Mexicos
Well, I'm back. I had a week and a half off to soak up all the fun that Texas and Mexico had to offer, and if I didn't quite make it, I was pretty damn close. I spent 5 days in Austin, 5 days in Mexico, and then two final days in Austin. My trip to Austin was long overdue, I hadn't been back since last June. It's the longest I've ever been away from Texas. I got to see my dog Kona, and she was by my side virtually the whole time. I had my good friend Ben McCormick down from North Dakota and got to show him around my town. We hit clubs, the lake, the whole enchilada.
Mexico was, well Mexico. We started in Cancun and ended up in Cozumel. Cozumel isn't nearly as commercial as Cancun, but its still pretty bad. People trying to get you to buy crap wherever you go, shouting at the top of their lungs. I don't have a problem tell them to fuck off, but it does get draining after a bit. Still I went down there for the diving, not the people, and it didn't dissappoint. I went on four dives over two days, and it was incredible. The first two dives were excellent. I was a little nervous getting into the water, but once I did all my dive knowledge came back to me. The current in Cozumel is pretty strong, but since all the dives flowed with the current it just meant that you had to spend less energy swimming. The second day of diving was the most incredible experience I've ever had. We went to this reef, who's name escapes me at the moment, and dove down about thirty feet. We swam along the bottom until we reached these massives rock cliffs, completely covered in coral. The cliffs went up about 30 feet above us, 10 feet shy of the surface, and had these 5 foot wide channels all the way through them that we navigated. We swam through caves and ravines that were absolutely stunning, and we would occasionally get glimpses of endless blue. Then we swam out of the cliffs and we were floating in open water. The cliffs must have been a hundred feet high. Seventy feet below us we could just barely make out the see floor, and the cliffs went up thirty feet over us. We swam along the outside of the cliffs, watching fish flit up and down. It was utterly amazing. The next dive was just as spectacular biologically. I saw a lobster as big as a golden retriever, a large nurse shark swimming with attending pilot fish, a six foot bright green moray eel, a sting ray, six foot barracude, and more fish than I could ever remember. It's really given me a craving to dive more, and I was thinking of trying some wreck diving off the Atlantic coast.
On our final full day in Mexico, Ben, my best friend Matt, and my friend Jen rented a car and trekked into the jungle in search of Mayan ruins. We went out to a rather remote Mayan site call Ek Balam. Its a recently excavated site, 1996, that is still in the process of being completely explored. We hired a local guide to show us around the ruins, and he did a rather good job explaining both the work that was taking place and the discoveries made so far. We got to climb to the summit of the massive temple and look over the endless jungle that stretched in all directions. Ek Balam is still being worked on so one half of the main temple was completely covered in jungle. Like an idiot I forgot my camera, but Ben more than made up for it and took lots of pictures. Soon as I get them from him I will post them. Our trip back was a little perilous. Between running out of gas, getting bogus directions, and retreking the same road 3 times we missed the last ferry back to Cozumel and had to spend our last night in a dive motel in Playa de Carmen.
My last days in Austin are a blur, of movies with a good friend, and drinking with my brother. I must admit my brother and I had a great time. I was utter wasted, having slept less than 9 hours in two days, but we went out and tore it up with his friends and mine. Ben got on his plane, and I was going home a few hours later, but I was supremely confident I got all the fun out of the trip. Anyway, pictures to come, happy 4th of July all.
Mexico was, well Mexico. We started in Cancun and ended up in Cozumel. Cozumel isn't nearly as commercial as Cancun, but its still pretty bad. People trying to get you to buy crap wherever you go, shouting at the top of their lungs. I don't have a problem tell them to fuck off, but it does get draining after a bit. Still I went down there for the diving, not the people, and it didn't dissappoint. I went on four dives over two days, and it was incredible. The first two dives were excellent. I was a little nervous getting into the water, but once I did all my dive knowledge came back to me. The current in Cozumel is pretty strong, but since all the dives flowed with the current it just meant that you had to spend less energy swimming. The second day of diving was the most incredible experience I've ever had. We went to this reef, who's name escapes me at the moment, and dove down about thirty feet. We swam along the bottom until we reached these massives rock cliffs, completely covered in coral. The cliffs went up about 30 feet above us, 10 feet shy of the surface, and had these 5 foot wide channels all the way through them that we navigated. We swam through caves and ravines that were absolutely stunning, and we would occasionally get glimpses of endless blue. Then we swam out of the cliffs and we were floating in open water. The cliffs must have been a hundred feet high. Seventy feet below us we could just barely make out the see floor, and the cliffs went up thirty feet over us. We swam along the outside of the cliffs, watching fish flit up and down. It was utterly amazing. The next dive was just as spectacular biologically. I saw a lobster as big as a golden retriever, a large nurse shark swimming with attending pilot fish, a six foot bright green moray eel, a sting ray, six foot barracude, and more fish than I could ever remember. It's really given me a craving to dive more, and I was thinking of trying some wreck diving off the Atlantic coast.
On our final full day in Mexico, Ben, my best friend Matt, and my friend Jen rented a car and trekked into the jungle in search of Mayan ruins. We went out to a rather remote Mayan site call Ek Balam. Its a recently excavated site, 1996, that is still in the process of being completely explored. We hired a local guide to show us around the ruins, and he did a rather good job explaining both the work that was taking place and the discoveries made so far. We got to climb to the summit of the massive temple and look over the endless jungle that stretched in all directions. Ek Balam is still being worked on so one half of the main temple was completely covered in jungle. Like an idiot I forgot my camera, but Ben more than made up for it and took lots of pictures. Soon as I get them from him I will post them. Our trip back was a little perilous. Between running out of gas, getting bogus directions, and retreking the same road 3 times we missed the last ferry back to Cozumel and had to spend our last night in a dive motel in Playa de Carmen.
My last days in Austin are a blur, of movies with a good friend, and drinking with my brother. I must admit my brother and I had a great time. I was utter wasted, having slept less than 9 hours in two days, but we went out and tore it up with his friends and mine. Ben got on his plane, and I was going home a few hours later, but I was supremely confident I got all the fun out of the trip. Anyway, pictures to come, happy 4th of July all.