Well , it been a few days since returning from my trip to Cozumel. I am adjusting to "real life" again and reflecting on the trip. This was my fourth trip to Cozumel, and my third to Occiental Allegro. There were some unexpected changes at the resort since my last visit 5 years ago.

As I expected the lack of a direct flight caused some headaches and delays in getting there. The typical 2 1/2 hour flight turned into a 9 hour trip. Much too long!

We got to the resort and got settled into our room. I was anxious to get down to the dive shop to sign up and try to get my wife Tracey and I ready for an afternoon shore dive. I turned the corner to the dive shop and where Dive Palancar should have been only to find a new dive operator! I walked up to the gal in the window and asked about doing a shore dive and she bluntly said "There are no shore dives here" She wasnt rude but her attitude wasnt exactly friendly either. I asked why and she said something to the referring to it being illegal and the "previous operator" was poorly managed. I wasnt exactly impressed with this first meeting. I had to bite my tounge to keep from expressing my opinion so I said thanks and left. At this point I was getting worried. Who the heck would i dive through! I wanted to start diveing first thing in the morning but wasnt sure who to go through at this point. I walked to the pier and looked up the beach to the next resort and I spied what looked like the Dive Plancar boats tied up off of Occidental Grand resort. I took a quick walk up the beach and found that Palancar had moved to the Grand resort for some reason or another. No one wanted to talk about it too much but I seemed there were some hard feeling about what happened. Nonetheless, I got signed up with them for some afternoon dives and I was happy to be diving with some old friends in
Cozumel. They agreed to pick me up at the pier at my resort and deliver me to the dive boat every day. That would save me a long walk on the beach every day! The best part is that they still allowed unlimited shore dives at their new beach area at Grand. The next morining I took Tracey and our gear up the beach to do a shore dive with her. It had been 5 years since her last dive so she needed some refresher water time. Unfortunately the water was kind of rough that morning and she had a difficult time. The waves freaked her out and ultimatley she bailed out after her unsucsessful attempt of getting though the waves. I was initially upset with her for quiting so soon, she is a good diver and knows what to do. All she had to do is get through the waves and she would be in the clear! Tracey got out but i decided to go out for a while and try out the borrowed gear I was using. I did have one problem. I had recently purchased some new boots but never tried them on until arriving in Mexico. When I put them on and tried to put my fins on I found they wouldnt fit in the fin pocket!! Ultimately I had to force them into the fins and loosen my fin straps . Now getting them off would be quite a work out!

After the shore dive I returned to our resort for a look around. There were some obvious changes going on here! After talking with a few locals I discovered that Cozumel was in the middle of a recession itself. With an economy that revolves around tourism , the recession in America has had an affect on the Cozumel economy. Our resort which had rebuilt and expanded after Hurricane Wilma was mostly empty. The official number was 55% capacity but it almost seemed deserted at times. The services had been cut back too. It could be downright frustrating to get a drink at the bar sometimes! It seems the bartenders were told to be extra slow to serve drinks to discourage consumption. I usually tip at the begining of the week to get quicker service but after my first attempt at the bar I decided to wait to see if service improved.....it didnt. Dont get me wrong here, they employees were very cordial and nice but very slow. In previous trips here even with a very busy bar the wait for your drinks was usually very short and the selve serve Corona on tap was no more. I tried to pour my own but was quickly told NO. Bummer! It is obvious the resorts are cutting back to conserve money. They have to to survive I supose. Despite the changes the resort is still very nice , clean and inviting to be at. I have no complaints about the facilities. Even the beds are softer and more comfortable now. The food was average but good enough for seconds! I had read many complaints on line about food but found a good selection and for the most part flavorful.

I will continue my trip later on another posting!

I had been diving for a couple of years and had logged quite a few dives in all kinds of conditions but still hadnt been any deeper than 50 feet or so. My dive buddy Don and I got involved with a local group of divers and one of the couples had a place at Table Rock Lake in Southern Missouri and they invited a bunch of us out to dive there. We jumped at the chance to see some new waters. We had heard that the lake had some good diving, with ledges, walls and even a few boat wrecks.
Mark and Helen had a great set up for diving and water sports. We had aquired a couple of pontoon boats to dive off and great accomodation to stay at for a weekend of diving. Our first dive site was at a place named Breezy Point. A rock outcroping where boaters like to stop, climb up a cliff and jump int0 the water. We tied up just down from the jump point and dove along the steeply dropping bottom. I easily surpassed my 50 foot mark (my previous depth maximum) to 80 feete as we cruised along a jagged rock and log slope towardss the point. We got to the jumping point and settled to a smaller ledge at 90 feet where there were several divers already sifting through the bottom looking for whatever the jumpers might have lost. As usuall they were finding sunglasses, money and some watches. Just like my home dives at The Offsets.

Divb buddy Gary

Onother dive there is perhaps one of my most memorable of all the freshwater dives Ive ever done. To this day it is still etched in my mind. We went to a place called Enchanted Forest a short ways from the dam. It is stand of giant old forest trees standing upright in 130 feet of water. We stayed at about 90 feet swimming through the branches still strong and reaching out into the water , just as they would look in a winters' forest with no leaves. The water was a green haze from the lack of sunlight and there were miles of fishing line strung between all the branches from fisherman getting snagged. There arent any fish at 90 feet so I dont know why the fisherman were fishing that deep. I had to use my dive knife to cut my way through it or else get stuck myslef, like a fly in a spiders web. I would compare this to waking through the woods at dawn but with a green sky above. Someday I would like to go back an do that one again .

