Our First Backpacking trip together:
I wanted to introduce Liesl to wilderness backpacking, and since we are so near the Appalachian trail, I thought, "what better place". I did my research and turned up a couple of great options settling on one within Shenandoah National park. However, a couple days before we were to go, the park posted a notice of no camping in the area. Bummer. I bet it would have been a great place for her first trip.
So, back to research, and I recalled reading about another trail in the George Washington National Forest, along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I did a quick review, and printed out the map, and adjusted our schedule a bit to compensate for weather.
Liesl and I undertook our first backpacking trip together starting on 24th April. Due to the impending rains on Saturday, I had taken Friday off, which left us scrambling Friday morning to get our packs loaded, and everything into the car for the three hour drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Please Note: I'm a planner, this isn't how I do things normally.
The preparation pulled off without a hitch, and we actually made it to the trail head at the Reed's Gap parking area, around 1pm. In my experience, this is quite late to start the hike, but we were only hiking 7.3 miles the first day, and if we maintained our average pace that would take up approximately 4 hours with stops. Little did I realize, the review was a little too quick.
The trail left Reed's Gap, and started up the AT on a small hill. We passed an older man walking with a cane up the hill. If he can do it, it can't be that bad, right? The foliage had not fully grown in, so we could see into the valleys on either side of the trail. It felt wonderful to be out, away from the traffic and congestion again.
After topping the first hill, we descended into a a small saddle, coming to the Mau Pin Shelter and camp area. This is also the end ofthe Mau-Har trail, which we would return on. We stopped for a short break and chatted up an older guy who was camping at the shelter, and scratching an arrow into the dirt so his friends would find them. He and his wife had come up the Mau-Har that day, and he told us there was some rock scrambling along the way. No problem. If he can do it, so can we. (You see a pattern here?) Another reason to stop here, most of the shelters have a 'privy'. I guess that's nicer than saying outhouse. In any case, it's easier than trying to balance while holding your pant's out of the way, and aiming at a small hole. (If you don't understand that last statement, you need to go backpacking at least once in your life).
One of the things I find interesting at the shelter's along the AT, are the bear poles. They are not very high and, despite all of the literature stating not to hang your food in camp, right in the middle of the camp areas. I've never hung my food before, though I planned to on this trip. More on that later.
Onward. From the Mau-Pin shelter, we continued up the trail, starting the ascent of Bee Mountain. More uphill, which becomes steep in some places. I joked about not having to climb rock hewn stair cases, as is common in Korea. I should have kept it to myself. Rock stairs showed up shortly thereafter. We passed a few people that looked like through hikers on the way up. They looked more energized than we did.
Once we peaked on Bee Mountain, we followed the ridge line for almost two miles as it first descended then gradually ascended. We took several short breaks to take pictures and chat. We were passed by more hikers, mostly young folks that looked like they were doing a section hike.
Three Ridges Mountain was next. We went up about 300 feet on the first stretch to the first nice overlook, where we took a break and talked with a younger guy named Isaac, who was a student at UVA, and happened to go out to the Bozeman area every summer for a camp (Small world). Had we known it, we would have walked another 100 feet up the trail to a very nice overlook where a rock overhangs the edge of the ridge, facing southward, and overlooking Harper's creek, which we would later be camping next to. We stopped here despite having just stopped, and took several photos.
As soon as we left that overlook, we continued the ascent of Three Ridges, pushing ourselves up the mountain at a slow trudge. I could see an older man ahead of us, who would stop every now and again. Initially I thought maybe he was turned around, but then began thinking he was just having as much trouble continuing as we were.
After about 15 minutes, Isaac headed past us. Further on up the trail, I noticed he caught up with the other hiker and had stopped to talk. We caught up with them a few minutes later and it turned out the man actually had somehow gotten turned around, and had traveled a couple miles in the wrong direction. He took it in stride, and as we headed upward, he turned and headed back down. Not the worst part of the trail, but not a part I would like to find out I did by mistake.
Three Ridges Mountain provided some really nice vantage points. and was pretty in itself with flower blooming all around, however it was a tough mountain to climb, and equally hard coming back down the switchbacks on the other side, all strewn with rocks. Somehow we descended without breaking anything, sometimes clinging to a rock as we side stepped down to the next section. We put our bamboo walking poles to good use.
Next up a short saddle then on to the ascent up Chimney Rock. We didn't go out on the vantage point on Chimney Rock, mostly because it's not all that clear where the trail to it is. In any case, by this time we had calculated we were traveling about 1 mile per hour, and we were going to be pushing to get to camp before dark (recall the 1:30pm departure). We continued on despite our sore feet, and started to descend heavily again. As we descended, it became apparent that we should reach our camp just about the time the sun set, we talked about stopping for a while and eating before continuing to the camp site but decided to push on. We didn't expect the mile of ankle breaking rocks that made up the trail along the backside of Chimney rock. It was pretty continuous rocks, about the size of footballs for a while, until we heard rushing water. We couldn't see any water, but we could hear it rushing down beneath our feet, under the rocks. I failed to mention earlier, I had issues with where I put my camelbak and it started dripping early on, so I ended up drinking all of my water within the first few miles, so this rushing water was like a siren call at this point. Further along, a small spring came out of the rock in a trickle, not enough to fill a bottle, but we could see down the hill it was gushing out. We ignored that in the hope that we were near the camp. The camp wasn't far off, and we found our first stream crossing to get to the shelter site.
We contemplated camping on the ridge just before the stream, and probably should have, but decided to cross a tree and set up in another location. Not a great decision, but hey, we were tired and it was getting dark. So as Liesl set up the tent, I started boiling some water for Mac and cheese and veggies. I ran through the water we had, and Liesl stopped working on the tent to go filter some more (Sawyer Mini water filter is kickass by the way, far better than expected) While she was getting water, I kept an eye on the stove, and started unpacking things to throw into the tent. Pretty much everything went in the tent.
Hungry as we were I don't really recall how good the mac and cheese was, but it satisfied. Liesl had refilled most of our water by the time we ate, so I went to wash our dinner dishes. As stated earlier, there is normally a bear pole for hanging your food at these shelter locations. Not at this one. So, the food stayed in the canister in a bag, in my backpack next to the tent. This is pretty much how I've always kept my food when camping, minus the bear canister, which I bought specifically for camping in Shenandoah NP, where it's required. Oh well, maybe next time my food can be hung.
Sleep was not good. The tent site we chose was on a hill. I tried leveling myself by filling a dry bag with extra clothes and rain gear, and placing it under my feet. It only worked so well. For some reason I had a really hard time falling asleep despite how tired I was, and by morning I didn't feel like I had slept much at all.
Oh well, it's 5:30am, time to start harassing Liesl. I can barely see her eyes though the hole in her mummy bag, so I better start by making that hole larger so she can talk, and enjoy the cool morning air (40 degrees maybe?). I chatted her awake, and talked about getting up to make some oatmeal. I think she would have laid there til noon happily immersed in her sleeping bag, but we heard little ice pellets bounce off our tent. Not the wake up you want. We pulled everything together and rolled the tent up in half a jiff to avoid it getting too wet. The weatherman got it partly wrong. It wasn't supposed to start raining until noon. Well, everything is down, lets not cook. We'll just eat some protein bars on our way out. Tasty breakfast. I noticed on our way out that the through hikers who had been in the shelter the night prior were gone already, and there was a guy doing the same loop we were doing getting ready to head out as well.
We crossed back over the creek via the downed tree (lizzy too), and headed a short way back to the AT. We started passing people almost immediately, and I pointed out some interesting gear to Liesl. Not far down the trail, we found the 2nd camping area for this shelter, and there were plenty of flat spots there (Grrr). Then we came to the stream crossing...the same stream that we had just crossed back over, only no tree here, and not all that easy to cross. Apparently they moved the trail at some point to have better camping maybe? In any case, they should have left the trail where it passed the shelter and privy. It made far more sense than this crossing. The trail was descent at this point heading a short distance to the intersection with the Mau-Har trail. By the time we made it to the intersection, I was starting to sweat and decided I didn't need my rain jacket on, and I had forgotten to move my water so it was dripping again. The soloer from the shelter caught up to us at this point and we chatted for a while. Apparently he had started the trail the previous October only to get snowed on and end his trip early. He headed up the Mau-Har, and after rearranging everything, we followed along.
The Mau-Har deceived us, being nice at the start, then quickly becoming a steep switchback up to the top of a ridge. Slow trudge again, as our muscles and feet were still sore from the day prior. To complicate the ascent, there was a lot of dead-fallen trees crossing the trail. Upon reaching the ridge, we descended along more switchbacks, over waterfalls, that were sometime on the trail. There were some tricky spots with ricks on the trail, and steep descents, and couple of spots where water was on the trail as well. We could see below a large waterfall in the Campbell creek drainage.
Campbell Creek has some beautiful waterfalls along it. There is another camp site between the trail and the water. We met up with the soloer again here, adn chatted briefly. I'm glad we did, because he pointed out the trail stayed on that side of the creek. It looks like they may have moved the trail here at some point also, as it looked like trail on the other side of the water. After he headed up the trail, we took a short spur trail to go down and see the big waterfall. Then came back and could see the man further up the trail stopped and looking around before continuing on. We ate some and started out again.
From here, the trail looks to have been designed by a mountain goat. Lizzy didn't have much trouble, though she looked as confused as us at some points. Often water flowed across jumbled rocks which also happened to be the trail. In the nice areas, the trail continued upwards, flanked by fields of trillium flowers on one side and the tumbling creek on the other. It was one of the nicest trails I've hiked for scenery, but also one of the hardest as the trail generally stayed on the ascent, often crossing streams, rocks and downed trees along the way. I think we made 10 or more stream crossings, some by rock, another on a rotting old tree. We passed several camp sites along the trail as well. It rained on us a pretty steady drizzle all day, picking up the closer we go to the Mau-pin shelter.
We made it to the shelter and stopped for a while to drink and rest. There was a small group of people there who were hiking the Virginia section of the Appalachian Trail, making stops at friends places, and seeming to be having a good time. We chatted for a while with them, until we realized the rain didn't plan on stopping. So we packed up for the last push back to the car.
Overall, it was a pretty hike, though a little slower than expected.
14.4 Miles, 6800 Feet of elevation change, 2 days, and 3 sore bodies later.
Pros: Flowers and water in abundance, scenery was beautiful, friendly people, good parking, easy to find, no fees
Cons: A lot of steep ascents and descents, dead-fall and rocks, poorly placed stream crossings
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wellesley Island State Park, NY
Wellesley Island State Park, New York
23Nov11-26Nov11
Recently we had a great road trip to upstate New York and back.
The 23rd of November is a traveling nightmare usually around here, but we were heading north while everyone else was heading south. Our morning started early, finishing packing the car, then heading to the gas station. The road there brought us over interstate 95 and we were pleasantly surprised to see that traffic was actually flowing. In the ten minutes or so that it took us to top off the tank and return to the interstate a change had occurred and things were slower. We were a bit concerned, but decided to chance it anyway. It never really bogged down even around the beltway.
We made pretty good time heading through Maryland even avoiding the sleeping truck driver that we passed a couple of times. As we entered into Pennsylvania we hit fog, which lasted until we stopped near Harrisburg, PA. at the Mountain Road Diner for a quick breakfast. It was pretty obvious that the place used to be part of the hotel next door, but the food was cheap and good, so no complaints. After spending almost an hour there, we hit the road again, passing water oozing out of the roadside. Once again we encountered a dangerous semi. It was loaded with a mobile home, and one of its tires was flat and he was running on the rim.
Aside from these minor interruptions along the way, it was pretty uneventful trip up to Wellesley Island. We had called ahead and were informed that there would be no-one at the park when we arrived, but that they would be back the next morning so the door to our cabin was unlocked, and the heater was turned on for us. The man was also nice enough to direct us to a place called Woody's where we could get some firewood. Woody’s was closed when we got there, but he had an “honor box” out. Shortly after we pulled up, he came out to greet us and chatted amiably while we loaded the wood.
