Mexico Part 2 ~ Time To Dive!

30 10 2011

Monday, October 3rd, 2011 ~

We were up and at ’em at 7:25am, when we met the gang for breakfast. We grabbed a quick bite, then headed to the lobby, and hoped we would get a vehicle. Since we had some trouble yesterday, the guy told us that he would be there at 7:45 (for the 8am meeting time). 7:59am.. uh ohhh.. Did they forget us again? 8:05, 06, 07… 8:10.. Is that? Could it be? w00t! There he was!

Thank goodness…

We got a little VW sport van, which was perfect (and similar to what we had originally requested)! We loaded the car, and headed straight to Zero Gravity. We saw Jorge first, then Angelica, and then met a few of the folks from Australia: Team Sombre-Roo. We got our tanks, a couple of stages, and had decided on  heading over to Nahoch. Great way to start the trip! Huw, Pascal, and Cam joined us, too!

We had three teams, doing different things. Oren, Steve, and I were a team, and decided to take two stages, for a longer dive. While we geared up, the clouds came in fast, and we were thankful for the overhead tarps to get changed under. Torrential downpour! The pully was also missing, so we walked all of our gear down, instead of lowering it. No big deal, it just took a little longer.

Steve had Francois’ camera with him, and took some footage. We breathed our first stage to our drop pressures, dropped them, and carried on. We eyed up all of the jumps, but decided to stay on the main line. There were so many jumps! Our plan was to turn the dive at our second stage drop pressure, and turn back.. which we did. We had a nice, leisurely swim back, and were loving how beautiful this cave was.

We saw a few small, white cave swimmies and a cave fish. Steve managed to get some footage, too. What a beautiful dive.

Bottom Time ~ 2 hours, 41 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 24′
Water Temp. ~ 77
Vis. ~ Endless

After our dive, we packed up, and headed back to the shop. We only needed our stages filled, as we didn’t even touch our back gas.

Back to the resort, where we hung up our gear, had a short rest, then off to the buffet! It was Italian night! We all told stories of our day, and then back to sleep…

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 ~

Breakfast at 7:20am. Shop at 9am, and then over to Dos Palmas! We had not been here before, and were looking forward to seeing some new to us cave.

There were definitely a lot of bats, here!

We decided on the upstream line first, and would use stages. There was higher flow here, than we have encountered in Mexico so far, and the further we swam in, the stronger the flow was. We did one jump (5th to the left). Wow.. some gorgeous cave. We reaced the end of that line, came back, and continued in. Very nicely decorated cave! Due to the flow, the swim out was much faster than the swim in!

Bottom Time ~ 1 hour, 49 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 35′
Water Temp. ~ 77

We came in for a spot of lunch, then got ready again.

We were just using back gas for our second dive, and went on the downstream line. This cave would not disappoint, and I thought was even more beautiful than our previous Nohoch dive. The downstream line was a little more restrictive and highly decorated. We went in against the flow, which was not as strong as the upstream line, and out against it. 

There were so many jumps, but we stayed on the main line. There was so much to see! I was completely wide-eyed.  

Bottom Time ~ 1 hour, 3 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 22′
Water Temp. ~ 77

We finished up, dropped gear off at the shop, then back for a little rest. The buffet had Asian food, but there was also a dinner for the Nolitours customers (which most of us were), so we went there, first. We had a piece of the 6′ x 3′ cake, then went for Asian food. 🙂

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 ~

Breakfast, Chedraui, then to the shop for tanks. We decided to go to Mayan Blue, and do the B,E,F tunnels. Chris, Frankie, Jen, and Richard were there too, for Cave 2, along with Jorge, too.

