It’s (FINALLY) Spring!

16 04 2014

Sunday, April 6th, 2014 ~

This winter has been a terribly brutal one, and one that many Canadians didn’t think would end. It became a cruel joke, to which we stopped laughing, quite a while ago… until today!

The sun was out, and it was above 0C!!! FINALLY!! A great day to take the scooters for a ride! The St. Lawrence River is mostly open, but temperatures are still hovering around 32F and 33F. There are still flash freezings and ice floes, so it isn’t the safest place to be diving, right now. We went back up to the quarry, and I finally got to take my new XK1 for a spin!

We brought the gear to the water…

Frankie, Christian, and Mike teamed up, and Steve, Eric, and I teamed up – even though we were still all together. Our team of three was going to run a line over to the plane, the shark, the rock wall, then back over, so that we would have a large square, to scooter around.

Steve and Eric, after Steve ran the line…

I let Steve take the camera, for this most amazing shot…

There was some glove leakage, and in these temperatures, can be horrible. We ended up turning around, leaving the reel behind.

Christian and Mike…

As Eric says, it isn’t the easiest thing, to try and smile, with a frozen face!

I must say, even though I didn’t get to use my scooter very much, I am sensing a very strong bond. 😛

As Eric and I waited, we ran into Mike and Matt, who were going on a leisurely swim…

Back in we went, to retrieve the reel. Steve…

Eric…

Christian…

A selfie, of course. This time, with my turbo…

We made our way back in, with Steve’s chilly, soaked hands.

Bottom Time:
Max. Depth:
Water Temp.:

It was such a beautiful day, that there was some gear tinkering, after the dive/s.

There was even time for snuggles, with Zora…

A great day for Diving Goodness, and even though the quarry is fun, we cannot wait to get back into the River!!!

I have some good looking dive buddies! 😛 Mike, Eric, Frankie, Christian, Steve…

 

 


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Categories : Two-Oh-One-Four

Cavezzz, It Shall Be – Part Eight – The Last Couple Of Days

19 12 2013

Thursday, December 19th, 2013 ~ 

Today, a gaggle of us headed to Dos Pisos. Since there were so many of us, we staggered the teams… especially since we had about 100 meters of restrictive passage to go through, at the entry.

Dan, getting ready for Cavezzzz…

Our plan was to go right at the first T, and left at the second T…. which would have been great, if the lines had not been changed.

We brought our stages and fins down, trying to avoid the paths of red army ants. There were thousands of them!

Laurynn and Kathryn entered first, and the rest of us waited, while Steve fixed a manifold issue (which was fixable, thanks to some tools that we had). Then, Karen and John went in, followed by us – Me, Dan, Steve. Since Dan had flooded his light, the previous day, he had Becki’s light… except it wouldn’t fire. D’oh! Ok.. That’s the third failure for Dan, this week! I think he’s had enough! 🙂 John had an extra light with him, that he loaned to Dan – Thanks, John!

I led through the restrictive passage, then let Dan through, so I could see his light (this was planned). Steve had the Go Pro, in the back.

We dropped our stages a little early, and continued on. We approached Laurynn and Kathryn’s stages, and I stuck a “Ding Ding Cowbell” note in Laurynn’s stage bungee. 😛

We reached the spot where we thought the T was supposed to be, but it was not there. We swam for quite a while, and reached a T. Karen and John were on their way back, and signaled that they had turned right, and it wasn’t the direction that we had originally planned on going. It turns out that the first T had been cut back, and this was the second T, that we were supposed to go left at. So… Thanks to John and Karen, we went left.

There was some very pretty cave, along the way, with some beautiful decorations. We passed through a section that slanted upwards – clearly, to a small opening. There was quite a collection of bat guano, that had rolled down from the surface. We got to a spot that had “jaws,” and some more beautiful decorations, from top to bottom. We had a peek through the “jaws,” then turned around.

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 27 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 77F

Chatting, after Diving Goodness…

A couple of little frogs, near the cars…

Steve, packing up…

We packed up, and were on our way.

As we passed through Tulum, we passed the yummy bakery. Maybe we will go back there, sometime!

Once at the shop, we started the tear-down and drying of our gear. We still could have fit in another day of diving, but it was supposed to be very rainy, and we needed our gear to dry. That, and Steve had some work to do, with the scooters. We opted for a “gear day.” It’s always a sad time, to be breaking down your gear, to leave Mexico cavezzz…

Our undergarments are going to need a good wash, when we get home…

We dropped off our gear, and tidied up some of our charging station, before dinner.

