There have been a few times in my life when the circumstance I found myself in could only be described as magical …… magical to the point that you might think that this old atheist had changed his stripes and believed that he had seen God …… one of those times happened in Cozumel …… a little island off of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico!
My ex-wife Mona and I were on a vacation there and this is a story about a feeling ……. an instant of magic …… almost like a scene out of Hollywood!!! Like most stories, there is a bit of history that made it possible …..
It all begins with me taking a scuba diving course while at school in southern Ontario. We were attending the University of Guelph …… a relatively prestigious university in southern Ontario, Canada. We were living in an old stone cabin with no bathroom ……. sooooo we used the school gym and pool to shower and shave.
On one of those “gotta have a shower” kind of days, I noticed an ad on a bulletin board that was offering a scuba certification course at the university pool which would culminate in certification and with an open water dive …… scuba certification by NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) ….. I had never really thought much about SCUBA ……. for those who don’t know “Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus” – SCUBA …..
So being on the adventuresome side and my “what the heck” kind of attitude, I signed up and for the next 6-8 weeks I took classes in the pool and then it was time for the Open Water Exam …… you had to pass that exam of course for your SCUBA certification.
Let’s back up a tad …… You see in the photo above and below the gear that you need to dive …… unless the water is very warm …… as in a pool ….. you start with a “wet suit” ….. basically a rubber suit that covers your whole body ……. (allows water in between the suit and your skin ….. the water warms up to body temperature and keeps you warm …. that’s the “wet” part) ……. then wear a weight belt to compensate for your bodies buoyancy including the buoyancy of your rubber suit (I think 10-12 pounds for me at the time) …..
Then you don the SCUBA tank which contains about 30 minutes of compressed air (weighs about 20-30 lbs) …… you see in the picture all the hoses and accessories like the “regulator” through which you breath (Just Breath) and a pressure gauge which tells you how much air is left in your tank ….. run out of air and you are toast (Just breath) …… a buoyancy compensator which allows you to do minor adjustments to your buoyancy because that buoyancy changes as you change depths in the water …..
Then when you are pretty much geared up, you put your face mask on …… then your fins and …… you probably get the idea …… there was a lot of stuff to know and more importantly ……. a lot of stuff to remember!!
……. OK ….. OK ….. OK !!!! I am getting there!
So its time for the Open Water dive and we travel from Guelph Ontario to Tobermory …… about 250 kilometers ….. and voila …… Lake Huron …… Georgian Bay …… big water ….. It was a calm day and that was good
I am a decent swimmer but …… swimming in a warm pool and swimming in open water are similar but …… with all that gear and …… sheesh …… will I remember all that stuff? …… as in …… the SCUBA manual had more than 50 pages of information that my pea brain needs to know and remember ranging from technical details to safety issues …… (“OMG …… I could die from the BENDS …….”)
So we (there were about 10 people in the class) arrive late morning …… unload all the gear …… start suiting up ….. OK??? are we ready? ….. one safety procedure is that each of us has a buddy and we check each other’s equipment to make sure all is OK …… you put your regulator in your mouth (one breathes through that device of course) ……. and one at a time we jump in under the supervision of our instructors …… and now its my turn ……. and I jump in the water ……. and …..
YIKES ……… NO ……. that’s not loud enough …. I mean YIKES …… (***&&&&&&%%%%$$$$######@@@@&&&&&@@@^^) ….. that last line represents every possible expletive that you can imagine …… the water was so F……ing cold …… (it was between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius – 50-60 F) and it takes a few minutes for the water to seep into your wet suit and warm up to body temperature and ……. but I am in the cold water …… trying to control my breathing (if you breathe too fast you run out of air) …… the noise from your breathing …… afraid that I won’t pass the test …… all the noise of air bubbles all around your ears …….. afraid that I might die from the BENDS …… YIKES!!!!!! ……
OK …… enough of the poor me drama!!!! I was cold the whole time …… I didn’t die ……. I passed the test …… that’s the end of part one of the story!!!!
So back to Cozumel!!!! Where the heck is Cozumel anyway?
Like everywhere else in the world, things change and this story occurred back in 1980-81 more or less ……. Cozumel has had major developments since then …..
So just let your imagination take over …… we lived in Vancouver BC …… it is the middle of February (more or less) …… the weather is cold and dreary ….. rain almost every day ……. and we fly across the continent …… land in Cancun ….. taxi down to the ferry terminal and …… Yummm …. its warm!!!
We had been to the west coast of Mexico before and so the scene was not foreign to us …… it is always a culture shock when you first arrive in Mexico …… we had wandered the streets of other small (at the time) towns …… so we wandered around until the ferry arrived …… skinny Mexican dogs ….. dirty children …… messy streets …… hey!!!! ….. its Mexico!!!
The ferry ride is 27 km or about 17 miles …… I think the journey was about an hour and a half ……. you arrive at the terminal above and …… VOILA!!! Cozumel!!!
…… back to your imagination ……. we left Vancouver …… cold and drizzly ….. arrive in Mexico …… WARM …… HOT …… that Uhmmmmm YUMMY warm feeling !!!!!
We find our hotel ….. typical Mexican place ….. funny light switches (at least the lights worked) beautiful tiled bathroom ….. alligator lizards in the corners …… rusty fixtures because of the salty air …… palm trees ……. town square with all its beautiful spanish architecture …… and the typical seaside walkway …… the Malecon!
OK! so back to the point of this story!!
