Just another hot, sunny day at sea with a couple of friends. We casted off the lines to ‘Oz’, Brian’s 42 foot catamaran. The huge luxury cat left her slip and glided across the harbor at Puerto Aventuras. As we approached the narrow entrance in the port, we braced ourselves as the the hulls cut through the waves. The winds were light and coming from the northeast. As soon as Brian had the bow into the wind, Luke and I let out the jib sail. We ran to the mast then began hauling up the mainsail.

Shew!!! Luke and I looked at each other, wiped the sweat from our brow after raising the mainsail, and wonder how any old guy could “get it up” there. And with that, Brain turned the wheel until the sails filled with wind, then cut the engines. Ahhh! Peace and quiet!!! No sounds but us gibbering and the sound of waves lapping the hulls. There’s something magical about being out at sea under full sails. We popped open our first beers and got ready to fish.

Brian had been to the USA a couple weeks before and had bought some brightly colored artificial lures to fish with. So we threw those on the lines and sat down with beer in hand for some “serious” fishin’. All of us being avid divers, we got right into telling diving stories from around the globe. We each drank and listened attentively to each’s stories. Finally I felt the urge to change at least of of the lines to an artificial bait/fresh bait combo.

Right as I about to get the line in to change it, Brian cut the wheel and the whole boat changed course on a dime. “Whoa!!!”, I yelled as I grabbed at the hand line going around the boat. “Don’t want to go overboard today, thanks.” They just sat there and laughed. Quickly, a memory of my father came to mind…him telling me, “Son, always have 2 points of contact when walking around a sailboat, when you can.” I had both feet on the deck, I thought that was enough. Oh no! So I quickly….just sat down. Luke passed me my tackle box and I started to prepare my bait.

I let out about 100 foot of line then put the lock on the reel. After joining my friends, I realized by beer was empty. time for a new one! I had no longer opened my beer and …click-click-click-click-click!!!!! “FISH ON!!!” Everyone instantly put down their beers and snapped into action. “Luke this one’s you Man!”, I yelled at him. Brian quickly turned the big catamaran into the wind slowing us down and turned on the engines. Luke reeled with all his might, but the fish never broke the surface. “She’s running deep”, I said, ” Must be a barracuda or wahoo.” I ran for the gaff and went down the stairs on the back side of the catamaran to get ready to bring in the fish. Luke kept tension on the line while I lowered the large hook of the gaff below the fish. And with a quick pull up, I clean lifted the barracuda onto the deck. Barracudas are known to be good eating fish, but we decide to let it go….we were looking for something BIGGER, tastier!

I put together another bait then let the line back out. We took up our place around the table on the back deck, still buzzing from the first fish. By this time, we were getting hungry so we pulled out the sandwiches and potato chips. I had no longer finished my sandwich when we heard…Clack-clack-claaaaaaaack!!! “Its a Big one!” I yelled. I had the rod and was pulling hard to keep the fish on. Then the line went dead. “She’s swimming towards us, power up and get to movin’!” The end of the rod was against my stomach and starting to hurt badly. Luke grabbed a fighting plate and strapped it around my belly. I slipped the end of the rod down into it and began a tug-a-war against a beautiful Dorado. It jumped clean out of the water numerous time giving us a clear view of what we had on the line. Our hearts raced!

This time Brian manned the gaff and jumped down into postion. After a couple attepmts to bring it in, the dorado was bouncing on the deck. “Quick, knock it out, before it knocks me out of the boat!”, Luke yelled. And with that, the fish was put to rest. “Let’s get another on!” I announced as I rigged up another bait. I had only let out a maybe 50 feet of line when I felt something in my finger tips where I was hold the rod. It was a strike from a fish. I knew that much. But he didn’t take the bait. I pulled the rod’s tip up and down about five time then BAM!!!! FISH ON!!!! I was reeling like crazy. I told Luke to put the fighting plate on him and for him to fight the fish. I was worn out from the first one. As soon as he was strapped in, I passed the rod to him.

“WOW!!! That fish is strong!”, Luke shouted. He worked the rod tip up and down reeling each time. After about 10 minutes the fish seemed to be tiring out. It got within 30 feet of the boat and just like that…..took off into the blue almost pulling Luke off the boat. “I don’t care if you loose the fish, just don’t loose the rod”, I reminded him. The fishing line went deep into the water then started heading to the other side of the boat. In a catamaran, that’s BAD. “Engine up, go to starboard”, I told Brian. As the fish swam towards the opposite side of the catamaran, Brian kept the boat doing circles. Finally, the fish tired out and Luke began to get it closer to the boat and where I was at. Just as I started to lower the gaff into the water, the big dorado started jumping out of the water like crazy as a last attempt not to become our dinner. To say the least…he lost. We ate well that night.

