After a very long 48-hour journey starting in South Africa with a 3-hour drive, we faced an early (ok, not too early) wakeup call on the first dive day in Tulum with no sympathy for jetlag. As those who’ve met me know, just hand Andre her coffee from around the corner; make sure it is strong, and don’t speak until it has been consumed!
We sent Manni ahead as the advance party to a) reconnaissance, b) to acclimatize so someone is sensible on the ground at least, and c) to keep the humour rolling. All survived.
The dives were superb and exceeded everyone’s expectations. It would be a difficult vote as to which site or dive was considered the best. Certainly one stood out as the most “interesting” (we shall leave it there to protect the innocent.. or if you pay me enough).
Concerning the group, we chose very wisely; there was the driver who also doubled as the body guard and videographer, the nutty professor (font of all knowledge), the poison tester (read margarita tester), the joker (cannot cope without the joker), the rookie (so the rest of us look professional), the super-star-cum-director and most importantly, she who must be obeyed! The overall factor was all were cave divers.
Our pet project was a take-home video of half an hour featuring all divers in equal parts. Ok, a bit of an exaggeration because Manni the videographer hardly featured in front of the camera, I was the token see-the-rump-in-the-video model (much like when you go to a nature reserve and all photos you go home with are of the animal’s rumps as they flee across the grasslands). I was also the editor and you have me to thank for cutting the 30-minute version (yawn) down to 6 drooling minutes, which you can check out below. Alas, Bruce, Leo, Willem and Alouette was in the other dive group so there were just bits of them like passing ships in the night. Just enough to prove that they were indeed there.
The above-water touristy things were not the priority on this trip, but there was enough of it to have fun and dry out the ears. It made for nice diversions that can be joked about forever and a day (again, for the right amount I can be persuaded to tell all). The forecast re meals in town was generally: “99% chance of margaritas”. No one got poisoned as Mr. Poison Tester did a superb job.
Will we go again? For sure! When? Mexico July 2019 here we come!
Shexit 