In May 2010 Luis Vela invited me to visit the exhibit Museo del Mar Sisal at the Museum of Natural History in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. The last time I was in Yucatan was in 2003 on a short trip to Cancun and Isla Mujeres, so I wrote Luis asking whether he knew some spots for collecting shells near Merida. Luis immediately replied and we arranged a trip together for diving and collecting landshells. He also contacted a friend who kindly loaned two complete sets of dive gear including tanks for use during the trip.

Luis was waiting for me at the terminal and drove me to a hotel near his home. From there we went to visit the Museum and the exhibit. The Museum is not large but neat, with nice and educational displays. The shell cabinets have material from all over the world loaned from Luis’ personal collection for the duration of the exhibit.

Later we met Saulo, Luis’ friend who would dive with us, then drove to Sisal Beach to look for a rental boat. After talking to a few fishermen, they booked our trip for the next morning. On the way back we stopped at a small restaurant and had a great lunch - seafood, of course! I really love the unique combination of spices in Mexican food! After lunch, we drove to an abandoned shrimp farm where Luis found some Nerita in fresh water tanks on the farm. We found a nice clean fresh water pond near the sea where some small lumps - Nerites - were visible on the top of rocks. The water was very clear and cold! I am not used to snorkeling in fresh water, so I was pleased to find that it was much easier to sink and stay down than in salt water due to the lower density. We collected some very nice specimens of Neritina aff. virginea which it is clearly different from virginea, not only due to its different patterns and overall appearance, but because all other specimens I have collected came from salt water and never stayed immersed full time, which was the case here. We walked toward the beach to look for rocks or other suitable place to snorkel. On the way, I felt a painful sting on my arm and saw a fly biting it! Soon many more flies were attracted to our presence which caused us to change our mind and get back to the car and home.

It was still dark when we left Luis’ home on the next morning to go to Sisal. A good thing about these trips is the fact I get to see scenery like nothing in Sâo Paulo where I live. This is the view from my apartment:

And this is the view I had on the way:

When we arrived the fishermen were waiting and the boat was ready to leave. After a few minutes of boat travel, we arrived at the diving spot and jumped into the water - darn cold water! I wished I had brought a warmer wetsuit! The bottom was covered by long algae and soft coral - more like algae than coral. In some places it was hard to see anything and my gear got tangled in the algae many times. I found nice Astraea tecta cubana, Cerithium guinaicum, a few bivalves and some small shells. While ascending, I saw several jellyfish swimming around so I took pictures and filmed them

I still had some air left, so we moved to a different spot but it turned out to be the same kind of bottom and same species of shells found previously. While Luis and I were looking for shells, his friend Saulo was snorkeling to catch our lunch with his spear gun. I rarely see any fish or lobster when I am diving, so I was impressed by the huge fishes and lobsters he caught. I asked the captain to move to a shallower place with rocks and sand, and not so many algae. I was already numb from the cold and hoped that shallower water would be warmer. But it was even worse! While descending I could see the deeper blurry cold water mixing with the shallower warmer water. As soon I touched the sand my hands turned blue from the cold, so I gave up and came out. It was time to go back and have lunch.

Our lunch was going to be very special: fresh ceviche prepared by the captain. While he was taking care of our meal, I walked to a mangrove behind the parking lot. Between the roots and mud I found several beautiful mussel Geukensia demissa granosissima and small Melampus. I had to stop looking for shells when the lunch bell rang. The ceviche was very good and I don’t recall ever eating so much of it before (my mouth is watering thinking about it now). While eating and observing the bay in front, I saw a strange log floating against the current: it was a crocodile! I instantly changed my mind about snorkeling after lunch.

We packed our stuff and headed back to Merida to meet Luis’ wife. She invited me to her friend’s birthday party, very different from the kind we have in Brazil. Men dressed in white shirts and women in white dresses stamped with colorful flowers. The large buffet was full of traditional foods. I regretted that I ate so much ceviche a couple hours earlier but I could not resist eating more delicious plates!

After a well-rested night, we hit the road to Cancun very early in the morning. Luis suggested stopping at a few spots to look for landshells and to visit Chichen Itza ruins. The first stop was the Cenote Xtojil (Cenote is a natural sinkhole). It is a fantastic place much like the movie Avatar! A big hole filled with water and air roots coming down from the trees. Down there could be seen signs from Mayan culture; they used the place to sacrifice animals and people, then threw the bodies in the water. That scenery was so impressive that for a few minutes I forgot to look for shells. Then, looking down, I found dead shells and shortly after some live ones crawling on the limestone: Choanopoma gaigei, Choanopoma largillierti and Microceramus concisus.