At the buffet…

Friday, December 19th, 2013 ~ 

Well, in hindsight, we could have gone diving, today… We did have things to do at the shop, so it was probably the right decision not to, but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t want to go diving. 🙂

We slept in a little, then went down to have some breakfast. We sat beside a man, sitting with his young son, and I couldn’t help but hear some of their conversation.

Boy: I would like a straw for my juice, please
Dad: You don’t need a straw
Boy: But I really want one (he had the saddest look on his face)
*The waiter brings him a straw – Happiness ensues*
*Boy drops straw on ground*
*Dad lectures boy on irony, and then calls son a Monkey Butt*

I was really trying not to laugh, since Dan had us in hysterics, earlier in the week, regarding Monkey Butt (Ok, I may have been the only one in hysterics). 🙂

We made our way back to the room, to finish packing – Yeah, that took a while. Trying to get the right combination of clothes vs. dive gear in each case, and keeping it under the 50 lb. mark, can be fun. We were finally successful.

We went down to the Seaside Grill, and met Becki and Dan for lunch. Huh… This is what resort life is like, during the day!

Then, off to the shop, to tend to our scooters, pay the dreaded bill, and finish packing the gear away.

Steve and Angelica…

We then headed back over to The Pub, where we met a bunch of our friends for some beverages, munchies, and “see ya next times.” We also met new friends, from Finland, and I finally got to meet Irene! w00t! We had a lot of fun, and of course, we had to get some gelato! Back to the resort, and in bed by a decent hour (what’s with that??).

The giant gingerbread house, in the resort…

Dan, wondering if he could sneak a piece…

Saturday, December 20th, 2013 ~

Packed and ready to go, we were able to have some breakfast, before we left. Then… It was time to go…

On the way…

Too bad, we were going to miss the Ricky Martin concert 😥

Giant wind turbine…

…and back to the car rental place, where they had their Christmas decorations up.

We arrived safe and sound, to this…

Well, it was a fantastic couple of weeks of  cavez and amazing friends.

See you next time (soon!), Mexico… We shall miss the CAVEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! 🙂


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Cavezzz, It Shall Be – Part Six – Labna Ha-Ha and Back To The Animal Kingdom!

16 12 2013

Sunday, December 15th, 2013 ~

Breakie with Becki, Dan, Stretch, and Forest (my BGs were leaving, today), then to the shop! I didn’t have any dive plans for today, since Steve and Sander were going to go on a scooter/RB dive, together. Since Heleen and the gang were going to head to Nohoch, Dan and I joined in with them! Steve and Sander had also decided on Nohoch, so we had quite the crew! We brought two sets of doubles each, so that we were just using back gas, for two dives.

There was a lot of gear to lower down.
Heleen must have taken this picture, since I’m in it… 🙂

Sander was on the receiving end…

Team work!


We wore our initial doubles down, instead of torturing the fellas.
Once it was all down…

It was an extremely hot day, so after getting our drysuits on, we jumped into the cenote, to cool off.

We finally got our gear on, and off we went. The purpose of today’s dive, was for Heleen to take some video footage, so we were on the main line for the entire dive.  We kept a nice and slow pace, with Dan in front, with a 100w LED, to light the way. Such an amazing and relaxing dive!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 44 mins.
Max. Depth: 25′
Water Temp.: 77F

Heleen’s video!

We got out, switched our tanks over, and got ready for the second dive. The boys left to do a longer dive on the Parker Line, and Heleen and I got ready to do a shorter one (if we felt like doing a shorter one). Ahhh… such a beautiful and relaxing dive. I had forgotten how beautiful this line was (aren’t they all?). As we got close to the entry (and already in open water), we shut our lights off, and used the ambient light. We had a little fun in the basin, with a lot of laughter.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 1 min.
Max. Depth: 19′
Water Temp.: 77F

Heleen, after our dives!

Me, taken by Heleen…

Erik, Heleen, and Jan K. …

Jan K. and Dan…

There was definitely no monkey business or shenaniganry going on, here…

The other fellas finally returned from their dive, and we were on our merry way!

Poor Dan had a bit of a leak (or 7) in his suit…

Back at the shop, Steve and I finally got to meet Panos, in the flesh, which was a nice surprise!

