Well, I’ve got a little bit of history to share with you… First, personal, and second, geological. (“Huh?” you say. “Keep reading,” I say.)
In reference to this post’s title, I guess I’ll just dive right in.
So, most of our close friends and family know we took up scuba diving a couple of summers ago.
Many of our close friends and family know we’ve been trying to start a family.
Few of our close friends and family know we took up diving to distract us from the fact that we were unsuccessful starting a family.
After trying to get pregnant for about six months with no success, we decided to stop for awhile and refocus our energy and attention on doing something fun together that we couldn’t do if I was pregnant. Scuba diving has always been on our bucket list. So there you go, we did it! Now, it’s one of our favorite activities, and we’ve gotten to dive in Aquarena Springs in San Marcos, Lake Travis in Austin, Cozumel (Mexico), Hawaii (Oahu and Kauai), and now Cancun. We just love being underwater together!
So there’s some personal history for you. Now for a little geology …
We recently returned from Mexico where we took a “cavern dive” in the cenotes at Chac Mool. The word “Cenote” is pronounced, ‘say-no-tay’ and is derived from the Mayan word, “dzonot” which means ‘sacred well’. On the Yucatan peninsula, they are sometimes referred to as the “Sacred Waters of the Riviera Maya.” We shall refer to them as “one of our most spectacular dives ever.”
More history:
“Cenotes are fresh water pools connecting to submerged caverns and other cenotes. A combination of various geological events and climate changes created an incredible and unique ecosystem. These caves and underground rivers were created naturally over 6,500 years ago. Over the past 20 years, experienced scuba divers have explored these caves discovering more than 300 miles of interconnected passageways and caves that make up this amazing one-of-a-kind ecosystem.”
Chac-Mool is one of the caverns which has a halocline, where salt and fresh water come together and creating dazzling visual effects. This was a really crazy experience. You can actually see where the water meets, and it sort of looks like a shelf (fresh water on top of saltwater). The fresh water is so clear you can see forever. When you are in the halocline, everything suddenly looks extremely blurry and confuses your senses until you get out of the mix. Kind of hard to explain, but really cool to experience!
We did two dives into the caverns. On the second dive, after going deep into the cave, past the point of any natural light, we were astonished to surface underground (our divemaster had kept this part a surprise). It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! It’s something very few people will ever experience, and we (including the other divers), were all stunned into breathless silence as we just tried to take it all in. Stalactites covered every visible surface, there was a hole letting in natural light from far above, and tree roots dangled down until they just touched the water.
It was magical.
Michael captured a bit on video. Of course, it doesn’t do it justice!
Here’s a professional shot of the area where the light was coming through. Pretty spectacular, eh?
So, needless to say, this was an unforgettable experience we’re so thankful to have shared. As it will be, I assume, when we successfully start our family. We’ve recently made the decision to try to adopt an infant, and we couldn’t be more excited! Just like cave diving, we’re expecting an incredible, unique, one-of-a-kind adventure. Like freshwater and saltwater beneath the earth’s surface, we hope two families will mix together and create a sacred bond. We’re a little nervous, and have no idea what to expect. But, as they say, we’re just diving right in.
This past Saturday, we arrived home from a week in Cancun. We were celebrating Anna (younger sister)’s 30th birthday so we brought her along for the first half of the trip. We had a great time! Lots of relaxing, in fact so much relaxing, we neglected to take many pictures. How ridiculous, right! Here’s what we have. We snapped this shot as Anna was headed to the airport. Behind us is one of several humongous infinity pools at the resort.
We took these at the outdoor restaurant on the beach.
Hard to tell how cool it was, but it was pretty great!
We stayed at the Omni Cancun Hotel and Villas. Since I’m giving them a free plug, I thought I’d include some of their promotional photos, to make up for our lack of documentation. Here is an aerial shot of the grounds:
A heated swim-up bar:
Sunset view of the hotel from one of the infinity pools:
We had great weather while Anna was with us. We spent a lot of time on the beach, ate as much as we could, and caught up on our rest. Pretty much our idea of the perfect vacation!
We had a wonderful time with family and friends last week in Norcal. This week we’re down in Tulare for the World Ag Expo (one of our major clients). Heading home late Saturday.
I was just remembering today how we commemorated our last Christmas in California with Jess and Paul. We stayed with them at their home (aka church office) for the last couple of weeks before we moved in February, 2007. Their Christmas tree had been out on the porch for a month and half, getting completely dried out and brittle. Then one night, I realized there was a purpose …
Married 37 years this day
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