We continued fishing and conitued to catch fish. Right before sunset, we called it a day. Once back in the marina, we all pitched in to help clean up the boat and finish off the beers. We sat relcined back after a hard day’s work, reflecting on what an incredlible day we had. Luke dropped me off at my house saying he would call me before he was to go out. Later that night he called, waking me, saying “Man I’m destroyed from today, I’m not going anywhere but to bed. I told him, “Good idea, I am already in bed!” That next morning, both Luke and Brian called me already reminiscing about our previous day out at sea. We were still blown away by the awesome day we had had before.

Looking out of a window at about 30,000 feet down onto Isla Holbox, I started searching for large shadows under the water. It is whale shark season again in Isla Holbox! I recall flying over the Isla Holbox National Marine Park area last year. You could easily see the mammoth creatures from the air lurking just under the surface. And just as expected, we saw 8-12 swimming together and migrating north towards the park. I quickly became excited, for I knew it was just a matter of time before I would be swimming with whale sharks again!

Each year I guide folks to the marine park, Isla Holbox. It’s a day trip from Playa del Carmen where we go and actually snorkel for about 3 hours with the whale sharks and manta rays. On the way out to the area, there are generally pods of dolphins tagging along with us. It’s truly is a once in a lifetime trip to be had by all finding their selves here in the Yucatan between June and September. Whether you are 8 or 80 years old, this experience is for everyone who loves animals and adventure!!!

Be ready! Swimming with and next to whale sharks is not an easy task. We maneuver the boat just in front of the whale sharks so that they are coming right at us. . As they approach, 2 guests and I get in the water. They swim on one side and I swim on the other making video. Often I hold my breath and dive down under the animals to get a real feel for the enormous size of the whale sharks. After trying to keep up with them for a few minutes, we give that couple a break then the next couple come in. We rotate the groups of two in and out of the water, making sure EVERYONE gets their share of swimming next to the whale sharks.

As the midday sun heats up the Gulf of Mexico, the whale sharks take leave from the surface and head back into the cool, murky depths. We turn our boat towards Mexico and take off for the mainland. Everyone dozes lazily as we jet back. Even once back in the transport van, almost everyone passes out due to sheer exhaustion from swimming with the whale sharks. But one thing is for sure, we all return back to Playa with the memories of a wonderful at sea with the world’s largest fish, the whale shark!

Whale sharks are migratory animals that can only be seen in a few places around the world…and the Yucatan Peninsula is one of them. They follow plankton blooms, and in the summertime, the area between the Caribe and the Gulf form a huge plankton belt. This attracts all the plankton feeders like whale sharks, manta rays, eagle rays, and fish. Join us on a fun and sun-filled adventure that takes you face-to-face with with these majestic creatures!

Whale Shark Tour Information Here

As the high season winds down, there is room to walk down the famous 5th Avenue again. Ahhh!!! This is a time when us locals catch our breath before the next high season… starting in little over a month. This 4-6 week lull is important for a lot of companies to make repairs or remodel. But for me..it’s a time to enjoy going diving with SUPER conditions and rarely seeing any other divers. Sometimes I jump on a boat just to take off on my own for exploration. The only way to find another part of the reef is by exploring, right?

So there I was cruising at the lip of el Cantil which is in 120 feet deep. There were huge barrel sponges and a couple really big turtles. With visibility around 150 foot, it was like flying next to the wall of the Grand Canyon! I generally turn my head from side to side , scanning the terrain and making note of any changing condittions. That’s when…out in the Big Blue… I noticed a school of long silvery fish with blunt heads. They swam against the current as though it didn’t exists! Right as they flew up on us doing 100 MPH, I recognized them as the famous Dorado, known to fishermen as being one of the best fighting and eating fish!

I swam up next to the wall turning so that my back was towards it. The Dorados swam towards the wall so fast I thought they were going to run right into it. Then like a Formula One racer corners turns, this running school of Dorado turned without ever breaking pace and headed straight out from the wall back into the Blue. Reallistically, they probably were swimming around 35-40 MPH. They are known to swim fast and be exciting to catch. Being raised around the water I have been lucky enough to both dive with and catch these awesome fish. And I must say both are a true thrill!!!!

