Sojourner - Traveling with the “Canman”

  Oooh la la!  What's the best place for a hot soak after skiing in Colorado?  Cozumel senor! The diving staff at Allegro Cozumel are so professional; especially for newbies. Even in February, the water is warm and inviting.  We saw giant eagle rays that circle around us flapping with 10-foot wing spans, tortoises, and of course schools of fish.  Magnificent!   After a day of diving relaxing on the beach and enjoying a cool beverage is where it is at! Don't delay! Just do it!

Snow skiing or scuba? - which to choose for a solo adventure before the traditional family holiday visits? I chose the "red pill" for what I hoped would be a warm respite in an alternate universe.  It was the right decision! Perfect weather, warm water, a "chill" all-inclusive resort (Allegro Cozumel), and accommodating staff combined with a nexus of adventurous sojourners from around the world made for a wonderful getaway.  Natalia I felt rusty with only 12 dives under my belt from my previous two excursions at Cozumel and Okinawa. But my dive leader, Natalia, an adventurous young 20-something spirit from Madrid took me under her wing and put me at ease.  Batting cleanup on my second diving was Lucas, a Brazilian.  What gives them their adventurous spirit? Why wasn't I that way? Perhaps from my baby-boomer attachment to a stability-a common thread in baby boomers.  Would more affluence have changed that? Sometimes I think so. Lucas ...

I've been hankering to scuba dive since I first became certified in Okinawa 4 years ago.   Friends offered that I didn't need to travel all the way to Asia as Cozumel, a world class diving reef, was just a short flight away.   So I threw an "internet dart" to pick a Cozumel resort and struck gold with the Blue Angel resort.  It's a 24 room hotel overlooking the ocean with a first class dive dive shop, accommodating staff, and a thatched outdoor restaurant all just a few steps from my room.  Blue Angel's unhurried environment allowed me to do my yoga, meditate and play guitar on the lawn overlooking the ocean (just 20 feet from my room) before heading out on a boat to dive. In the afternoons and evenings the same lawn was the place to socialize, read, enjoy talented local bands playing American hits.  Later maybe night scuba or just fall asleep under the stars listening to waves.   local band view from my room view of lawn from restaurant Yog...