DocWong
Contributor
Hi,
I usually dive in the Monterey area in Northern California, drysuit, doubles, scooters etc.
I just got back from diving in Acapulco, Xihuatenejo, Puerto Vallerta and Cabo San Lucas. Of course I find just about all diving fun and even more so after Fundies but here are some highlights and some of my experiences.
Acapulco: nice diving, water was a warm 82 degrees. Not much as far as coral reefs but lots of marine life. Puffers, Stone Fish, Octopus, various eels, etc. The night dive was particularly rewarding. A huge brown spotted bat ray seemed to love my HID light. When we spotted it (viz was about 100') it swam straight for me and before hitting me, veered off inches away from my light. Then it went to my dive buddy where he petted it's belly. It swam around us for a bit and just when you thought it was leaving, it came back at me. It seemed to like the petting or was it just my HID light. Overall the bottom terrain was rocky, a bit mossy and not a lot of coral.
Xihuatenajo: Rocky terrain but lots of fish. We dove around a very small rocky island that went pretty deep, about 170 feet. We stayed on the wall with at least 100' of viz. Very cool.
Puerto Vallerta: Met up with some divers from Valleratec who knows some of our local DIR divers and went diving with them. Being further up north the water was cooler. A storm occurred last night and the viz was about 20 feet or so. Nice to have a decent light in these conditions. Pedro (forgot his last name) was there taking photos looking for Nudibranchs. During the dive Pedro shows me some very unique Nudis which must have been somewhat rare because he looked so excited about them. It was all new to me! It was fun to dive with other DIR divers. Made things much more fun!
Cabo San Lucas: At the very tip of the Baja Penninsula, this site offered a very deep drop off. About 900 feet as I recall. Anyway diving off these rocks and looking down at the abyss was quite a site. Unfortunately we didn't see any big palegics as one often does at these sites. We did see a nurse shark though.
Overall diving conditions: compared to Monterey or Northern California, the water is warmer, the viz can be a lot better with lots of different animals, but I find I like diving in Northern California better. I'm glad I went and had a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be back home. I'll be at Pt Lobos tomorrow and look forward to that! To be honest, I got kind of bored with the diving down there. I'm not sure what it is, but some of it must be the awesome terrain, pinnacles, invertebrate life, kelp, etc that Northern California offers. It was nice to dive in a wetsuit though. I had no consideration about being head down, upside down or whatever position in the water once trimmed. That was cool.
Divers and dive masters: That's another story! Thru this trip, my brother, Ricky was with me. He's had about 10 dives and was certified 5 years ago, but pretty athletically inclined. Rooming together we talked at length about diving and what I've learned from Fundamentals and with each dive he noticed more and more of the differences. Pointing out the differences and then having him observe them in the water was a treat because he could observe the differences between the other recreational divers and even our divemasters. Ricky observed how unpleasant it was to have other divers around us kicking up sand, silting out the bottom, kicking and breaking up the bottom rocks and damaging the environment. This is something he never noticed until this trip for him.
In Puerto Vallerta, diving with other DIR divers, one of the guys switched gear and Ricky was able to dive with a back plate setup. He hasn't purchased any gear yet but one dive was enough to convince him to not waste money on a BC. I have completely redundant gear so I guess he's going to borrow my gear for awhile now.
It was here that effective training demonstrated to me and to my brother why it's safer. Pedro was having some trouble with his manifold. Immediately I and another DIR trained diver was right there, ready to assist and deploy our long hoses if needed. Pedro was fine, he didn't want any help and he was able to solve the manifold problem, but all the while I and the other diver was right there, in trim, holding our depth, ready to handle the emergency. It was instant and natural. I think only a short while ago, I would have been "flailing" bouncing all of the place and probably would have added to the danger and not much help. Ricky saw the scene and was amazed that divers could have such a skill!
Up until now, even though it's been many dives since Fundies, I haven't been confronted with an underwater emergency. It's just been cool, more fun and enjoyable. I'm finding it's when the sh.. hit's the fan that this training makes the difference between a safer situation and accident prone situation!
I'm coming to appreciate more and more the skills I got from Fundies! Even though I've had previous Trimix training, doing deeper dives, etc, it's onto Tech One for me! Chances I'll find that very enlightening too!