Its always funny to see how couples handle each other underwater. Usually, if the couples are quite experienced, they stay relatively close to each other, but not too close. But then you have the couples who are fairly new to the sport of diving. These guys are either all over the place, or so close to each other that you find one of them pushing their hands away from their body as if to say” give me some space!” I get tickled everytime I see a boyfriend or hubby getting too close to there new diving partner, and you almost always see some discomfort in the eyes of the woman. Most women, when learning, do need to feel that there is someone just an arm reach away. Being a diving instructor, it is no problem to move close to the person and then away again without ever “crowding” the diver or diver-ette. New, over-enthusiastic diving partners can literally scare the Bee Jesus out of someone else trying to learn to dive or perfecting their technique. They generally swim in too close, bumping into their partner, then start signing directtly in front of their face, then to top it off…want to start grabbing gauges to check air pressure. All this commotion around a new or “not quite sure of one’s self” diver, can lead to a diving accident. I have numerous times seen where there was an out of control ascent towards the surface that could have been serious had I not been right on top of the situation. Once back on the boat or shore, I pull the “helpful” diver to the side, reminding him that he/she also was new to the sport and that they were not qualified to handle underwater emergencies …and sometimes even ask “could they please let me do my job!” I have never had someone say “I know what I’m doing, leave me alone!”
Chances are that if you crowd your diving buddy, they are NOT going to want to be your diving buddy much longer. We all have to remember that it’s a BIG ocean out there and to give each other a little room. Moreover, an overly helpful diver can kill the desire for some to continue diving. Out here in Playa del Carmen, the underwater visibility is great year-around so there’s rarely any chane of losing a diver…so spread out alittle and give each other some room….you’ll both enjoy the dive alot more!!!

Just a couple more months and Josh would be 16. All he could think about was cars and girls. Outside off those passions he and I shared a passion for extreme sports. He was about to start his advance diving cousre with me and let me know he like to get crazy underwater. I raised a eyebrow and said “we’ll see about that!”

Our first dive was on a sunken military boat off the west coast of Cozumel. The currrent was rippin’! Josh had told me about how he was on the swim team back home, but I wondered if he was trully prepared for the effort it was about to take to get around this ship. Once on the bottom in about 100 feet of water we tried to make our way around to the stern. With the current blasting us in the face, I was finning hard…and rising up to a open porthole which he could pass through and seek shelter out from the current. “Time to rethink the game plan” I thought. I eventually came up beside the porthole. My fins were churning hard through the current. I kept a constant kick going then looked underneath me to check for Josh. There he was…glad to be a swimmer…kicking his butt off to get to where I was at. I quickly ducked through the porthole and glided into one of the hallways. Did another flip-check ..right behind me he was! With perfect buoyancy me made our way through the hallway which opened back up on the other side.

Twenty minutes had passed and we had been through the wreck a couple times and finally did make it back to the stern to have a look at the propellers. As we started back up the rope that connected our diveboat to the wreck I, we noticed a couple of special guests. There were two divers using full rebreather units. They really looked liked astronauts with there spacepacks on having a space walk. That dive was exihillarating and tiring all at once. We had seen a cool wreck and the extreme to which you could take this sport, when we saw the rebreather guys. Josh just smiled real big and gave me a “hook ‘em horn” hand sign. WoooHooo!!!

By now, Craig had set up his equipment numerous times after his initial diving course with me over 2 months ago. We were on Moc-Che Deep, a wall dive bottoming out in sand at 100 feet. With nutrient-rich currents passing overhead, the wall is covered in numerous different types of hard and soft corals. Craig, a local land developer/party animal, and I had dove this wall a few times. For us, it was just a “swim through the park”, so to speak. We shared the boat out with another group of divers who had never been here before, so we geared up quick.

After our buddy check was complete, we sat up on the edge of the boat prepared to roll in. I glanced around at the other divers fumbling around with their equipment, and I felt very proud of my ex-student, poised across from me ready to adventure down to the depths with me again….excited as hell!!!

With one glance at Jorge our captain and I knew we were on the mark. “Craig, you ready?”

And with a nod I knew he was locked and loaded!!! “THREE, TWO, ONE- GO!!!” , I ordered.

SPLASH!!!!!

