Sunday, December 02, 2012

Cozumel Scuba Diving Jan 5-12 2013



See Jan 9 for unusual news
…. Internet access was limited at the hotel,... so blog only updated once or twice.


Jan 5
Flight with a 10:30 departure is really nice, … not the usual 6:00 AM (leaving for the airport at 3AM) that most of our group took. Sat beside a French Canadian who introduced himself as the MPP for an Ont riding around Elliott Lake. Mexican customs confiscated my extra homemade sandwich … no big deal and they were apologetic. Otherwise it was uneventful.

Jan 6
Assigned into a group of 9, with Lee, a Brit, as dive master. First dive to 80 ft, and a bunch of tall pinnacles, fairly strong currents … generally quite good. Second dive: Ed dropped out, not feeling well. Dove to 55 feet, saw a large turtle, about 3.5-4 feet, and a nurse shark, about 5 feet, maybe more. Once again strong current … requires energy to change direction, and you’ve basically got to “go with the flow”… effectively there’s no choice on that.

Jan 7
Assigned into a group of 6, with Ignacio (=Nacho), Chilean, as dive master. First dive to 84 feet, much less current than yesterday, went through a long dive through; far enough that you couldn’t see light from the other end, but the far opening revealed itself fairly quickly. Saw a moray eel that Nacho tried to tempt out of his hiding cave.  Nacho pointed out there were about 20 boats in the area where wed been diving … that’s lot of divers.  Second dive was 55 feet and saw a smallish 18” turtle. Got my return shuttle ticket for 10:30AM Sat.

Jan 8
Another nice sunny day, although typically threes quite a few clouds in the early afternoon, about 27C. Assigned with Nacho again. First dive wasn’t very far and Nadia (with our group) showed up for the first time, and seemed to demand the guides attention for 50 of the 55 minutes of the dive, … don’t know the reason why, … seems to want attention. Second dive was shallower but the depth possibility was great, so we had to be mindful of not going into decompression mode, … we didn’t. Overheard Hans, the boss, saying to Norm that a lot of the tanks were coming back with only 150-PSI (low) …Hans was not impressed.

Jan 9
Nadia, a recent addition to our group, ended up in the hyperbaric pressure chamber for the bends (.... that can be serious). She had shot to the surface on the 7th, out of control, resulting in tingling in her hands, so off she went to hospital. She was a subject of much tongue wagging comment beforehand, and didn’t show up to a lot of the events. A lot of people commented before the event, that they couldn’t imagine how she ever got certified. She was very Indian (via Trinidad) in appearance, but ultra North American in her ways (into consumer goods and glitz) and yet a mother of a 2 yr and 4 yr old, .... so, surprising to be on a scuba trip in the first place.
The dinner was a reservation affair at the Japanese restaurant, teriyaki, not wonderful but pretty good. The in-house ‘Broadway Show’ was pretty good too, especially compared to the rest of the week, … although the “Fire Show” on the beach Tuesday night was pretty good too.

Jan 9
As it turns out, it seems Nadia spent 5 hours in the hyperbaric chamberyesterday, $5000 ($1000/ hour), and came back to join us for dinner. Apparently also spent another 3 hours today in the chamber. The complication: she must wait 72 hours (from today) before flying and will therefore require extra hotel nights (no special problem), but find another flight in a couple days, … could be difficult.  She doesn’t seem to appreciate her situation, since she said, “I’ll be back and we’ll go snorkelling” (maybe in jest, but I suspect not). Today’s dive was a repeat of yesterday, Punta Sure, and went to close to 100 feet, with an advance warning from Nacho not to get any closer than 5 minutes to “deco” time (requires long decompression times closer to surface). I got as close as 4 minutes, couldn’t help it as I was in a “swim through” =cave). I ascended on exit from the swim through and fortunately the deco was washed out within a minute or two.  The second dive (the last) was shallow, 30 feet, nothing dramatic but had its merit too. I left a $50US tip in the tip-jar (more than Norm suggested), … ‘Pro Dive Mexico’/Allegro, with Hanns the boss, a German, running a smooth operation, and I enjoyed it, … clearly. And Nadia’s antics gave us something to talk about.