Jorge…

Chris, and the Cave 2 course…

Steve, Oren, and I brought our bottles down, geared up, and away we went. We made our first jump, dropped our first stage bottles, and headed to F tunnel. Absolutely beautiful! We then dropped our second stage bottles, and continued on with back gas. We reached a section that was quite restrictive and silty. We dubbed this part of the cave, The Shredder… although Chris told us that he calls that Swiss Cheese. 🙂

We were watching our gas, and I knew that it would soon be time for us to turn the dive. The spot we were in was very restrictive, and I was looking for places that would be easiest to turn around in, should the dive get called. I was #3, Oren was #2, and Steve was #1. As we moved along, I saw two places that would be half decent to turn around in, and a little bit further, I thought to myself, “Oh, this spot would really suck if we had to turn here..” Then, of course, there was a signal, and thumbs… Of course.. Murphy’s Law, right? Steve was in a decent spot, Oren turned, and although it was extremely silty, Oren did a pretty good job of turning around, without disturbing too much… until his last, tiny fin movement.. zero vis.. Now.. I had to turn around in a spot that was extremely tight, and no vis. I was not at all worried, as I had the line, and was able to get myself around. I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. It didn’t take long for us to move to where we could see, and we continued on towards the exit. I could hear Oren giggling, and he heard me giggling too, so everything was good.

We picked up our bottles, and headed out.

Bottom Time ~ 2 hours, 8 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 81′
Water Temp. ~ 77

We packed up, headed back to the shop, where we met up with Cam and Huw, then to the hotel for a nap. I swear, this napping thing is quite a novelty. I could get used to naps. Mexican food was on the menu tonight! W00 h00!

Of course, we topped off the night with a couple of beverages, and shared stories of our day’s dives.

Thursday, October 6th, 2011 ~

Same morning routine: breakfast, shop, tanks.

Today, Steve, Oren, and I were heading to Grand Cenote/Sac Actun. Rasa was also joining us today, to visit the cenote, and see this crazy cave stuff that we enjoy so much.

We brought along two stages, and since we had never been past Cave 1 limits in this cave, Fred had given us some directions to some cool cave. After finding the right line (yes, we found some exploration-type line first, going left of the cavern line, which was on the ceiling of the cave), we were off and in. We swam along the main line until we got to our jump to the Paseo Lagarto Line. We dropped our first stages before the T, then through the “heart” restriction. This was some really cool cave. We dropped our second stage bottles, then came to some absolutely beautiful cave, with stunning decorations. We reached the Boa Restriction, which was some extremely cool passage. It was up, down, around, and up, down, around some more. We reached a spot where it was going to dip down through a hole, and get even more restrictive, so we decided to turn the dive here. We were getting close to our turn pressures anyway.

I swear.. this was the Best. Cave. Dive. Yet. Period.

It seemed that each day, our dives got even more amazing. I think we all had permagrins on our faces, for the entire swim out, and the smiles extended into the basin. There were moose ears a-plenty!

Bottom Time ~ 2 hours, 25 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 43′
Water Temp. ~ 77

We brought our lunch, which we ate in the company of two extremely adorable puppies, a rooster, and a chicken. I think there may be a joke in there, somewhere…

King puppy, looking for treats and attention. He really did control the others…

This chicken actually pecked at my foot…

We headed back, dropped off tanks at the shop, then back to the resort, where Steve and I actually went for a swim in the pool. We then went and joined Rasa and Oren, and went for a dip in the ocean.

After the ocean dip, we went back to the pool, then grabbed a shower before dinner.. which was at the Mexican restaurant. We had to make reservations for this one, and let’s just say that “big” groups are not their favourite. Oh well… Everyone trickled in, and we shared the stories from our day. Eric and Andy had finished their Cave 1 course, and were looking forward to actually seeing some cave! 😀

Oren had discovered the Creperie, which was extremely dangerous. We all had a bit of a treat before calling it a night. I could seriously get used to this…

Stay tuned for Part 3! More cavez, our jungle adventure, and a bit of tourist stuff. 🙂


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Mexico Or Bust… Part 1

20 10 2011

Saturday, October 1st, 2011 & Sunday, October 2nd, 2011 ~

So.. our flight was supposed to leave at 3:40 Saturday afternoon, and while we were getting our luggage, carry-ons, and pretty much everything weighed, we were told that there would be a delay.. Our new flight time was to be 6:45pm, which subsequently changed to 10pm. Wow.. that was going to be a long wait, and we were a bit early, to begin with. They gave us $30 dinner vouchers, and $75 travel vouchers, which.. well.. ok…

When we saw the pilot finally arrive (apparently, they got us another plane from Edmonton, staff from Cornwall, and a pilot from Toronto), the entire terminal started to clap and cheer. We were quite happy to see him. We ended up leaving at around 10:30pm, arrived to a rather huge customs line up, got luggage, then hopped a bus to the hotel. There were six of us  together, on this flight, and were meeting up with 5 others, already at the resort.