Wellesley Island State Park is situated in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, in the 1000 Islands area. We were staying in the Chipmunk cabins, number 3. I had taken a bit of time trying to decide between a beautiful view and probable wind or a lesser view out of the wind. We opted for the good view. Our cabin sat about 20 feet from the shoreline, and our fire pit was about 5 feet from the shoreline.
We had expected one neighbor on the island for the first night, but they were gone, so we had the run of the area around the cabins. We got our food and clothing unloaded into the cabin and firewood out by the pit. We spent some time rearranging things, and just getting the lay of things. After that, we spent most of the evening roasting sausages and drinking coffee, followed by toasted marshmallows.
Liesl and I decided to turn in early, and spent a good amount of time trying to get the heater turned to the correct setting. We turned it as far down as we could, and opened windows before it was cool enough to sleep comfortably
I woke early to a was a cold and windy morning. I got the fire stoked up, put some water on for the coffee and oatmeal, and got the sausage patties out for roasting. During breakfast, we listened to the hunters off in the woods and the loons out on the lake. We made the decision that we would walk back to the park entrance along the road, looking at it now, it was about 2.5 miles one way. On our way we decided to wander through the marina area out onto an old path. As we were returning, we spotted a white tail deer across the park area. He quickly disappeared back into the trees. We passed a couple of spots where it was obvious hunters had trod off to the woods, and were passed by a couple of trucks driving around. About 1/2 mile from the station, the park service guy drove up, and told us he would meet us back at the station. As we were walking past the marshy area near the station, a small otter swam up then ducked under the water.
We retrieved the key to our cabin from the entrance facility, and were told that we would have neighbors that night. Our walk back seemed to pass far more quickly than the walk out.
We spent most of that day playing games and drinking coffee, generally just trying to relax. Sometime in the afternoon, we decided to drive around the park and check things out. It is a fairly large park with a lot of camp sites, rv sites, cabins, and a few cottages all along the river shore. There is a large marina, and a beach area. When we returned from our jaunt, the neighbors had arrived. It was a nice family from Brooklyn with three kids.
We made dinner early, eating rice, carrots, peas, and roasting meatballs. We finished with toasted marshmallow desert, then retreated from the cold wind into the cabin for a game of Quiddler. That night, Lizzy was quite disturbed by the wind, and kept wandering around whining, until Liesl took pity on her and invited her up onto her bunk. The following morning, I got up around 6 or 7ish and got food and coffee started. After breakfast we packed up and cleaned the cabin before saying goodbye to Wellesley Island.
Trip to Niagara Falls
25Nov11
We had made the decision to drive the Great Lakes Seaway Trail from Wellesley Island to Niagara Falls. This added some time to the drive but was very much worth it. We got to see some very interesting and very beautiful country along the drive down the coast of Lake Ontario. It is impossible to label the area as one thing or another. There were run down, ruined old farms and homes, while next door were beautifully kept old mansions, farms and vineyards, followed by tourist traps, or fishing villages.
We didn't get much of a chance to actually take in the sights, but we did see some fun things on the drive. Near Watertown there were three large statues of ravens in a field. Shortly after we spotted an Amish kid plowing a field using 3 large work horses. Further along we spied a humorous set of billboards, one advertising Amish furniture, while the other advertised tattoos. The area also seemed to be inundated with golf courses and driving ranges. I didn't get a count, but I think there were as many as there were convenience stores. In the Village of Red Creek we saw a huge gaggle of geese flying over head, suddenly plummet over the roof line. As we got nearer, we saw that they were dropping into a lake on the other side of the buildings. We drove into the fishing village of Sodus Point trying to find the lighthouse. It reminded me strongly of Astoria, Oregon. We stopped in Olcott for a short break, and wandered through the park, and down to the lake side to look at some old dilapidated piers. On our way back up the trail, I was lucky enough to step in mud, covering most of my shoe and sock in muck. Luckily I had another set of shoes and socks. I still cursed Olcott as we drove out of town. The drive along the coast really set the mood for our entire trip home. There were so few cars on the road, there were times we were the only people in sight.
As we neared Niagara Falls, we had three destinations in mind; Devil's Hole, the Whirlpool, and the Falls. I knew we wouldn't be able to really get down to the Hole or the whirlpool, as it was already early afternoon, but we stood above on the trail and took a few pics, then headed on to the falls.
Niagara Falls was not as touristy as I expected, at least not the U.S. side. The Canadian side looked like an oddball mismatch of Vegas lights meets mother nature. As we were driving around looking for a place to park, we were quickly accosted by people trying to lure us into paying them $5 to park in their lot, versus the $10 lot next to it. We continued on and were lucky enough to find a free parking spot on the street near the crossing to Goat Island. It was around 4pm by that time and the sun was quickly descending, so we quickly discussed what we wanted to do. We headed on to Goat Island along the path, overlooking the flow above the falls. It was impressive the amount of water going through that small channel.
Our first glimpse was of Bridal Veil Falls, from above. Liesl wanted to head down the path to it, but I convinced her to head over to Horseshoe Falls first, and then come back to the American falls, as it seemed more efficient. We got lucky again. As we arrived at Horseshoe Falls, a park service guy was pulling up, and informed us that they would be closing the gate in about 10 minutes. We took a few pictures there and headed back to see Bridal Veil, stopping along the way for more photos. Liesl wanted to go to Canada, but it was already getting to be late and I was concerned. In all we spent about 2 hours wandering around the U.S. side of the falls. I think we would both enjoy another trip up there to see the Canadian side of things. Maybe a weekend trip this spring.
We had planned to go out to dinner at one of several locations mentioned on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We decided on Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub, as it was nearer our Hotel for the night.
After many wrong turns along the way, we finally found the restaurant. It was not overly packed, but definitely a local joint. We sat in the bar area, Liesl ordered their Fish fry and a cup of beer cheese soup, while I ordered the Beef on Weck, we also ordered stuff banana peppers as an appetizer. The banana peppers were pretty hot initially but very tasty. The beer cheese soup tasted too heavily of beer, and we couldn't finish it. Liesl and I enjoyed our meal, but we both agreed, the best part was not the main dish but the side. They made a spicy 'tater-tot', which was essentially shredded potato, cheese and spicy peppers, deep fried. Super tasty.
That night, we had rented a room at the Red Roof Inn in Hamburg, but hadn't printed directions. Liesl guessed and we headed that way, but quickly decided to pull into a gas station for directions. Turns out she was right, though we likely wouldn't have gone far enough in that direction.
Route home from Niagara:
The next morning, as Liesl was checking us out of the hotel, the staff gave her a 10% off coupon for Savory's, a local diner. As she gave it to Liesl, she said "That is where I got this from," as she grabbed her tummy, "going there every Sunday for their stuffed french toast." I would not have stopped there from looking at the outside, but I was soon glad we stopped there for breakfast. I ordered the holiday special, which was Cranberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast with apple syrup! It was perfect! Liesl got a spinach and feta omelet. We split our dishes and enjoyed a couple cups of coffee. The wait staff was very friendly, and the place had a nice feel to it. I'd go back, though I'd have to try one of their homemade pies.
Nicely full, with a happy send off, we left the Buffalo area behind for the trip back home.
We drove through the quintessential ski town of Ellicottville, NY, passing into the Allegheny National Forest Area. We enjoyed being surrounded by the forests again, as we drove along rivers and streams.
About a third of the way through Pennsylvania we came up on the town of Johnsonburg, which smelled of broccoli. It seemed like every small town in the area had some sort of chemical plant, coal mining, or textile factory.
A little further south along the Clarion River, we passed through Ridgway which seemed to us that it had been a busting little community at some point. There were large factory type buildings near the railroad that had gone unused for a while, and a train depot which was sagging in. The trip was dotted by numerous small towns which made us question how the people made their living.
As we neared Maryland, with the end of the trip near, we tried to come up with a plan to make it home without the stress of the interstate. As we hit interstate 70, our fears were realized when we saw a backup of traffic. The traffic reports were talking about crashes and delays. We took the next exit and headed down the back roads through Point of Rocks into Virginia. We were able to avoid most of the traffic and carry the tattered remains of our vacation feeling back to the house with us.
23Nov11-26Nov11
Recently we had a great road trip to upstate New York and back.
The 23rd of November is a traveling nightmare usually around here, but we were heading north while everyone else was heading south. Our morning started early, finishing packing the car, then heading to the gas station. The road there brought us over interstate 95 and we were pleasantly surprised to see that traffic was actually flowing. In the ten minutes or so that it took us to top off the tank and return to the interstate a change had occurred and things were slower. We were a bit concerned, but decided to chance it anyway. It never really bogged down even around the beltway.
We made pretty good time heading through Maryland even avoiding the sleeping truck driver that we passed a couple of times. As we entered into Pennsylvania we hit fog, which lasted until we stopped near Harrisburg, PA. at the Mountain Road Diner for a quick breakfast. It was pretty obvious that the place used to be part of the hotel next door, but the food was cheap and good, so no complaints. After spending almost an hour there, we hit the road again, passing water oozing out of the roadside. Once again we encountered a dangerous semi. It was loaded with a mobile home, and one of its tires was flat and he was running on the rim.
Aside from these minor interruptions along the way, it was pretty uneventful trip up to Wellesley Island. We had called ahead and were informed that there would be no-one at the park when we arrived, but that they would be back the next morning so the door to our cabin was unlocked, and the heater was turned on for us. The man was also nice enough to direct us to a place called Woody's where we could get some firewood. Woody’s was closed when we got there, but he had an “honor box” out. Shortly after we pulled up, he came out to greet us and chatted amiably while we loaded the wood.
Wellesley Island State Park is situated in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, in the 1000 Islands area. We were staying in the Chipmunk cabins, number 3. I had taken a bit of time trying to decide between a beautiful view and probable wind or a lesser view out of the wind. We opted for the good view. Our cabin sat about 20 feet from the shoreline, and our fire pit was about 5 feet from the shoreline.
We had expected one neighbor on the island for the first night, but they were gone, so we had the run of the area around the cabins. We got our food and clothing unloaded into the cabin and firewood out by the pit. We spent some time rearranging things, and just getting the lay of things. After that, we spent most of the evening roasting sausages and drinking coffee, followed by toasted marshmallows.
Liesl and I decided to turn in early, and spent a good amount of time trying to get the heater turned to the correct setting. We turned it as far down as we could, and opened windows before it was cool enough to sleep comfortably
I woke early to a was a cold and windy morning. I got the fire stoked up, put some water on for the coffee and oatmeal, and got the sausage patties out for roasting. During breakfast, we listened to the hunters off in the woods and the loons out on the lake. We made the decision that we would walk back to the park entrance along the road, looking at it now, it was about 2.5 miles one way. On our way we decided to wander through the marina area out onto an old path. As we were returning, we spotted a white tail deer across the park area. He quickly disappeared back into the trees. We passed a couple of spots where it was obvious hunters had trod off to the woods, and were passed by a couple of trucks driving around. About 1/2 mile from the station, the park service guy drove up, and told us he would meet us back at the station. As we were walking past the marshy area near the station, a small otter swam up then ducked under the water.
We retrieved the key to our cabin from the entrance facility, and were told that we would have neighbors that night. Our walk back seemed to pass far more quickly than the walk out.
We spent most of that day playing games and drinking coffee, generally just trying to relax. Sometime in the afternoon, we decided to drive around the park and check things out. It is a fairly large park with a lot of camp sites, rv sites, cabins, and a few cottages all along the river shore. There is a large marina, and a beach area. When we returned from our jaunt, the neighbors had arrived. It was a nice family from Brooklyn with three kids.
