Mexico 2019

After over six years without a cave diving trip to Mexico, we finally managed to get back there.  I guess we have Bobby to thank for that, since he seemed determined to go there.  He setup a trip (with Karl and Kevin) around July 4, when he was off from school.  Rob and I initially didn't want to go to Mexico in the dead of summer, but eventually we gave in a decided to join them.  The heat was not as bad as I expected.  Actually the heat was exactly as bad as I was expecting when we were just out and about.  But when we were getting ready to get into the water (which was what I was really really not looking forward to -- getting into my drysuit in that heat), and we were in the shady jungle, it was really no worse than our previous trips to Mexico (in September, May, and April).  For an undergarment, I wore the fourth element base layer top (that I stole from Ted) that I normally wear under my undergarment and fleece pants.  I am so glad I didn't bring a real undergarment.  This was plenty warm, in fact there were several times when we were in the salt water when I was feeling a little toasty; when we'd pop back up into the fresh water, the one degree cooler water would feel so refreshing.

Trendy Tulum cocktail

Tulum has changed a bit since we were last there.  Back when we used to go there, it seemed like no one (outside of dive buddies) had heard of Tulum.  Now it is apparently a trendy beach vacation spot!  There seems to be a ton of construction going on there; all along the highway, there are billboards for vacation properties and condo developments that are being constructed.  There is even a project underway that will have a private airstrip just across the highway from Puerto Aventuras.

Trusty old Pub cocktail

Zero Gravity has moved since we were last there, to just outside of the PA gate.  They have apartments available to rent above the shop (which is where we stayed) and there's also a cafe in the same building, which is a good place to hang out with air conditioning and wifi.  I found the apartments to be extremely convenient and nice enough to stay in.  We've stayed in some really swanky places in PA before, and this was much more basic.  But the convenience probably outweighs the desire to stay someplace fancier.  Even though we were staying outside of the PA gate, we walked into PA on about half of the nights we were there, to eat at The Pub.

Enjoying the fruits of Rob's business travel

There are also new options for flying to Cancun on American Airlines.  United is a much more sensible airline to fly from SFO, but Rob has status and a zillion miles on AA (some of which we used for our tickets for this trip), so the option to fly through Phoenix (which we did on the way there) instead of DFW is nice.  This option seems even nicer since our flight home, through DFW, got diverted to Houston due to thunderstorms in Dallas.  But at least we had cushy lie-flat business class seats to wait out the thunderstorm in :)

Alright, without further ado, the daily reports:
Mexico 2019: Tortuga
Mexico 2019: Jailhouse Downstream
Mexico 2019: Mayan Blue
Mexico 2019: The Crack (and Beyond) at Naharon
Mexico 2019: Naharon to the Battleship Room

It only looks like Oreo is trying to strangle Pepper

We got back on a Saturday, which gave us a day to recover and play with the kitties before going back to work.  The kitties were in super cuddly moods after a week away.  (Apparently Ted didn't adequately cuddle the kitties.)  Here they are taking a break from the cuddling to groom each other.