We finally arrived at the resort, at 5:30am. We checked in, and found little point in going to sleep. Eric and Andy were being picked up for Cave 1, at 8:30am, and Steve and I were to meet our rental car people at 8am.

First, we sorted out our gear. My pile…

We then went down to the water, and watched the sunrise…

We also saw some fish, a heron, and found Andy!

We grabbed some quick breakfast, then went to wait for the rental car, as we bid a Good Day to Eric and Andy, leaving for their first day of C1!

8am came, and the car rental folks were not there. I had even confirmed with them, two days prior. 9am came and went, and a phone call confirmed that they had forgotten about  us, and would come right away, with our little sport van.

So.. they finally showed up, about an hour later, with a small four door car. This was not going to work for us. We had reserved a completely different car, and got this one. Oren, Steve and I jumped in the car with the nice fellow, and headed to Playa (on the advice of the rental car fellow), where we could see if there was a hatch for us, and the car that Oren had ordered.

When we arrived at the rental parking lot, we saw that there was no hatchback, and no little car that Oren had wanted. The fellow told us that there was a guy bringing us one, from the airport, and that he was on his way. About an hour went by, and there was still no vehicle. He called again, and the guy was still at the airport. So.. we asked him to bring it to our hotel  in the morning. He said he would. We went back with Oren, who had settled on one of the four doors. What an ordeal…

So.. our first diving day busted.. but at least we would get our car in the morning…

We got back to the resort, and joined Oren and Rasa for a beverage. We wanted to go for a dip in the ocean, so we headed back to our room to grab our fins… Yeah.. that turned into a nap…

When we woke up, we went to meet everyone for dinner, at the buffet.

Delicious Daquiris De Mango!

Then.. ocean time! Steve and I really did grab our fins, then met Oren, and headed into the water. When we first got in, I managed to get some sort of sting on my arm, that ended up lasting for a few days. I have no idea what it was, but it did burn like a stinker!

We saw many little fish, scuttle fish, a long pike-type fish, and a small squid. We were hanging out at the same place where we had seen the fish in the morning.   After our dip, we changed, and met up at Pure bar, for a night cap.

There was also a torrential downpour, when we were at Pure.  Water was pouring in through the ceiling in many places. Since Michel didn’t want to get his sandals wet, he took them off, before running back to his room.. He did say that he would end up clothesless by the end of the night. 😉

*Holding back picture, although I really want to post it*    Michel, you owe me one… 😀

After a very long day, it was time to sleep… Cavezzzzzz tomorrow (providing we get a car)!

Stay tuned for Part 2!

 


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AGGAST…With A Little Bit Of Awesome Sauce! Part 1 of 4.

10 09 2011

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 ~

Short and sweet… Flight landed at Sea Tac, at about 10pm. Picked up luggage, met Kathryn (thank goodness), and headed to Casa Evans Bugles! Settled in, put gear together, and sleeeeeeeep….  

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011 ~

Up and at ’em! We headed to the ferry, to go over to Keystone Jetty, for the GUE Community Dive and BBQ, that Koos had arranged.

Taking in a few sights, as we waited for the ferry…

On the ferry…

We arrived to a full parking lot, where we greeted many really wonderful people. Some, I knew from before, and some, I was finally able to put faces to internet names. After socializing a little, we decided to gear up for Dive 1! 

As we were gearing up, we chatted, laughed, and.. well.. Then there was Doug, teaching Park Ranger Randy how to use a condom cath. Yes, this really happened. I can’t make this stuff up…

Time to dive!

