Puerto Aventuras day 5

To do list for this holiday:
Snorkel - check
Scuba dive
Swim in a cenote - check
Visit Mayan ruins

Big day today. After spending about 25 years wanting to go scuba diving, I finally got round to it. 

After a lazy morning involving a lot of lying in the shade by the pool and reading a good book or two, Mike headed off with Mark and Ellie to snorkel at Yal-Ku lagoon. 

Hannah and I went off to Aquanauts for our Scuba Discovery course. I was a mixture of excited and terrified. We paid up, watched a video, met Nick our instructor and guide. Chose our wetsuits, then loaded everything up onto the boat. 

Even more nervous.

Met the captains – Victor and Francesco I think? Then we headed to the lagoon to practice some skills eg take out regulator, empty mask, breathe from emergency air supply. The most difficult bit was actually sinking underwater - even with extra weights Nick had to hold my arm to keep me at the bottom of the lagoon. Must be all the blubber.

We passed the test, so then it was out onto the big waves to the dive spot. Luckily it was about two minutes boat ride away, me not being a great boat passenger at the best of times. We did that thing where you put all your gear on so that you feel like a mummy carrying a load of heavy weights, then we all toppled into the water together. And then we went down to the reef.

It was amazing how once you were underwater it all made sense. We went down to 42 feet, where we saw coral, schools of fish of all sizes, a barracuda, a turtle, a couple of puffer fish. I didn't have an underwater camera so here are a few pics I've borrowed from others...

Hannah was totally calm through the whole thing, and it was a real shame when we had to return to the surface and find our boat. I was feeling slightly sick at this point, but after a huge drink of water and taking off the wetsuit I felt much better. 

Back to shore, we washed the saltwater off with a hose on the dock, then said our thank yous and goodbyes, and wandered off quietly plotting our next dive. We went to our favourite gelato shop for a Nutella gelato, then back home where we found Mike.

They'd had a lunchtime trip to Yal Ku lagoon - they weren't over the moon about it but it sounded like fun. Here (again) is a photo I borrowed...

Ate out at Latitude 20 - really like that place. We sat around feeling tired and gazing at our phones while we waited for our food, while large groups of people dressed in glamorous clothes and with drinks in hand turned up and looked like they had exciting lives. Meh.

I walked home through the marina then along the beach with Mark and Hannah - you can't see the dolphins behind them but that is their area.

Naturally once we were at the beach, the only thing to do was jump as many waves as possible, while the sun set, so that by the time we got home I had two bedraggled small people with me, one (Hannah) with a huge cut in her foot.