We made dinner early, eating rice, carrots, peas, and roasting meatballs. We finished with toasted marshmallow desert, then retreated from the cold wind into the cabin for a game of Quiddler. That night, Lizzy was quite disturbed by the wind, and kept wandering around whining, until Liesl took pity on her and invited her up onto her bunk. The following morning, I got up around 6 or 7ish and got food and coffee started. After breakfast we packed up and cleaned the cabin before saying goodbye to Wellesley Island.
Trip to Niagara Falls
25Nov11
We had made the decision to drive the Great Lakes Seaway Trail from Wellesley Island to Niagara Falls. This added some time to the drive but was very much worth it. We got to see some very interesting and very beautiful country along the drive down the coast of Lake Ontario. It is impossible to label the area as one thing or another. There were run down, ruined old farms and homes, while next door were beautifully kept old mansions, farms and vineyards, followed by tourist traps, or fishing villages.
We didn't get much of a chance to actually take in the sights, but we did see some fun things on the drive. Near Watertown there were three large statues of ravens in a field. Shortly after we spotted an Amish kid plowing a field using 3 large work horses. Further along we spied a humorous set of billboards, one advertising Amish furniture, while the other advertised tattoos. The area also seemed to be inundated with golf courses and driving ranges. I didn't get a count, but I think there were as many as there were convenience stores. In the Village of Red Creek we saw a huge gaggle of geese flying over head, suddenly plummet over the roof line. As we got nearer, we saw that they were dropping into a lake on the other side of the buildings. We drove into the fishing village of Sodus Point trying to find the lighthouse. It reminded me strongly of Astoria, Oregon. We stopped in Olcott for a short break, and wandered through the park, and down to the lake side to look at some old dilapidated piers. On our way back up the trail, I was lucky enough to step in mud, covering most of my shoe and sock in muck. Luckily I had another set of shoes and socks. I still cursed Olcott as we drove out of town. The drive along the coast really set the mood for our entire trip home. There were so few cars on the road, there were times we were the only people in sight.
As we neared Niagara Falls, we had three destinations in mind; Devil's Hole, the Whirlpool, and the Falls. I knew we wouldn't be able to really get down to the Hole or the whirlpool, as it was already early afternoon, but we stood above on the trail and took a few pics, then headed on to the falls.
Niagara Falls was not as touristy as I expected, at least not the U.S. side. The Canadian side looked like an oddball mismatch of Vegas lights meets mother nature. As we were driving around looking for a place to park, we were quickly accosted by people trying to lure us into paying them $5 to park in their lot, versus the $10 lot next to it. We continued on and were lucky enough to find a free parking spot on the street near the crossing to Goat Island. It was around 4pm by that time and the sun was quickly descending, so we quickly discussed what we wanted to do. We headed on to Goat Island along the path, overlooking the flow above the falls. It was impressive the amount of water going through that small channel.
Our first glimpse was of Bridal Veil Falls, from above. Liesl wanted to head down the path to it, but I convinced her to head over to Horseshoe Falls first, and then come back to the American falls, as it seemed more efficient. We got lucky again. As we arrived at Horseshoe Falls, a park service guy was pulling up, and informed us that they would be closing the gate in about 10 minutes. We took a few pictures there and headed back to see Bridal Veil, stopping along the way for more photos. Liesl wanted to go to Canada, but it was already getting to be late and I was concerned. In all we spent about 2 hours wandering around the U.S. side of the falls. I think we would both enjoy another trip up there to see the Canadian side of things. Maybe a weekend trip this spring.
We had planned to go out to dinner at one of several locations mentioned on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. We decided on Blackthorn Restaurant and Pub, as it was nearer our Hotel for the night.
After many wrong turns along the way, we finally found the restaurant. It was not overly packed, but definitely a local joint. We sat in the bar area, Liesl ordered their Fish fry and a cup of beer cheese soup, while I ordered the Beef on Weck, we also ordered stuff banana peppers as an appetizer. The banana peppers were pretty hot initially but very tasty. The beer cheese soup tasted too heavily of beer, and we couldn't finish it. Liesl and I enjoyed our meal, but we both agreed, the best part was not the main dish but the side. They made a spicy 'tater-tot', which was essentially shredded potato, cheese and spicy peppers, deep fried. Super tasty.
That night, we had rented a room at the Red Roof Inn in Hamburg, but hadn't printed directions. Liesl guessed and we headed that way, but quickly decided to pull into a gas station for directions. Turns out she was right, though we likely wouldn't have gone far enough in that direction.
Route home from Niagara:
The next morning, as Liesl was checking us out of the hotel, the staff gave her a 10% off coupon for Savory's, a local diner. As she gave it to Liesl, she said "That is where I got this from," as she grabbed her tummy, "going there every Sunday for their stuffed french toast." I would not have stopped there from looking at the outside, but I was soon glad we stopped there for breakfast. I ordered the holiday special, which was Cranberry and cream cheese stuffed french toast with apple syrup! It was perfect! Liesl got a spinach and feta omelet. We split our dishes and enjoyed a couple cups of coffee. The wait staff was very friendly, and the place had a nice feel to it. I'd go back, though I'd have to try one of their homemade pies.
Nicely full, with a happy send off, we left the Buffalo area behind for the trip back home.
We drove through the quintessential ski town of Ellicottville, NY, passing into the Allegheny National Forest Area. We enjoyed being surrounded by the forests again, as we drove along rivers and streams.
About a third of the way through Pennsylvania we came up on the town of Johnsonburg, which smelled of broccoli. It seemed like every small town in the area had some sort of chemical plant, coal mining, or textile factory.
A little further south along the Clarion River, we passed through Ridgway which seemed to us that it had been a busting little community at some point. There were large factory type buildings near the railroad that had gone unused for a while, and a train depot which was sagging in. The trip was dotted by numerous small towns which made us question how the people made their living.
As we neared Maryland, with the end of the trip near, we tried to come up with a plan to make it home without the stress of the interstate. As we hit interstate 70, our fears were realized when we saw a backup of traffic. The traffic reports were talking about crashes and delays. We took the next exit and headed down the back roads through Point of Rocks into Virginia. We were able to avoid most of the traffic and carry the tattered remains of our vacation feeling back to the house with us.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Key Largo: Part 3
08Sep11 we were supposed to do our last dives with Silent World, but happened to talk to another couple as we were checking out of our hotel. They stated that SW was diving the Spiegel Grove, another deep dive. Irritating, and pretty much the last straw for us. Liesl called the shop, and they were able to arrange for us to dive with another shop, Amy Slate's Amoray. We headed up to Amy's, got signed in, and boarded a catamaran style boat, which had plenty of room to sit from bow to stern. A nice set up, though I suspect it is quite crowded with snorkelers and divers during the high season. On this day, they had 3 snorkelers and 12 divers aboard, including, Amy Slate herself who is a very friendly lady who has been diving the area for a long time. The captain notified us that we would be heading to Molasses Reef. This is probably the most dove site in Key Largo. I'm not sure why as there was a lot of dead coral in the area.
Our first dive was on Permit Ledges. The visibility was fairly low, owing to algael blooms we later learning. There were quite a few parrots on site. This was also the first site on which we spotted squirrel fish. We spent a good deal of time just meandering through the coral fingers, until Liesl spotted a small turtle swimming by. She got a couple great shots of it too. A little later, I spotted another. He was so intent on whatever he was eating, he had no interest in us, as we hovered nearby, and even stayed there when we called over a group from another boat. For all the life, there was an awful lot of dead coral. As we returned, I had to surface a couple times to check the boat position. As we neared the boat, we found a group of divers hovering around the bottom, waiting out the resto f their tanks I think. We decided to do the same nearby, and started exploring. Liesl spotted a large squirrel fish back in a niche in the coral. What she didn't see was the big scorpion fish laying on the bottom beneath it. Soon after we were distracted by a large Atlantic spade fish. We noticed everyone else was now out of the water, so we headed back to the boat.
Only a few minutes away was the second site, the Well Wood. Scientists use the area for research. There are rods to measure coral growth, monitoring stations, and they use the site to transplant farm grown staghorn coral. Pretty neat stuff.
I lost my tank tapper when I stepped in, but Liesl saved it and we quickly descended the 15 feet to the bottom. There were a ton if jellies in the area, so we were happy we had brought the wet suits. There were chubs, blue chromis, lots of little fish, French, spanish and blue striped grunts. Liesl spied a goat fish digging in the sand.
Later in the dive, I got my first look at a midnight parrot fish. They are brilliant blue and black, quite striking! While watching them feed, we were startled by a couple of scrawled file fish, as they darted by. We started working our way back shortly after, and on our way back we spied a school of black margate hanging out in a swim through. nearing the boat, we milled about near the boat, took a couple of shots of the research equipment, then ascended.
That afternoon, we were to head north again, so we went to Mrs. Macs one last time, gorged ourselves on tasty food, and purchased a key lime pie for the road. We were heading to Riviera, FL for the night to stay near the Blue Heron Bridge, another dive site that we had originally wanted to dive, but the tides were not in our favor, and we wanted to get back home.
Our first dive was on Permit Ledges. The visibility was fairly low, owing to algael blooms we later learning. There were quite a few parrots on site. This was also the first site on which we spotted squirrel fish. We spent a good deal of time just meandering through the coral fingers, until Liesl spotted a small turtle swimming by. She got a couple great shots of it too. A little later, I spotted another. He was so intent on whatever he was eating, he had no interest in us, as we hovered nearby, and even stayed there when we called over a group from another boat. For all the life, there was an awful lot of dead coral. As we returned, I had to surface a couple times to check the boat position. As we neared the boat, we found a group of divers hovering around the bottom, waiting out the resto f their tanks I think. We decided to do the same nearby, and started exploring. Liesl spotted a large squirrel fish back in a niche in the coral. What she didn't see was the big scorpion fish laying on the bottom beneath it. Soon after we were distracted by a large Atlantic spade fish. We noticed everyone else was now out of the water, so we headed back to the boat.
Only a few minutes away was the second site, the Well Wood. Scientists use the area for research. There are rods to measure coral growth, monitoring stations, and they use the site to transplant farm grown staghorn coral. Pretty neat stuff.
I lost my tank tapper when I stepped in, but Liesl saved it and we quickly descended the 15 feet to the bottom. There were a ton if jellies in the area, so we were happy we had brought the wet suits. There were chubs, blue chromis, lots of little fish, French, spanish and blue striped grunts. Liesl spied a goat fish digging in the sand.
Later in the dive, I got my first look at a midnight parrot fish. They are brilliant blue and black, quite striking! While watching them feed, we were startled by a couple of scrawled file fish, as they darted by. We started working our way back shortly after, and on our way back we spied a school of black margate hanging out in a swim through. nearing the boat, we milled about near the boat, took a couple of shots of the research equipment, then ascended.
That afternoon, we were to head north again, so we went to Mrs. Macs one last time, gorged ourselves on tasty food, and purchased a key lime pie for the road. We were heading to Riviera, FL for the night to stay near the Blue Heron Bridge, another dive site that we had originally wanted to dive, but the tides were not in our favor, and we wanted to get back home.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Key Largo Part 2
The Hungry Pelican:
We arrived at our hotel around 6pm. It seemed fairly packed, but it was the last day of vacation for many, so I had a feeling it would be vacated soon. We checked in at the office and received the key to our room, the Conch. I knew from the many reviews that the rooms here were not large, but I was still a little shocked by just how small it was. Maybe 160 sq feet if you squint real hard. It was going to be 'cozy' with all our gear.
We spent a bit of time unloading, and getting aquainted with the bit of property, taking a short stroll down to the dock. Following our short stroll about, we decided we should contact Silent World Dive center to talk about what was going on and get aquainted. With it being early evening, we weren't able to get anyone on the phone, so decided to take a drive to find where they dock the boat.
We were in luck, as we pulled up, there were still a couple guys unloading gear and getting tanks put away. We decided to stop and introduce ourselves and get the low down for the next morning. We were asked to meet at the dive shop at 0745 to sign away our lives in triplicate.
