Diving with Papa Hogs

[sealskin98]

I used them once a couple of years ago as they had been recommended as good, and didn't have that great of an experience. I considered the circumstances and would try them again...but some of these posts I've been reading are similar to my experience.

Here's an edited excerpt from my trip report from a couple of years ago.

Coz. Trip Report
6-3 to 6-6-04

6-5-04
This time booked a 1 p.m. dive with Papa Hogs. There were three other guys on the boat from the Dallas area. On the way to the reefs they told me some bad news; George, one of the old DM's for the shop, had passed away the night before from heart problems. Was sorry to hear of their loss.

The DM had been told to have the boat back by 4 p.m. First stop was Yucab, max. depth 50 feet along spur-and-groove type coral heads. We saw another barracuda along with blue tangs, queen angels, parrot fish, blennies, ocean sunfish, and other normal stuff. Current was light at first, then after about 25 minutes the DM did an air check. I had about 1,800 left, and one of the other guys later told me he had over 2,000 at that time. Then the DM led us into a pretty stiff current. Everyone was burning air pretty well after a few minutes. We surfaced after 35 minutes of bottom time and everyone was getting low on air.

Surface interval was at a café/dive shop I have driven by several times before but can't remember the name of. It is the one that is faded stone with the Dos Equis Xs on the side, just north of the Reef Club on the old highway. Had a rather long surface interval of an hour and twenty minutes.

Next stop was Las Palmas again. Nice light current for a drift. We hit 70 feet and saw another barracuda, a stingray, spotted moray, and a sea turtle swam ahead of us along the edge of the wall for quite a distance. Also saw a rather large black with orange tailed fish that looked like a large, funny colored wrasse. Everyone was doing fine and having a good time, but we surfaced after 35 minutes. I still had over 1,300 psi. left and others had more. Then it was back to the docks. They didn't quite make the 4:00 time, I got off at about ten after so they made it back to Papa Hogs at about 4:15.

La Choza for dinner tonight, had the tropical shrimp in the sweet mustard sauce that is great. I've almost got the sauce down in my own recipe that I put together a few years ago when it was called Caribbean shrimp on the menu.