Saturday, 5 April 2008
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| Travel from Cancun to Tulum in Yucatan Peninsula Chopper 05:07:12 |
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I am a diver and have spent a lot of time in Cozumel and have gone to
the Cenotes ("Dos Ojos") south of Playa del Carmen.
I am interested in traveling along the corridor between south of Cancun
all the way to say, Tulum.
Would like to get recommendations for reasonably priced hotels along
the way which have the usual amenities (a/c, tv etc) but aren't the
garrish all-inclusive types. Would also like to hear about some good
dive locations.
Proximity to the water and dive shops would be important though several
blocks away is fine too.
Any recommendations or comments will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Sy
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| Storage.. Raininginmyhead4 03:25:02 |
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Well, it has come to that sad time when i must pack up my dive gear and
head off to college. This is probably a long term pack up, and i was
wondering if there is any specific way to do this thats better than
another (ie wetsuit needs to be kept hanging rather than put into a
large plastic tub). Also, is there anyone in the central ohio area
looking to sell a regular or L size Stabilizing BCD? I have been using
my dive instructors, as he has sets to borrow, but i think its time to
get my own. I don't mind minor repair work (new hoses, cleaning valves,
etc).
Thanks!
--
raininginmyhead4
http://www.scubish.com
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Friday, 4 April 2008
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| wetsuit : 7mm vs 5mm w/vest ???? Hi-Soft 19:28:29 |
| | Just about to buy a wetsuit, looking at full 7mm for Victoria ( Australian )
waters mainly.
It has since occured to me to consider the option of a 5mm full suit, with
an added vest (probably hooded).
I think the last wetsuit I hired on my OW course was actually a 7/5 anyway
( Pinnacle "Cruiser"), so just wanting opinions of the pros and cons of
each..
Also, what's the go with wearing a hooded vest...under or over..does one
provide better insulation..?
And if I'm a size medium wetsuit, and choose to wear a vest over the
top...do I get a size large vest...or will it stretch enough ??
losts of questions I know...but I'll my likely be purchasing online ( due to
high local retail ), so need to look at all options first....
bc
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| |  18 answers | Add comment |
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| Re: New Dive Sites in Bali - Kerobokan Dive Sites Daniel Kessler 16:22:58 |
| | this post has the earmarks of a "puff-piece" by some owner/promoter...
While I've had two trips to Indonesia (mostly off Monado) ...I've never
heard anyone praise sites off Bali. Bali is certainly worth a visit --
spent five days there traveling around the island.
albeesatria@yahoo.com wrote:
A new dive sites has been found in north of Bali. We are the only dive operator that offers it magnificent underwater sites. Kerobokan Dive Sites offers unique within Bali. It is the very new definition of muck-diving and shore Diving, rich coral reefs, no depth to speak of, it is in basically a site for macro-photographers and for the occasional recreational diver looking for something different from the norm. Kerobokan Dive Sites contains many rare macro-photography subjects that include nudibranches, dragonets (including both the colorful Mandarin fish and Picture Dragonet), abundant seahorse/pipefish, unusual scorpion fish, frogfish, eels, and many, many other organisms. Yellows hills of corral ( Kaang Kuning ) is e new dive sites. Location: Kerobokan Village, Close with Lovina Type of dive: Shore and Boat diving (outriggers large enough for 2-3 divers, Reef-diving) Visibility: 15 - 25 metres Current: Zero to mild current Depths: 10 - 40 metres (average depth 18 meters) Min Level: Introductory Highlights: Fantastic coral formations, density and variety of fish, all level will suitable, 1 Day Intro Adventure Diving Program. Great snorkeling site. Conditions: Black sand beach sloping into the water, coral reefs, and Muck Diving
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Thursday, 3 April 2008
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
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| regulator choice ?? Hi-Soft 14:24:20 |
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I know i'm probably going to open a tin of worms here but :
Im looking to purchase my first regulator set (1st stage, 2nd stage & occy),
and I've narrowed it down to just few after lots of reading & researching
etc...
Tusa : RS-110 / SS-110
Oceanic : Alpha 8 ( reg & occy)
AquaLung : Calipso reg / ABS occy
Opinions for final decision please ...?