I bobbed up to see the boat glide pass and Craig’s eyes peering with glee out from his mask. I gave him one signal: Thumb Down”. And with that, he knew it was time to let the air out of the jackets and get started equalizing our way to the bottom.

The current was quite brisk today, stronger than he had ever been diving in. In a flash, my mind pulled up the diving history with our friend Craig. We had had a strong current while diving Tortugas reef before, and an even stronger one at the shipwreck, “Mama Vina”. We descended to the top of the reef sitting in 75 feet of water at a “break-neck” speed of what seemed like 100 MPH….but was actually maybe 3 MPH. But when you can’t stop, and it pushes you through time and space; you just hang there and things are flying past you… it can all be a bit breathtaking!

We hung close to the wall, midway down, allowing Craig to work on his photography skills. I went over the top of the wall to be a subject to Craig’s photograph. As he made final adjustments to his camera, I looked out into the sandy bottom and watched the current rip over head picking up the sand in plumes. It reminded me of dust storms often seen out west with the tumbling weeds going by. In currents like this, smaller fish seek shelter behind big barrel sponges and others stay slammed up against the wall. This was great for Craig’s pictures, giving him plenty of different subjects and angle opportunities. He had no idea what was about to become his subject.

We drifted past the first and largest section of Moc-Che wall. I flipped upside down to check on Craig. “There he is, right where he’s supposed to be” , I thought.

The current was really wisking us along now. We were drifting parallel to the other group who had shared the boat with us. Their guide was leading them into shallower water, knowing that one of his divers was low on air. I signed to Craig to check his air pressure. He signed back that he had a third of a tank left. At 100 feet…we could stay about another 8 minutes. The other section other the wall was coming up in sight. Usually the visibility of the water here is 80-100 foot in any direction, but today the currents had really picked up sand and particles decreasing the visibility to about 50 foot..almost reduced in half! And close to the bottom, it was down to less than 15 feet viz!

The other group now at the top of wall, drifted out of sight. I kept my attention to the blowing sands….watching…..knowing that if there were something….something BIG….it too would be swimming just over the bottom. And then out of the cloudy blue appeared a male Bull Shark!!! I clanged on my tank a few times, made a fin sign over my head and took off after the shark. He was swimming against the current and gliding just inches over the bottom heading towards the next big drop-off, “el Cantil”. I was finning across the current a slower pace as to not scare him off. At the same time, I was picking up hands full of sand and tossing them up into the water . I had noticed in earlier dives with Bull Sharks, that they were attracted to the sand that was kicked up by the larger rays feeding. Rays being one of the Bull Shark’s food sources, he was drawn straight to us!

At this moment, time freezes and becomes fast and excited, and is like slow motion all at the same time. I look quickly over my shoulder while continuing to make my way over the sand in chase of the shark…. “There he is, my dive buddy Craig, right where he’s supposed to be.”

Craig had his camera out and ready to shoot the “Big Boy”. He knew I was after a shark. He had heard me tell tales of such large sharks and today was his day. Just then, then shark turned completely around to face us.
I instinctively slammed my hand behind a rock stopping me from drifting. Craig reacted but failed to grab the rock. I extend my body and threw a hand up towards him. He held on while I helped pull him to the rock.

Once I knew he was secure I focused my attention on the shark who had now taken quite an interest in us. “Bearing: 20 ft-18ft.-15ft.”….RED ALERT…Attention: note to Jason…HE’S GETTING CLOSER!!!

Just then, something else caught the 9 foot shark’s attention. He turned and swam downstream back out into the blowing sands. We released our hand hold and drifted together closely behind the shark. “Check your air”, I signed. He gave me an OK sign to continue my “Shark Hunter of the Deep” escapade, and we drift along behind the shark. I saw some flashes going off, I knew he was trying his hardest to capture the moment. Just as our time was about to be up, I finally saw what the shark was after….A little turtle who had obviously lost his way while crossing the stormy, sandy flats from the deep abyss.

For a split second we stayed with the shark and poor turtle. Heaven only knows what happen to the little turtle after we left. Craig and I headed up to the safety stop. As we hung there, motionless, killing three minutes to off-gas…..we exchanged huge smiles! Finally after listening to all my stories, Craig had been face to face with one of our largest predators of the coast here, the ellusive Bull Shark. Once we broke the surface he started raving about what an amazing experience….with good reason. He was so revved up over the dive, it was incredible! “Only on Discovery!”, I reminded him, “Very few people get to witness them in “stealth” mode…hunting like that!”