Liesl and I then went to find some food. Liesl noticed a restaurant called The Fish House. I figured I might be able to find something to eat there, so in we went. Liesl ordered Matecumbe (Mahi Mahi), and I had shrimp and scallops key lime over rice. The dishes were pretty tasty, even for me, a non-fish person. With our stomachs full, and an early morning ahead, it was time for some much deserved sleep.
At the dive shop the next morning we learned that we would be diving the USCG Cutter Duane, opted out of diving nitrox as we have not yet bought an analyzer, and spent a small fortune. Liesl and I then drove to the marina where we would board the Silent World 4. Capt. Bob and the DM Robert were crewing the boat. We took on tanks and weights, boarded the boat and hit the high seas.
The trip out to the Duane took about 50 minutes. The first 30 minutes were ok, a little chop but not bad, the next 20 minutes, were a bit more rough. They gave a short briefing, including entrance instructions. I found this interesting, as every trip I've been on has had different procedures. On this dive, we were to hang on to the granny line as we step in, then hand-over-hand to the bouy, then pull ourselves to the stern of the ship along the bouy line. It was either this or fly off into the deep blue, not a good option.
We were paired up with another man named Matt, but would otherwise be solo. The current was fairly strong, 1-2 knots. The visibility as we decended was poor, less than 30 feet. We made it to the stern, and saw a barracuda, a pair of gray angels, school of grunts, as we kicked into the current for about 15 minutes, before having to turn back. Liesl took a few pictures of the crows nest, then back to the line to ascend. In all we were only down for about 23 minutes.
Back aboard was not pleasant, and we ended up getting seasick while we were waiting for the tech divers to come up from tehir 2 hour dive. We were green enough about the gills to not want to attempt another dive in those conditions. We also ended up calling off our night trip scheduled for the Spiegle Grove, as it was in the same conditions.
Sea sickness sucks!
The ride back was a bit miserable, but we made it. Liesl and I then headed to the dive shop to talk about changing our schedule around to possibly include a second shallow dive in lieu of the Spiegel trip. They agreed, and we were set for a better day ahead.
After a quick cleanup at the hotel, we ate at a great little place called Mrs. Macs, where Liesl later became addicted to the Key Lime Freeze. We ended up eating here a couple of times. Good food in a good environment.
We spent a while sitting on the dock at the hotel sipping our shakes, then it was time for bed.
more to come...
We arrived at our hotel around 6pm. It seemed fairly packed, but it was the last day of vacation for many, so I had a feeling it would be vacated soon. We checked in at the office and received the key to our room, the Conch. I knew from the many reviews that the rooms here were not large, but I was still a little shocked by just how small it was. Maybe 160 sq feet if you squint real hard. It was going to be 'cozy' with all our gear.
We spent a bit of time unloading, and getting aquainted with the bit of property, taking a short stroll down to the dock. Following our short stroll about, we decided we should contact Silent World Dive center to talk about what was going on and get aquainted. With it being early evening, we weren't able to get anyone on the phone, so decided to take a drive to find where they dock the boat.
We were in luck, as we pulled up, there were still a couple guys unloading gear and getting tanks put away. We decided to stop and introduce ourselves and get the low down for the next morning. We were asked to meet at the dive shop at 0745 to sign away our lives in triplicate.
Liesl and I then went to find some food. Liesl noticed a restaurant called The Fish House. I figured I might be able to find something to eat there, so in we went. Liesl ordered Matecumbe (Mahi Mahi), and I had shrimp and scallops key lime over rice. The dishes were pretty tasty, even for me, a non-fish person. With our stomachs full, and an early morning ahead, it was time for some much deserved sleep.
At the dive shop the next morning we learned that we would be diving the USCG Cutter Duane, opted out of diving nitrox as we have not yet bought an analyzer, and spent a small fortune. Liesl and I then drove to the marina where we would board the Silent World 4. Capt. Bob and the DM Robert were crewing the boat. We took on tanks and weights, boarded the boat and hit the high seas.
The trip out to the Duane took about 50 minutes. The first 30 minutes were ok, a little chop but not bad, the next 20 minutes, were a bit more rough. They gave a short briefing, including entrance instructions. I found this interesting, as every trip I've been on has had different procedures. On this dive, we were to hang on to the granny line as we step in, then hand-over-hand to the bouy, then pull ourselves to the stern of the ship along the bouy line. It was either this or fly off into the deep blue, not a good option.
We were paired up with another man named Matt, but would otherwise be solo. The current was fairly strong, 1-2 knots. The visibility as we decended was poor, less than 30 feet. We made it to the stern, and saw a barracuda, a pair of gray angels, school of grunts, as we kicked into the current for about 15 minutes, before having to turn back. Liesl took a few pictures of the crows nest, then back to the line to ascend. In all we were only down for about 23 minutes.
Back aboard was not pleasant, and we ended up getting seasick while we were waiting for the tech divers to come up from tehir 2 hour dive. We were green enough about the gills to not want to attempt another dive in those conditions. We also ended up calling off our night trip scheduled for the Spiegle Grove, as it was in the same conditions.
Sea sickness sucks!
The ride back was a bit miserable, but we made it. Liesl and I then headed to the dive shop to talk about changing our schedule around to possibly include a second shallow dive in lieu of the Spiegel trip. They agreed, and we were set for a better day ahead.
After a quick cleanup at the hotel, we ate at a great little place called Mrs. Macs, where Liesl later became addicted to the Key Lime Freeze. We ended up eating here a couple of times. Good food in a good environment.
We spent a while sitting on the dock at the hotel sipping our shakes, then it was time for bed.
more to come...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Key Largo Post 1
Liesl and I had made plans to enjoy a few days diving in Key Largo, FL. with Silent World Dive Center and staying at The Hungry Pelican for 3 days, then heading north to the West Palm Beach Area for another dive on the Blue Heron Bridge. As we could not find a pet friendly place to stay, we decided to board Lizzy with Lesley (Pawkeepers), whom we have used in the past. She is great, and Lizzy enjoys her place.
We had an early morning consisting of getting everything into the car, and delivering Lizzy to Pawkeepers.
Pawkeepers is run out of Lesley's home, where she only boards 4 dogs at any given time. She is awesome with dogs, which could be recognized by the way Lizzy reacted upon pulling up to her place. As soon as the car door opened, Lizzy ran straight to the front door, waiting impatiently. After a short visit with Lesley, and dropping off the dog goodies, we were back in the car for the trip.
We had made reservations at a Days Inn in St. Augustine, Fl. the first night, so we needed to get some miles behind us (appx. 728 Miles). Luckily for us, we planned to leave in the middle of the Holiday instead of the end. Traffic was fairly light, and we made good time, stopping occasionally for gas, bathroom breaks, and coffee. No food however, as we had packed for that.
I didn't know anything about St. Augustine, except that it had cheap lodging in about the right spot for a days drive. Turns out, there's a lot more to it. Not knowing this, I didn't plan any extra time into exploring this historic little place. I almost wish I had.
The Days Inn hotel we stayed at was surprisingly clean. I say surprisingly, because we don't often spend a lot on hotel accommodations for a single night. It was an old hotel, but obviously well cleaned. Can't ask for much more, and I doubt we would have gotten it if we did.
The following morning, we ate breakfast at the attached IHOP. We spent the better part of our meal talking about how disturbing the menu was. Candy on pancakes. And everyone is thinking how great it is. Ugh.
Fast forward through my omelet, and Liesl's senior meal and we are back on the road heading south punctuated by playing the alphabet game and slug bug. There is really nothing much remarkable about the road trip down, as all you can see for the most part is trees lining the road or sound barrier.
Since we were passing by anyway, I suggested we stop off at the Blue Heron Bridge (+appx 241 miles) to get a look. Holy packed! Not a legal parking space around. We stopped in a slot designated for boat trailers, and made a quick meal from the grub we had brought along. Then, as police were shooing other people out of the spots, we made another loop through the parking lot on the off chance someone had vacated. No luck, so we headed out. On our way back to the highway, we stopped at Force-E, where we had earlier noted a sale going on. We perused the gear, and spotted a couple of books, but decided to forgo buying them. After browsing for a while, we jumped back in the car and headed south again.
The directions I had printed out, took us into a tollway. I'm not much for paying tolls (ie. cheapskate), so we took the "long route". Traffic was still at a minimum, so we got through everything just fine.
At this point it is important to remember that we are in Florida, land of the sunny beaches covered in super-model-hot-babes. Not to burst that bubble, but it's just another place people live. I'm sure there were some nice beaches, but we were bypassing them in lieu of our destination, Key Largo (+131 miles), and some hopefully spectacular diving.
While you're waiting for more...
We had an early morning consisting of getting everything into the car, and delivering Lizzy to Pawkeepers.
Pawkeepers is run out of Lesley's home, where she only boards 4 dogs at any given time. She is awesome with dogs, which could be recognized by the way Lizzy reacted upon pulling up to her place. As soon as the car door opened, Lizzy ran straight to the front door, waiting impatiently. After a short visit with Lesley, and dropping off the dog goodies, we were back in the car for the trip.
We had made reservations at a Days Inn in St. Augustine, Fl. the first night, so we needed to get some miles behind us (appx. 728 Miles). Luckily for us, we planned to leave in the middle of the Holiday instead of the end. Traffic was fairly light, and we made good time, stopping occasionally for gas, bathroom breaks, and coffee. No food however, as we had packed for that.
I didn't know anything about St. Augustine, except that it had cheap lodging in about the right spot for a days drive. Turns out, there's a lot more to it. Not knowing this, I didn't plan any extra time into exploring this historic little place. I almost wish I had.
The Days Inn hotel we stayed at was surprisingly clean. I say surprisingly, because we don't often spend a lot on hotel accommodations for a single night. It was an old hotel, but obviously well cleaned. Can't ask for much more, and I doubt we would have gotten it if we did.
The following morning, we ate breakfast at the attached IHOP. We spent the better part of our meal talking about how disturbing the menu was. Candy on pancakes. And everyone is thinking how great it is. Ugh.
Fast forward through my omelet, and Liesl's senior meal and we are back on the road heading south punctuated by playing the alphabet game and slug bug. There is really nothing much remarkable about the road trip down, as all you can see for the most part is trees lining the road or sound barrier.
Since we were passing by anyway, I suggested we stop off at the Blue Heron Bridge (+appx 241 miles) to get a look. Holy packed! Not a legal parking space around. We stopped in a slot designated for boat trailers, and made a quick meal from the grub we had brought along. Then, as police were shooing other people out of the spots, we made another loop through the parking lot on the off chance someone had vacated. No luck, so we headed out. On our way back to the highway, we stopped at Force-E, where we had earlier noted a sale going on. We perused the gear, and spotted a couple of books, but decided to forgo buying them. After browsing for a while, we jumped back in the car and headed south again.
The directions I had printed out, took us into a tollway. I'm not much for paying tolls (ie. cheapskate), so we took the "long route". Traffic was still at a minimum, so we got through everything just fine.
At this point it is important to remember that we are in Florida, land of the sunny beaches covered in super-model-hot-babes. Not to burst that bubble, but it's just another place people live. I'm sure there were some nice beaches, but we were bypassing them in lieu of our destination, Key Largo (+131 miles), and some hopefully spectacular diving.
While you're waiting for more...
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Cozumel!
Over the course of 7 days in April we made 14 dives on 10 different sites in Cozumel. We swam through coral arches, saw Scrawled Filefish and Queen Triggerfish, huge black groupers, octopi, crabs, and spawning corals, swam with turtles, and spotted nurse sharks lying under ledges. We met and dove with people from Cardiff, Mexico City, Chicago, and British Columbia. We had an awesome time with friends and family, enjoyed new experiences, and picked up new skills.
