Isla Mujeres, Mexico
September 10-13, 1999


Hedde and I went on a short trip down to Isla Mujeres. Flew down late Friday afternoon and flew back Monday morning, thanks to another American Airlines' netsaavers fare. We arrived in Cancun and took the last ferry across to Isla Mujeres from Puerto Juarez at 11.30pm. We stayed at the Hotel Cabañas María del Mar Isla Mujeres for two nights and then at Club Verano Beat in Cancun the last night. The change of hotels was due to the fact that the flight Monday morning left so early we couldn't get to the airport in time if we stayed on Isla Mujeres. Isla Mujeres is a beautiful little island - very laid back and probably what Cancun was 20 years ago. Unfortunately we didn't have time to explore the island - we were there to dive. And the divecenter we chose was Coral Dive Center. We noticed that it was low season as we were the only divers on the dives we did. On the first two dives we were joined by two snorkelers, but on the rest it was just Hedde and me.

We started Saturday morning with two shallow dives, one at the Manchones reef and another at Punta Sur. At Manchones reef I missed the shark the others saw - the highpoint of the dive. There wasn't a whole lot to see and the visibility wasn't that good either (for Mexican standards, that is...). The dive at Punta Sur was a driftdive with the strongest current I have ever experienced. We were swept away and couldn't even stay together as a group. There was nothing to see and the visibility was poor due to the current. I almost aborted the dive. So this wasn't a very good start us - fortunately we got another divemaster for the rest of the dives - Ramon. He was excellent and made the rest of the dives even better than they already were. The first dive with him was a twilight dive at the La Inglesia reef (it's located by a church). The dive was perfectly timed and we got to see the reef both in daylight and when it got dark. The subsequent nightdive was at the Meterologicia reef - also a good dive. About halfway through the dive, I switched to my backuplight as I wasn't happy with the wide beam of my main light. Unfortunately I didn't secure the main light good enough and at the end of the dive, I noticed I had lost the light. Bummer! After the dive we went back to the hotel to take a shower and then we went walking around to find a restaurant. We finally settled on one - can't remember the name of it - the food was ok but nothing worth remembering. We were both tired and got back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

On Sunday we started with a dive at Piedra Travesaria (sp?) and then did a long (66 minute) dive at La Inglesia and Meterologica again to see the reefs in daylight (and to look for my light - didn't find it.) Sunday afternoon we took the ferry back to Cancun to check into Club Verano Beat so that we had time to get to the Cancun airport early enought to catch our 6.55am flight back to Dallas. Monday morning it rained but as we were just going to the airport, we didn't care. We had great weather all weekend so a little rain when we were only going to the airport didn't spoil a great weekend.

Click on thumbnail to see the full size picture




The harbour

Playa Norte



Hedde after the nightdive



I guess you can rent anything...



 
 


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