BTW, I'll probably do most of my diving in Victoria to max 30 meters..
cheers,
BC
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Tuesday, 1 April 2008
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| Costa Rica R.C.Laus 17:52:44 |
| | How's the diving in the Guanacasre area?
--
Thanks
R.C.Laus
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Monday, 31 March 2008
Sunday, 30 March 2008
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| Little Cayman, March, 2008 Geoff Schultz 16:44:21 |
| | I just spent 10 days at the Southern Cross Club (SCC) in Little Cayman. I
was very happy with the accommodations, food, staff and diving operations
at the SCC. It was all top notch and would recommend it to anyone.
I did 9 days of diving and got in 21 dives. Other than the first day, we
were able to dive on the north side. In general we had between 4 and 12
divers, with an average of around 8. Once the staff observed that we were
well qualified divers, they had no problems letting us do our own thing.
Since I love to do photography, I was very happy to keep my distance from
the group. I haven't shot a lot of video, but ended up shooting quite a
bit with my Olympus C-8080 digital SLR in video mode. While it doesn't
begin to match the quality of video shot via friends with HD video
equipment, it's a wonderful compromise since I primarily want to shoot
stills.
You can view the results of the trip at:
http://www.geoffschultz.org/Travel/2008/Cayman_Index.shtml
-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org
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Friday, 28 March 2008
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| Maldives (Soneva Fushi) Trip and dive report Patrick NOEL 09:27:36 |
| | 4th trip to the Maldives ; the second stay at Soneva Fushi Resort & Spa :
http://www.sixsenses.com/soneva-fushi/index.php . Flight from Paris in
Business Class with Qatar Airways, via Doha ; excellent service on
board.
Idyllic stay in that heavenly island : only 65 villas, set on 111 acres
of lush tropical forest where a network of sand trails leads to one of
the numerous beaches, to one of the 3 restaurants, to the spa or ... to
the diving center ! You can either walk or use the bicycles that are
provided with each villa.
The kindness of the staff, the luxury of the villas, the quality of the
food (and of the wine list !), the peacefulness, the lovely smell of
the forest, ... One doesn't know what to stress out to invite you to
discover that luxurious "organic" resort, bearing a truly unique charm
(see here, a few land pictures :
http://www.aquaphot.fr/SonevaFushi2008.htm ).
9 days - 8 nights of pure happiness.
A real environmental awareness : everything is made of natural
products, the wood used for building the villas or for the furniture
comes only from fallen trees or from plantations ; imports are reduced
as much as possible (there is an organic garden where are grown most
of the vegetables and fruits served in the restaurants) ; no caviar
(!), no foie gras, many species of fishes are protected (blue-fin tuna,
marlin, ...) ; paper and glass are recycled ; no plastic wrapping, etc.
A very active energy saving program and global warming awareness, even
if one comes there by hydravion and not with a rowboat, and if the
diving boat is not a sailboat, but, well ... All these efforts are much
better than nothing.
An what about scuba diving ?
Well, it's true that this kind of resort is not exactly home of
stakhanovist diving, and it's obviously not what one comes here for. No
3 or 4 dives a day like on a diving cruise ; only two dives are
proposed each day : one in the morning at 9:30, the other one in the
afternoon at 3 pm. During my 9 days stay I dove only 6 times ...
One or two boats, depending on the number of divers ; never more than
10-12 divers on a single boat ; one guide for 2 to 4 divers. The Soleni
Dive center (http://www.soleni.com/jsps/homepage.jsp) is owned and
managed, since 1995 (!) by Thomas W lchli and Alessandra Benini and
their multilingual team. All the staff is very professional and
friendly.
In March, the dives are rather cool (much less current than during our
last stays in december 99 and december 2003) ; the diving profiles are
mostly similar : we dive on "tilas", most of the time slow drift dives
(at least during this stay !), sand is at a depth of 30-35m ; deep
divers, bring your shovel ! The tilas rise from the bottom to very
different depths : ranging from -5m to -17m. A lot of fishes, but not
so many big pelagic fishes (a few large sting rays, a few eagle rays
and tunas, though, but I only saw sharks while snorkeling on the house
reef !) ; a few gorgonian fans. Hard coral is rather healthy (after the
bleaching due to 1998 El Ni o), but in most places, the reef is not so
colourful with a few exceptions ...
