Isla Mujeres: Diving, Diving and More Diving

I went to Isla Mujeres because I figured it would be a nice middle ground: far enough away from Cancun to avoid drunken American louts but still sufficiently developed that it wouldn't get too boring being there for a couple of weeks.

Hard as it may be to believe, even places like this can get boring if there aren't enough people around. Photo credit: flickr.


I lived at a (quieter, cheaper) hostel and "worked" at another hostel. Made for a pretty rough commute.

After two days walking around and talking to all of the dive operators on the island, I set up a pretty sweet deal. I paid for the next level of dive certification (Rescue Diver) and was taken on as an intern. In return for helping out around the shop and trying to sell diving at the local hostel, I could go diving for free.

And so that's all I did. For five weeks. Seven days a week.

Report to the dive shop at 9am, go diving if there are customers. Get back to the shop around 2pm, clean equipment and then just sit around (or, if there are no customers, sit around starting at 9am). Report to the hostel around 5pm, try to sell diving for a few hours.

An important aspect of selling diving is developing a personal relationship with your potential customers.


That's me in the back. Doing nothing but diving and drinking is 'OK' with me. This was taken at the shipwreck, where the current is often so strong you have to descend the 25 meters hand-over-hand down the buoy line. At the shipwreck, we saw 2 meter wide spotted eagle rays, 50+ pound groupers and, once, a 2 meter long nurse shark, sleeping within the wreck itself.


Mostly, though, we went diving at a set of reefs just south of the island. It was shallow and clear with great coral..


..and lots of fish.


Fish everywhere.


And, also, fish. Lots of 'em.


Big fish, too, sometimes. That guy's probably 20 or 30 pounds and damn tasty.


Hiding under nooks and crannies..


..lobster! Too bad the main reef is protected by a national marine reserve.


Thankfully, there are other reefs outside the reserve. Ahm gunna eetchuu!


And then there are fish.


And.. right, well, you know.

It seems repetitive and almost silly, describing it now, but it really is fun every time. Even if you're seeing basically the same schools of fish every time, you also see something cool and special on almost every dive. Twice I stuck my head underneath an overhang and found myself face to face with a 4 or 5 foot long barracuda. They were hiding out, waiting for an unsuspecting reef fish to wander by, so I was in no real danger. But still. Great big teeth, right there, man.

A lot like this but with more of a "Boo!" factor. Photo credit: flickr.


Goddamn Andres (Divemaster, shop owner and Don Juan extraordinaire), always getting the sweet shots. We saw turtles probably every third dive.


I got a nice deal on my dive watch by buying it through the shop. It was still really expensive.

After five weeks, even a paradise like Isla Mujeres grows too familiar. There were progressively fewer customers, so I wasn't diving very frequently nor was I making any money (I'd renegotiated my original deal to include commissions on my sales). I had my training and my dive watch, it was time to move on. But surely there was a better way to leave Isla Mujeres than by public ferry.

Hrmmmmmm.... think, dammit.


Come on, there has to be an answer. How does one most stylishly leave an island?