I didn’t have any trouble with my sinuses, just an itchy throat, so I decided to risk it. I never ended up getting a sore throat, but I’m happy I went diving when I did because once the illness really took hold I had a stuffy nose and pretty gunked-up sinuses. I squeezed in that dive just in the nick of time!
Night diving reminds me of cavern diving. It’s very dark– in most cases it’s actually darker than a cavern or cenote. Different animals come out when it’s dark, or the animals you see at day have different behaviors. There were so many octopus on the reef, which I have never seen around here during the day.
The weird stuff swimming around in the water freaked me out a little. They didn’t bite, but they were attracted to our lights and hands and kept bumping into my skin. A couple looked like they were going for my face. I have no idea what they were! Where do they go during the day, and why do they only come out at night? So many questions…
The sargassum stink is bad. It’s not all day, but I smell it for at least part of the day every day. And I’m a 10 minute drive from the water! A lot of tourism in this area is dependent upon the beach, and if the beaches reek of rotten eggs, people won’t visit.
Courtesy of Riviera Maya News and Events
You can see in the image above, the sargassum–when not being removed by beach workers practically 24/7– piles up in a significant amount along beaches.
What can I say! I like bats.
IDC stands for Instructor Development Course.
We dove The Pit first, even though according to the handy graphic on the right, you’re supposed to begin with Level 1 and progress through harder and harder cenotes. I initially asked the dive shop if I could join an easy, beginner cenote… but when I told them my certification level and number of dives, I got the impression that they figured I’d be fine starting in a more advanced cenote. I’m happy to say they ended up being right.
I can’t believe how clear the water was. It’s so clear, you forget you’re underwater. It really feels like you’re flying through space.
I wish I could do the experience justice, but it’s hard to capture the weird beauty on paper. You kind of have to experience it!
Entering the halocline is very sudden, there’s no gradient. I blinked, and suddenly the world was pixelated. If I held my hand up about 4 inches from my face I could read my computer– otherwise, the salty water reduced everything to grainy colors and vague shapes. Having unique, or brightly-colored gear might be a good thing to invest in…! It’s not very thick though, so you aren’t in the halocline layer for long enough for it to be a true safety issue.
I was marveling at everything when I saw a huge commotion to my right– tons of divers were waving their flashlights at something near the bottom, getting everyone’s attention. There was a guy swimming right on the sulfur cloud, dragging his fin tips. What struck me as odd was that nobody went down to try and pull him up or physically get his attention.
We had been told, under No Circumstances should you touch the cloud. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, Do Not Touch The Cloud.
Why exactly? We were assured it isn’t a hazard to anyone (I dunno about that, but okay), but up until 6-8 years ago divers were allowed to actually pass through the cloud and descend to the bottom, or swim on/in it. The cloud ended up being agitated to the point where it rose, filing more of The Pit. This reduced visibility and made the available area much smaller. Smaller space means fewer people can dive, which means fewer people visiting, which means less money is being made. And when it comes to money, people can get very serious.
Most cenotes are on private land, and often owned by collectives of indigenous locals. Entrance fees can be their main source of income, so anything that threatens their livelihood is bad news. The Pit was closed temporarily in the hope that the sulfur cloud would eventually sink back down to its pre-agitation levels…
And thankfully, it did! Since that incident, it’s strictly forbidden to agitate the sulfur layer. Like I noted above, it’s taken so seriously there was talk of calling the police. Photos were taken of the offending individual, which were shared among the staff, so I have a feeling this guy got banned.
We last talked about the Gear Exchange, and how I initially failed it.
“Instead of exchanging masks, divers remove and replace their own masks.”
The PADI Instructor Manual had the info! That’s official, baby! And with just that one little change, I felt much more calm. I successfully completed the Gear Exchange the second time through, and it was shockingly easy when I had the right mindset.
With the hard part over, it was time to work on some other tasks.
I had no instruction on how to create the Emergency Plan or the Map. There’s also not a lot of guidance online!
Ah, Rescue Scenario #7! This is an assessment for Rescue Diver too. When I did it over ten years ago, I had to pull a fellow diver onto shore. This time, I had to tow the diver to a boat. I can barely remember my Rescue Diver training, but I feel like this time the assessment was so much easier.