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Day 1: Thu Travel & Arrival
Woke around 3:30am (yes it exists). Airport by 4:30am, and flight lift at 6:00am.
We flew American Airlines through Dallas to Cozumel.
No food was served in 6 hours of flight time. Good thing we had a layover in Dallas else I'd have been far less comfortable.
Arrived at airport in Cozumel and quickly reverted to the things we learned from the web. Ignore the timeshare folks accosting you, and move straight to the money changer. This was the recommended mode of exchange online. The rate of exchange was about $9 pesos per $1 USD. Apparently the web can be wrong, as we later learned this was not a good rate. More on that to come.
Following the money exchange we realized that the people you need to ignore are not standing in the Trip Advisory booths, of which there were plenty. The gentleman near the money exchange provided us a small map, and directed us to the correct booth for the shuttle. All of this he did with what seemed like genuine cheer.
After getting our tickets for the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, we boarded a large van packed to the gills. I'm glad I had kept my carry-on bag containing my regulator in my lap, as the driver was not very gentle with bags. If we had arrived with others it would have been far cheaper to walk off the airport grounds to get a taxi, however the shuttle was fairly efficient, making only a few stops before our own, dropping us at the front door of Casa Del Mar.
We were greeted at the van by a bellboy who grabbed our bags and brought us to the counter. Checking in was smooth and efficient. They quickly and cheerfully arranged everything. We asked about the safe, and towels and received everything quickly. We also asked about arranging a rental car and the sub rides which were part of our package deal. We further asked about the all inclusive meal plan, which was around $39 USD/person/day.
The meal plan initially sounded like a good deal until we did the math. The total for the two of us would have been $540 USD. Holy carp! For the entire vacation we spent half that amount.
After having everything arranged, the bell boy then carried both of our 50lb bags to our room (227) on the second floor. Our room was considered a Superior room by the hotel, as it had a balcony. The hotel did not have dunk tanks or gear drying racks, no matter, as the balcony worked well throughout our stay. This doesn't say much for the people getting dripped on below us however.
My overall first impressions of the hotel were good. The staff was friendly and everything seemed well enough maintained, though far from a 5 star.
Downers: We had ants in the bathroom. There was no rinse tank or gear racks available (the hotel caters to divers after all). There is no elevator, which was not that big an issue for us, but could be for older folks. The cost of the food deal was a bit absurd if you don't drink alcohol with every meal.
Speaking of meals. The hotel has an extremely limited food selection. The morning buffet was good enough on the weekend days that it ran, and once again, contrary to the magical interweb, cheaper than Ernestos across the street.
We later Gave Diving Adventures a call and Felipe came over to meet us.
Day 2: Fri Dive 1, 2 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
The first morning, we ate the Buffet at the hotel around 7:30AM which was sufficient mealwise. It was mostly fruit, yogurt and granola, fried plantain, a couple of Mexican dishes. We then got everything ready to be picked up by Felipe. Around 9 he rolled up in his VW bug with a British man named Gary, we loaded gear and he drove us to the marina where his boat was docked.
The marina was jammed full of boats, even though it was obvious that many were already out. We got weights, loaded our gear onto a 15 foot boat with twin outboards. Getting into the boat was an adventure in itself, stepping from land onto one of the motors, then to down into the boat.
Once everyone was settled, we headed out to the first dive of our AOW course at Santa Rosa Wall. It was a deep dive and Felipe planned to take us to 100 feet!
That dive had many firsts. Neither Liesl nor I had done a back roll from a boat or a drift dive. I had not gone below 60' nor done any swim-throughs. Even though I was a bit uncomfortable with the current, Santa Rosa Wall was an amazing site. I expected a drop off and descent. Instead we dropped into a shallow sandy area, and then drifted out over massive coral columns reaching up from deep beneath us. We dropped down the columns, floating past them quickly in the current, spotting the usual suspects toward the top, but as we neared 100 feet we saw large groupers and a beautiful Queen Triggerfish! We swam through a small covered area about 20 feet in length, passing back into shallower depths .
I did not really get used to the current, and felt like I missed most of the dive, trying to watch out for everything flying past under, over, and in front of me while making sure I didn't touch any of it.
It is impossible to impart the amount of life congregated on that single reef. It was overwhelming and enthralling.
We spent the surface interval aboard the small boat chatting about the dive, and how we felt we were affected by the depth. Meanwhile the captain brought us to a buoy near our second dive of the day.
Dive number 2 was our AOW Drift dive. As you can tell above we had already done a drift, but Punta Tunich was a hydroplane to Santa Rosa's tugboat. It was shallower in comparison with a max depth of approximately 60'. Felipe notified us that the current was fast and all we should have to do was maintain our buoyancy, keep our eyes ahead and make sure we adjusted to variations well ahead of time.
Punta Tunich was certainly a fun dive, and fast. We dropped in and began spotting huge fish right off. Several large triggerfish, scrawled filefish, hogfish and large groupers, oversized trunkfish and large cowfish. We also spotted schools of black-barred fish which we later learned were Porkfish, hiding from the current in the few corrals and protruding rocks. This is also the dive we spotted our first Rainbow Parrotfish. They were massive.
As awesome as it was to fly above everything on a magic carpet, it made it difficult to get good pictures.
Ben and Anna had arrived while we were diving, so upon return to the hotel, we visited with them for a while. It was after 2pm by this time and decided dinner sounded like a good idea. We had noticed a little place not far from the hotel called Paprika, and decided to try it out. In a random small-world-moment, B&A found out that the waiter had an ex-girlfriend that was from a small town in Australia near where they had met. The food was ok at Paprika, but overpriced. It had an easy atmosphere but was located on a busy street. I was happy to get some vegetables finally.
That evening, while B&A were resting, Liesl and I decided to walk down the street and find out what was nearby. On our return, we got caught in a sudden downpour which drenched us quickly. We took shelter it a little alcove in a wall until the rain had subsided a bit, before returning to the hotel room. B&A came by and we visited with them for a while. It turned out they had contacted Felipe that evening, and he had thought she was starting her OW on Sunday and he wasn't going to be able to take her for the OW class until then.
Day 3: Sat Dive 3, 4, 5 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
We ate with B&A at Ernesto’s, having heard it was cheaper than the buffet at the hotel. The prices were a bit steeper than expected given the slight portions, but otherwise the food was ok. We headed back to the hotel and prepped for the day, bringing our stuff down to the lobby to meet Felipe. As it turned out, the couple who had also been slated to be on the boat for Saturday had backed out, so B&A were able to come. After a short meet and greet, B&A ran back to their room to grab up their gear.
We had a lot planned for this day. Anna's OW class and Liesl and I were to do our Wreck dive, and Night dives for AOW. We met up with another couple, Hector and Beatrice, at the marina who were from Mex. City who had moved to Cozumel to run a hotel.
Our first dive of the day was the sunken C53 Felipe Xincotenantl. Felipe, the instructor, not the boat, told us that we would enter and immediately descend to a sandy area about 50' down where we would group up. It would be a free descent as the buoy line was gone. The current was strong and if not done correctly we would miss the boat, literally. Nobody made it to the mark. Entry dumped us into a swarm of small, dark-brown jelly fish right near the surface. Once we got down far enough, Liesl and I ended up being directed to hang onto a rail while he collected Beatrice and Hector from the stern, then collected B from a shallower depth, as he was having issues clearing his ears. A had to stay on the boat above as this was not a beginner dive.
After having collected us on the side of the wreck, we proceeded forward where the current was being blocked and we could rest a bit before proceeding around the opposite side and back toward the rear of the ship. The current at that point was pushing hard, and I had difficulty gaining headway. We dropped through a structure at the rear, and entered the wreck. It wasn't all that interesting, with minimal life on it beside some tiny fish that looked like filefish. It had large enough passages and rooms to maneuver easily enough. I'm happy we had lights with us, even with the holes in the side letting light in many spots. A couple of spots inside the current would push us from a hole to the outside. In these spots we had to use our elbows to keep from smashing into the walls. Having a “No gloves in the marine park” rule is not such a great thing for a wreck. Even so, we all survived.
During our surface interval, Felipe brought A to a shallows where he could instruct her through her first open water dive. She ended up getting a nose bleed at some point but made it through her skills.
We proceeded then to Paradise reef, where I had thought we would do our navigation dive. It was A's second dive, and we didn't do any navigation skills. It was a good dive however. The reef is situated only minutes from the marina, and shallow with a maximum depth of only 40 feet. It was nice to finally have a slow current. There were more jellies at the surface as we entered, though not directly under us this time.
During the slow relaxing drift, we spotted large Caribbean King Crabs, huge spiny lobsters, a juvenile lionfish inside a pink vase sponge, large black sea cucumbers and a Tigertail sea cucumber, which quickly pulled in on itself when bothered.
Sometime during our dive both Liesl and I were stung on the hand, presumably by jellies, though I didn't see the culprits. I had welts for a few hours after the dive. Also during this dive, Felipe gave me some tips to improve my kick, which helped considerably.
Following this dive, we had several hours before our night dive. We headed back to the hotel, and decided to get some food with B&A. We went to a small place called Tacqueria Bandana, located directly before Paprika. It was a small taco shop, which only charged around a dollar per taco. You can't beat that price, and the food was fresh and good! I had a sope, which was some sort of masa dough fried on a grill, with carne asada, lettuce, sour cream, and other stuff. The man at the shop was very friendly and helped us learn a couple new words in Spanish. We decided to end our lunch with an ice cream from the Oxxo (convenience store).
As we were returning to the hotel, we were discussing whether or not P&M had arrived, and then we noticed them getting out of the airport shuttle. I swear we couldn't have planned it better.
After they got checked in, we all visited for a while. We invited them to join us on the night dive, which they happily agreed to do. We attempted to contact Felipe, but ended up leaving a message for him. P&M decided to try to eat before going, ended up ordering some food from the restaurant at the hotel, while Liesl and I rested a bit for the night dive to come.
Felipe didn't receive our message until after he got to the hotel and he had the captain with him, so did not have enough room in the car for P&M as well, but said the more the merrier. We met him at the marina via taxi. B&A stayed back to do other things. Gary had decided to join us for the night dive as well, and this would be his first so in all there would be 6 of us.
We returned to Paradise reef for the dive. The current had increased from the day. I had other issues feeling like people were too close for comfort. We spent a good 50 minutes, playing with the bio-luminescence. Liesl also fed worms to the coral via her flashlight, while I stared out into the dark with my light covered so I could see little glowing spots here and there. Not sure if they were fish or corals, but it was a neat experience.
We also spotted some large crabs hanging out and a sleeping queen triggerfish. At one point Felipe directed us to the bottom and had us turn out our lights while he swam close to a school of sardines, then flashed his light on them, making them scatter. His plan was for us all to sneak in under them, and then turn on our lights together. However, another group of divers decided to swim straight through the sardines. At another point he was showing us how dark it was without lights when another group swam over and shined their lights on us and wouldn't leave until we turned our lights back on despite our many gestures warding them off. It was a successful first night dive altogether.
Day 4: Sun Dive 6, 7 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
Sunday morning came far too early. Our first dive of the Day was to Palancar with Ben and Anna, and another guy named Greg from BC. As we were ready to pull out from the Marina, another couple from Chicago, Roberto and Sarah, had missed their appointment with the Dive House and asked if they could join us for the day.
We were to finish our AOW course by doing the navigation portion on this dive, so we decided to leave the camera behind. Truly a mistake. Palancar Gardens has huge corals similar to Santa Rosa Wall, but at a more leisurely pace. Our entry was from a sandy area, after which we dropped to around 50 feet where there was a large chute between coral heads. Liesl and I were taking up the tail, when we noticed Roberto seemed to be having trouble of some sort. Greg, B&A and already dropped into the hole following Felipe. Felipe noticed the problem as well, and returned. About the same time we noticed a green plume forming around Roberto, which turned out to be blood. Felipe was concerned enough that he returned them to the surface and the boat. He later said that there was a lot of blood inside the mask as well from a nose bleed, but it had stopped after returning to the boat. Felipe returned shortly descending quickly to where we were waiting to find out what was going on. He motioned us onward.