Due to the current, moderate but always present, and in spite of a
rather "milky" water, I chose to shoot only wide angle pictures, using
a Nikon D200 in an Ikelite housing, and a single lens : the Nikkor
12-24 zoom lens. Two strobes Ikelite DS125. But with only six dives, I
took no more than 50 pics or so. Here is a small best of :
http://www.aquaphot.fr/maldives2008.htm
Enjoy.
Patrick
(I'm French, so forgive my English ...)
--
(Pas de plouf pour m' crire - No plouf to write)
http://www.aquaphot.fr/
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Thursday, 27 March 2008
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
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| Re: Disney Cruises - The Magic Never Stops Onboard .(disney cruises) Ben Bradlee 19:39:28 |
| | What happens when you combine the best possible fucking vacation, with the most eloquent cussing destinations in the World? Well, If your answer was "SPAM", you were 100% right.
Yes, I was going to guess SPAM too. Where is my prize?
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Monday, 24 March 2008
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| Re: Head trauma killed woman in Fla. stingray collision Dillon Pyron 22:44:48 |
| | [Default] Thus spake Jer <gdunn@airmail.ten>:
Wow!! Who wooda thunkit! You just can't make this stuff up.
Saw this yesteday in Yahoo. They say "stingray", but it was a spotted
eagle ray.
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| Re: Crystal River, Florida Ron Thompson 15:59:19 |
| | The definitive word -- I live 5 miles from Crystal River and have
helped lead manatee tours in the past for several shops.
No shop takes Scuba Divers out on manatee tours. This strictly a
snorkel experience.
First and foremost - the manatees don't seem tolike the noise and air
bubbles produced by SCUBA. This willnot only deminish your encounter
but everyone else's as well. The manatees will simply swim away and be
gone.
Next, most of the encounter takes place in an area known as Three
Sisters Spring. This area is 3-4 feet deep in most parts (though the
three main sprinmg openings are in sand bowls dropping to about 15
feet. At these depths SCUBA is not needed.
If you want to Scuba dive, you can go back out in the afternoon.
However I do not recommend diving in Kings Bay. The visibility is awful
(often less than 2 feet) at the main spring and there isn't much to see
even when you can see. Instead I suggest you ask about a trip to nearby
Rainbow River. This is a drift dive down a spring fed river that is
truly beautiful.
Other options are Devil's Den and the Blue Grotto in Williston (about
1.5 hours north of Brooksville on US41).
As for tour operators - I first and formost suggest Birds Underwater.
They are the class act of the tours. http://www.birdsunderwater.com or
352/563-2753. They are not the cheapest (cost is about $35 per person
plus any rental gear you need) but this is a case of you get what
youpay for. They go out early (be at the shop by 6:15am) but stay until
customers are ready to return. Boats are enclosed and light
refreshments are aboard. The boats also have a head (toilet) if needed.
Who to avoid at all costs - American Pro Dive. They are greedy, could
not care less about customer satisfaction and have been documented on
numerous occasions harrassing and abusing manatees. The local US Fish
and Wildlife office knows about it but is powerless to do anything.
Why? They do not have any law enforcement officers. The last one was
transfered out last year by it's Atlanta office and there is no funding
to place another officer here. The USFW folks here are not law
enforcement officers, they are strictly maintenance and administrative.
The offshore diving here is pretty blah and the nearest operators are
in Clearwater. Gulf diving in this area involves a one hour drive to
Clearwater, then a 2-3 hour boat ride to get to a 3-foot ledge. What I
suggest is spend the same amount of time in your car, drive to Jupiter
on the Atlantic coast and goout there. It is a 30-minute boat ride
(most time spent indoling down the intercoastal) for a 70-foot drop on
some very nice coral reefs.
Enjoy your stay
(while in Brooksville, have breakfast at Farmer John's on SR50A. It's
cash only but very good - split an Apple Pancake - delicious and will
feed 2-3.)