I leaned about the physiological and psychological effects of deeper diving that summer. To dive safely at depth (any depth really) you have to be able to keep your wits about you because things can go wrong FAST down there and a panicky person could get themselves in serious trouble if they are not able to stop and think about what is wrong and how to remedy a situation. The effedts of nitrogen narcosis only amplify those reactions in people. Ive seen divers panick and almost get themselves hurt pretty bad when they could have easily resoved their problems by thinking them through.

I dont have any pictures from those day so I'll jus post more form other trips.

Sooner or later I usually get asked how, or why, I got into scuba diving. Since we're not near any oceans or reefs, scuba diving is not extremely popular here in the Midwest except to the very adventurous souls or those that travel. I must credit my sisters' first husband Eric to introducing me the hobby. First I was introduced to the hobby of marine aquarium keeping where I spent hours watching and learning about marine life. I watched amazing things happen inside the confines of that glass box and wondered what it must be like in the actual ocean, but I still had no plans to join Eric in the water . It was a passing thought that maybe someday I would try it. Erics family owned a business in Jamaica and he often traveled there and had been diving for some time. It wasnt really in my plans or goals to travel with him there or to learn to dive. Through an unfortunate turn of events Erics was killed in an auto accident and for several years his dive gear sat in my sisters closet unused. I thought it was a shame that the gear was just wasting away there and began researching what it would take to learn to dive. I found a local dive shop and convinced a buddy of mine to get certified with me.

We got certified and dove locally where ever we could get underwater. We were both enthusiastic about diving and the thrills of discovering what was at the bottom of all the lakes an quarries around us. I began planning how and where I would make my first trip to the tropics. I didnt have the good job yet so I knew I had to wait and save while my buddy make several trips without me. It took me several years to save up enough disposable income to go diving and it was well worth it when I hit the waters of Roatan for the first time! It was better than I ever imagined it would be....a truely giant aquarium! So much to see...so little air. From then on I was hooked and my future vacations would revolve around getting to the reefs. I didnt think much about going to Disneyland , Grand Canyon or the other typical vacation destinations. I wanted to get back to the ocean! Again...I must credit my late brother in law for opening up that door to a completely different world that was beyond the cornfields and shopping centers of the midwest. Dont get me wrong though....my midwest , farm heritage is strong but the call of the ocean is almost as strong. What I wouldnt give to livw on farm where the cornfields and woods end at a beach and some good reef diving!

I went to the local dive shop yesterday to pick up some gear for an upcoming trip. Its a new shop and owner is very helpful. I left a camera that I no longer use with the shop to try to sell. Hopefully it sells and I can put money towards some more new gear I want. My problem I have is with a Uwatec Alladin computer I bought a few years ago from a buddy of mine. Its battery died on me a couple of years ago in the middle of a dive. Luckily I was only in 20 feet, in very familiar waters, so I was comfortable finishing my dive knowing my dive time and bottom time were well within my no decompression limits.
When I took the computer to get the battery changed I find out that since my buddy hadnt bought it through a dealer (he bought it on line) that the free battery change wasnt covered and it was on me. I agreed and asked how much. The cost to ship the computer to manufacturer and have them do it in the hundreds of dollars! I was rather torqued off to say the least. Now I have a six or seven year old computer that I was completely satisfied with but costs more to have a new battery put in that it is worth. I could scrap it and buy a new , more modern computer for less than what I paid for this one. Somehow I dont feel that should ever have to be the option for something so simple as a battery change. I have an older Oceanic Prodigy computer that has and still works just fine and all it needs is a $2.00 battery from Walmart that I can change myself.
Although it has been a couple of years since all this happened I still look at the Uwatec sitting on the shelf, lifeless, and get aggrevated with it. It was suggested to me recently t0 take it apart to see if I could do it myslef. I took the back cover off and discovered a sealed compartment that has to be cut apart. I stopped short of tearing into it but I just might after it sits a while longer. I'm still holding on to a glimmer of hope that I can save it somehow.
Now I know I will never buy a piece of electonic dive gear that I cant service myself! I dont care how good of a piece of equipment it is. My Prodigy will have to suffice for my upcoming vacation or rent a Nitrox capable computer if I dont want to use air! Hopefully before my NEXT trip I can upgrade my BC too.

Winter is almost over and I'm getting ready for a planned trip to Cozumel in April. Ive been digging my gear out of storage and checking it over to see if I'm missing anything or if it still fits....such as my wet suit. It seems I put on a few pounds since last summer!

Currently it has been 5 years since our last dive trip and my wife Tracey and I are anxious to go again. This will be her second dive trip since being certified in Cozumel. I think I should find a pool to get her into so she can familiarize herself with

What will be interesting about this trip is that my parents are going with us. This will be their first trip to Mexico and they are also excited. Now that they are retired they are traveling more spending my inheritance!

In the next month I've got a lot of planning to do and checklists to go over in preparation to get all the gear checked out and packed. We've got a pair of fins on order, some new booties to get as well.