I’m never going to live down the fact that I couldn’t tie the damn bowline. I was doing so well, but it was like all my practice and skill disappeared the moment I got underwater. I got water in my brain or something hah! And don’t even get me started on the 5 Point Ascent/Descent…
And the struggle didn’t end there. The next part of the course felt like a complete disaster. Nothing I did was right, and anything I thought I did well wasn’t good enough. Endless issues, endless frustrations. The stress kept building until it basically turned into a negative feedback loop: the instructor would get stressed, which would make me stressed, which would make the instructor stressed, which made me stressed… you get the idea. It was miserable, to be completely honest.
Oh boy!!! This is a long one because there’s so much that happened and so much to say about it.
A dive shop I visited told me about their Divemaster program, and I figured, why not do it now when I have the time and the motivation! Divemaster used to be a dream of mine as a kid, but as an adult I put the idea on the back burner . I have some chronic pain issues, so working a very physical job was probably not in the cards for me. I also had been enjoying just taking Specialty classes, and didn’t feel like I needed a professional rating.
Despite my many reservations, I decided to go for it. I thought if anything, it would make me a better diver. Plus, if I got in enough dives, it might be a cheap way to fill up more of my logbook!
Now that I’m done with the course I have mixed feelings about my training. Spoiler Alert: I passed! But I didn’t enjoy the experience. We had to figure out the training schedule as we progressed through the course, which made everything difficult because we had such a limited timeframe. As much as I like to think I’m spontaneous, I’ve discovered I learn a lot better when academic activities are streamlined and mapped out in advance (as much as possible).
All things considered I did get the certification, and after a lot of thought and rest… I think I did indeed become a better diver. And I did get in a ton of dives for cheap once I did the math.
Divemasters, once certified, can run and assist several programs. I have personally never met an instructor who had a divemaster as an assistant–it’s probably not cost effective– but that is a career option. Another career option is leading dives as a solo guide, and that’s been my experience.
Equipment! I love scuba equipment. Every time I walk into a shop, I want to buy *everything* even if I don’t need it. I just love all the tools! I needed to buy a few things for the course, and my wallet wept… I mean good grief, who knew a simple dive light could cost so much! Why is my beloved hobby so expensive!?
My course experience was unfortunately marred by some weird behavior from a potential instructor. Happily, I was able to switch to another instructor, but the last-minute nature of the change, the drama, and the fallout contributed to an already stressful learning environment. It’s a great reminder to really check the people who are going to be taking care of you. Plus, never accept bad treatment!
I found the eLearning to be pretty easy. The final module covers the harder topics, but you get access to reference material for the final exam. I was afraid the test was going to be extremely hard because everyone I talked to spoke about it fearfully. I’m terrible at taking tests, but with a little dedicated study I passed with 95%. Not too shabby.
Like I said, it’s an expensive hobby! There are so many costs associated with this course that aren’t talked about–I could barely find info online!– so if you’re considering taking the course yourself I hope this cost breakdown helps you plan/budget.
Nobody EVER believes me when I tell them I need extra weight. I’m buoyant! I’ve had a surprising number of Divemasters and Instructors comment that it looks unprofessional to wear a lot of weight. I think that’s dumb. I’d rather look unprofessional than not be able to get under the water, or shoot up to the surface at the end of a dive.
Ah… the gear exchange! Nightmare!
I do not panic under water. I haven’t ever been in a life-or-death situation that I can remember, but I really don’t panic when I’m diving. This is the first time I’ve done that! I was overexerting my lungs, clearing the ill-fitting mask, then having to hold my breath… it was a recipe for disaster.
For all that I internally panicked though, I somehow kept it together enough that the instructor didn’t realize I was panicking at all. According to him, I was very calm and everything was going great when I suddenly signaled to abort the dive. He was so confused on the surface.
Oof, I cried my eyes out after. I felt like I could barely breathe the rest of the day. It’s upsetting to me that I can consciously understand that I am not in danger, but have my body do its own thing and decide there’s a life-threatening emergency happening. I learned some interesting things about myself that day.
ow… I was trying to show another diver something cool on the reef, and I didn’t even feel my hand touch anything! There was just a sharp, painful burn on my finger. I thought it was a jellyfish at first, but when I examined the wound later it looked like a nasty 2nd degree burn. I correctly guessed fire coral was the culprit.
Fire coral is horrible! The pain lasted a week, went away, and then came back worse than ever. Sea water, isopropyl alcohol, steroid cream, and vinegar are all said to help the burn but honestly nothing worked as effectively as I hoped it would! With time it’s definitely healing, but wow. That sucked.
Divers aren’t supposed to wear gloves on this particular reef, but I think I could have gotten away with it without getting in trouble.
