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Published: December 9th 2008
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Here I am again, back on a warm sandy beach. Well, technically I am sitting by the pool, but why split hairs eh? Last Monday I headed back to Oaxaca to meet up with Ruth and plan our diving vacation. As it turns out, our diving vacation has now brought me back to Puerto Escondido. I know you are all pretty sad that I can’t send you pictures of yet another sunny Mexican or Belizian beach, but that will have to wait for next time. Belize was soon scrapped in favour of a closer and cheaper idea, and then Cozumel, though closer and cheaper and full of amazing diving options, was scrapped due to its high number of cruiseship tourists. Puerto Escondido is much more our pace, as in there isn’t really much of a pace, and so back to beach I came.
I managed to say hello and goodbye to a few other PDP’ers that were still lolling about the waves and Ruth and I set about our trip. The trip has gone thus:
• Ruth and Sarah go to the beach.
• Ruth and Sarah read books.
• Ruth and Sarah eat food.
• Ruth and Sarah take
a nap.
• Ruth and Sarah read books at the beach.
• Ruth and Sarah go to bed early due to their strenuous day.
(Ruth would like me to point out the excess walking we have to do to get to the beach, it’s all the way on the other side of the street.)
Not to give you the impression that we are wasting our days, I should also mention that we did go and watch a movie one night and that kept us out until 11pm!
Then there was the diving. I had two dives with Lorenzo of Deep Blue at Hotel Ines last time I was here. Those dives were very nice, aside from the part where I puked three times in between dives. Mostly I just felt embarrassed and was worried I wouldn’t be allowed to dive, but Lorenzo assured me that all good divers throw up every now and then (kind of like you’re not a good rider until you fall off the horse a few times?) and after checking that I felt fine, down we went. There are many of the same fish as in Thailand, Triggers, Angels, Parrots and more. We saw
a Guitar shark (which looks like a stingray with a shorter tail) and loads of baby puffer fish which are a bright yellow. A school of Manta Rays swam over top of us at one point and from bellow it looked like many squares of sparkling lights. A sea turtle drifted by as the currents gently pushed us back and forth.
Later that day I was walking along the beach and came across a handful of baby turtles being released into the ocean. A line was put up by the lifeguards who were making sure the dogs didn’t get close enough to have a snack. Behind the line we stood, watching and cheering the little guys on. With encouragement like “go little dude” and “here comes the wave!” they all successfully made it into the churning surf.
Ruth was feeling a bit nervous and out of practice so going out with Lorenzo again was perfect. He reminds us of our dive instructor in Thailand, Mario, with his calm capability under water. It was just the three of us and so we got two almost 50 minute dives. They were at the same two places as I dove before
but the visibility was better and I was more relaxed due to having already done two dives. The first dive we saw, along with the fish, another turtle slowly gliding along, some moray eels, lots of lobsters and some ugly rock fish. In between dives we were treated to a show by some local dolphins as they swam around and along with the boat. Down we went again and drifted around with the currents. This time a stingray made an appearance, as did a little octopus. The octopus was the highlight of the dive for me as Lorenzo passed him to me and he suctioned onto my hand, turning all red and grumpy. So cool! Every new rock he landed on he instantly camouflaged to, with all the details of colouring. I have never seen that before and it was so amazing to watch. After the dives Ruth and I agreed that that was quite enough exercise for one day and headed back to the beach and an early night. It is magical to sit looking out over the waves and know what the underwater world looks like right in that very spot.
It’s our last night here, we’re
heading back to Oaxaca tomorrow to get some markets, museums and ruins done before Ruth has to leave for Mexico City on Friday. Ahhhh the rough life.
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