Sea Trek at Jeanie's
Staying in Cozumel for 11 days and we always like to do Sea Treks when they are available anywhere. We had booked this Sea Trek prior to leaving for vacation and were excited to see what it had to offer.
Our Sea Trek appointment was for 12 noon. We left the house at 11:30 and started to head to Jeanies where I had seen the place when we went to MEGA (because it's right across the street from there on the main road) and I knew there wasn't any place to park. So, I messaged them to ask if we are to park on the street or where and they told us to park at the MEGA lot and walk across the street.
As we arrived, they took our temps and we sanitized our hands and told them we were there for the Sea Trek. They told us to go ahead and have a seat anywhere.
Now you can do Snuba or Sea Trek here. You can also do both at Chankanaab. We only chose Sea Trek here because I figured snuba diving would be more interesting at Chankanaab because they had the statue there and that would have been neat to take a picture with. I didn't want to do both of them at the same place because I wanted 2 different experiences at 2 different places.
Prior to coming to Cozumel and when I booked these excursions, their ticket says under "What to Bring" is a list of a bunch of obvious things and then says "underwater camera". So somehow I mentioned this to them in an email and they responded by saying we could only bring a camera if we were certified divers. Now lets think this out...if you are a certified diver, why in the heck are you doing a Snuba or Sea Trek? Like seriously? Does that make any sense to anyone??? Well, you know me, I'm bringing my camera even if I have to hide it somehow. I don't go anywhere without my cameras!! What is with this island of Cozumel saying no to cameras on excursions???? I know some may argue the point that it might be a safety issue, but really it's not. I wear a strap around my wrist with the camera and my hands are and can be free at any time.
Here's my voucher for the Sea Trek...check out the What to Bring section. I will argue that point to the end and throw such a fuss about it if they say anything. I may even stomp my bad foot if it comes down to it. ;)
So we go down the steps to the area that is their "beach". We picked a "mesa" under the palm trees for shade. It was pretty hot out today, even though I'm sure it's been 82 degrees on a daily basis according to my weather app on my phone.
I really needed a Coca Light! We were all thirsty after sitting in the heat about 5 minutes. We waited and waited and no one came to take an order from us or anything. I was getting a little frustrated. Granted we were the only ones sitting at the tables on the actual sand/beach, but there were people down there sitting under the roof area tables, people right above us sitting outside (then of course people inside the building). They were all being helped but not us! We must have waited a good 30 minutes at least and we even signaled someone over. "Coca Light, Coca y la naranja por favor".
At one point the people at the Sea Trek came down and took our voucher and told us they were getting everything ready.
I took pictures of the area as we waited on our drinks. I decided to go online and see if I could find any parasailing trips. I managed to find a company (seemed to be the ONLY company that advertised parasailing) for a cheap price! It was only $58!! And to think the guy at Buccanos was trying to get $100 out of me! I'm almost positive it's the same company that was going to come to Buccanos. So, I tried booking us a time for tomorrow as our adventure for the day. The website was going in and out. I kept having to start over. After awhile, I finally got it booked! THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN...when my confirmation came in the email it stated parasailing confirmed FOR TODAY AT NOON! We were doing our Sea Trek at noon. How could this be happening! I tried emailing them and then I texted Ana. She was amazing. She called the company and told them it needed to be switched to tomorrow and what had happened. She told them to give me a call to confirm (I could receive calls but couldn't make them for some reason). They quickly called me and we received a new confirmation. Thank you, thank you, Ana!! I've said it before and I'll say it again, she is the most awesome host ever!
This was about to happen!
They were out there preparing our equipment and checking everything over.
Then they called us over for "class" to explain how everything works. Of course we have already done this a few times, so nothing new to us.
After class was over, they told us to go up the stairs (I believe this was the dive shop) and they gave us a key for the lockers and we put our things in it. I immediately put my camera in my bathing suit and I wore my tee-shirt (by mistake because I totally forgot I had it on and didn't end up taking it off).
Then it was time to head to the water and get in. We followed them to the dock and prepared ourselves to enter the water. Hija (Sakari) went first, then I went, then mi esposo (husband) went. I was trying desperately to not drop my camera out of my bathing suit top (which you'll see in the video as I enter the water on the steps). I'm not one of those lucky girls that can put something in there and it gets lost. The only lost you'll find with me is it falling straight out.
Going down the stairs, I felt like they were never ending. They seriously felt like they went way down. Every time I thought I was at the end, I wasn't. I cleared my ears several times on the way down. I believe it's supposed to be about 20' down (that's what they all say).
So, here we go....
We spotted a puffer fish. He had no fear and followed us and went around our feet and all. It was so cute!!! The fish were surrounding us and Hija was sure she was the "pescado" (fish) whisperer.