Then, to the resort! We had dinner with Becki and Dan, a drink with Laurynn and Kathryn, then back to our room, to tend with some gear. We tried to go to sleep early, but had a bit of an interesting phone call… I’ll just leave it at that…

Monday, December 16th, 2014 ~

Today, we headed back to Pet Cemetery. We had a few different teams: Steve and I; Sander, Heleen, Eric; Jan, Jan, Dan. Steve and I tried to go to the Dark Side Of The Moon again, but ended up in a different place. We made a couple of jumps, then left at an intersection, and came to some of the most beautiful cave that we have ever seen in our lives. We are thinking that this is what Ali may have been referring to as the “Spectacular” room, since that was such an extreme understatement! Steve just happened to have the camera with him, and he took some video. As stunning as it looks on video, it still does not do it the slightest bit of justice. Neither of us could stop saying, “Holy shit! Holy shit!” That’s how beautiful this passage was. Past the room, there was a little shelf that we could have squished under, but there were just so many fine decorations, and it appeared to pinch right down. I didn’t want to chance breaking anything, so I turned us around.

We picked up our stages, and made our way back to the Ihop line. We recalculated our gas, and followed it through some very different passage. There was a narrow’ish swim-through, into some really big, dark cave. It was huge! We jumped off into another little hole, which was really neat. It started to pinch right down into either no mount passage, or a spot where someone threw a spool through the tiny little hole. We turned back, and continued on the Ihop line, until we got to a spot that had a sharp slope upward. I opted not to go further, since one of my ears had been acting up a bit, and we still had a lot of diving left to do!

Along the cavern line, there was an air pocket, where we surfaced. That proved to be a less than smart idea for my ear. I just could not clear again, on the way back out. I stayed as high as I could, over the line, until we got back to the basin, still trying to clear that darn ear. Le sheesh. Ah, well… It was my new favourite dive, in my new favourite cave!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 22 mins.
Max. Depth: 37′
Water Temp.: 77F

Dan, chillin’!

Becki joined us, today!

Steve – Are you STILL taking pictures??

Packing up…

…and a blurry selfie…

As usual, back to the shop, drop gear, to the resort, and we checked out Steve’s footage, on Becki’s laptop!

A peek of the footage, taken with my iPhone, in the lobby…

We had dinner with the gang, then back to the room for a movie!


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Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part Three – MCEP Project – Yax Chen/Ox Bel Ha

10 12 2013

Monday, December 9th, 2013 ~

Today was the beginning of the Mexico Cave Exploration Project (MCEP), at Yax Chen – Ox Bel Ha. Since the daylight only lasted until about 5pm, we needed to get an early start. Quick breakfast at 7am, and straight to the shop, for a 7:30am gear gathering, then load up!

Winding path to the water, at Yax Chen…

Steve and Sander were a team, using the RB80s and scooters. I was buddied up with Jan M., to do some sediment trap removal/replacement, using a stage and scooters. I had never done sediment traps, and although not hard, was really “cool” to be a part of. We also repaired a part of the line that had been broken, past the “L-Shaped” cenote. Thanks to Jan, for his expert line repairing demo. It’s been a while since I have done it.

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 4 mins.
Max. Depth: 42′
Water Temp.: 77F/78F
Vis.: A little murky, in the first two sections, but cleared up, as we went further into the cave.

I am very thankful that I did not see the crocs that were apparently in the water.  I have an issue with crocs, other than the plastic ones, on my feet.

Heleen and I!

Tim and I hung around to wait for Steve and Sander. They had a 4 1/2 hour run time.

As we packed up, it appeared that we had a flat tire. No doubt, from the jungle road at Fenom, yesterday. Thank goodness for the RB80 (my tanks had gone with the CINDAQ truck). 🙂

We weren’t sure if it was a puncture, or if bouncing through the jungle, just made it flat. We kept calm, and carried on…

We returned to the shop, unloaded, and headed back to the resort. Dinner and cocktails! We were also able to meet a superhero, by the name of “Super Rafael.” He was telling us about the magic show that they were putting on.

Of course, the video had to be dark, so that we didn’t give away Super Rafael’s true identity…

What a blast!