The sun hadn’t even come up, and I had been half dozing in the front seat of a freezing transport van headed down some of the roughest roads from hell. Until finally we arrived in Chilquila, the port town where boats and ferries depart for Isla Holbox. Just another trip which I was the guide on. And a sleepy one. But I knew I would spark to life as soon as we were on the water.

Why would anyone want to wake up at 3 am in the morning to make a trip from Playa del Carmen, across the Yucatan to the North, and go to Isla Holbox? Isla Holbox is a national park and game reserve. The island itself offers tidy accommodations on very quiet white beaches. In the interior of the island, it turns into saltwater flats where you can see baby spotted eagle rays, flamingos and various other types of wildlife. You can even fly fish here for bonefish and permit. But the real excitement lies offshore. Roughly 30 miles towards Cuba and we run into and area where two major currents converge creating a thick plankton belt. Here you can find schools of sardines and shrimps near the surface. Now…where you find these three things you will also find their three biggest predators….dolphins, manta rays, and of course….WHALESHARKS!!! and lots of them! Massive 45 footers to 8 foot babies. And they all are feeding together from dawn until about 12 pm. So you had to get there early!

We jet across a bay to the outside or windward side of the island. This is where the park check-in pier is. And boy was it a bustling pier at 8 am in the morning! Our Mexican contact “Elvis”…no kiddin’… a Mexican with the legal name Elvis… helped get us checked in and some coffee then we were off. As we got under way, I hand out water and croissants for breakfast, and Elvis informed all the guests about the whalesharks and the Do’s and Don’ts with the gentle beasts. After about 2 hours of skimming along in the green, flat Gulf of Mexico I went to the spotters tower with my camera. This was a birds-eye view where I could spot not only schools of fish or creel but I could see manta rays swimming under the surface.

“Dolphins…9 o’clock!!!”, I shout. The captain slows the boat and turns the nose to the right. There were probably 8-10 with a couple of young males jumping and playing…It was quite a sight!!! After maybe 20 minutes of watching them I reminded the guest we still had bigger things to see. We turned the boat back towards the East and powerful twin engines roared to life. I took my perch again and took out the camera. I knew with those dolphins, the whalesharks wouldn’t be far behind. And just like that out of the blue, to the left and to the right there were multiple fins leaning out of the water. Sometimes two or three together. The captain slowed the boat down immediately! You wouldn’t want to hit one of these giants in a boat ant any speed! Elvis helps everyone into their equipment as I video a whaleshark as long as our 32 foot boat passing with in feet of the bow swimming around to the stern. If there was anyone still half dozing on the boat…they were up and wide awake now!

Over the next three hours, me and my guest enjoyed swimming right up next to the world’s largest fish. I would go with 2 guest at a time to snorkel over and view the shark up close and personal! Since this is a national park, most the whalesharks have tags with numbers on them. There have been roughly 500 whalesharks tagged. Some even had satellite GPS beacons tagged to them. I was surprised and honored when Elvis asked me for footage of the tags for research use. I was helping the animals in an indirect way and the people who study them.

But the best part of my day was seeing the smiling faces on everyone, regardless of nationality, having fun together. The experience shared by all will be remembered by all forever. And the ride back wasn’t bad either. After swimming my butt off with a video camera in hand…holding my breath, diving under the whaleshark…for three hours….I would fall asleep back by the humming engines on the 2 hour ride back to Isla Holbox. We all made a quick bathroom break and we were off again. Back across the bay to the awaiting transport van where Elvis bid us all farewell, and we piled into the van. Everyone completely destroyed from the day’s activities, we all fell asleep for the 3 hour ride back to Playa del Carmen. Back in the cozy town of Playa, we all said our good byes, knowing that with us we took the memory of one of the greatest adventures of our lives.

Join me on a Fantasea Dive whale shark tour!

We released the air from our diving jackets and began our descent. I was on the third open water training dive with two of the cutest girls ever from Spain. They had been a blast to teach. They absorbed the knowledge and amicably competed amongst each other when performing skills in the pool training. In the previous day we had been on the first two open water training dives in Jardines Reef and Shangri-La Reef, seeing depths of 8-12 meters of water. During there first two dives in the Caribbean, they displayed great confidence with all tasks I threw at them underwater. They were ready for what was about to become a diving safari!