Now we did have a diver with us that was doing photography. At some point I just gave up trying to hide my camera and kept it out. I mean what are they going to do at this point? Hand signal for me to put it away? I would definitely act as though I didn't know what that hand signal is because it wasn't one that they had showed us in class. He would be taking a picture of me and I would turn around and take a picture of him. LOL
They had statues around the area and even a wrecked plane that was coming apart. I mean there's not a whole lot to see as far as any coral or anything but at least they had some neat statues to look at.
They did have us go up to a statue and they took our pictures there. They would tell us to wave at the camera. Then they pulled out some kind of water ring gun out of nowhere. It just appeared. He showed us how to use it and then let each one of us have a turn trying it out. It was a lot of fun!
Then he handed us a sea urchin. Showed us how after holding it for a few seconds it would suction to your hand and you could turn your hand upside down. Of course, we already know this and have held quite a few of these over the years. But still it was some form of entertainment along our walk. Our guide was pretty entertaining as well. Even though you couldn't talk under water, his body language was funny and put a smile on our faces. At one point they had us dancing as well. Man, way to make a fool of myself. But, we had fun.
Of course I'm busy taking pictures and I'm falling way behind. I see that the instructor is pointing at something and I tried to play catch up the best I could. There was something under the rock. He went on one side of the rock and a yellow spotted stingray came out. Can you see it?
We kept moving along. I don't know what this is supposed to be, but it looked like Godzilla's iron to me.
Before long, it was time to go back and get out. We had fun and always enjoys these "water walks" on the ocean floor. If you haven't done it before, you need to try it! Aruba still holds the numero uno (#1) place to do this at. The props that they have are simply amazing and so much interaction! If you haven't seen that review, you should check it out.
Up, up we go and what a great time it was! I did manage to hand off the camera to mi esposo (hubby) and he managed to get a picture of me in the water before he went up and also me coming out of the aqua (water).
Here's my short video of our Sea Trek adventure. I am not by any means a good video-taker. I usually forget to do it at all while under water. I say every time that I need to improve on those skills and step my game up.
Once we were done, we headed back to the tables under the roof, where we had our class at, and then went and retrieved our things from the locker. As we were sitting there, a waiter came over and told us that we got 2 free drinks with the "package". Um what? How nice was that!!! The coupon didn't say anything about that and it was a nice surprise. I ordered a Piña colada, hija ordered a virgin daiquiri and the hubby went big and ordered a coke!
As we were sitting there enjoying our refreshing drinks, the waiter came out with some food. We told him we didn't order anything and he went back up to the restaurant. Then he returned with another person and said "it's on the house". Wait what? We were getting the VIP treatment. I couldn't believe they brought out these huge plates of nachos for us complete with pico de gallo and other dips. How nice of them. Now I don't like beans but either I was getting hungry or these were pretty good.
We enjoyed our meal while we watch these guys making out the entire time we were eating. Man, get a nest would ya!
After eating and enjoying another drink, we told the waiter "la cuenta, por favor" (check, please). So 3 drinks and a loaded plate of nachos and here was our bill....cheapest bill of the trip!
With our belly's full and our mouth cooled down, we were ready to head out. I had went up to see our pictures they took of us earlier, but they weren't done yet. So, we decided to stop by there on the way out. I had seen a sneak peak of it and I told him to just go ahead and finish it and I would buy it. I had already seen what they were doing with the videos and pictures that I knew it was well worth the purchase.
I'm just going to share a few of the pictures they took of us. They took 91 pictures!
Now I'm just going to talk about their "video" they made of us. When I had stopped by earlier to see the "pictures" he was working on this video. I noticed he used the same video program that I do when I actually make video's and put music to them. I was impressed by what I was seeing and knew that I wanted the video (at the time, I didn't realize we also got the pictures in addition to the video). So he said for just the pictures it was $45 and for the video and the pictures it was $65. I didn't have a problem with that.
They did SUCH A GOOD JOB! Like the way they went in and out of the pictures and how the photographer got the video of different things in the water and then showed us. It was pure amazing. Yes, I do need to step my game up after seeing this. I was so impressed and happy with this video. There hasn't been another place that has done video's of us on an excursion and made it look this professional. WAY TO GO Sea Trek of Cozumel and Jeanies! Props!
Happy with my purchase, we headed out, snapping pictures along the way of Jeanie's of course.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you have never done Sea Trek before, I highly recommend it! It's a fun and "different" adventure than other experiences. All you have to be able to do is breathe and walk (and go up and down the stairs but they take it slow and they help you). Every Sea Trek is different and even though we still rate the Sea Trek in Aruba as #1 (because of the props) all of them make it a fun adventure for all. These guys were hilarious and fun and communicated with us underwater in a way that made it a delight. The abundance amount of pictures they took were great but their video...now that was awesome and well worth the money!
I highly recommend doing Sea Trek at Jeanie's!