Dive 1 – Holy smokes… So much life! This would be my first salt water dive since my AOW dives, in 2005. Diving in fresh water all the time, we really do not get to see all of this underwater wonder. There were so many ling cod, and they were definitely not afraid of us, or shy. I had a few swim right up to my face, which was both a bit strange, and utterly delightful. Laurynn was helping out, so did not get in for the first dive. Kathryn, Karen, and I had a grand ol’ time!

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 40′
Water Temp.: 53F

After our dive, we were graced with some wonderful BBQ, delicious nacho dip, chips, fruit, and some fantastic company. Koos and Jeannine rock!

Dive 2 – All four of us went in! We stayed in the same area, and were in two teams of two, although still stayed relatively together. We saw the same things, but it was neat to really focus, and look for some of the smaller life. There were crabs of all different varieties and sizes, more big ol’ ling cod, anemones, and even a giant lion’s mane jelly fish. It was a good thing he didn’t have any tentacles (which was odd, apparently). What a cool looking creature! I had never seen one like this!

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 50F/52F

What an excellent day, and it was really awesome to see friends, and to meet some that I have only met online! Great way to kick off the diving!! 

When we returned back to Chez Laurynn, we had a little get-together, that included The Biebs, The Princess, and The Pokeman Pig…

Doug also tried to convince us that it was entirely possible to pop a cork from a wine bottle, with a rock and a shoe. Let’s just say that the shoe suffered a terrible fate… and I still think that Koos won that bet…

It was also really nice of Ben to join us, wearing his team shirt…

An awesome day of Diving Goodness, in Seattle! w00t!

Stay tuned for Part 2!


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Heleen And Sander Came To Town!

3 09 2011

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 ~

After a crazy day of work, I filled up the Dive Gear Transportation Unit, and headed to the airport. I only had to do two circles around, and I found my passengers! Our friends from Holland were here! w00t! I finally got to see them in person, and would be spending the next few days diving and talking about everything under the sun!

Our first stop was the Quarry, directly from the airport, as the plane was a must-see for Heleen!

I brought my camera along, for some pics, and we jumped in the water. We went straight to the plane for some pics, then to the boat, sub, and back to the plane for more pics and most excellent Diving Goodness fun! It was definitely fantastic to finally get in the water with Heleen and Sander!

Sander and Heleen, over the infamous plane!

w00t! Myself and Heleen!

Sander, giving the moose ears!

Coming back in…

Bottom Time: 41 mins.
Max. Depth: 55′
Water Temp.: 60F
Visibility: Goodly

Off to Boston Pizza, for some delicious dinner, and to meet Steve!

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 ~

Today, we were heading down to Rockport, to go for a scooter run to the Kinghorn (thank you for the extra scooter, KR). We had a few errands to run in the morning, and I cooked us a big breakfast, so it was early afternoon before we got to the shop.

We made our way to the wreck, played around on the outside, then headed inside, to swim around the core of the wreck. It seems that the wreck has deteriorated even more, and it appears that there have been a few deck beams that have fallen in. I still never tire of seeing the view of ambient light, up through the inside of the wreck, through the wheel. We made our way back, and back up, onto the boat. What a fantastic dive! I think Heleen and Sander liked this one! 

Bottom Time: 64 mins.
Max. Depth: 90′
Water Temp.: 69F
Visibility: Not too shabby

Yummy… Kool-Aid…

After our dive, we topped it off with some ice cream, from the upstairs shop! Mmm.. Rolo…

Jeff and Sander were chatting, so we grabbed Sander an ice cream, too… or.. did we?? 😀

We headed back, and were able to make it back in time for the last 10 minutes of Steve’s Final Hockey playoff game! Way to go, Steve!

When we got back, we unpacked, and had some fun with the neighbours…

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 ~

Today, we had planned on going down to the river, for a scooter dive, but decided to go a little closer, so we could do some tourist stuff, after our dive. Quarry? Meh.. went there on Tuesday.. Hmm.. How about Back Mine? Steve and I hadn’t been there in over a year, and this would be a great time of year to go. The water is always extremely cold, as this mine was built into a mountain, and the water does not see sunlight. Although there is a covered dome overtop of the site, there is a large area of open water, where we dive. There is a mine shaft that starts at about 120′ deep. It is an absolutely beautiful dive, but as I said… is cold.

