Protected: Keep On Truckin’
6 12 2020Comments : Enter your password to view comments.
Categories : Seeing 2020
Visiting The Old Man
1 08 2020Saturday, August 1st, 2020 ~
I was having some water withdrawal, so we packed up our gear, and went down to play in the Rivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
We met at Mike’s, got Zeus (our pony dog) comfy in his digs, and headed out for some Scootery Diving Goodness! We took a bearing of Old Man Island, accounted for some current action, and made our plan. As we scootered in the shallows, we eventually turned south, toward the island. We came upon some really neat formations, and the water got quite shallow. We decided to surface, to see where we were.
Well, would you look at that??? We were right in front of the island (another 10 minutes of scooter time,’ish – 45 to 50 minutes on the trigger, to get there)! Back down we went, and we hit our mark. We scootered around it, then caught the current to come back in .
As we drifted, we found a giant piece of a prop, that looked like it broke off of something almost as large as the Jodrey (640′ steel freighter, for those that don’t know of this most awesome tech dive). We played frisbee with some discs, found some sort of pump, and of course, a few bottles. We drifted along the periwinkle shells, then came up to 60′, where we met up with the bow of the Gaskin.
Weird, that the line has been cut back. Not sure why someone would have done that. We scootered back to 30′, where Steve and Mike rotated their bottles (they were on RB80s), then up to 20′, where we did our deco.
I was convinced that my sac rate was going to be higher than normal, since being out of the water for a bit, but it appears not. I spent an hour and 6 minutes on my stage bottle, and surfaced with 1200 psi in my backgas (double 80s). Deco was on 02.
Bottom Time: 2 Hours, 30 minutes, on the nose.
Max. Depth: 107′
Avg. Depth: 78′
Water Temp.: 80F, near the surface, 77F on the dive.
When we surfaced, we packed up our gear, and went back to get Zeus, then went for some Boston Pizza! w00t w00t!
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Chantelle Blanchard, Diving Goodness, Diving In Canada, Exploration Diving Services, Global Underwater Explorers, GUE Divers, GUE Diving, GUE Ontario, Mike Pinault, St. Lawrence River, St. Lawrence River Diving, Steve Blanchard, Undirworld Diving, We Go Down
Categories : Seeing 2020
Day 4 – No Alberto…
3 12 2019Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019 ~
Today’s adventure led us to Nahoch. 250 peso’rinas, to get in.
Oren led today’s dive, followed by Chris, and then me, in the back. We had planned on going to the Alberto line, but ended up on the main line. Meh… all good. We were cave diving, so all was right in the underground.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming – A nice and relaxing backgas only dive, looking at pretty white cavezzzzzzz. I can get into that! Wait… I DID get into that! 😀
We swam for an hour, then made our way back.
Bottom Time: 1 hour, 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 24′
Water Temp.: 77F
Avg. Depth: 15′
After the dive, Oren treated us to some delicious burritos! Burrito con pollow, con queso. So freaking delicious!
Back to the shop, chill at the condo, and then dinner and singing, at Cafe Ole. We were joined by Peter, Manu, Gus, Larry, Yiannis, Chris, Tina, Oren, Steve, Mike, Peter, Alessandra, and we even ran into Dennis W., who we haven’t seen in years.
I sang a few songs, and the lovely Gaylita opted to open Thursday night singing nights, so that I could sing again before we left. Thank you, Gaylita! ❤ We had an absolute blast!
We didn’t stay too late, as we had cavezzzz to dive, the next day! 😀
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Diving Goodness, GUE, GUE Ontario, MCEP, Mexico Cave Diving, Mexico Cave Exploration Project
Categories : Twenty-Nineteen
Day 3 – Seal It With A Dive!
2 12 2019Monday, December 2nd, 2019 ~
Super Steve made us breakfast again, and we got moving to make our meeting. We met, we listened, we spoke, we laughed, and saw some more of our diving friends from all over the world. I really do heart our diving family.
Oren, Chris, Tina, and I went to Otoch Ha for today’s Diving Goodness! Tina was our supervisor, and she was sure to pack along a whole bunch of bug juice. This site isn’t exactly the most tourist friendly place to wait, especially with all of the bibits.
We brought our doubles down to the steps, where it’s easier to don them, before getting into the water, and geared up. It seems that Jorge has definitely worked his magic, and has perfectly installed and fitted my neck seal. No adjustments needed. “Nueve! Nueve!” Thank you, Jorge!!
We inched our way down to the cenote, where we got in, did our gear checks, and away we went. I led, followed by Oren, then Chris. We took the T to the left, and swam the downstream line. Nice and slow, see… *Enter Fred Flinstone reference*
We had a nice, relaxing dive, and swam to the end of the line to another cenote. We hadn’t yet reached our turn pressure, but we turned back, anyway. We got back to the T, and had decided to swim 200 psi’s worth on the upstream line.