We left the cenote and drove to Chichen Itza. Years ago, Luis worked at the Hotel Mayland there, a fantastic resort inside the Chichen Itza park, so we could park our car inside and walk to the ruins. Although it is the kind of place I usually avoid visiting on my trips (=full of tourists.) I could not let this opportunity pass. It is a breathtaking place, especially when you think Mayans walked on the same streets 1,500 years ago! After walking around a bit, we diverged from the tourist path and entered a small forest near the ruins. We found more landshells, such as Orthalicus princeps, Neocyclotus dysoni, more Chondropomatidae and a beautiful Drymaeus serpesratrum!

Luis told me there was another cenote close to the hotel, but we would have to walk about 2 kilometers to get there. The path was narrow and also used by tourists with guides riding horses; it was about 2 kilometers but felt like 10 on that hot humid day. We found Helicina arenicola, more Chodropomatidae and Bulimulidae. We finally got to the cenote which was dry and fully covered by the jungle. It started to rain just as we started going down to it, which made it more difficult since there were no steps, just mud and slippery rocks. Down there it looked like Avatar too, just without the giant blue aliens. The rain let up, so we walked back to the parking lot at the hotel. (I wonder why the way back always feels longer).

We soon got to Cancun, dropped our stuff at Luis’ apartment and had a great dinner in a typical Mexican restaurant, Hooters. On the next morning we prepared all diving gear and headed to Playa del Carmen where we would take the ferry to cross to Cozumel Island. Luis parked the car next to the ferry entrance so we piled up our stuff and carried to the ticket booth 100 meters away (felt like 1000 meters carrying tanks and full diving gear). We bought our tickets but as we were passing the gates, the security guard told us we could not take the tanks with us! Luis found a storage facility where we could leave the tanks. We boarded the ferry and after 40 minutes, arrived at Cozumel. The minute we stepped on the island, it started to rain. More like a downpour. We had to rent a four-wheel car, like a Jeep, in order to drive to the N.E. part of the island. The road was a very old path opened by the Maya, thus no pavement. As we were asking for cars, a guy on the street overheard and offered his services along with a very old Jeep. That Jeep had probably been used by the Maya when the road was built, but it was good enough for what we needed. But, we also needed two tanks. Luis knew some local shops but none had tanks for rent; he managed to find a wholesaler who supplies tanks to all the shops and convinced the manager to rent us two tanks!

The road to the east coast was paved and nice although it was raining and the jeep had no doors or windows. We arrived at the beach and drove down a very narrow shaky lane between bushes. The brave Jeep easily made it most of the way without problems but I wondered if I would need a chiropractor afterwards. We arrived at our diving spot and our driver parked his car next to a hut falling apart next to the beach to wait there while Luis and I put on our dive gear. It was raining and the sea was rough; not clear at all. First, we had to pass the breakers and fight the current to get to the outer reef. We first tried swimming on the surface, but that made me seasick so I descended to the bottom. After several minutes, we made it to the reef but this was one of those dives where everything feels wrong. The water was murky, the current strong, my mask was foggy and I was still feeling sick and worst of all: no shells! I signaled Luis to go back to the beach. It was a struggle to make our way back past the waves and rocks next to the beach.

At least we found some great shells washed up on the sand such as the rare Conus kirkandersi and some other common but still good looking shells. I was impressed by the amount of junk at that place; certainly not thrown there by locals since there were no houses nearby. It looked like trash from all over the Caribbean brought in by currents.

After a snack, we headed back. On the way, Luis looked at something crawling fast on the road and yelled at our guide to stop. He thought it was a landshell (crawling fast?!?) and it was indeed a beautiful specimen of Orthalicus princeps! But the actual owner was a hermit crab, thus accounting for the speed - and angry by now. I took the chance to walk around, found a path amongst the bushes and followed it until I noticed my skin was becoming black being covered with mosquitoes!

Our guide left us next to the ferry station; as soon we arrived in Playa del Carmen, we drove back to Cancun. Luis had to return to work the next day, so I was going to be on my own for a couple of days before returning to Miami. But a tropical storm was heading to Cancun and I did not feel like getting stranded there for several days locked inside his apartment until the weather improved. I rushed to American Airlines and rescheduled my flight back to Miami for the next morning. It was a smart move since a bad storm hit Cancun on the next day!