We took the ferry across to the Quebec side, and once we arrived, we took a bit of a jaunt up to the top, to take some photos.

 There happened to be a photographer there, doing a photo shoot, and he was gracious enough to take some shots of us, too! Thank you, Rick!

Once we entered the water, we made our way to the other side of the open water area, saw the old truck, old line, and other interesting formations. There was obviously not much ambient light, so it was a bit murky… and crisp. We surfaced on the opposite side, had a chat and a laugh, then headed back down. We showed Heleen and Sander the grim reaper sign, then made our way back in.  

Good thing we were already hooked up…

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 38F
Visibility: 25′

After we packed up, we made our way downtown, to the Byward Market, where we grabbed a snack from the Chip Wagon. We just had to introduce Sander to poutine! We did a bit of a tour of the Parliament buildings, the lock system, and a few other cool buildings.

On the way back, we stopped to pick up some BBQ and sweet corn!

What a fantastic day!

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 ~

Well.. today was the day that we were all departing for different places. Heleen and Sander were on their way home, Steve was heading to Florida, and I was going to Seattle, for the Team AGGAST adventure.

It was so amazing to finally meet our friends from overseas, that we have been corresponding with, e-mailing, and sending so many pictures back and forth with. We were able to give them a little taste of Canada (besides their adventures in the Rocky Mountains, before they got to us), with Tim Horton’s, Kool-Aid, hockey, poutine, the Parliament buildings, maple syrup, and some of the diving we have to offer. What an amazing time for us, too… please come back!! See you next year!! 😛

Here are the links to Heleen’s Canada videos!

The Quarry and The Kinghorn…

Back Mine…

 

 

Canada…

http://wethorse.nl/Canada11/index.htm

Other Wethorse videos can be seen at: www.wethorse.nl


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Brockville Canadian Invasion ~ 2011

17 08 2011

Friday, August 12th, 2011 ~

Well, I will start this entry off, by saying that this was the largest group I have ever organized. The majority of our group for Diving Goodness arrived either on Thursday night, or Friday morning, in time for the run out to the wreck of the Kinghorn. We had some breakfast at Caiger’s, then headed over to Rockport Dive Centre. There were 12 to take the first run on Rick’s boat, and 14 by scooter. I think that was the biggest GUE EDGE I have ever conducted, too…lol.

Raphael and I paired up, and we debriefed our dive plan, trip back in, and even towing, should it be required. This is a swimmable dive (on doubles), so even if we didn’t tow, we would still be in good shape. I led our teams to the line, and we headed out! Raph and I did tours of both the inside and outside, and there were Go Pro cameras a-plenty, taking video of our diving extravaganza!

We decided to head back in, so I hit the trigger… er.. at least I tried to. Two of my prop blades went flying into the abyss (ok, about 7′ down)! What the…? I did manage to pick them up, signaled to Raph, and started to swim. Wait a sec… it’s lunch time.. let’s hit it, partner! I signaled to Raph again, stowed my scooter (of course, being a bit bummed), and latched on to Raph’s crotch strap. Onward!

I have to say, that I was very pleased that we had discussed this whole towing thing, at the beginning of the dive. Raph did great, and when we reached the 55′ mark, I tapped off. We had a relaxing and leisurely swim back in. Thanks for the tow, amigo!!

Bottom Time: 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 90′
Water Temp.: 71F
Visibility: Decent

Me, sportin’ the Grape Kool-Aid shirt…

After a couple of runs out to the wreck, in Rick’s boat, we reconvened on the deck at Rockport Dive Centre, and headed over to The Cornwall/Boathouse for lunch.. drysuits ‘n’ all. We took up the whole room, this time around. Tammi and her peeps were ready for us, as usual!

