From my childhood I was fascinated by the underwater treasure. The fantasy started of course from the bengali translation with the famous novel of Robert Louis Stevenson, The ‘Treasure Island’. It grew with Francis's adventures written by Anil Bhowmik and finally got the visual shape with the movies of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

On a cold night of December 2016, I was again watching ‘The curse of the black pearl’ (The first part of The Pirates of the Caribbean); and being quite fascinated, I started searching over the Internet regarding Underwater travel adventures. Thanks to Google…. I came to know about scuba diving at the ‘Underwater Museum of Mexico’. An entire museum under the Atlantic!!!!! I was pretty excited to have that experience. This Blog is mostly about that experience. Also, Mexico is the land of Maya, the first civilization of the World. I will share some of those experience also.

So, in no time I decided my next travel destination. And it was Cancun (Mexico), the city at the Caribbean shore line. Thanks to Spirit Airlines, the cheapest airline that operates over both USA and Mexico. I reserved the cheapest flight. Well, for a 4 hours of flight, I had a layover of 12 hours but that was nothing compared to giving a shape to my childhood fantasy.

When I reached Cancun, it was early in the morning. After discussing with the locals at the airport I came to know about Granada, the place where I can get the cheapest hostels of the city. It was a 15-minutes walk from downtown Cancun. I converted my meager savings into a few hundred Mexican Pesos and took a cab to a Hostel Kukulkan. I got a shared room at $6 USD per night. And the best part was, they serve free breakfast also.

The first evening was great at the hostel. The workers were very friendly and I got plenty of travelers there. Very soon, I became friends with a Swiss group of travelers and an Italian lady who came almost a couple of months back in search of fortune in the tourist place. They gave me a lot of information about scuba diving. I went to the nearby agency and booked my dive for the next day without wasting any time. I was excited and soooooooo happy to fulfill my childhood dream.

However, the next day was not at all friendly. It was raining and the day started with a phone call from the diving agency saying that they won’t operate any water activity on bad weather. Whatever, you can’t (rather you shouldn’t) complain against Mother Nature. So, I spotted a couple of tourist attractions nearby and planned for those. The first of those was Playa-Del-Carmen, A beach-city. I took a local bus keeping my grief aside for the cancelled diving. But, the day had even worse to offer. While getting off the bus, my mobile phone slipped from my pocket directly under the wheels. Now, I am scared. I am alone in a Spanish-speaking city without any GPS and any contact with the world outside. :( Somehow, I managed to get into a local shop where I got a person who understands English a bit and agreed to use their computer for a few minutes with an Internet connection. Thanks to Facebook, I told my friends about my situation and conveyed the message to my Mother who always gets worried with all my adventure activities.

Anyway, Let bygone be bygone. In a mournful afternoon, I tasted the famous raw-octopus-Ceviche on the beach of Playa-Del-Carmen. The cold flesh with cold beer alleviate some of the nuisances since the morning, but  I was not at all in the mood to capture the vibrant beach anymore. But still, I took a few shots. And, no point in saying, that I canceled all the other plans for the day and spent the evening looking at the ocean and came back to the hostel by the last bus.

The pain was a little bit relieved after a few gossip and consolations from the other members of the hostels. However, the day ended pretty well with a small party at the hostel they arranged for as some pre-Christmas rituals.

Well, with the blessings of Jesus, the next was great. It was sunny. In the morning, I went directly to the agency where they arranged a small training for the dive. They shared some tricks for the scuba dive and taught us about some symbols and life-saving gestures for the diving preparing for the situations if anything goes wrong; followed by a hands-on experience in a small pool.

Around 11 in the morning we started with a small boat towards the deep inside the Atlantic. Our guide was George. There was a professional photographer, Poncho who took some of my pictures under the ocean. Thanks to them.

And a biiiiiiiiiig thanks to Jason deCaires Taylor for fulfilling my dreams. Taylor made most of the statues in Cancun Underwater Museum. He is still making more and the museum is still growing in size. The part of the museum I went to is situated 60ft under the Atlantic.

A little bit of background of the Museum…. Cancun had a big coral reef under the Atlantic. In early 2000 there was a hurricane and one side of the coral reef was destroyed. So, the Govt. of Mexico planned to build this huge Museum on the other side of the coast to divert the tourist-influx. Consequently, the coral reef is growing almost without any tourist interruption over years.

Here are some photos:

We stayed for almost 45minutes under the Atlantic which is kind of normal for a 1-tank dive. However, with the high amount of excitement running in me, I swam a lot which eventually led to a low pressure in my Oxygen tank. But, by then I reached the rope (see the picture) again which led me to the ship on the surface.

However, I was really addicted to it. And that is why I reserved another dive. But, this time at night. Well, this is not recommended at all. The night dive was an entirely different experience. When you see the dark and deep ocean all around, and feel the creatures but can’t see anything, it's a bit (well lot more than a bit) scary. So, do not do it unless you are desperate. In fact, I freaked out on the first go and came back to the ship. Then again after preparing my mind, I went again after a few minutes.

Unlike the day-dive, night-dive is not made for the common tourists. I managed to get some professional divers and joined their group (See the selfie to meet the group). They gave me the necessary gears and a flashlight. I was not ready for this experience. My underwater camera was not at all good to work properly at night. But still, I managed to get some photos.

It was a great day. The night dive was even more exciting when I suddenly found a giant stingray crossed me just around 3-4 feet distance. The dive was also surrounded by some giant turtles.  But, they were moving fast and I could not capture them on my camera. Well, some episodes are good in memory only. They are not made for technology. Thanks to the Almighty for fulfilling my fantasy.

The voyage was already successful for me. But, when you are in Mexico, you should not only go deep into the Atlantic but must go deep into history. So, the next day, I took a conducted tour to Xichen Itza, the world’s first pyramid made by the world's first civilization, The Maya Civilization. This historic spot was almost 5-hrs by bus from Cancun Downtown. Along with Xichen Itza, there are many more historical reminiscence proving the rich Mayan cultures. For example, Xichen Itza is the Sun temple of Maya. Also, there is debris from a stadium, an observatory, etc. Other than the hot weather, overcrowded noise, the tour was pretty relaxing.

Furthermore it was pretty enjoyable when we visited Cenote Ik Kill on the way to the Mayan pyramid.  Cenote is a new type of terrain. Broadly, a cenote is a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. In Southern Mexico all the rivers flow underground. Inside some caves they expose in the form of pools (or, pits). There are hundreds of cenotes in Mexico, and all these cenotes are connected by rivers underground. Amazing right!!! Cenote Ik-Kill is one of the largest cenotes in Mexico used by Maya king to take shower loooooong back. Now you can also have a pool party here feeling like a Mayan King…. LOL