The Background

We have now been going to Caribbean destinations when it's cold here in Nova Scotia since March 2004. We have also discovered some favourites, in particular, Cozumel and Akumal, Mexico, that we return to again and again.

Even with the favourites, there are still new places to discover. The only underlying criteria is that both the snorkelling and the diving must be good.

Between November 2011 and April 2012 we visited Grand Cayman Island, Cozumel, Akumal and, for the first time, the Dominican Republic.

Cayman Islands October 31 - November 7, 2011

We returned to Cobalt Coast Resort on October 31. Diving was great fun, as usual, but this time there was no trip to the hyperbaric chamber! Again we were thoroughly delighted with Cobalt Coast. This small resort offers personalized comfort and the companion Dive Tech dive operation is excellent. Highly recommended!

The underwater pictures of this trip are here.

Cozumel: February 4-18, 2012

We returned to the Iberostar Cozumel Resort. We enjoy this resort very much and have found it offers a combination of good accommodations, good food, excellent proximity to the dive sites and a superb dive operation with Dressel Divers. This year we had a ground level room and decided we liked the arrangement quite a bit.

And sunset in paradise.

The reefs off Cozumel are just amazing for diving. Again I experienced the feeling that I have stumbled (swum) into a National Geographic movie. I was wonderfully fortunate to see eagle rays on three occasions and many sharks. My past experience is that I'd see sharks sleeping under a ledge, but this time we saw the sharks out hunting. They are large graceful creatures! The pictures are are here.

(Splendid Toadfish flanked on the left by a spider crab and on the right by a shrimp.)

Akumal (Mayan Rivierra): March 7-21, 2012

We again stayed at the Hotel Akumal Caribe right on Akumal Bay.

We particularly enjoyed the proximity to both the beach and the dive shop (Akumal Dive Center). I did all of my diving in Akumal with Ivan and Natalie http://www.divewithnatalieandivan.com/index.html. I really can't praise them highly enough. Diving with them is such a complete pleasure! They work with the Akumal Dive Center, sharing boats, storage space, the rinse tank, compressor, etc. If you want to dive, or learn to dive, in Akumal, contact them directly.

Diving was particularly memorable on this trip not only because of the enjoyable time with Ivan and Natalie, but I also did my 300th dive! Donna met me at the boat with a bottle of Bohemia Oscura (beer) and later the four of us shared a nice bottle of wine. Here is a link to the underwater pictures from that time. (Akumal Underwater) On my last dive with Ivan, dive number 302 (!), we saw a large manta ray. Its wingspan was 4-5 metres. Unfortunately I did not get a picture. I think I was so astonished at seeing it that all I could do was stare in wonder.

We had all of our meals at local restaurants. Of note, we had wonderful meals at:

Lol Ha Bar

Terrific Pepper Poppers, Nachos and beer, usually Bohemia Oscura. We had lunch here most days and enjoyed happy hour and the wonderful mango margarittas. The chicken and beef fajitas are wonderful.

Lol Ha Restaurant

We had a wonderful meal with the Callahan-Cross family (Tim, Thomas, Bruno and Jamal). We enjoyed being on the deck, listening to the waves and enjoying the evening.

Cuve del Pescador

As you'd expect, they do fish.

Turtle Bay Bakery and Cafe

We ate both lunch and dinner here. This is still the place to go for dessert! Try the carrot cake and the sticky buns.

La Lunita

We had our second meal with Tim, Thomas, Bruno and Jamal here and the restaurant continues to live up to its past glory. We all enjoyed sitting outside looking out on Half Moon Bay. We'll return here again as well!

Gran Bahia Ambar - Dominican Republic - April 4 - 11, 2012

We surprised ourselves in November by an almost "spur of the moment" decision to join Danny and Claire Eddy for a week in the Dominican Republic over Easter. Danny is a colleague at the Nova Scotia Teachers Union with me and Claire is a Vice-Principal in Lunenburg County. We stayed at the Gran Bahia Ambar just outside Punta Cana. We had a lot of fun, although both Donna and I were astounded by the number of people on the beach.

The diving and snorkelling in the Punta Cana area was not impressive with poor visibility and not much in the way of reef. On Saturday April 7 we took the excursion to Saona Island on the Caribbean side of the island. Although the visibility wasn't the best, the dives were interesting and I did manage to see some interesting things. Two scorpion fish on one dive is a first. Pictures from that trip are here.

Copyright Ron Brunton 2012