I had done fairly well on air through the first half of my tank, but the second half disappeared quickly. As we were ending our dive I noticed I was at 800PSI and told Felipe, he responded that we could finish the Navigation work before ascending. I went through a good deal of air during the training, kicking into the current in places. By the time I finished I was very low and ended up sharing air with Liesl through the ascent and safety stop. It was good practice, but not a comfortable thing. I began ascending earlier after that.
Sometime during our ascent Greg spotted a turtle and a small shark which we missed completely.
Dive number 7 was at Paso Del Cedral (Cedar Pass). It is a great dive site with low current, but enough to push you along without making too much effort. We saw groupers, shrimp and a crab inside a large conch shell, pulling itself along slowly. There were a couple of really nice swim-throughs, with schools of fish hiding out in side passages. A really great piece of reef!
Upon returning to the Marina, we did some work on our logbooks, and got them signed by Felipe. While working on this, the captain noticed that someone had caught a huge Marlin which was hanging from one of the buildings. It was probably 10-12' long. Even the locals seemed impressed.
We spent a while there hanging out chatting and letting some of our stuff dry a bit before getting a ride back to the hotel. This was the end of our AOW class, and the last dive we were to do with Felipe, though B&A were going to dive with him again.
I really enjoyed diving with a smaller operation, It seemed less hectic and rigid.
We met up with P&M at the hotel that afternoon and went to find El Morro, a local restaurant which was recommended by Felipe as a good seafood place. The rental car we had for the day was too small to fit all of us into, so P&M and Liesl and I headed out to find the place, then Liesl and I would return to pick up B&A. At least that was the plan.
We didn't find El Morro where Google said it should be, so on a whim, we decided to eat downtown at Palmera’s. We dropped P&M off to get a table, while we returned for B&A, then returned to the restaurant. I'm not sure it was really worth all the trouble, as it was expensive and the food was only ok. We enjoyed our meal together, then took a short walk through part of the downtown touristy area. Liesl and I were looking for a souvenir, but didn't find one.
We returned to the hotel and slept well, knowing we had to be at the dock by 8am for our pick up by the dive house boat.
Day 5: Mon Dive 8, 9, 10 -Dive House, Oslo & David
Monday started too early, having to be up around 6:30, but actually waking up around 5am. I wandered out to the balcony and got a few things together, making sure our wetsuits had dried enough, while trying not to wake Liesl up. That didn't work, and we were soon prepping for the day. We met everyone for breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then across the footbridge, to the dock at Del Mar Aquatics. It was a nice way to get picked up in the morning, allowing us ample time to get our gear sorted before anyone else jumped on the boat when we got to the Fiesta Americana dock, where the Dive house was located.
We had to do some paperwork, get weights, and whatnot, then off to our first dive with them.
First dive was once again Santa Rosa Wall. The DM wanted us to max out at 80 feet this time, but I ended up bottoming out at 91'. This time I was more relaxed and was able to take it in a bit more. It was exactly the same spot we dove before, but we saw a couple of new things. There was a Spotted Drum hanging out on a shelf, a huge cowfish, and some of the corals were spawning. They looked like little smoke stacks placed randomly around the reef. I later told people we were swimming through a coral orgy.
After about a little more than an hour for surface interval, we descended on Tormentos reef. It was a nice shallow reef. While we explored the corals, one of the DM's stayed out in the sandy areas, I didn't know what he was doing until later when I saw him with a handful of dead juvenile Lionfish. He kept trying to get a snapper to eat them, and eventually it did eat one. Later in the dive, while I was exploring something else, they fed one to a splendid toad fish. I missed it! Oh well, P got it on video and I got to see it later back in the room.
Following the dive, we returned to the Fiesta Americana dock to unload passengers. P&M had planned a night dive with them, Liesl and I had decided not to go on it, but we overheard them talking with the man who they coordinated it with, he was saying they would need to do it another night because not enough people had signed up. Well, this is why you dive with a buddy, so Liesl and I pulled out the save-a-dive kit and decided to go with them.
So we had a long day ahead. After returning to the hotel, Liesl, P&M, A, and I jumped in the rental car, which we only had for a few more hours, and drove down to El Cedral. El Cedral is a tiny Mayan ruins, about the size of a cottage. I think we spent more time at the coconut stand than the ruins itself. I discovered that coconut juice is gross, but I could stomach the meat well enough. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the juice. It was getting close to the time we needed to have the car back, and I was tired, so we headed back to the hotel, stopping for gas along the way. It turned out that a taxi would have been cheaper for what little land travel we did.
That evening we were picked up at the dock again around 7pm, and headed to the Fiesta Americana. Apparently some folks from another boat decided a night dive sounded good as well. All totaled there were about 10 of us on the boat. We had talked earlier with the DM about our options, and told him that we had already done Paradise Reef, he said the other option was Chankanaab. So down we went, and what a great dive it turned out to be!
Within a minute of dropping to the bottom, another couple pointed out a slipper lobster sitting out in the sand. I tried to get Liesl to come take a photo, but she didn't see what it was and wanted to catch up with P&M who were closely following the DM. I caught up to her, and we followed at a short distance, right at the front of the pack. Glad I had, because not much further along, the DM was stopped, and everyone was pointing their lights at a stick in the sand. I was confused for a while, until I realized that the stick was actually the tail of a large stingray buried in the sand with his eyes poking out. Once again no photo...Liesl was sleeping on the job! A bit further down the reef we spotted two large octo's, one of which decided to pose for us in the sand! With enough light from all of our flashlights, Liesl got a couple good shots. I hovered there until the following group arrived, then caught up with the others. I spotted a small lionfish, but was unable to get the DM's attention, as he had spotted a larger one, which quickly glided out of site into a crevasse. Other notable thing was a huge lobster scuttling away under a rock. The thing was massive.
The DM again tried to point out Splendid Toadfish, other divers later stated they could hear them croaking, but I didn't see anything when I was looking.
All in all it was a very relaxing night dive, and good thing, as the next day we were going to be back on the boat by 7am again.
Day 6: Tue Dive 11, 12 -Dive House, David
The next morning started early again, It was overcast and strong winds had come up making the water choppier. Before we got to the Fiesta Americana, I pulled the DM aside to see where we would be going. I showed him the list of sites we had already been to, and he was a bit shocked. He looked through the others on my list, and checked off a few that he stated would be too difficult given the weather, then settle on Punta Dalila as a good one.
The entry into Punta Dalila was choppy, so Liesl and I dropped from the surface quick as we could.
We saw Nurse sharks! Not one but 3. The first was lying under a ledge so far back I couldn't see it. The second was swimming and the DM tried to head it off so it would come back toward us. Apparently he didn't know, sharks are fast. The third I did get a good look at under a ledge. Very cool to see them out in the wild instead of an aquarium.
I can't write a lot on the dive aside from seeing groupers in the distance, and knowing there was some awesome scenery. But one thing that stuck was the Hawksbill Turtle we spotted near the end of our dive. And Liesl got some video! At the same time I saw a grouper come up to a coral to get cleaned by other tiny fish.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a very tough dive for me because I had decided to try to use a new mask that didn't flood as badly. Bad idea in case you are wondering, as it fogged up the whole time and had to be continually filled and cleared. I am sure it was likely the best dive site we had been on, but it was really cut short by me fighting my mask.
After the rest of the group surfaced, we were told we would also be doing the C-53, again, as it was part of another lady's AOW course. I was highly disappointed, as it wasn't that interesting the first time.
Someone had recovered the buoy line, and the boat tied off to it. The DM wanted us to get in and drop along the line to the wreck.
Yeah Right. We dropped in and were pushed downstream before we could get to the line. We fought the current all the way to the bottom just to stay near the wreck. We dropped down by the side to the sand and waited for everyone else to get down. While waiting Liesl point out a ray that we got photos of before entering the wreck. We pushed ourselves inside, and out of the current, then meandered through the lower section of the wreck. I took a photo of a large crab that was taking refuge in one of the rooms. We exited the room via a ladder hole, and were slammed by current coming through an opening in the side. We worked our way from there to the stern of the ship where the roof had been removed, the whole time fighting current. I snapped a couple shots of brittle stars, then pushed for the guide line attached to the boat. The initial idea was to head north (against the current) into a sandy area where, the DM told us, they sometimes spot sea dragons. Yeah. That wasn't happening, I was already down to 900 PSI, and after a short confused communication with Liesl we decided to stay on the stern for a short time. Short turned out to be very short, and we decided to take the buoy line back to our safety stop.
My total dive time was 27 minutes to 72 feet, and I had sucked down 2500 psi, half of which was done in getting to the bottom.
Looking back on it, we should have just stayed in the boat and asked for a different dive as there were other issues with doing the dive than simple disinterest. We had not come with the intent of doing a wreck, so had no lights between us. Later we found out this is a park requirement, also there is supposed to be a 4:1 diver to dive master ratio, which I'm not sure we met either. Combine those with the strong current and I should have just stayed aboard.
I was tired that night and don't remember much from it.
Day 7: Wed Dive 13, 14 -Dive House, David
Wednesday was our last day of diving before returning home, and, despite the continuing wind, waves and silt, we were taken on two very good dives. San Francisco Wall was the first. It was full of towering columns of coral, it was much like the others, with angels and groupers, triggers and filefish. At one point we saw Spiny lobsters climbing the sandy chutes. It was not a bad dive at all.
Following our surface interval, we returned to Chankanaab! It was beautiful shallow dive with very little current and an easy going time. We spotted small morays and shrimp in the crevasses, were able to stop and stare at things. We saw a group of approximately 8 barracuda prowling around. About half way through our dive the DM picked up a dead lobster. It had been chomped in half by something. Later we spotted a black finned fish we didn't recognize, which turned out to be a Black Margate. It behaved much like a parrotfish, and was quite striking for its lack of bright colors. Closer to the end of our dive we saw a huge puffer swim by. It was close to 18inches in length or more. This was the type of diving I really enjoyed, and it was a good way to end our diving vacation.
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Day 1: Thu Travel & Arrival
Woke around 3:30am (yes it exists). Airport by 4:30am, and flight lift at 6:00am.
We flew American Airlines through Dallas to Cozumel.
No food was served in 6 hours of flight time. Good thing we had a layover in Dallas else I'd have been far less comfortable.
Arrived at airport in Cozumel and quickly reverted to the things we learned from the web. Ignore the timeshare folks accosting you, and move straight to the money changer. This was the recommended mode of exchange online. The rate of exchange was about $9 pesos per $1 USD. Apparently the web can be wrong, as we later learned this was not a good rate. More on that to come.
Following the money exchange we realized that the people you need to ignore are not standing in the Trip Advisory booths, of which there were plenty. The gentleman near the money exchange provided us a small map, and directed us to the correct booth for the shuttle. All of this he did with what seemed like genuine cheer.
After getting our tickets for the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, we boarded a large van packed to the gills. I'm glad I had kept my carry-on bag containing my regulator in my lap, as the driver was not very gentle with bags. If we had arrived with others it would have been far cheaper to walk off the airport grounds to get a taxi, however the shuttle was fairly efficient, making only a few stops before our own, dropping us at the front door of Casa Del Mar.
We were greeted at the van by a bellboy who grabbed our bags and brought us to the counter. Checking in was smooth and efficient. They quickly and cheerfully arranged everything. We asked about the safe, and towels and received everything quickly. We also asked about arranging a rental car and the sub rides which were part of our package deal. We further asked about the all inclusive meal plan, which was around $39 USD/person/day.
The meal plan initially sounded like a good deal until we did the math. The total for the two of us would have been $540 USD. Holy carp! For the entire vacation we spent half that amount.
