As all the children are now certified, we took the family on a dive vacation to Cozumel, Mexico. Cousin Jeff and Uncle Harry, who are also divers, joined us there. Everyone else in the family had the good sense to stay away, except for Grandma and Granddad, who came along to offer moral support. Unfortunately, in the best of times, there is nothing to do in Cozumel if you are a non-diver. In our case, we arrived at the island one week after they had thirty inches of rain in two days. Thus, the normally thick population of insects had increased exponentially. We stayed at the Reef Club, an all-inclusive adjacent to Sand Dollar Diving. Sand Dollar is the best dive operation we have found on the island and their proximity to the reefs made for very comfortable diving with little boat travel. The kids all enjoyed the all-inclusive format which required little parental involvement for most activities. In addition to a number of wonderful dives, including one night dive, we all went parasailing. We also rented an old jeep wrangler and toured the island.
Pieter has always been a child that finds his own way to do things. Not only did he develop a unique style of diving, he also had a different way of getting into a hammock. Although this did not seem as relaxing as it should have been for him, it provided great entertainment for all those around the pool bar.
Jeff, Pieter, and Jessica from atop lighthouse. This is the same lighthouse where Pat and I were given the tour by machine gun toting druglords bacjk in 1982. Now it is a government museum. Needless to say, the government took more of our money than the criminals did.
Jeff also had a curious dive style. He would essentially pedal his fins as if he were biking. We spent the first couple dives trying to adjust him to the horizontal, but by the end of the week, it was reassuring to see him come pedaling along.
