The plan for that winter’s Mexico trip was for Mac and I to go to our usual west coast campground with our “beater” travel trailer for a month to visit and then say goodbye to the friends we’d made, before heading to the east coast to pick up my daughter Isabelle, also a diver, from the Cancun airport on New Year’s Day.

Walking along the edge of the warm Caribbean sea, flicking sand with your toes as you go from the wet onto the dry, trying to avoid the tide as it rolls in closer, not wanting to get your feet wet. Getting wet would be fine, as the temps are in the low 80’s, the breeze is warm and balmy, but as a game, you see how close to the water you can get without letting the surf touch you.