Cozumel Dive Trip, The Last Day: Flamingos, Crocodiles, And Iguanas.

All good things must end, and our dive trip was certainly drawing rapidly to a close. The diving part was over, and we had one day to let whatever compressed nitrogen bubbles might be left in our blood dissipate before flying. Wouldn't want those bubbles expanding in the lower pressure of the aircraft cabin. It's a good way to get the bends on your way home.

So we had a free day on our hands, and since our hotel had no pool bar to belly up to, and the town was filled with happy, chubby families from the Disney cruise ship Fantasy, we decided to once again rent a car and drive south.

Cozumel is 30 miles long and 10 miles wide. There are only two paved roads, one leading south around the island to a point directly east of San Miguel, and the other running from that point straight across the island back to town. The whole loop takes about an hour and a half to drive.

At the island's southern tip is a park called Punta Sur. It was $12 per person to get in, so we;d given it a pass on our first trio south, but Matthew had heard there was good snorkeling there, so we made that our destination.

It was important to cram as many visits to Sabores into our remaining time as possible. 

So we started our day with breakfast there. I didn't get any picture of that event, so here's

 a shot of one of our more memorable meals. In the foreground: Milanesa de res, a savory

 Italian-by-way-of-Mexico version of chicken-fried steak. So much better with guacamole
 and refried black beans than that gloppy, bland country gravy. We all agreed it was

one of the best things on a remarkably delicious menu.

Punta Sur is a large wildlife refuge/historical site/beach park. We started at the beach, where Matthew snorkeled on the clear, turquoise waters while John and I sat in the shade drinking overpriced pina coladas.

Then we visited the saltwater lagoon, one of the few places in the Caribbean where 

saltwater crocodiles still live. This one was cooling off by leaving his mouth open. On one 

of the far spits of sand, we saw a small flock of flamingos. I tried taking a picture, 

but all it showed was a distant smear of pink.

These are relatively small specimens. The average adult is about 15 feet and can swim

 up to 20 mph in short bursts. Some have been known to grow to over 20 feet long. 

Something like that could seriously ruin your dive.

Traces of the Mayan culture are sparse and unimpressive on Cozumel. This is thought to be 

the remains of a lookout tower dating from around 1200 CE.

The tower may be in ruins, but the watch continues under new management.

After spending most of the afternoon at Punta Sur, we returned to Sabores for a couple last rounds of pina coladas, then stumbled back to our rooms for a nap. Around 8:00 we roused ourselves for a last dinner, a last pina colada, and a last stroll in the soft, warm darkness past all the barkers trying to get us into their shops for cigars, drinks, diamonds, or souvenirs.

The next morning, John and I said goodbye to Matthew, who was flying out of Cozumel, 

and took a taxi to the ferry. It was the beginning of another gorgeous day in paradise,
but we wouldn't be there to enjoy the rest of it.

I'm so grateful that we were all able to get together and taker this trip. I had a great time, and feel even closer than ever to my two sons.

The trip also reminded me how much I love diving and island living and Cozumel specifically.

So long Cozumel, and thanks for all the lionfish.

P.

Cozumel Dive Trip, Days 3, 4, & 5: Dive, Eat, Sleep.

Saturday morning. Sunday morning. Monday morning. On a slow boat to Palancar reef. Palancar Caves, Palancar Gardens, Santa Rosa Wall, San Francisco Wall, San Clemente reef. One our first day, the visibility was better than 150 feet, incredible clear. The subsequent days weren't quite as spectacular, and we had to settle for a mere 100+ feet of viz.

Saturday night I did a night dive. Matthew came along for the ride, but didn't dive. Paradise reef is just 20 minutes by slow boat, and at only 35 feet, it's ideal for a night dive. At night, critters you rarely see during the day emerge in great profusion: octopuses, fluorescent squid, glow-eyed shrimp, lobsters, crabs, and rays. I love watching the octopus caught in the beam of a flashlight, frantically changing color to escape detection, flaring out to make itself seem as big as possible, freezing in the shape of a coral head, then flowing into an impossibly small crack in the coral, invisible except for one baleful, glowing eye.

John slept.

In fact, this became pattern. Get up and stumble to the dock, do two dives, return to town around 2, eat lunch, then nap until around 8. After a light dinner, back to bed until morning. Diving doesn't seem like a lot of effort, but it takes its toll. Matthew had the energy to go snorkeling most afternoons, but John and I slept. I've rarely come back from a vacation so rested.

Watching the iridescent flying fish scatter before our bow wave.

