Since we leave tomorrow morning, “Mary’s Place” was to be our last dive of the trip. It used to be called “Mary’s crack” because it is, in fact, a giant crack in the ground, but apparently people decided that was too risque sounding and changed the name. Regardless of what it’s called, this was probably the coolest dive of the trip. Not necessarily the one with the most fish and coral, but the crack itself was about 400′ long and went down to over 80′. If you go straight through the crack it stops abruptly into the open ocean, so there is a left turn that happens close to the end. After the turn, the crack heads upwards a little bit and the rock walls get tighter and more jagged. It was quite the (enjoyable!) challenge to be able to control my buoyancy and swim my way through without stirring up the sand on the bottom or running into any of the rocks with my equipment. It was like a gigantic underwater game of “Operation”. Don’t touch the sides or you lose! 😉 I didn’t take very many photos of this and the associated drop off dive because the visibility in the water wasn’t that great and a lot of the photos were getting backscatter from all the crap in the water. Ohwell, still an awesomely cool dive!
After the dive was over, Jason and I spent some time thoroughly washing our gear and hanging it out to dry. Wetsuits, the booties in particular, smell like death towards the end of a trip but luckily we had some bright sunshine to make sure everything was nice and dry by the time I had to pack up. Since there was to be no diving in the afternoon, Jason and I grabbed one of the many kayaks available and went for a little paddle around the lagoon to do some makeshift exploring. We decided to try one of the tandem boats since we’d never paddled one before. Lets just say we won’t be purchasing a tandem. I don’t have enough patience for teamwork. 😉 After we were both tired of paddling around, I laid out in the glorious sunshine while Jason read a book in a hammock somewhere. After a full week of multiple dives per day I was worn out! This one afternoon of complete relaxation was everything I wanted it to be and more! My final total for the trip was 19 dives, which probably doubled my current dive total. Packing was a pretty sad affair all around, although I did manage to save a ton of space on the way home.
Overall this was a GREAT vacation. A great mix of activity and relaxation. I was sad to have to pack up and go home. Highly recommend Coco View Resort to anyone looking for a relaxing and fun dive vacation. I also recommend at least a 3 hour layover in Houston. Our flight to Seattle got pushed forward by two hours which squished our previous 4 hour layover into a 2 hour layover. Fun fact: Houston is a HUGE airport. We got lucky that a cruise ship or larger plane hadn’t made it in ahead of us. As it was we arrived at the gate with 20 minutes to spare. Enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and then load up onto the plane. That’s way closer than I really like to cut it! 😮 We made it home safe and sound. Sleeping in my own bed with my own pillow was amazing, but being back to the 30 degree weather isn’t as amazing. 😉 Can’t wait for my next romp in the tropical sunshine!