I usually dive in the Monterey area in Northern California, drysuit, doubles, scooters etc.
I just got back from diving in Acapulco, Xihuatenejo, Puerto Vallerta and Cabo San Lucas. Of course I find just about all diving fun and even more so after Fundies but here are some highlights and some of my experiences.
Acapulco: nice diving, water was a warm 82 degrees. Not much as far as coral reefs but lots of marine life. Puffers, Stone Fish, Octopus, various eels, etc. The night dive was particularly rewarding. A huge brown spotted bat ray seemed to love my HID light. When we spotted it (viz was about 100') it swam straight for me and before hitting me, veered off inches away from my light. Then it went to my dive buddy where he petted it's belly. It swam around us for a bit and just when you thought it was leaving, it came back at me. It seemed to like the petting or was it just my HID light. Overall the bottom terrain was rocky, a bit mossy and not a lot of coral.
Xihuatenajo: Rocky terrain but lots of fish. We dove around a very small rocky island that went pretty deep, about 170 feet. We stayed on the wall with at least 100' of viz. Very cool.
Puerto Vallerta: Met up with some divers from Valleratec who knows some of our local DIR divers and went diving with them. Being further up north the water was cooler. A storm occurred last night and the viz was about 20 feet or so. Nice to have a decent light in these conditions. Pedro (forgot his last name) was there taking photos looking for Nudibranchs. During the dive Pedro shows me some very unique Nudis which must have been somewhat rare because he looked so excited about them. It was all new to me! It was fun to dive with other DIR divers. Made things much more fun!
Cabo San Lucas: At the very tip of the Baja Penninsula, this site offered a very deep drop off. About 900 feet as I recall. Anyway diving off these rocks and looking down at the abyss was quite a site. Unfortunately we didn't see any big palegics as one often does at these sites. We did see a nurse shark though.
Overall diving conditions: compared to Monterey or Northern California, the water is warmer, the viz can be a lot better with lots of different animals, but I find I like diving in Northern California better. I'm glad I went and had a lot of fun, but I'm glad to be back home. I'll be at Pt Lobos tomorrow and look forward to that! To be honest, I got kind of bored with the diving down there. I'm not sure what it is, but some of it must be the awesome terrain, pinnacles, invertebrate life, kelp, etc that Northern California offers. It was nice to dive in a wetsuit though. I had no consideration about being head down, upside down or whatever position in the water once trimmed. That was cool.
Divers and dive masters: That's another story! Thru this trip, my brother, Ricky was with me. He's had about 10 dives and was certified 5 years ago, but pretty athletically inclined. Rooming together we talked at length about diving and what I've learned from Fundamentals and with each dive he noticed more and more of the differences. Pointing out the differences and then having him observe them in the water was a treat because he could observe the differences between the other recreational divers and even our divemasters. Ricky observed how unpleasant it was to have other divers around us kicking up sand, silting out the bottom, kicking and breaking up the bottom rocks and damaging the environment. This is something he never noticed until this trip for him.
In Puerto Vallerta, diving with other DIR divers, one of the guys switched gear and Ricky was able to dive with a back plate setup. He hasn't purchased any gear yet but one dive was enough to convince him to not waste money on a BC. I have completely redundant gear so I guess he's going to borrow my gear for awhile now.
It was here that effective training demonstrated to me and to my brother why it's safer. Pedro was having some trouble with his manifold. Immediately I and another DIR trained diver was right there, ready to assist and deploy our long hoses if needed. Pedro was fine, he didn't want any help and he was able to solve the manifold problem, but all the while I and the other diver was right there, in trim, holding our depth, ready to handle the emergency. It was instant and natural. I think only a short while ago, I would have been "flailing" bouncing all of the place and probably would have added to the danger and not much help. Ricky saw the scene and was amazed that divers could have such a skill!
Up until now, even though it's been many dives since Fundies, I haven't been confronted with an underwater emergency. It's just been cool, more fun and enjoyable. I'm finding it's when the sh.. hit's the fan that this training makes the difference between a safer situation and accident prone situation!
I'm coming to appreciate more and more the skills I got from Fundies! Even though I've had previous Trimix training, doing deeper dives, etc, it's onto Tech One for me! Chances I'll find that very enlightening too!
That's what we're off to do tomorrow, practice and drills.