I ended up not wearing gloves because… I was doing my Divemaster course! I was having enough trouble managing everything going on around me, plus attaching/reattaching the 6 different tools clipped to my BCD that I had to constantly remove and use… it was just easier without gloves.
Well, it made handling my tools and BCD a little easier, but was it really worth it when the trade off is a multi-week burn…?
I visited Playa del Carmen in the Riviera Maya (Mexico) for a few days, and saw a dive shop advertising bull shark dives. It was a little expensive– the cost of two dives in one– but it was well worth it. The sharks get in your personal space, which I loved. I would feel something jostling my fins, and every once in a while a shark would cruise overhead a little too close and bump my head.
Something else was getting up close and personal too…!
I’m sick! I think it’s a head cold that could turn into a sinus infection if I’m not careful. Unfortunately, this means I can’t dive while I’m ill.
I’ve met plenty of divers who still go out when they’re feeling under the weather– and they’ve been fine– but the potential for complications and injury are high when you’re sick in certain ways. Anything involving your sinuses or inner ear could more easily lead to an injury that ends your diving career.
A traumatized sinus will eventually heal, but it will take a long time and it might be too sensitive in the future to handle the kind of pressure changes that happen during scuba. A blown-out eardrum on the other hand doesn’t heal or repair itself, so a diver will need surgery. Even then they probably won’t be able to dive in the future.
Don’t dive sick! It sucks to lose your deposit, and its a pain to change your plans, but in the end it’s worth it not to suffer through a major injury that could stop you from diving forever.
Yep, I got scammed trying to buy scuba equipment. It was a really interesting experience, and while I’m happy to say I got my money back, I never want to go through that again! I also got my money back in a rather unexpected way.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened:
I bought a BioSeal Neck Gaiter listed for $20USD, but when I was charged through PayPal, it said I had been charged $300USD.
Then, when I checked my actual PayPal account, the total was 45k Japanese Yen. That’s about $285USD.
Then it gets weirder! The amount charged was increased to 51k yen.
And then… when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, I got a notification that my package had been delivered… in the past! It was the 25th of December (what an awful Christmas present, am I right???) when the scam happened, but the package was instantly delivered on the 9th of December to an address that’s not mine. Christmas Magic!?
I immediately reported the seller and started a claim through PayPal, and once the holidays were over I called my bank for advice. The seller didn’t get access to my banking information because I didn’t put in my card/bank info when making the purchase– I used PayPal as a proxy– and I think that saved me a LOT of trouble.
Unfortunately, the PayPal claim was ruled to be not in my favor! They determined that the charges had not been made fraudulently. Er, so what about the magical, instantaneous delivery and the unauthorized price increase? Or the fact that $20 somehow turned into $300?
Fortunately, the seller refunded my money! I submitted a ton of screenshots to PayPal and described exactly what happened, and made a fraud report to the Federal Trade Commission:
All of that was shared with the seller. Maybe they got scared and decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. My next step would have been to call my bank and all to dispute the charge, but I didn’t need to do that.
So, buyer beware! Be careful when purchasing stuff, especially when it seems too good to be true. Also if something bad does happen, act immediately, don’t panic, and don’t back down.
Here are some links that have good info on online scams:
I had the good fortune to be able to visit some good friends, and they took me to the aquarium! While I didn’t actually scuba, I did get to see some cool creatures and learn some new animal facts.
I had been to this aquarium once before with a different friend, several years ago when the second half of the aquarium was still under construction. Its very well done, with lots of great-looking habitats and interesting critters.
I hadn’t been able to see the Northern Fur Seals the last time, and I fell in love with Flaherty at first sight on this second visit. He looks like a disaster, with scraggly hair and bloodshot eyes… but he’s perfectly alright. I think fur seals just look like that.
I spotted a nudibranch! The water in the Seattle Aquarium comes in through the Puget Sound, so little creatures will get sucked into some of the tanks and often make their new homes in the exhibits. Nudibranches are often seen in one area of the octopus tank, and I made it my life’s mission to find one… and amazingly, I did. They are absolutely tiny. The picture below of the nudibranch is probably twice as big as the real thing.
How fabulous! I know very little about these guys but I think this is an Opalescent Nudibranch. You can check my work using this handy guide from Emerald Divers!
Guitar Sharks, aka Guitar Rays or Guitar Fish, are absolutely fascinating creatures. I’ve seen a couple on dives in Cabo San Lucas, though they were much smaller than the behemoth at the aquarium!
We were told they are very, very rare and many people go their whole lives without spotting one. I feel lucky having seen two or three in my lifetime out in the wild!