After having everything arranged, the bell boy then carried both of our 50lb bags to our room (227) on the second floor. Our room was considered a Superior room by the hotel, as it had a balcony. The hotel did not have dunk tanks or gear drying racks, no matter, as the balcony worked well throughout our stay. This doesn't say much for the people getting dripped on below us however.
My overall first impressions of the hotel were good. The staff was friendly and everything seemed well enough maintained, though far from a 5 star.
Downers: We had ants in the bathroom. There was no rinse tank or gear racks available (the hotel caters to divers after all). There is no elevator, which was not that big an issue for us, but could be for older folks. The cost of the food deal was a bit absurd if you don't drink alcohol with every meal.
Speaking of meals. The hotel has an extremely limited food selection. The morning buffet was good enough on the weekend days that it ran, and once again, contrary to the magical interweb, cheaper than Ernestos across the street.
We later Gave Diving Adventures a call and Felipe came over to meet us.
Day 2: Fri Dive 1, 2 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
The first morning, we ate the Buffet at the hotel around 7:30AM which was sufficient mealwise. It was mostly fruit, yogurt and granola, fried plantain, a couple of Mexican dishes. We then got everything ready to be picked up by Felipe. Around 9 he rolled up in his VW bug with a British man named Gary, we loaded gear and he drove us to the marina where his boat was docked.
The marina was jammed full of boats, even though it was obvious that many were already out. We got weights, loaded our gear onto a 15 foot boat with twin outboards. Getting into the boat was an adventure in itself, stepping from land onto one of the motors, then to down into the boat.
Once everyone was settled, we headed out to the first dive of our AOW course at Santa Rosa Wall. It was a deep dive and Felipe planned to take us to 100 feet!
That dive had many firsts. Neither Liesl nor I had done a back roll from a boat or a drift dive. I had not gone below 60' nor done any swim-throughs. Even though I was a bit uncomfortable with the current, Santa Rosa Wall was an amazing site. I expected a drop off and descent. Instead we dropped into a shallow sandy area, and then drifted out over massive coral columns reaching up from deep beneath us. We dropped down the columns, floating past them quickly in the current, spotting the usual suspects toward the top, but as we neared 100 feet we saw large groupers and a beautiful Queen Triggerfish! We swam through a small covered area about 20 feet in length, passing back into shallower depths .
I did not really get used to the current, and felt like I missed most of the dive, trying to watch out for everything flying past under, over, and in front of me while making sure I didn't touch any of it.
It is impossible to impart the amount of life congregated on that single reef. It was overwhelming and enthralling.
We spent the surface interval aboard the small boat chatting about the dive, and how we felt we were affected by the depth. Meanwhile the captain brought us to a buoy near our second dive of the day.
Dive number 2 was our AOW Drift dive. As you can tell above we had already done a drift, but Punta Tunich was a hydroplane to Santa Rosa's tugboat. It was shallower in comparison with a max depth of approximately 60'. Felipe notified us that the current was fast and all we should have to do was maintain our buoyancy, keep our eyes ahead and make sure we adjusted to variations well ahead of time.
Punta Tunich was certainly a fun dive, and fast. We dropped in and began spotting huge fish right off. Several large triggerfish, scrawled filefish, hogfish and large groupers, oversized trunkfish and large cowfish. We also spotted schools of black-barred fish which we later learned were Porkfish, hiding from the current in the few corrals and protruding rocks. This is also the dive we spotted our first Rainbow Parrotfish. They were massive.
As awesome as it was to fly above everything on a magic carpet, it made it difficult to get good pictures.
Ben and Anna had arrived while we were diving, so upon return to the hotel, we visited with them for a while. It was after 2pm by this time and decided dinner sounded like a good idea. We had noticed a little place not far from the hotel called Paprika, and decided to try it out. In a random small-world-moment, B&A found out that the waiter had an ex-girlfriend that was from a small town in Australia near where they had met. The food was ok at Paprika, but overpriced. It had an easy atmosphere but was located on a busy street. I was happy to get some vegetables finally.
That evening, while B&A were resting, Liesl and I decided to walk down the street and find out what was nearby. On our return, we got caught in a sudden downpour which drenched us quickly. We took shelter it a little alcove in a wall until the rain had subsided a bit, before returning to the hotel room. B&A came by and we visited with them for a while. It turned out they had contacted Felipe that evening, and he had thought she was starting her OW on Sunday and he wasn't going to be able to take her for the OW class until then.
Day 3: Sat Dive 3, 4, 5 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
We ate with B&A at Ernesto’s, having heard it was cheaper than the buffet at the hotel. The prices were a bit steeper than expected given the slight portions, but otherwise the food was ok. We headed back to the hotel and prepped for the day, bringing our stuff down to the lobby to meet Felipe. As it turned out, the couple who had also been slated to be on the boat for Saturday had backed out, so B&A were able to come. After a short meet and greet, B&A ran back to their room to grab up their gear.
We had a lot planned for this day. Anna's OW class and Liesl and I were to do our Wreck dive, and Night dives for AOW. We met up with another couple, Hector and Beatrice, at the marina who were from Mex. City who had moved to Cozumel to run a hotel.
Our first dive of the day was the sunken C53 Felipe Xincotenantl. Felipe, the instructor, not the boat, told us that we would enter and immediately descend to a sandy area about 50' down where we would group up. It would be a free descent as the buoy line was gone. The current was strong and if not done correctly we would miss the boat, literally. Nobody made it to the mark. Entry dumped us into a swarm of small, dark-brown jelly fish right near the surface. Once we got down far enough, Liesl and I ended up being directed to hang onto a rail while he collected Beatrice and Hector from the stern, then collected B from a shallower depth, as he was having issues clearing his ears. A had to stay on the boat above as this was not a beginner dive.
After having collected us on the side of the wreck, we proceeded forward where the current was being blocked and we could rest a bit before proceeding around the opposite side and back toward the rear of the ship. The current at that point was pushing hard, and I had difficulty gaining headway. We dropped through a structure at the rear, and entered the wreck. It wasn't all that interesting, with minimal life on it beside some tiny fish that looked like filefish. It had large enough passages and rooms to maneuver easily enough. I'm happy we had lights with us, even with the holes in the side letting light in many spots. A couple of spots inside the current would push us from a hole to the outside. In these spots we had to use our elbows to keep from smashing into the walls. Having a “No gloves in the marine park” rule is not such a great thing for a wreck. Even so, we all survived.
During our surface interval, Felipe brought A to a shallows where he could instruct her through her first open water dive. She ended up getting a nose bleed at some point but made it through her skills.
We proceeded then to Paradise reef, where I had thought we would do our navigation dive. It was A's second dive, and we didn't do any navigation skills. It was a good dive however. The reef is situated only minutes from the marina, and shallow with a maximum depth of only 40 feet. It was nice to finally have a slow current. There were more jellies at the surface as we entered, though not directly under us this time.
During the slow relaxing drift, we spotted large Caribbean King Crabs, huge spiny lobsters, a juvenile lionfish inside a pink vase sponge, large black sea cucumbers and a Tigertail sea cucumber, which quickly pulled in on itself when bothered.
Sometime during our dive both Liesl and I were stung on the hand, presumably by jellies, though I didn't see the culprits. I had welts for a few hours after the dive. Also during this dive, Felipe gave me some tips to improve my kick, which helped considerably.
Following this dive, we had several hours before our night dive. We headed back to the hotel, and decided to get some food with B&A. We went to a small place called Tacqueria Bandana, located directly before Paprika. It was a small taco shop, which only charged around a dollar per taco. You can't beat that price, and the food was fresh and good! I had a sope, which was some sort of masa dough fried on a grill, with carne asada, lettuce, sour cream, and other stuff. The man at the shop was very friendly and helped us learn a couple new words in Spanish. We decided to end our lunch with an ice cream from the Oxxo (convenience store).
As we were returning to the hotel, we were discussing whether or not P&M had arrived, and then we noticed them getting out of the airport shuttle. I swear we couldn't have planned it better.
After they got checked in, we all visited for a while. We invited them to join us on the night dive, which they happily agreed to do. We attempted to contact Felipe, but ended up leaving a message for him. P&M decided to try to eat before going, ended up ordering some food from the restaurant at the hotel, while Liesl and I rested a bit for the night dive to come.
Felipe didn't receive our message until after he got to the hotel and he had the captain with him, so did not have enough room in the car for P&M as well, but said the more the merrier. We met him at the marina via taxi. B&A stayed back to do other things. Gary had decided to join us for the night dive as well, and this would be his first so in all there would be 6 of us.
We returned to Paradise reef for the dive. The current had increased from the day. I had other issues feeling like people were too close for comfort. We spent a good 50 minutes, playing with the bio-luminescence. Liesl also fed worms to the coral via her flashlight, while I stared out into the dark with my light covered so I could see little glowing spots here and there. Not sure if they were fish or corals, but it was a neat experience.
We also spotted some large crabs hanging out and a sleeping queen triggerfish. At one point Felipe directed us to the bottom and had us turn out our lights while he swam close to a school of sardines, then flashed his light on them, making them scatter. His plan was for us all to sneak in under them, and then turn on our lights together. However, another group of divers decided to swim straight through the sardines. At another point he was showing us how dark it was without lights when another group swam over and shined their lights on us and wouldn't leave until we turned our lights back on despite our many gestures warding them off. It was a successful first night dive altogether.
Day 4: Sun Dive 6, 7 -Diving Adventures, Felipe
Sunday morning came far too early. Our first dive of the Day was to Palancar with Ben and Anna, and another guy named Greg from BC. As we were ready to pull out from the Marina, another couple from Chicago, Roberto and Sarah, had missed their appointment with the Dive House and asked if they could join us for the day.
We were to finish our AOW course by doing the navigation portion on this dive, so we decided to leave the camera behind. Truly a mistake. Palancar Gardens has huge corals similar to Santa Rosa Wall, but at a more leisurely pace. Our entry was from a sandy area, after which we dropped to around 50 feet where there was a large chute between coral heads. Liesl and I were taking up the tail, when we noticed Roberto seemed to be having trouble of some sort. Greg, B&A and already dropped into the hole following Felipe. Felipe noticed the problem as well, and returned. About the same time we noticed a green plume forming around Roberto, which turned out to be blood. Felipe was concerned enough that he returned them to the surface and the boat. He later said that there was a lot of blood inside the mask as well from a nose bleed, but it had stopped after returning to the boat. Felipe returned shortly descending quickly to where we were waiting to find out what was going on. He motioned us onward.
I had done fairly well on air through the first half of my tank, but the second half disappeared quickly. As we were ending our dive I noticed I was at 800PSI and told Felipe, he responded that we could finish the Navigation work before ascending. I went through a good deal of air during the training, kicking into the current in places. By the time I finished I was very low and ended up sharing air with Liesl through the ascent and safety stop. It was good practice, but not a comfortable thing. I began ascending earlier after that.
Sometime during our ascent Greg spotted a turtle and a small shark which we missed completely.
Dive number 7 was at Paso Del Cedral (Cedar Pass). It is a great dive site with low current, but enough to push you along without making too much effort. We saw groupers, shrimp and a crab inside a large conch shell, pulling itself along slowly. There were a couple of really nice swim-throughs, with schools of fish hiding out in side passages. A really great piece of reef!
Upon returning to the Marina, we did some work on our logbooks, and got them signed by Felipe. While working on this, the captain noticed that someone had caught a huge Marlin which was hanging from one of the buildings. It was probably 10-12' long. Even the locals seemed impressed.
We spent a while there hanging out chatting and letting some of our stuff dry a bit before getting a ride back to the hotel. This was the end of our AOW class, and the last dive we were to do with Felipe, though B&A were going to dive with him again.
I really enjoyed diving with a smaller operation, It seemed less hectic and rigid.
