Chanb77's Weblog

Saturday, October 1st, 2011 & Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 ~

So.. our flight was supposed to leave at 3:40 Saturday afternoon, and while we were getting our luggage, carry-ons, and pretty much everything weighed, we were told that there would be a delay.. Our new flight time was to be 6:45pm, which subsequently changed to 10pm. Wow.. that was going to be a long wait, and we were a bit early, to begin with. They gave us $30 dinner vouchers, and $75 travel vouchers, which.. well.. ok…

When we saw the pilot finally arrive (apparently, they got us another plane from Edmonton, staff from Cornwall, and a pilot from Toronto), the entire terminal started to clap and cheer. We were quite happy to see him. We ended up leaving at around 10:30pm, arrived to a rather huge customs line up, got luggage, then hopped a bus to the hotel. There were six of us  together, on this flight, and were meeting up with 5 others, already at the resort.

We finally arrived at the resort, at 5:30am. We checked in, and found little point in going to sleep. Eric and Andy were being picked up for Cave 1, at 8:30am, and Steve and I were to meet our rental car people at 8am.

First, we sorted out our gear. My pile…

We then went down to the water, and watched the sunrise…

We also saw some fish, a heron, and found Andy!

We grabbed some quick breakfast, then went to wait for the rental car, as we bid a Good Day to Eric and Andy, leaving for their first day of C1!

8am came, and the car rental folks were not there. I had even confirmed with them, two days prior. 9am came and went, and a phone call confirmed that they had forgotten about  us, and would come right away, with our little sport van.

So.. they finally showed up, about an hour later, with a small four door car. This was not going to work for us. We had reserved a completely different car, and got this one. Oren, Steve and I jumped in the car with the nice fellow, and headed to Playa (on the advice of the rental car fellow), where we could see if there was a hatch for us, and the car that Oren had ordered.

When we arrived at the rental parking lot, we saw that there was no hatchback, and no little car that Oren had wanted. The fellow told us that there was a guy bringing us one, from the airport, and that he was on his way. About an hour went by, and there was still no vehicle. He called again, and the guy was still at the airport. So.. we asked him to bring it to our hotel  in the morning. He said he would. We went back with Oren, who had settled on one of the four doors. What an ordeal…

So.. our first diving day busted.. but at least we would get our car in the morning…

We got back to the resort, and joined Oren and Rasa for a beverage. We wanted to go for a dip in the ocean, so we headed back to our room to grab our fins… Yeah.. that turned into a nap…

When we woke up, we went to meet everyone for dinner, at the buffet.

Delicious Daquiris De Mango!

Then.. ocean time! Steve and I really did grab our fins, then met Oren, and headed into the water. When we first got in, I managed to get some sort of sting on my arm, that ended up lasting for a few days. I have no idea what it was, but it did burn like a stinker!

We saw many little fish, scuttle fish, a long pike-type fish, and a small squid. We were hanging out at the same place where we had seen the fish in the morning.   After our dip, we changed, and met up at Pure bar, for a night cap.

There was also a torrential downpour, when we were at Pure.  Water was pouring in through the ceiling in many places. Since Michel didn’t want to get his sandals wet, he took them off, before running back to his room.. He did say that he would end up clothesless by the end of the night. 😉

*Holding back picture, although I really want to post it*    Michel, you owe me one… 😀

After a very long day, it was time to sleep… Cavezzzzzz tomorrow (providing we get a car)!

Stay tuned for Part 2!