July 5, 2019 - Travel Day… Headed to Xcalak Mexico for our second croc diving trip of the 2019 season. Yes, we are taking our new group of friends out there to swim with crocodiles. The down side, it is another 5 hour drive to get from Cancun to Xcalak, and then a minimum 2 hour boat ride to get to Banco Chinchorro. Why are all the best places so freaking hard to get too? This week we are taking 6 people from very different parts of the world; Belgium, Australia, Guatemala, Bermuda, California and New York. The accents you hear are always fun. Super pumped to introduce them to the crocs tomorrow. The weather looks favorable for us and I am referring to the crossing from Xcalak to Banco Chinchorro, because once you are at Chinchorro, the weather is always good.

Last week, the crossing kicked our ass. It normally takes about two and half hours to get there, and less than two hours on a smooth glassy day. But last week’s crossing took us 5 hours of crap weather. It was a beating on the body and soul man. The winds and the swells kicked us around and kept us wet the entire ride. Hoping for a nicer ocean crossing for this group, and not going to lie, for me!

The croc action last week was pretty good, Gambit (the star croc of Chinchorro), was with us two of the three days. She/he is getting big. I know it is a slow growth, but finally she is starting to girth up. Hoping to see her get in to the teen sizes, here in the next few years. It always makes for a more amazing dive when you get these monster sized animals coming in to play with.

So an update from yesterday’s blog, and my new art project. I am super pumped that I am almost finished with the photos for my friend Sandra, the amazing soul that gave me the honor of allowing me to share my work on the walls of our local hospital. So far I have sent about 46 images to my buddy Chris, who is printing them up for me, and drop shipping them to the framer. I still need 6 more and then I am done with my part until they do the red carpet opening party they have planned, which should be fun. I just hope I am in town for that. Excited that my daughter Sophia will have a few images up there with me, along with my brother in law, AJ. 

We need to add some variety to the art we are displaying for local wildlife and it wouldn’t be complete without some RGV reptiles, and sadly, I didn’t have any, but AJ for sure did. He loves capturing images of local wildlife as well, so I asked if he had a few images that he would allow us to use for the project. He was fired up about it and sent me a lot to choose from. I found three that were pretty amazing. So anyway, this is today’s update for the blog. I will try and finish up a video for the trip before I return from Chinchorro, to share with you guys when I get back to Playa for our final night of the trip.

I am going to try and write up a daily blog when I can and I wanted to write one up before we left to the island tomorrow, but not sure if I can, since we are leaving at 8am tomorrow morning. Tomorrow will be a bit of chaos, because we will be packing for a two night stay at Casa Matracka’s fishing cabin. So not sure if I will have time, but will try. For now, good night my friends…