Woke up this morning and found the cruise ships have returned. I found this to be the view out my bedroom window-



Myself I could live here the rest of my life, never see another cruise ship or tourist and be completely content. However the town has been being bleed dry due to lack of income. So this is a bitter sweet day for me. I am glad that so many will be so much better off with the income the tourist bring.

Many in Progreso are happy today. For that I'm glad.

Yesterday for the first time, other than in a course, I dropped my weights. During an afternoon dive my BC decided it no longer wanted to hold any air at about 55 ft. I started the dive off a boat in Akumal. One DM, a nice couple from the mid west, a local lady who was on her 20th dive and couple from Spain who got cert'ed year ago and hadn't dove since. In the boat I noticed the Spanish couple were having trouble putting on their masks and fins and just in general looked confused. The water was choppy, I say 8-10 ft. Once we all hit the water and started our decent I noticed the local lady was having issues, couldn't seem to descend. So at 25ft I went back up and helped her down. Once she got to about 30-35 ft she was fine. At around 55 ft I noticed I was having problems with bouncy. I'd put a little air in my BC and in within a couple seconds I find myself sinking again. I rolled on my back, put some air in the BC and immediately saw bubbles headed to the surface. A little trouble shooting...

Fay missed me and drenched Florida making four separate land falls. I watched Fay as she hooked north, missing me by at least several hundred miles. Last night as I shut down everything Gustva's storm track was predicted to directly hit Cuba and then most likely hook north, as Fay did. This morning while walking the beach I noticed several houses having their windows boarded up. When I returned home I checked in with my Internet sources and found Gustva's decided on a more western track. Currently must models have it passing between Cuba and the Yucatan. If it stays there I'll be fine. If it dips southwest over night I could be in line for a direct hit. Yet again I'm preparing, though I've really been prepared since mid June.

On another note- Why do I attract crazy people? I'll admit I'm a little crazy myself. Just how crazy is debatable. But for some reason since moving down here I keep finding myself involved for one nut case after another. Several weeks back...

At 11am local time the party ended. The party started early Friday evening in the house next to me. It's my understanding this was a Quinceaña, a coming of age party for a 15 year old girl. The live bands started Friday right after a thunder storm cleared. I'm not sure how many bands were involved. I'd guess six maybe seven. I do know in between bands there was a 15-20 minute period of, not really silence, but an absence of pounding bass. Other then those breaks the music never stopped and I rarely slept.

This morning when the music stopped, yet again, I glanced out to see the stage and sound system being disassembled. At first I figure another band was simply setting up. When a truck arrived and they began loading the large stack type speakers I was pretty sure the end was in sight. In a matter of a half an hour the stage, lighting rigging and sound system was loaded and gone. I swear I saw Foreigner once and they had a smaller stage, speaker stacks and light show....

I been approved for another trip around the sun down Mexico way. I had my appointment this morning at IMN. Yesterday I'd been told this was a mere formality and I should be prepared to pony up the grand. Everything here is done in cash so I hit two ATM's this morning using two separate accounts on my way to the appointment. I'd decided late last night given the circumstances I was pretty much in a corner with no good options. The least adverse option was to simply pay the fine, breath in, breath out and move on. But I figured I'd jump through the hoop, however pointless several sources told me it would be. Anyway I went and stated my case to the supervisor this morning. I started by telling him it was completely my fault for not understanding Spanish well enough to know what the document said. That I should have known the Visa was not stamped in the correct place. He asked me several questions, mainly if I liked it here and if I plan on staying, if so how long, whether or not...