As we drifted down to 15 meters , turtles were already taking time from eating their breakfast to give a nod…as if to say “Hello”. We adjust our buoyancy and gently glide over the surface of the bottom of the ocean. Passing big barrel sponges surround in numerous other hard and soft corals, it was hard to fix our sight on any on object too long. “Wow this currents moving along pretty good”, I thought.

We had been down for about 20 minutes, passing a couple big, green moray eels and lots of turtles, when we were starting to come to the part of the reef where we can find not only stingrays, but tarpon. Tarpon are large, silvery fish weighing between 15-40 kilos! And they school in groups up to 100!!! But even they have predators…those here being the elusive Bull Shark. “But this is the end of September, and the Bull Sharks don’t usually show up until December”, flashed through my head as I contemplated the possibility of a shark in the water. As we cruised more into tarpon territory I rolled over to glance out in the blue, and something caught my eye.

“Ok girls! Now here in this reef we can see this… and that, and we might even be lucky enough to see a baby Nurse shark hiding out under something” recalling the dive briefing in my head, as my eagle eyesight kicked in scrutinizing the large image on the horizon. The visibility this day was excellent…about 100 ft. (30m)!!! I instantly knew I needed to get to the bottom and stop all activity. I flipped upside down and caught both girls in my sight right behind me and in close range. I gave them one signal…Thumb down! Get to the bottom. I scanned the bottom finding a rock that I could anchor on to that would hold all three of us in the current. I grabbed, then threw up a hand to catch the closest one. She instinctively grabbed her friends hand and we form a chain.

Bubbles poured out of their regulators at a nice slow stream then shot off in the current. I knew they were not panicked, breathing comfortably. To confirm this, I checked deep into their eyes for any signs of stress or panic. They both just gazed back at me in wonder…not panic. I figured they just thought I wanted to show them some cool animal or something. And was that ever the case!

I looked back in the direction of the Bull shark and nodded to the girls to look that direction. Their eyes lit up like candles when they saw what was swimming towards them. Time had slowed down. The shark, moving effortlessly against the current, came towards us but at a safe range, like 20 meters out. The Bull shark had made its way up the current until it was parrallel to us… then turned. And with a couple big swishes of the tail shot right at us! I looked back at the girls hunkered as close to the bottom as possible and noticed a ton of sand flying up from the last girl in the chain. The shark was completely drawn to this. I imagine he thought it could have been a stingray eating something off the bottom…another Bull shark food source, Great!

The 8 foot male Bull shark came within feet of us, then opened into a circling manuever at a range of 30 ft. (10m) meters. Not too close, but not too far either! They male obviously was very interested in us and our noisy bubble makers. As his circle arced from the deeper side of the sloping reef towards the shallower section, we all couldn’t help but notice the ominous shadow slowing swimming up in the mid-water, that being around 9 meters above us. It was a female Bull shark of about 10 feet (3m+)! She came just about till she was above us and then did a 180 and took off out into the blue. And in that instant the male made a couple funny moves, breaking his circle, then took off into the blue after the female.

As my eyes finally lost sight of the pair I turned my head to the girls to see two of the biggest smiling faces I’d ever seen. They had truly loved every second of that interaction with the animals here and it showed! “Aw crap…air…check it now!”, I signed the girls. They were both well above the low limit and could continue the dive. We got back into sync…”goin’ with the flow” so to speak and I scanned my terrain. I recognized that we were still in tarpon territory, and still had a chance of seeing this massive school of fish. We swam up the gentle slope into shallower water until we came to sand in about 15 meters of water. Out of a hunch we found them! About 75-100 tarpon, all congregated together using the sand as camouflage from Bull sharks. I took one girl in each hand and flew right through the middle of the massive school!

Again, another moment where time stops….you’re completely surrounded by these harmless, giant, Caribbean fish and even though one second feels like minutes… you know you want it to last forever. As we slipped out from the last of the group of tarpon, we headed up for our safety stop. For three minutes, we hung there suspended and weightless looking up at the waves on the surface and then down at each other…shaking our heads at what we had seen. Smirks and smiles all around! Once we hit the surface, the girls went off into speaking Spanish a rate that challenges the speed of light. But I knew it was all good and they had had the dive of their young diving lives!

Once back on the beach we settled into some cold beers and brought out their log books for signatures and recording data from the dive. They were so animated with their log book, drawing pictures and putting in stickers. I asked “Weren’t you girls scared when you saw those sharks?” Both just smiled and said in broken, but cute English,” you said there would be shark. We see shark…muy bien! Gracias!” The end to yet another perfect day.