John floats by a large porcupinefish. Pictures never do justice to the colors of the underwater 

world. The corals close up come in just about every color: brilliant oranges, yellows, greens,

 purples, blues, and my favorite, a deep, intense red.

Matthew takes in San Clemente reef. The sandy tops of these shallower reefs

 aren't as colorful as the wall dives, but they teem with fish.

I encounter a Queen Angelfish.

 John goes back to school.

 Another day, another turtle.

 Lionfish are spectacular creatures, but they're an invasive species in the Caribbean. 

Since being introduced from the Indo-Pacific in the mid-1990s, they have decimated 

native reef fish populations and thrived in the absence of predators.

That's were we came in. We found a bar that served lionfish and decided it was time

 for some payback.

 Once shorn of their extremely venomous spines, we found that they were delicious in
many ways: pan-fried, in a tangy mojo de ajo sauce, or in ceviche.

 Payback's a bitch, bitches!

 After lunch, we perused the island graffiti.

 Then back to the spartan slumber chamber. No TV, no phone, but plenty of wi-fi 

and A/C and a big, comfortable mattress.

And every day, a different towel sculpture. Sweet dreams!

P.

Cozumel Dive Trip, Day 2 ctd: Down, Down, Down.

By the time dawn broke the next day, the wind had died, the seas had calmed and John and Matthew had learned a valuable lesson about conmingling Cohibas and Coco Locos. (Okay, they were margaritas, but there's no alliteration there.)

The dive boat, which was supposed to leave at 8:15, left at 8:45, because Mexico.

No wind, no waves, not a whitecap in sight!

Next stop: Palancar Bricks at 80 feet.

 John hovering over the deep blue. Cozumel has spectacular reefs between 35 and 100 feet,
 then the bottom drops out, all the way down to 3,200 feet. Swimming to the edge and
looking into the abyss is always a humbling experience.

 Matthew, happy to be alive.

 Twiddling my thumbs as the world floats by. A strong current runs north along the west coast,

 making every dive a drift dive. Very little swimming to do, you just float through the

 constantly-changing wonder.

The reefs around the island have been protected environments for a very long time,

so the coral is incredibly profuse and healthy and the marine life is abundant. We saw turtles,
a couple of free-swimming, five-foot moray eels, barracudas, huge lobsters and crabs,
as well as all manner of dazzlingly-colored reef fish. Just before we came up from the
second dive of the morning, a five-foot nurse shark swan right past us.

Normally, the two morning dives are over in time for lunch. Aqua Safari, however, has a very slow boat, so it took us about an hour and a half just to get to the first dive site, while watching other boats crammed with divers zipping past us. Every day, between 1,500 and 2,000 divers descend on the reefs around Cozumel, so there's a lot of boat traffic. The reefs are so expansive, though, it never feels crowded. 

We finally got back to port at 2:45, starved for lunch. Donna at Aqua Safari recommended a little place close by called Sabores.

It turned out to be someone's house with a beautifully funky backyard. Everything is cooked
 fresh with mostly local ingredients, including coconuts from the garden!

Look at that deliciousness! First round of margs already consumed.

Happy to be alive.

Cozumel went from a Mayan-era population of around 40,000 to under 100 after an epidemic of smallpox. For a while it was a notorious pirate hangout. now it's a tourist mecca, mostly for divers, but also for cruise ships. San Miguel now has piers for as many a six giant cruise ships, and much of the town is geared to cater to the passengers: tourist bars and restaurants, Cartier, silver and souvenir shops, and, of course, Cuban cigar stores. Behind and around the tourist strip, however, there's a charming, sleepy, shabby/funky (in a good way) Caribbean beach town geared more to locals, with cheap and delicious food. Sabores is one of the best, and we returned there many times over the course of the next few days. Especially when we found that the made the island's best pina coladas. From scratch.

P.

Cozumel Dive Trip, Day 2: My Son The Commie.

I don't know how it happened, though I suspect malign influences in this RED state, but John has developed suspiciously socialistic behavior patterns lately.

I'd like to deny it, but there's photographic proof.

P.

Cozumel Dive Trip, Day 1: Too Windy, No Diving.

Last year, John, Matthew, and I decided to take a dive trip sometime this winter to somewhere warm and sunny. We chose Cozumel, an island of the Caribbean coast of Mexico, one of the best-rated dive destinations in the world. We were very excited to get into the water, and we were very excited to spend some males-only time together. Matthew and I had been to Cozumel before (separately), In fact this would be my fourth trip, but John had never been.