So we are walking along the sidewalk opposite the beach …… along the shops …… shops with all their bobbles and bangles ……. hawkers trying to sell anything and everything ….. and almost in the middle of the sidewalk is a sandwich board advertising DIVE Trip with FREE SCUBA LESSONS ……. I had not done any diving since Tobermory and that ONE open water dive but the idea of diving here was intriguing …… I was not aware at the time that SCUBA diving in Cozumel is known to be one of the best diving spots in the world …… and I figured with a refresher “FREE” scuba lesson ….. what an adventure!!!!
We stopped and talked to this particular hawker and he described how we would do the lessons in one of the hotel swimming pools the first day and then go out to the Palancar Reef the following day …… sounded good to me and surprisingly ….. Mona was interested too ….. so we arranged a time to meet at the hotel and …… the adventure is on!!!
So the next day …… a beautiful hotel …… a warm pool ….. Pablo is our gorgeous half naked, Mexican instructor ….. all the gear is waiting for us …… given that I am a “certified NAUI diver” Pablo is focused on Mona ….. LOL ….. all good!!!
So here is the FREE lesson part …… after gearing up, we are both sitting on the edge of the pool in the shallow end …… as Pablo kinda pushes us into the pool ….. he says “KEEP BREATHING” in his Spanish/English accent!!!! …… that’s it! …… gear up …… jump in …… KEEP BREATHING!!!!! ….. no 50 page manual …… no talk about all the risks and dangers ….. just KEEP BREATHING ……. well ….. we did swim around the pool for a few minutes ….. Mona and I made it through the “lesson” and ….. according to Pablo …….. we are ready to go …… KEEP BREATHING!! …… we arrange the time to meet up at their boat the following morning and ….. away we went!
Now Mona knew about all the training that I had gone through to earn my NAUI certification and she also knew that our KEEP BREATHING …… FREE LESSON ….. was a little shy of a complete diving course …… so after some anxious moments she decided that she would not do the scuba dive ….. she would be happy just snorkeling ….. ok ….. no problem ….. according to Pablo the instructor …… we had already paid our money!!!! LOL
So there were about 5-6 divers ….. plus two diving guides …… Pablo and Enrique ……. and Mona ……. on the boat …… if memory serves we motored for about an hour out to the Palancar Reef https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palancar_Reef …… geared up and into the water ……
If you recall, my entry into the water at Tobermory was rather dramatic …… well entry into the water here was the exact opposite …… water temperature there was around 25C degrees or 80F …… all of us are in the water ……
Guides have explained the procedures …… given that I have little experience I am to follow the Lead Guide and the rest of the divers would follow me ….. they would be followed by the last guide …… OK …… all good ….. so off we went ……. KEEP BREATHING!! …… the water was warm ……. the visibility incredible …… we drop down to about 80 feet or so …… all kinds of tropical fish …… it was beautiful!!! …… to say the least!!
All of the sudden it became clear that Pablo was entering a cave in the reef ……. YIKES!!!! ….. we had talk about caves in the diving certification course ……. how they are very dangerous ……. OMG ….. looked like we could barely fit through the opening …… not quite PANIC but close ……. and Pablo kept urging me forward
OK …… TRUST …… KEEP BREATHING …… now remember that part about “buoyancy compensator” …… at each depth, your buoyancy can be more or less and if you are too buoyant you rise in the water ……. you add air to be more buoyant …… let air out to sink ……. well ….. here I am I am too buoyant …… and I am bumping along the roof of this cave …… remember this is only my 2nd dive …… ….. I am half panicked thinking I am going to run out of air …… or get stuck on the roof of this cave and …… pheeewwww ….. OK …. OK ….. seems like I got it right finally …… took me a bit to adjust so that I could swim freely ….. all the while Pablo keeps urging me forward …… I am totally oblivious ….. too panicky, to worry …… about the other divers following me.
….. I then see the EXIT from the cave ……. a dark blue hole at the end of the cave …… “OK lets get the heck out of here” …… we swim out into …….. OMG …… it is the backside of the reef …… a wall of deep sea coral …… the water is so deep that it is a completely different color of deep blue …… and as we exit the cave ….. all of sudden you feel the current and it just floats you along the face of the reef …… the water is so deep you cannot see the bottom ….. all kinds of beautiful fish …… I finally relaxed a little to be able to truly enjoy this amazing experience
….. then without any warning I was swimming alongside the biggest fish …… a grouper ….. I had ever seen with my own eyes ……
….. and the two of us just floated along the face of the reef ….. I have to assume that he was totally at ease with these “tourists” that were in his space ….. he paid little attention to me …… if any ……
In any case we floated along for maybe 2-3 minutes and the reef came to an end and we were now swimming along what I can only describe as an underwater sandy beach ….. kind of like what you see in the following photo except that the sand is sloping upward and Pablo signals me to swim in the direction while he waits for the group …… and this is the crux of the story ……
So this is where you need to use your imagination …… I have not been able to find pictures to convey the idea of what happened next so I will use words and pictures.
You probably have seen sunsets that are mixed up with puffy kinds of clouds. Often the Sun shines through those clouds creating a display such that it creates an impression ……… wonder …… awe …… words can hardly describe ……. kinda like this
How is your imagination working so far? ….. OK so now imagine that you are underwater and as you gaze up through the water you see the blue sky kinda something like …….
Alright so now imagine that we put all those images together ……
Imagine that as I am swimming along in my scuba gear in one instant ….. and in the middle of the sound of the bubbles for my scuba regulator ……. the warm water ……. the beautiful white sand ….. the blue sky ……..
And as I look up ……. WHAT????? ……. a statue ……. I can’t recall if the statue was of …… Mary ……. or Jesus ….. it matters little ……. the sight was as awesome as you can imagine …… it was literally breathtaking in this underwater SCUBA world!!!!
What thoughts of beauty ……. it had to be the expression of some form of God!!!! …… whatever that is!!!