As we swam along, I had the worst leg cramp. I tried to suck it up, and keep going, but it got so intense, that I couldn’t take it anymore… despite me probably looking like I was imitating some of the local wildlife, trying to uncramp the cramp. I had had enough, and turned the dive. Pft… Ah, well… still a really nice dive, and the first time I had done it without a scooter. I needed the exercise, anyway. 😀
Nice and relaxing shake-out dive.
Bottom Time: 1 hour, 17 minutes
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 77F
Avg. Depth: 23′
Back to the shop, we went. We were in separate cars, and I’ll let Oren tell his story about being on the side of the road… *Snicker*
When back at the condo, we happened upon a big ass spider. It wasn’t quite the size of my hand, but it was close!!! The photo does not do it justice. Not one bit.
Not much else to say, except we enjoyed a cerveza and some chips and salsa, before having our leftover Chinese food. 😀
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Cave Diving, Cave Diving Goodness, Diving Goodness, GUE Ontario, MCEP, Mexico Cave Diving, Mexico Cave Exploration Project
Categories : Twenty-Nineteen
Day 2 – Rip It Up!
1 12 2019Sunday, December 1st, 2019 ~
“Woke up, got outta bed, dragged a comb across my head…”
w0000000t! We’re going diving!!! In CAVEZZZZZZZZZ! My favourite!! I would add extra exclamation marks, but I think I got my point across. 😛
Steve made eggs for us, but Frankie had already gone to the shop. Steve and Mike went to join Frankie, since they were doing an RB dive. I was joining Oren and Chris, and Tina was our Surface Support Manager.
While Oren, Chris, and Tina had some breakfast at Hippo, I had what I believe to be the best freshly squeezed orange juice I have ever had in my life… and I’m not a huge OJ drinker.
We loaded our gear at the shop, then made our way to the gas station for some sodas. Thanks for the Cherry Coke, Dr. O!
Our destination was Taj Mahal, since we were a little late getting moving, it was close, and Tina could swim there. We paid our 250 pesos, and in we went.
Oren, Chris, and I brought our doubles down to the water, and we happened to run into our good friend, Peter! We went over to the map, where there were Chantelle-fies. Ok, we made our plan to go to the Chinese Garden, too.
I’m not really sure why I had the “mouth-open-surprise-look,” on my face for a bunch of photos, but… there it is.
The part of Taj that we were planning on swimming to…
I put my drysuit on halfway, and made my way down the stairs to finish gearing up.
As I pulled my suit over my head, it happened… my neck seal blew. It wasn’t a little hole, either. It was the size of a basketball – ok, not exactly a basketball, but it may as well have been. Not even duct tape fixable (even though Tina went to ask everyone in the parking lot, if they had any). My electrical tape wasn’t going to do it. Le sigh.
*Enter sad face, here*
At least it wasn’t a crappy place to float around in, while Oren and Chris abandoned me (no, I wasn’t abandoned – I had Tina to hang around with, and float with my holy suit on). It was Tina’s first ever cenote visit, and I don’t think she minded having company. We did have fun, but I did REALLLLLLLY want to dive!
We did manage to see another young padawan, that seemed to be even larger than the one at our condo, last night…
Bottom Time: 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds
Max Depth: 3″
Water Temp.: 77F
Average Depth: 1 ATA
We also did see Peter, Manu, Gus, and Yiannis.
Chris and Oren surfaced, and had a really awesome dive… *enter another sad face, here* They tried to convince me that it sucked, but the grins on their faces showed otherwise.
Yiannis and Gus, before their dive…
We ventured back to the shop, unloaded gear – at least I don’t have to refill for tomorrow – and the others had also returned. I handed my drysuit to Jorge, the Magician (seriously, Jorge is the Lord of the Drysuit Repair), so that I could try this diving thing again, tomorrow.
Chinese Food was on the menu, from inside the Chedraui Mall. Yes, we often get the Chinese Food, when in Mexico. It’s really affordable, you always have leftovers, and it’s pretty good! No picante, for me!
Oren brought some bad ass chips…
…and Steve wanted to go for a bike ride…
After some chat about the day’s Diving Goodness (except for mine, of course), it was time to sleep. Let’s hope I get to dive, tomorrow!! *CHEERS TO TOMORROW’S DIVING GOODNESS!*
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bloggy Thing, Chan's Bloggy Thing, CINDAQ, Diving, Diving Blog, Diving Goodness, GUE, GUE Divers, GUE Ontario, MCEP, Mexico
Categories : Twenty-Nineteen
Chanb77's Weblog 
Recent Comments