 Our first sight of azure tropical waters only heightened the excitement as we flew into Cancun, just across a narrow strait from Cozumel. The first sign of trouble was the ferry trip to the island from Playa del Carmen. The seas were running high, pushed by high northwest winds, a weather pattern that is fairly rare; the prevailing winds are usually from the east, making the waters off the island's west coast a tranquil oasis for divers.

Not today. As the ferry rolled and wallowed through 6 to 8 foot swells toward the port of San Miguel, the only town on Cozumel, we began to suspect that our prospects for happy diving were slim.

The next morning at 7:30, we checked with the dive shop and found our prospects even further diminished: the harbor was closed indefinitely. They asked us to come back at 11:00 just in case. The winds were strong, and we were skeptical, but we went for breakfast and discussed Plan B.

At 11:00, the winds were still high, so we put Plan B in effect. We rented a car and drove south to find a snorkelable beach.

We found one, along with lunch and too-sweet pina coladas at Playa Palancar. The beach was protected from the wind, and the water was warm and inviting. The visibility was outstanding and the sea full of colorful fish. It was wonderful to finally get in the water.

When we rented the car, the guy at the rental counter had pointed us to a bar on the east side
 of the island "where American girls flash you."
And here it was! Coconuts!

Alas, no flashing while we were there, but there were a few faded reminders of flashes past.

There were however large and powerful margaritas.

As well as large and powerful parrots.

As night approached, we returned the car and found ourselves a swingers' bar.

This unfortunately ushered in a night of bar crawling that was regretted
 in the morning by many (I was the lone, virtuous exception).

As I crawled into bed, the wind continued to howl unabated, and I could only wonder what the next day would bring.

P.

Sounds of Other Minds.

Last weekend I drove to San Francisco for a music festival. The Other Minds Festival is an annual event that I used to attend when we lived in SF, but I haven't been able to go for many years. This year was Other Minds 18, Looking back at the history printed in the program, I realized that the last festival I attended was Other Minds 5 in 1999!

OM is a celebration of cutting-edge music from around the world. This year's offering were as varied and eclectic as ever. The two-hour concerts took place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at the new(ish) Jewish community center at California and Presidio.

I was surprised and pleased that what was once a shoestring operation has grown to a somewhat grander affair with nicely printed programs and a much larger venue. Charles Amarkanian who has run OM from the beginning, hosted the concerts, which were co-sponsored by the Djerassi Foundation. OM also has a record label and a web site that includes a radio stream that includes recordings from earlier festivals, as well as of Amarkanian's 25 years of radio shows for KPFA. Check it out: http://www.otherminds.org/

The concerts featured a wealth of new music. The following were my favorites.

The Danish trio ‘Gáman’ opened the first concert. The trio plays violin, accordion and recorder, but their music, inspired by the folk music of the Faroe Islands, was quite different than you might expect. The tunes were short and simple, haunting and mournful. The accordion was using mostly as a continuo, stretching notes out as a bed for the other instruments to play over, while the violin was often used pizzicato as a percussion instrument.

Friday night began with the world premiere of the music theater performance piece, ‘ARA’ by Korean-American artist Dohee Lee.  Lee designs her own costumes and instruments, and sings and dances while she plays.  The Eye Harp (seen in the above photo) is an instrument she designed that is played by bowing and plucking strings. It is connected to electronics as well. Her performance was odd and mesmerizing.

Next, Anna Petrini, a Swedish recorder virtuoso performed three pieces for an instrument called the Paetzold contrabass recorder. The square contrabass recorder is a modern design
that augments the traditional sound of the recorder with electronic processing. For the first piece, all the openings on the instrument were taped shut, so all that could be heard was the performer's breath and the clacking of the valves. These sounds were amplified and looped to produce a very untraditional sound.

The second concert concluded with a stunning solo piano performance by Craig Taiborn.  Billed as a jazz pianist (he has played with many well known jazz groups), his sound in this performance was not traditional jazz in any sense. He started with a few simple, widely spaced notes, then gradually developed the piece into a fierce, mutli-layered, complex explosion of sound. His playing was both incredibly rapid and extremely precise, so that even when the piece was at its most complex, it never became muddy. A very exciting musician.

The close of the last concert was Pamela Z's arrangement of Meridith Monk's Scared Song. Ms. Z, uses proximity-triggered devices and looped voice to perform Monk's complex vocalizations. I saw Monk perform at an earlier OM festival, so this was a fitting close to this musical adventure.

A comment I overheard from one of the other attendees sums up my fondness for OM: "I never know what I'm going to hear, but I know it's always going to be interesting."

I'm looking forward to next year.

P.