On 2008-03-14 15:58:00 -0400, Jay Furr <jfurr@furrs.org> said:
My wife and I are NAUI-certified divers and DAN members and we're going to be in Brooksville, Florida next week for my folks' 50th wedding anniversary. We live in Vermont so the diving here's not much compared to what you can get in Florida, of course, and therefore obviously we're going to want to get in a dive or two next week. We've heard that you can dive, as opposed to snorkel, with the manatees at Crystal River, but then other folks have said "no, they don't let you do that, they're protected" and then others have said "well, WE did". There are any number of shops online which claim to do scuba diving manatee tours, and we'd like to avoid calling up any that are really fly-by-night or would do anything that pushes the boundaries on what you can/should do around manatees. Can anyone share their experience with Crystal River and manatees and diving? Should we stick to snorkeling? Is it worth it to lug our gear down there if we're not going to be able to take the time to go out in the Gulf proper? And, finally, can you recommend a dive shop or two that you consider reputable and trustworthy? Thanks very much in advance!
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Sunday, 23 March 2008
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| canon diffuser wp-dc Matt 22:07:33 |
| | hi
i have got a canon wp-dc60 case , and i am looking for a flash diffuser to
go with it , anyone know where i can get one or a part number for any of the
canon under water diffusers
thanks matt
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| Grand Turk Travel and Dive Report Ben Bradlee 16:15:13 |
| | Dates: March 8 - 15, 2008
Destination: Osprey Beach Hotel, Grand Turk.
Getting there from Minneapolis takes a long day. Delta offers jet service
to Atlanta then to Providenciales. Delta wants you at the airport two hours
early for the 5:30 AM flight - but don't count on anyone from Delta being at
the airport to greet you. Delta didn't open the ticket counter until 4:30
or so. From Providenciales a twin prop aircraft transports you to Grand
Turk. The airports in Providenciales and Grand Turk are typical of what one
would find at island destinations. You take a short cab ride from the
airport to the hotel at a cost of $7. That's the stated cost. The driver
will take whatever you give him over $7. The cab fare includes luggage
service. That is, the cab driver will repeatedly check the airport for when
your bags arrive and bring them to you at no additional cost. My bags
arrived late the same day - not always the case, so I'm told.
Grand Turk is located east of the Bahamas and north of the island of
Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in the North Atlantic Ocean.
See links: http://www.turksandcaicos.tc/grandturk/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providenciales
The hotel property is old, located on the beach, and offers beach front
rooms, a pool, bar, and normal hotel amenities. There is no dive shop at
the hotel. The room was clean and freshly painted with a comfortable bed.
Windows opened toward the beach and the waves crashing on the sand beach
lulled you to sleep. The in-room critters were limited to a slow cockroach
and a mosquito too fat to fly fast enough not to wear to her grave the blood
she sucked. Not bad considering the daily cleaning involves leaving the
doors open to air the room out.
The down side of much of the island is that it appears to be located too far
from a recycling center. The hotel property was littered with glass
bottles, aluminum cans and paper. There were numerous lots on the island
with junk cars, cans, bottles, and garbage. The lagoon in the center of the
island appears to be a settling pond for sewer. It appears that solid trash
was mixed with cement and used for wave breaks. If you snorkel or walk
along the beach there are parts of cars and boats in the water, electric
wire, fish line, and glass shards protruding from cement. "Unspoiled" is
not an adjective to be used to describe Grand Turk. Snorkeling in front of
the hotel involved more junk identification than fish identification. It
looks like the canopy of a crashed hydroplane makes up part of the reef.
The hotel supposedly offered shore diving. The way it works, or supposedly
works, is that the dive shop you contract with provides tanks to the hotel.
The wall in front of the hotel is reportedly 400 yards out so it's probably
a good thing tanks were hard to come by.
I used Oasis Divers: http://www.oasisdivers.com/ Pontoon boats carried
approximately 14 divers to the dive sites a short distance away. Divers
were then divided into two groups for a brief tour of the wall. Guides
opened the pool and allowed returns without restriction on time or them
being in the water. They repeated guidelines for air remaining when
returning to the boat and maximum depth. The boats anchored on the top of
the wall and guides expected divers to stay off the wall after the brief
tour. Water temperature was in the upper 70's so thermal protection was
necessary for most divers. All tanks were aluminum 80's generally filled to
2,700 or more PSI.