We met up with P&M at the hotel that afternoon and went to find El Morro, a local restaurant which was recommended by Felipe as a good seafood place. The rental car we had for the day was too small to fit all of us into, so P&M and Liesl and I headed out to find the place, then Liesl and I would return to pick up B&A. At least that was the plan.
We didn't find El Morro where Google said it should be, so on a whim, we decided to eat downtown at Palmera’s. We dropped P&M off to get a table, while we returned for B&A, then returned to the restaurant. I'm not sure it was really worth all the trouble, as it was expensive and the food was only ok. We enjoyed our meal together, then took a short walk through part of the downtown touristy area. Liesl and I were looking for a souvenir, but didn't find one.
We returned to the hotel and slept well, knowing we had to be at the dock by 8am for our pick up by the dive house boat.
Day 5: Mon Dive 8, 9, 10 -Dive House, Oslo & David
Monday started too early, having to be up around 6:30, but actually waking up around 5am. I wandered out to the balcony and got a few things together, making sure our wetsuits had dried enough, while trying not to wake Liesl up. That didn't work, and we were soon prepping for the day. We met everyone for breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then across the footbridge, to the dock at Del Mar Aquatics. It was a nice way to get picked up in the morning, allowing us ample time to get our gear sorted before anyone else jumped on the boat when we got to the Fiesta Americana dock, where the Dive house was located.
We had to do some paperwork, get weights, and whatnot, then off to our first dive with them.
First dive was once again Santa Rosa Wall. The DM wanted us to max out at 80 feet this time, but I ended up bottoming out at 91'. This time I was more relaxed and was able to take it in a bit more. It was exactly the same spot we dove before, but we saw a couple of new things. There was a Spotted Drum hanging out on a shelf, a huge cowfish, and some of the corals were spawning. They looked like little smoke stacks placed randomly around the reef. I later told people we were swimming through a coral orgy.
After about a little more than an hour for surface interval, we descended on Tormentos reef. It was a nice shallow reef. While we explored the corals, one of the DM's stayed out in the sandy areas, I didn't know what he was doing until later when I saw him with a handful of dead juvenile Lionfish. He kept trying to get a snapper to eat them, and eventually it did eat one. Later in the dive, while I was exploring something else, they fed one to a splendid toad fish. I missed it! Oh well, P got it on video and I got to see it later back in the room.
Following the dive, we returned to the Fiesta Americana dock to unload passengers. P&M had planned a night dive with them, Liesl and I had decided not to go on it, but we overheard them talking with the man who they coordinated it with, he was saying they would need to do it another night because not enough people had signed up. Well, this is why you dive with a buddy, so Liesl and I pulled out the save-a-dive kit and decided to go with them.
So we had a long day ahead. After returning to the hotel, Liesl, P&M, A, and I jumped in the rental car, which we only had for a few more hours, and drove down to El Cedral. El Cedral is a tiny Mayan ruins, about the size of a cottage. I think we spent more time at the coconut stand than the ruins itself. I discovered that coconut juice is gross, but I could stomach the meat well enough. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the juice. It was getting close to the time we needed to have the car back, and I was tired, so we headed back to the hotel, stopping for gas along the way. It turned out that a taxi would have been cheaper for what little land travel we did.
That evening we were picked up at the dock again around 7pm, and headed to the Fiesta Americana. Apparently some folks from another boat decided a night dive sounded good as well. All totaled there were about 10 of us on the boat. We had talked earlier with the DM about our options, and told him that we had already done Paradise Reef, he said the other option was Chankanaab. So down we went, and what a great dive it turned out to be!
Within a minute of dropping to the bottom, another couple pointed out a slipper lobster sitting out in the sand. I tried to get Liesl to come take a photo, but she didn't see what it was and wanted to catch up with P&M who were closely following the DM. I caught up to her, and we followed at a short distance, right at the front of the pack. Glad I had, because not much further along, the DM was stopped, and everyone was pointing their lights at a stick in the sand. I was confused for a while, until I realized that the stick was actually the tail of a large stingray buried in the sand with his eyes poking out. Once again no photo...Liesl was sleeping on the job! A bit further down the reef we spotted two large octo's, one of which decided to pose for us in the sand! With enough light from all of our flashlights, Liesl got a couple good shots. I hovered there until the following group arrived, then caught up with the others. I spotted a small lionfish, but was unable to get the DM's attention, as he had spotted a larger one, which quickly glided out of site into a crevasse. Other notable thing was a huge lobster scuttling away under a rock. The thing was massive.
The DM again tried to point out Splendid Toadfish, other divers later stated they could hear them croaking, but I didn't see anything when I was looking.
All in all it was a very relaxing night dive, and good thing, as the next day we were going to be back on the boat by 7am again.
Day 6: Tue Dive 11, 12 -Dive House, David
The next morning started early again, It was overcast and strong winds had come up making the water choppier. Before we got to the Fiesta Americana, I pulled the DM aside to see where we would be going. I showed him the list of sites we had already been to, and he was a bit shocked. He looked through the others on my list, and checked off a few that he stated would be too difficult given the weather, then settle on Punta Dalila as a good one.
The entry into Punta Dalila was choppy, so Liesl and I dropped from the surface quick as we could.
We saw Nurse sharks! Not one but 3. The first was lying under a ledge so far back I couldn't see it. The second was swimming and the DM tried to head it off so it would come back toward us. Apparently he didn't know, sharks are fast. The third I did get a good look at under a ledge. Very cool to see them out in the wild instead of an aquarium.
I can't write a lot on the dive aside from seeing groupers in the distance, and knowing there was some awesome scenery. But one thing that stuck was the Hawksbill Turtle we spotted near the end of our dive. And Liesl got some video! At the same time I saw a grouper come up to a coral to get cleaned by other tiny fish.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a very tough dive for me because I had decided to try to use a new mask that didn't flood as badly. Bad idea in case you are wondering, as it fogged up the whole time and had to be continually filled and cleared. I am sure it was likely the best dive site we had been on, but it was really cut short by me fighting my mask.
After the rest of the group surfaced, we were told we would also be doing the C-53, again, as it was part of another lady's AOW course. I was highly disappointed, as it wasn't that interesting the first time.
Someone had recovered the buoy line, and the boat tied off to it. The DM wanted us to get in and drop along the line to the wreck.
Yeah Right. We dropped in and were pushed downstream before we could get to the line. We fought the current all the way to the bottom just to stay near the wreck. We dropped down by the side to the sand and waited for everyone else to get down. While waiting Liesl point out a ray that we got photos of before entering the wreck. We pushed ourselves inside, and out of the current, then meandered through the lower section of the wreck. I took a photo of a large crab that was taking refuge in one of the rooms. We exited the room via a ladder hole, and were slammed by current coming through an opening in the side. We worked our way from there to the stern of the ship where the roof had been removed, the whole time fighting current. I snapped a couple shots of brittle stars, then pushed for the guide line attached to the boat. The initial idea was to head north (against the current) into a sandy area where, the DM told us, they sometimes spot sea dragons. Yeah. That wasn't happening, I was already down to 900 PSI, and after a short confused communication with Liesl we decided to stay on the stern for a short time. Short turned out to be very short, and we decided to take the buoy line back to our safety stop.
My total dive time was 27 minutes to 72 feet, and I had sucked down 2500 psi, half of which was done in getting to the bottom.
Looking back on it, we should have just stayed in the boat and asked for a different dive as there were other issues with doing the dive than simple disinterest. We had not come with the intent of doing a wreck, so had no lights between us. Later we found out this is a park requirement, also there is supposed to be a 4:1 diver to dive master ratio, which I'm not sure we met either. Combine those with the strong current and I should have just stayed aboard.
I was tired that night and don't remember much from it.
Day 7: Wed Dive 13, 14 -Dive House, David
Wednesday was our last day of diving before returning home, and, despite the continuing wind, waves and silt, we were taken on two very good dives. San Francisco Wall was the first. It was full of towering columns of coral, it was much like the others, with angels and groupers, triggers and filefish. At one point we saw Spiny lobsters climbing the sandy chutes. It was not a bad dive at all.
Following our surface interval, we returned to Chankanaab! It was beautiful shallow dive with very little current and an easy going time. We spotted small morays and shrimp in the crevasses, were able to stop and stare at things. We saw a group of approximately 8 barracuda prowling around. About half way through our dive the DM picked up a dead lobster. It had been chomped in half by something. Later we spotted a black finned fish we didn't recognize, which turned out to be a Black Margate. It behaved much like a parrotfish, and was quite striking for its lack of bright colors. Closer to the end of our dive we saw a huge puffer swim by. It was close to 18inches in length or more. This was the type of diving I really enjoyed, and it was a good way to end our diving vacation.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Adventures in Dry Suit Diving
Having completed our check out dive in the pool earlier in the week, Liesl and I headed to Patriot Scuba in Occoquan, Va early in the morning to get together with the instructors and other students, and gather the necessary gear before heading down to the Rappahannock Quarry.
Rappahannock Quarry is located near highway 95, but not accessible via 95 directly. Instead you must drive down a dirt road, which for us was part of the adventure. We were driving a Civic, and the road was a bit muddy with some large size puddling going on. We almost chickened out but after some discussion, decided to take a chance and drive through rather than pulling over and transferring gear to another vehicle.
The Quarry is property of Fredericksburg, but operated by the Virginia Outdoor Center (Friends of the Rappahannock). It is about 40 feet deep at the maximum, with not much to see. Good thing, as you really can't see very far anyway. Still, you can get yourself below the surface, so why not dive it.
One of the reasons a person may not want to dive it might be the water temperature. To get a good picture in your head, the air temperature for our dive was 48 degrees, surface water temperature was 42 degrees, and at around 28 feet it was 38 degrees. Granted it is February, so it probably warms up some time in August. Even knowing it was gonne be cold, Liesl and I thought it might be fun to get into the water. Luckily, dry suits are made for this.
Liesl was using the instructor's Pinnacle suit, which turned out to be just a tad small on her, making it a bit difficult to get into and restricting blood flow to her fingers a bit. I was using a DUI suit from the shop. Contrary to my previous thoughts, a large suit was about as small as I could go given the added insulation. Despite the insulation and the dry suit, some parts of you are semi-exposed. Your feet are in dry booties, your hands in rubber gloves, but your head get stuck in a wet suit hood. This means you feel the cool water through the suit but you're bodies not wet while your head is. The water gets into your face, down your neck, into your ears. The initial response makes it hard to breathe - it's C.O.L.D. - it caused some major gasping from Liesl.
After a bout of wiggling into our suits and getting gear set up, we headed into the water to check bouyance. We started with the same weight we had used in the pool, but we were extremely light. We headed back to shore and added a few pounds, then returned to check again.
Everything seemed ok at that point, though I felt well over weighted toward the legs. Down we went to take on our first dive and perform a couple of skills, mainly just hovering and control. I found once I was down that having 14 pounds on your lower body pretty much guarantees you are not hovering properly. with some trial and error we were able to stay down long enough to knock it out. By this time my feet were pretty cold and frankly I was tired of fighting the weight distribution. We finished that dive, surfaced and spent some time on the shore. After being in the frigid water, it felt beautiful up top. Strangely I never really felt cold under water, more like you just knew it was cold and could tell it was cold through the suit, but we weren't down long enough for it to affect me very much. It helped that we had home made chocolate chip cookies to keep us well fed.
The second dive was not much better for me. I was struggling with maintaining buoyancy the whole time. It didn't help that my cylinder was getting low, so I was getting lighter. At one point I was trying to get rid of excess air in my legs, and ended up snagging my regulator half way out of my mouth. Not pleasant and it took a few seconds to get it back in and cleared. Liesl didn't seem to have half as many problems the second time around.
All around it wasn't really a fun or pleasurable dive experience. While that may translate to not wanting to dry suit dive for some people, it really means I just need more practice.
We ended the day with a thermos full of hot, home-made chili during our drive home, followed by the always pleasurable cleaning up.
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