 2,000 foot abyss. Really crazy. We were going to stay around 90 feet, but ended up a bit deeper. I started getting a little loopy... realized what was going on and went back up and it passed.

There were passes to swim through, and looking over the edge was really amazing. Saw the most beautiful coral formations I could imagine, and some really cool fish.

After our deep dive we went to Paradiso, and it’s a nice shallower dive. It was warm, and beautiful and doing the 3 days of diving with just myself and a guide was great. I started being able to pick up on smaller life forms that I hadn’t noticed before, which was really cool. We headed back to Playa around 4:00 PM and planned on meeting up with Byte Me from the forum at the Beer Bucket at 8:00 to watch the Cowboys-Packers game. It was fun even though the Packers lost, and I thoroughly enjoyed my last night in Playa.

I had dived with Jason in October, and liked the way he ran his business. As soon as I started looking to go back I booked with Jason right away. I like the individual attention and the video's that he does

Now I can't wait to go back. Again.

Sorry this is so long... I have pictures, but don't know how to add them to the trip report...

[jwdizney]

Great report! sounds awesome.. thanks for sharing!

[Byte Me]

Great to meet you Amanda - too bad it wasn't under better circumstances - damn Cowboys...

It was actually pretty great circumstances wasn't it? 85F, beautiful beaches, awesome diving! I picked up w/ Jason where Amanda left off the next day and will have a report up in the next day or so.

I'm back in May and next time Cenote for sure and we'll see what else!

[unclepooty]

I'll admit I'm a Cowboy fan, but would have gladly accepted a loss to have been there with y'all. Sounded like a good time, and the videos I've seen are great.

[lovesmexico615]

Brian-you have to do the Cenotes- it was unreal. I'll be honest - I love the fish and other creatures swimming around the coral the best, but the Cenotes are not to be missed. Just an unbelievable experience. And Claus was a great guide. I even got to hold a wild Ocelot!

[guggie]

Ahh. Reading this report was like going back again. Your dives were just like mine, except you had the wreck thrown in. Nice! It was on our dive that my son and Jason saw the big bull shark on Moc-che deep.. I didn't see it since I was photographing a turtle. We have the video to watch though. We show the video to everyone that comes over our house and that is a bunch of people this time of the year!

I see that you got to meet Craig as well. Nice guy huh? And a great job! Works down there for the cold months and up here during our warm months. Tough life.

We've got our plans in order to return to PDC and Jason/Fantasea Dive the last week of May. This time, the whole family is going back. My daughter dives, but not my wife. She'll lounge on the beach. All I'm waiting for is my son to double confirm the time off at work and the tickets, hotel (La Tortuga), and Jason will be BOOKED!!

I "drift by" this forum everyday and have enjoyed seeing the reports of yours and Byte Me. Keep warm up there in Quincy! We've still got ice on the trees down here in CT and the local ski area opens for the season this weekend. This will be my 20th year on the ski patrol there. Gonna be hard to change gears and get enthused for skiing after my PDC trip, and that was a month ago!

Doug

[Defman]

Originally Posted by lovesmexico615

Tuesday:
I grabbed breakfast at this cute restaurant I had found while I was there in October

Thanks for the great report, but are you just gonna keep this place a secret????

[lovesmexico615]

Originally Posted by Defman

Thanks for the great report, but are you just gonna keep this place a secret????

If I knew the name I would tell you... on 5th Ave, near 6th St. It was across from one of the big touristy kitchy shops. As opposed to the small touristy kitchy shops.

[lovesmexico615]

Originally Posted by guggie

We've got our plans in order to return to PDC and Jason/Fantasea Dive the last week of May. This time, the whole family is going back. My daughter dives, but not my wife. She'll lounge on the beach. All I'm waiting for is my son to double confirm the time off at work and the tickets, hotel (La Tortuga), and Jason will be BOOKED!!

Doug

Hmm... I think thats the same week that I'm looking at... Maybe I'll have to to tag along on one of your dives

[Defman]

Originally Posted by lovesmexico615

If I knew the name I would tell you... on 5th Ave, near 6th St. It was across from one of the big touristy kitchy shops. As opposed to the small touristy kitchy shops.

Ha, I understand... "You know, that place down by the other place, close to the thingie?"