I did 11 dives during the week including a night dive. The dives are as
follows:
Site Time Max Depth Air Used
Finbar 67 Min 71 Ft. 1,396 #
Austin's Reef 67 Min 47 Ft. 1,392 #
Amphitheater 67 Min 89 Ft. 1,752 #
Chief Minister's 67 Min 59 Ft. 1,404 #
McDonalds 72 Min 79 Ft. 1,627 #
Coral Garden 69 Min 66 Ft. 1,623 #
English Point 66 Min 79 Ft. 1,527 #
Canyons 77 Min 50 Ft. 1,610 #
Gregorian Wall 67 Min 85 Ft. 1,545 #
The Annex 71 Min 71 Ft. 1,505 #
Coral Gardens N. 70 Min 54 Ft. 1,334 #
That's 760 minutes of diving and 16,715 PSI deflated, if the math is
correct. Diving was generally good with abundant sea life. I was busy
taking pictures. I archived 979 pictures from this vacation. Here is a
link to those available to view:
http://stu50guru.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!4701B94559249DAC!163
The night dive omitted my camera and a dive light, making it an interesting
experience. At dusk the sea life was tranquil and easily approached. Then
it got dark and I spent my time looking at the light show.
The British seem to have it all figured out on Grand Turk. They direct the
Jamaicans, Dominicans, and Haitians in their daily work routines. The three
Jamaican dive guides joked the population of Grand Turk is 3,003.
Dominicans and Haitians cook, clean, and provide services like taxi,
construction, and bakery. I quipped, there just aren't enough Haitians or
there wouldn't be all this garbage. That's probably true; since it appears
that Haitians are no longer welcome or there would be many more on the
island.
One would think that since the British allow some of the best cooks in the
world in from the Dominican Republic that the food would be tasty. Not so.
Apparently they require their cooks to go without spices in order to
"blandify" everything that is prepared. A Dominican gal served red beans
and rice (a favorite of mine) that tasted like, well, nothing. The food was
fine, just not a culinary adventure or anything more than bulk to fill the
empty cavity behind your navel.
They tell you at the hotel not to drink the water from the tap and give you
the first gallon and instructions for obtaining more. That's advice I
followed so I can't tell you what consequences there might have been for
failing to heed the caution.
Generally, everything is expensive in and on Grand Turk. It costs from 1/3
to
to stay in Cozumel for the same length of time and the flying to Cozumel
is more travel friendly. Grand Turk is a once in a lifetime adventure
that's
hard to recommend.
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Saturday, 22 March 2008
Friday, 21 March 2008
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| How to attach twinset to Mares Syncro Powertech jacket ? 666 15:11:50 |
| | I would like to attach medium size 2x9l - 2x10l tanks to my Mares Syncro Powertech jacket.
Mares user guide says only 'use optional kit'.
I found on the net Scubapro Bibo Kit but have no idea if that fits to Mares jacket.
Did any of you came across Mares prioprietary kit for fixing twinset to their jackets?
Or any other ideas how to fix?
Regards - JaC
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| kona diving sara D 02:19:19 |
| | Hi , just checking into Kona dive operations, any recommendations,
prices , location etc.
Also anyone use or know one called Wanna Dive?thanks
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Monday, 17 March 2008
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| Re: diving in thalandia Perezoso 03:22:32 |
| | <giuseppe.zaza63@alice.it> wrote in message
news:36321b9b-e9e3-4e30-94fa-6c8200aafe4e@f63g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
Hi I'm planning by the end of April a diving cruise in Tailandia. The idea is to explore "Similan & Hin Daeng" My first choice is COLONA IV. comments/suggestions on this project? thanks a lot G
http://www.oceanrover.com
Colona is not bad, but this is the boat to dive Similans and so
on, and still for a few months unfortunately, then she will move
to Indonesia: Thailand will lose his best liveaboard, but at the
end Indonesia will get his new best one!
Cheers.
Perezoso
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Saturday, 15 March 2008
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| Anyone go to Grand Cayman lately? News 03:01:37 |
| | Hi,
The last time I was in Grand Cayman was at the Sunset house in 1990. Has
anyone been there lately? How is the diving? I'm assuming that the island
must have recovered pretty much from the last big hurricane, is that true?
Thanks,
Jay
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