Jan 11
The day before flight, so no diving. Went on a jeep/dune buggy ride, 8:45 – 5:00, around the island to look at the sights, $102, Mayan ruins etc, snorkelling and a modest beach lunch around 3:00PM at Punta Sur… not great, but kind of good to see what the rest of the island is about (….not much). Most of the group had left at 7:15 so there were only 6 for dinner.  Nadia joined us for dinner after spending a third session in the hyper baric chamber, that’s 5+3+3 hours, at $1000 per hour. The Transat/Canjet  rep joined us at dinner (surprisingly) to try to get some flight back to Canada (probably out of Cancun), once she gets medical clearance.

Jan 12
Went to the dive shop to get my log signed,….Nacho was there and I went through my little joke routine showing my 1970 Club Med  certification,…. And tell them it’s signed by Jaques Couteau, (… it looks like it could be, with many French location stamps) and for a second they believe me. Left for airport 10:30AM for 2:40 PM West jet flight… got home on time, 7:30EST.  Park N Fly ‘Economy’ lot works for a 1-week vacation, $62 with tax… for two weeks it wouldn’t make sense.
............................................................................................

journal of Majorca/Canaries (click)


Agenda

2013

37. Scuba, Cozumel Mexico Aqua Systems Jan 5-12/2013
38. Exodus Costa Rica MUD Jan 19 2013 (confirmed)
39. Ottawa group, Virginia, April 2013 (dates uncertain)
40. VQ South Africa  Oct 15/13 (not confirmed) (trip #80, 110 if scuba incld'd)

2012

31. Exodus Nicuragua to Panama MUC, Jan14-28 2012 (blog)
32. Virginia, arranged with Paul L, April 16-30
33. Exodus Turkey (ATK, kayaking, May 7,  (blog)  
34. Exodus Turkey ATM multisport  May 14, (blog) (a repeat 2011.... drawback: interferes with gardening)
35. VQ Majorca Sept 27, confirmed
36. VQ Canaries Oct 13-28, confirmed (trip #78, 108 if scuba incld'd)



2011


25. Belize, www.theplacencia.com Scuba Diving, Jan 10 2011
26. Virginia (private group) for 12 days April 17 2011
28. Turkey Exodus Lycia ATM multi Activity, Jun13-20 2011(blog)
27. Turkey with Exodus Agean MTI  Jun4-13 cycling, C
28. Velo-Quebec Grand Tour Aug 5-13 (blog)
29. Gabriola Cycle, Corsica, Sept 15 2011 (blog)
30. Cycleventures, Sicily map, October 1, 2011 ... (blog)


2010
18. Thailand cycling with Smiling Albino January/2010) (click)
19. Ankor, some cycling, Cambodia (click)
20. Halong Bay, not cycling,Vietnam (click)
21. Vietnam with Pedaltours till February 15 2010(click)
22. Virginia with Ottawa group  Mar 12-26
23. Budapest Krakow, Cycleventures Sept12-27(blog)
24. 39 days in Nepal India, leaving Nov 8 2010 -Dec 17(Completed)

2007 -2010

0. Scuba diving, Turks and Caicos, March 2 2007 Completed
1. Scuba in San Salvador, Bahamas Completed Apr 7 -22 .....
2, Velo-Quebec Corsica Completed June 10 - 25 2007 , click
3. Gabriola's Nfld Completed July 8 2007, click
4. TDA Silk Route, 8000 Km, Completed Aug 4-Nov18 2007, click
5. Honduras Scuba Diving, Roatan, Jan 18-25 2008 Completed
6. Scuba, Turks&Caicos, Completed, Feb16-Mar1 2008 (click)
7. a Scuba "combo" trip (Maldives, etc), ...deferred
8. Montpellier France Completed April 27- May 7 2008 (click)
9. Montpellier France Completed May 9 -19 2008, a repeat (click)
10. Camino, Spain, Completed May 23 -June 2 2008 (click)
11. Kayaking Queen Charlottes Completed July 16-25 2008 (click)
12. Andalusia Spain with VQ Completed Sept 11-26 2008 (click)
13. CV Southern Africa, Completed Nov 5-14 2008 (click)
14. Safari South Africa Coastal, Completed Nov 20-29 2008 (click)
15. Cozumel, Scuba Diving, (Completed) Jan 10-17 2009
15. GCK, Montpellier, France (Completed) May 16-26 2009 (click)
16. GCKe, Vence, (Completed)France May 28 June- 8 2009 (click)
17. Cuba Cycling out of Holguin Nov 21 Dec 5/09(click)

Photos (click)
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)