Day 62

Cozumel, Mexico. Finally! We did something again in Cozumel. For whatever reason we usually walk around in the nearby shops or go get internet access at a coffee place when we’re in Cozumel. I think a lot of the shopping was because we were leading up to Christmas and Secretest of Santas. After that the weather hasn’t been the best when we’re here.

Today was cloudy, but looked like it would break. Jen and Larrance were off on the Mayan ruins tour with Jen’s parents so Deanna, Andy and I made plans. Deanna did some research and found a place called Palmar Estates on Dzul Hal Beach. It had a butterfly sanctuary and a private beach for snorkeling…all for $8. It was actually great. It was hard to photo the butterflies…especially the cool big blue ones. But it was guided and the guy with us pointed out caterpillars and chrysalises that we were pretty much just looking at without realizing they were creatures. One of the caterpillars looked like a bird turd, but then you touch it and these orange antennae show up. I got pics.

They also had lockers, so I locked up my big camera and we headed off to snorkel…right across the street. It was right next to a not-private entry to the exact same water, but the $8 also included chairs and a couple dudes to watch over stuff. It was rocky getting into the water, but we made it. Clearest water yet. Fantastic snorkeling. I got in by the rocks. Deanna and Andy went down 50 feet or so to more of a smoother entry. I’m glad I went in where I did…after swimming out and over about 10 feet I thought I saw a little tiny octopus. It wasn’t, but for whatever reason my brain was triggered into octopus mode. Why? Because five feet from where I was I saw a hole, and I saw something sink down into that hole. An octopus. Much bigger than the thing I thought was an octopus that wasn’t. Big enough to make me keep my distance. Small enough to have me not back up (so I could get pics). Jen has stories of how smart octopi are…of cornered octopi being smart enough to pull your mask and scuba respirator off your face. I stood my ground and flagged Andy and Deanna over. Jen would have to settle for photos.

Towards the end of our visit it started raining while we were in the water. It was cool and our stuff stayed mostly dry on land. My only complaint was that my photos got worse with the thicker clouds. I’ll be snorkeling in Cozumel again. I also plan on renting a jeep and just driving around the island taking photos.

We had rehearsal and our shows tonight. The first show was great. We did a great job and the audience was fantastic. Unfortunately there were two things working against us for the second show: it was later in the evening (after a day of Cozumel (which means booze for most people)); the crew show was shoe-horned in between our two shows. When there is a crew show in between our show it means people either have to sit and watch it and our show together (about 2 hours of sitting for shows) or decide between the two. The later show is usually our more well-attended show. Not tonight. Those who chose the “I’ll watch the crew show and then the Second City” have a higher percentage of changing their mind after seeing the crew show…especially when the tiredness of the day starts to hit. Our audience was a quieter one, but we had a great show with a fun musical ending.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Stingray City with Keelan and Charlotte.