Tulum Travel Journal: Day Four
Day 4 - Dec 27 - Scuba Two
The next day, I woke up in time to catch some early morning light and snapped a few photos with my tripod. For breakfast, we went to the hotel restaurant to have huevos y jugo de naranja!
We drove up to Playa Del Carmen to dive as conditions were better up there as opposed to Tulum. The waves were still a bit rough and making people on the boat feel a bit queasy. Once we dove under and got to the bottom, we were mostly under the current and enjoyed floating along the bottom. I was filming a funny little fish with my go pro when someone turned me around and there was a bull shark swimming right behind me! I was able to get it on camera but it was pretty far away at that point. As we were about to leave, I looked behind me one last time and saw two more bullsharks swimming together! I decided I didn’t want to be left alone so I quickly joined back with the others. What a neat experience! The bull sharks were not aggressive at all, but you could sense their strength and power. They are all females and they come close to shore at this time of the year to give birth to baby sharks!
We dove twice more today but didn’t see any more bull sharks. We spotted several large sting rays, moray eels, spiny lobster, corals and schools of fish. Overall the reef looked pretty healthy. At one point, Drew even helped save my life! As we were floating over the reef, I noticed my weight belt had come loose, so I signaled to Drew that something was wrong. Luckily he was close by, because right as he grabbed the weight belt, it came completely off and I started rocketing up towards the surface. Drew was holding the belt and the extra weight made him start sinking. As we started to part, he reflexively grabbed hold of my leg which stopped me from floating away! We got the weight belt back in place and properly secured, and everything was back to normal!
Our Airbnb hostess recommended La Malquerida for dinner. They serve both Mexican and Italian plates so there is something there for everyone. We sat at a table with rope swings all around us which was fun - and so Tulum. The enchiladas were pretty yummy here. A mariachi band showed up on the street and played La Bamba for us, which was such a fun experience! We gave them a tip, they were so good I didn’t want them to leave!
