Turtle Turbo Alley

10 05 2014

Saturday, May 10th, 2014 ~ 

Ahhhh… We are finally back in the RIVER! With the tough winter that we have had, it has taken the St. Lawrence River a little bit longer to thaw/warm up, than usual. Today’s air temperatures are the nicest that we have seen (this year), at 22C… and sunny!

The van was packed, and we hit the road!

Surface shots taken by me. In-water shots taken by Steve, today!

I had only used my new scooter for a short time, on our last dive, and didn’t really get to do much, since the dive was cut a little bit short. Today, we planned on heading to either Ivy Lea, or to Island 99, for some scootering goodness! Steve was bringing one of the cameras, to practice with, too. On our way down, Frankie and Christian messaged us, to let us know that Ivy Lea was not fully open, but that there were people there, getting ready to open, for the following weekend. They gave us permission to dive there, which was most excellent!

Check-In…

It was finally warm enough to wear flippy floppies!

We got to our entry point, and the staff told us just to make sure that the boat launch was not blocked. No problem. I think we can handle that.

There are some crazy currents, here.

Steve and I finished our gear checks, and Frankie had a glove issue, so while he and Christian were tending to that, Steve took a few pics of me. The current was pretty strong, too.

Me, hitting the trigger…

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Cheese!

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We went back for Frankie and Christian, and away we went! There were turtles, everywhere! Small ones, medium-sized ones – they were everywhere!

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We even saw a few mud puppies…

 

This guy was standing his ground, as Steve neared him. He stood up, and stared him down.

 

We kept moving, and hit some crazy currents. There were even a few moments, where we had to aim our scooters straight down, as the current swept upward.

Christian…

 

Frankie Boy…

 

 

 

Poisson…

 

 

Yippppppieeeeeeee! What a ride!

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We went all the way around, and exited at the beach area. Since the camp ground wasn’t officially open, there were no people there, so we had the place to ourselves.

 

Bottom Time: 56 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 46F
Vis.: A lot of green goop in the water

Christian and Frankie…

Rock on, dude!

I took one of Steve, too!

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We dropped our gear, and Frankie stood guard, as we went for a walk, to get the vehicles.

We did come back for him, though. He DID have our gear, after all.

 

Exit…

 

It was such a beautiful day, so we had to hang around, and talk about are most awesome dive!

 

We went for a quick bite to eat, and we headed our separate ways. I absolutely loved spending the day this way. Diving Goodness, friends, and… TURTLES!

 


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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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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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Cavezzzz, It Shall Be – Part Seven – It Might Have Been A Grand Day…

18 12 2013

Tuesday, December 17th, 2013 ~

Same routine… To the shop, where we analyzed our tanks and checked the pressures. I checked our stages (which were full), and moved on towards both Steve’s and my doubles.  A little birdie told me that they had been checked (yes, I did analyze them), so we were on our way. We had a few different buddy teams, and I was joining the bunch to La Boca….. almost.

I dressed up, turned on my tanks, and….

I guess these ones weren’t checked. No dive for me. I could have joined the Cave 1 team (I also had a full stage), but they had already gone in.

I sulked, while Becki kept me company (thank you for cheering me up, Becki!!!), and we hung out with the turtles.

Heleen, Erik, and Jan K. arrived back…

I would have waited for the others to come out, to take some pics, but…

Bottom Time: 0 Hours, 0 Mins.
Max. Depth: 1 ATA
Temp.: Hot w/ Rain

The moral of the story: Check your tank pressure, before leaving the shop – Even if you already know to do so. Pft…

On our drive home, we saw random orange cones, in the road. A couple of them seemed to be warding off a stray plastic bag… *Random*

After returning to the resort, we decided to order room service, watch some TV, and go to sleep.

Wednesday, December 18th, 2013 ~

Today was a Camilo day! Steve, Dan, John, Karen, and I brought scooters, and were going for a ride! We started off along the main line, then to the Grand Canyon line, where we went to the end. This cave has so many different appearances to it, that it is pretty fascinating. This was the first time that I had been through the Grand Canyon, and I really liked it.

We came back, then followed the Black Forest line, and saw some absolutely gorgeous cave. My scooter seemed to feel a little bit sluggish, so even though I was absolutely in love with this section of the cave, and how much prettier it was getting, as we continued, I signaled and turned the dive. Feeling the sleepiness of my scooter, I did not want to take any chances of going any further into the cave. :/ Sadly, we turned around. I was able to stay on my scooter, but it kept getting slower, as we made it back to the exit. It really sucked to turn it, but I know that I made the right decision.

(We had checked the voltage before loading in the morning, but it turned out that I had a crappy battery)

We did a little bit of deco, then made our way out. *Sniff*

Poor Dan had another failure – his light completely flooded.. D’oh!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 37 mins.
Max. Depth: 70′
Water Temp.: 77F

The fellas decided to get out, while Karen and I ditched our scooters and stages, and went for a swim, in “Mud.” As we entered, the visibility was absolutely horrible. It was what I would expect to see in the St. Lawrence River – except, not green. There were particles of “stuff” floating everywhere, and we entered this massive dark cave, with huge formations. There were lines along the walls, appearing as if someone had taken a red paint roller along them. Just so completely different and fascinating to see. We took our time, since there was just so much to look at! What an interesting place!

Bottom Time: 34 mins.
Max. Depth: 47′
Water Temp.: 77F/80F

It seems that the land owner no longer has his horses. These buildings used to be really nice horse stalls, with the horses’ names above them.

Back to the shop, unloaded, put the scooters on the chargers, and raced back to the resort, to catch the BBQ/Pizza guy, which usually closes at 4pm.

We hung around the resort for a while, with a couple of fancy drinks! Thanks to Becki, for noticing them, and asking for them!

We then went over to The Pub, to meet Panos for some food, beverage, and great conversation. 🙂


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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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