Anyway what happened in November. In short.....loads! Several of us completed the Divemaster course (despite the best efforts of our instructors who we all fell out with!) and the expedition continued to be just as much fun and full of incident, some of which I have described below...
One of the best discoveries we made during November was the bar at Boca Paila, which is an expensive fishing lodge/resort around 20 minutes drive away. This proved very popular on several occasions because it meant we could have a cold beer, and bring ice back to Pez Maya to cool down our own supplies. There was also a piano in the bar, so I had the chance to have a play for the first time in a couple of months.
The survey diving continued with most people taking part in a couple of survey dives per day. The diving wasn�t entirely without incident - on one day one of the volunteers got a mild case of "the bends" and had to get shipped off to the recompression chamber at Playa Del Carmen. However, more exciting by far was the day we managed to capsize one of the dive boats!
There were 7 of us on the boat - 6 divers and the boat driver. The sea was quite rough that day and we were all ready to roll backwards off the boat into the water when I looked back down the boat to see a huge wave breaking right over the stern of the boat. Water started to flood the boat and we swung broadside to the waves. The next thing I knew I had toppled across the boat into Jess who was opposite me and then the boat went right over!
Well, it was a bit a shock to find myself submerged underneath the boat! Luckily, as we were all ready to dive anyway, I just had to put my regulator in and dive my way out! Thankfully everyone else had managed to do the same and we all just met on the surface next to the overturned boat.
Other than being battered by the ongoing surf, everyone was ok, and luckily we were directly offshore from the expedition base. We managed to retrieve the radio by diving back under the boat, and call the other dive boat to come out and pick us up. The rest of the day was spent salvaging the submerged boat and the engine. In the end we manage to recover everything, and the last I heard was that, following a thorough service the engine was working again!
In the end, the only things that were lost following this were a few pairs of sunglasses and hats, including mine which I had become quite attached too. (Sorry James, but I guess you can't have it back now!).
As this happened at the end of the last week of the expedition, the temporary loss of a dive boat didn't really affect the expedition. All the divers involved were straight back in the water the next day for a fun dive. This was one of the highlights of the expedition, as we managed to find a nurse shark sheltering under a ledge of coral.
Other highlights of the second half of the expedition were:
- the day one of the large fishing launches fro Boca Paila ran aground in the river mouth and we all ended up wading out and helping to push it back off
- watching a tiger shark swimming up and down in the river mouth, very close to where we would regularly go swimming. A few days later some volunteers saw another shark whilst they were actually in swimming
- the day we made tuna burgers using canned tuna, cornflakes(!) and pancake mix! Amazingly the rest of the volunteers seemed to think they were quite nice!
- the celebrations at the end of the expedition. We held a "Come as they are" party. We drew names out of hat and then had to come dressed as that person. This generally involved stealing each others clothes and there were some truly hilarious outfits.
Anyway, the expedition finally came to an end on 30th November and it was with some sadness that the volunteers began to go their separate ways over the next few days. It was a truly memorable 10 weeks. I learnt a great deal and have shared some truly memorable experiences with a lot of great friends. I am already looking forward to the reunions which I am sure will happen in the future....