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013 ~

Breakfast, then to the shop… er… change the flat tire. Thanks to Forest and Stretch, who helped us to get to the spare tire out… which was flat. We hobbled to the gas station, put some air in the tire, and we were finally on our way. Thank goodness for zip ties, too. 😉 We finally made it to the shop, loaded up, and an extra thank you to Manu and Peter, who organized my gear and scooters! We were finally on our way.

Today, we were back at Yax Chen. Jan M. and I were going a little further than the previous day’s dive, and had a few more stations to remove/replace sediment traps. We had developed a routine in doing them, so we were able to do it in less time. We also wouldn’t have line to repair (we didn’t think we would).

Steve and Sander were on RBs again, too. There were fewer of us at Yax Chen today, since there were other team members performing other tasks, in other systems.

We could really feel the flow at our sediment traps. It wasn’t bad, but more than in the beginning sections of the cave. We could easily hold our positions while working, with a couple of fin kicks. It was definitely not St. Lawrence River or Florida cave flow, but it was noticeable.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 46 mins.
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 77F/78F
Vis.: Same as previous day. Clearer, the further back we went.

We loaded up all of the gear, then hung around to help out Steve and Sander to bring their gear back, and finish loading the CINDAQ truck. From there, we went to Tulum, where we got our tire repaired.  We gave the fellow extra, since he was so good, fast, and incredibly affordable!

Thanks to Constança, for being a great Shore Manager!

Steve and Sander, after their dive.

Once at the shop, we unloaded, and while Steve and Sander were cleaning their RBs, I went with Jo, to The Pub! There were about 20 of us, and Steve came by when he was finished at the shop.

Back at the resort, Steve, myself, Manu, Peter, Stretch, and Forest went over to watch the famous Fire Show! I remembered it from last year, and it was awesome!

We looked at Peter’s photos, then to sleep!


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Categories : 2000 + 13

A Different Route

20 11 2013

Saturday, November 9th, 2013 ~ 

For today’s dive, we were getting in at St. Lawrence Park, then drifting and scootering to Centeen Park.

Entry…

Gear at the entry…

We decided to go upstream a little bit, to the little wreck that we came across, a few years ago. Steve had rebuilt the motor in my Little Red Rocket, so we were testing it out, along with another one that he had rebuilt, that he was using. We had an extra one, for back up.

Very short video of the little wreck, from a previous dive *WARNING* VERY POOR QUALITY* 🙂

https://vimeo.com/32125823

We had a quick look, and then made our way south (thanks to Mike, for turning off my back-up light). We dropped into the channel, and back up to the other side, where we started to drift. There were a couple of spots where there wasn’t much current, so we hit the triggers for a bit.

We found a few new spots that we had not been to before, and there were some really neat rock formations. We have seen horse harnesses in the river, but not as many as I saw, today (they were to the right of me, so the others didn’t see the first few). There were three harnesses, all within about 50′ to 100′ from each other. Sadly, I’m sure that it did not end well for those horses (from the “olden days”). We also saw an air stack that appeared to be from a very large ship (freighter, perhaps). We also noticed that they may have tried to recover it.

There were a lot of really cool places along this route! A definite redo is in order!

It seemed that both of our rebuilt motor scooters were in most awesome form, and as we hit our turn time, we made our way a bit more shallow, until we reached the “Unknown Hull,” where we had a little look. It has been a while since we have been to this little one, too! Then, onward to the Gaskin! Mike had found a little leprechaun Halloween figurine, and after having some fun with it for a while (sticking it in Steve’s scooter strap), Steve passed it to me. As we got to the Gaskin, I placed it outside the wreck, for good keeping. He shall guard the wreck, now. At least, I hope he does. That poor wreck is falling apart.

We hit the triggers for home, did our deco stops, and as we were heading in, I noticed a very small gar pike. It may have been the same one that I saw a few weeks ago. He gave us a little show with his mouth. They are such neat looking fish!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Max. Depth: 113′
Water Temp.: 50F
Vis.: Decent, but dark. No sunlight to light up our day!

Thanks to Chris, who gave us the Santi Panties Dance, in his undies that he won at the Invasion!

Yes… I did show him a few of the moves, but he had some good ones of his own, too!

Well, I couldn’t get a pic of the exit, but you may have seen some Centeen Park pics, in previous Bloggy Thing entries. By the time we retrieved the vehicles (we had one at Centeen), loaded them, and got changed, it was a bit dark.

With that, I leave you with a selfie, at the entry!


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