We got some food in our bellies, some laughter, and fun, then we walked back over for another run out to the wreck. Since I didn’t have use of my scooter (and thank you to Oren for the offer to use yours… while you made a bit of a drive… *cough*), I was going to jump in with Andy, for a swim along the line. Andy had some new tanks that he wanted to check out, and I would be doing my first test dive with the new Light Monkey wing! w00t!

 

We really took our time, and had an extremely slow and comfortable swim, partway to the wreck. We went back and forth, played with a few fish, and waved at some of our friends, passing by. I was seriously digging this wing. It is a 45# wing, that is put together very well, and has some really nice finishing touches (the heat shrink on either end of the corrugated hose). I was using it with a set of Luxfer AL80s, and I really did like the way it filled around the tanks. The edges are a bit wider than other wings, and it just felt really easy to trim out in. Very freakin’ cool wing! First test dive >> Like Factor = Extremely high.

Bottom Time: 35 mins.
Max. Depth: 56′
Water Temp.: 71
Visibility: Decent.. still.

I think Chris enjoyed the dives…

Piotr, too… Lovin’ the jet fuel!

Reconvening…

After our dives, we headed back to Caiger’s, where we got ourselves sorted out, showered, and changed for dinner. We had a buffet of a bunch of extremely delicious foods, and we definitely filled the entire dining room. There was also a live band playing on “The Upper Deck,” that some of us checked out, before hitting the sack!

Saturday, August 13th, 2011 ~

Up and at ’em! We had boats going to the Keystorm and America, as well as to the Jodrey. We had most of the boats going out in the morning, with another afternoon run to the Jodrey.

Buffet breakfast for everyone, and boats loaded. I brought down lunches for each boat, and the morning runs were off! We had one bit of a miscommunication on boat departure time, so two friends ended up going for a shore dive.

Breakfast…

Loading up…

 

Relaxing after breakfast…

Carm and Steph…

Then the boats came back!

We then loaded up our boat, to head to our afternoon Jodrey dive.

On the ride out, I managed to get a good punch in the face, from a flying boat bumper, whacked my head on the boat, and with me being a bit pooped, I opted out of the dive. We were moored in a different place than usual, and my gut just said, “no.” It sucked to have to miss Jodrey Goodness, but I was also pretty pooped, with all of the organizing. I did gear up, and even got in the water, but it wasn’t my day. Yes, my buddy had someone else to dive with…

Pooped (+ sucker punch + head whack) + Jodrey = Thumb.

Instead, I had a bit of a nap on the boat, and took some pics. 🙂

A little shout out to DUI? 😀

 

Self portrait, of course…

When we got back, we unloaded, then got ready for dinner. This dinner was a little more fancy, and we had some extra delicious food! Thank you to all of the staff at Caiger’s!!

We also had a draw for some prizes. Thank you to Liquid Productions, Rockport Dive Centre, and Exploration Promotions for the prize donations!

We finished the night off with some karaoke… Ohh.. what a blast! Bill Baker is a crazy… wha???

Steph also got up for some singing magic!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to have the bon fire that we wanted to have. A big thank you to Becki and Dan for bringing the S’mores goodies!!!

What a fun finish to the day!

Sunday, August 14th, 2011 ~

Well, today was the final day of the Brockville Invasion. We did a bit more loading, diving, unloading, bidding goodbyes, and taking more pictures. Today’s dives were the Vickery, a drift dive, and for the Tech divers, the Jodrey. I still wasn’t 100%, so I opted to stay aground, and wait for all of the boats to come in.

Fern and LoJack!

 

It really is amazing, how many wonderful people attend the Brockville Invasion. I have made so many new friends, and love to see friends that keep coming back. It does mean a lot to me, that people have so much fun on this trip. It is exactly why I do it.

A group shot… of most of the group, plus most of the reamining folks. Next year, I will allot a time and place for the pic, on the itinerary! We had 49 people attend, this year!

Below is Forest Rothchild, who did a really cool write-up on his Invasion experience. Thank you, Forest!

Link to write-up on TDS…  http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48322

Below is a little video of some of the stills! Come on back next year, ya hear!


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