Slidin' into September :)

[Prop Joe]

I'm going to pack a rain jacket to keep it from raining. Looks like even that may not be enough. It may be a soggy bag drag for Joe on Saturday...
Mr Masters is calling for a wet weekend:
Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Cristobal Headed Towards Iceland; 98L Moving Inland Over Texas | Weather Underground

 

[gopbroek]

After a couple of years, finally getting back to Coz. Sept 13th-20th at Hotel Cozumel. Traveling solo so hope to meet some of you. Dive op TBD. Looking to up grade my cert to advanced using the PADI e-learning program. Does anybody have experience doing this and could recommend a good op?

I would E-mail some of the op’s and check on the need to purchase an E-learning course, I think if you purchased the Adventures in diving manual (I just googled it and found a used one shipped for $7 https://www.google.com/shopping/pro...&sa=X&ei=fLb_U844iKeCBJiogLgO&ved=0CCkQ8wIwAw) and studied it and then dove with an instructor and did the knowledge reviews and required dives the AOW course (PADI card) would be pretty cheap.
September in the off season, there are some very good instructors with minimal work available. Not only can you do the course for a bargain but get some real one on one relaxed instruction. I dive with Servando at Tres Pelicanos, but Mateo and several others at BA are also great instructors and the list goes on and on. There is so much diving done in Cozumel the market is saturated with great, not just good, dive instructors.
Personally I have not bothered with carding up from OW, but in case I wish to dive off a US scuba Nazi boat which requires the AOW I plan on doing an AOW course this fall.
For my dives I plan:
A navigation dive: (I will not dive W/O a compass even in clear water)
A boat dive: (about 270 dives so far)
A deep dive: (first post OW dive, with my instructor, was 96’)
Nitrox: 200 botlles and rising
A night dive: I always love the Horseshoe at night and with a limited group I may take a spear for the Lionfish.
Fish ID; Lionfish, the thing on my spear (or in the case of the weekend before last the thing suck to my index finger) , Grouper the gentle giant I want to feed it to.

 

[cvchief]

Careful about the books. It used to be you have to have a seal or something out of a new book to send to PADI to make sure they sold a book with the course.

 

[Fin59]

Fin59 & Dive-Ho 8/30-9/6 Hotel Cozumel and Dive With Martin

Prop Joe 8/30 – 9/6 Aldora Villa and Aldora

diverokc 8/30-9/14 Hotel Cozumel and ?- Diving with Dive Paradise

DiverRtNY + 5 9/4 – 9/10 Occidental and DWM

kss1dvr 9/6 – 9/13 Hotel Cozumel and Scuba With Alison

Mahidoodi 9/6 – 9/13 Iberostar and Dressel Divers

H2odave + 1 9/12 – 9/16 Sabor and Dive Palancar

Pyro 9/8 – 9/13 Big Fish Dive Hostel and ?

Himself 9/8 – 9/19 Barracuda and Living Underwater

6-1 9/13 – 9/20 Hotel Cozumel

yaml + 4 9/14-9/21 Hotel ? and Living Underwater

scubatree + 5 9/14 – 9/21 Hotel Cozumel and Scuba With Alison

gopbroek + 1 9/14 – 9/23 Casa Talent and Tres Pelicanos

cvchief and Susanita 9/15 – 9/25 Casa De Jefe Scuba With Alison

Coral-Reefer 9/20 – 9/27 Blue Angel

mstevens 9/26-10/4 Casa Suzana and Sandro/Deep Blue

willmann_nc + 1, maybe more 9/26-10/4 Cozumel Palace and DWM

Catt99 9/28 - 10/3 Tamarindo B & B and Aldora


Leaving Saturday!



---------- Post added August 29th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ----------

Looking like a wet one next week. Pack your raincoats or ponchos. As the saying goes "Its not raining underwater" Happy diving .

The sun has been shining all week here at work....guess where I'd rather be? ALWAYS pack a rain jacket!

 

[6-1]

Thanks for the input. I have booked with Aldora and am doing the e-learning thing. It seems whatever combination of e-learning and book learning at a dive op it is going to cost $200. Halfway through and haven't learned anything new, but is a good review of safe practices. Having the card may help booking advanced dives with some US ops in FL and NC. I can see the dive ops point of view, if they can't give you a check out dive they may be reluctant to book an "advanced dive". I dove the U-352 in NC last year and got around this by booking a private DM. Conditions ended up being epic, no current and 100' viz so didn't really need a DM, however it could have been different so I see it as $ well spent.
Less than two weeks to go, hope to meet up with some of you.

 

[Mattom]

Better late than never. Two of us at Blue Angel right now until 9/13. Love this place.

 

[underachiever]

Randy and Angie 9/26/- 10/4. Still working on the other details. Found some good rates Atlanta to Cancun via Southwest (finally flying international) $272 pp RT. If only they would fly into Cozumel

 

[Pelagicsal]

Wouldn't that be LOVELY, Randy?!!

 

[cvchief]

Wow. September just died on the vine. I guess we were having too good a time. Anywho, I thought you might like to see a little of what you missed:

First, it was Steve's Birthday and Mexico does like to do something nice for him. Oh and it is Independence Day too. My Spanish is weak, but I think they are wishing him a Happy Birthday. That is him in the hat at the bottom of the vid:

[youtubehq]gw6vj07eiqI[/youtubehq]

And Scuba with Alison chose to post my photos on her Facebook page. I think any one can see them there? : Facebook.com/ScubawithAlison

Yes, I know, but I finally got around to screwing them up in LightRoom and posting them.

 

[gopbroek]

QUOTE=cvchief;7237325]Wow. September just died on the vine. I guess we were having too good a time. Anywho, I thought you might like to see a little of what you missed:

First, it was Steve's Birthday and Mexico does like to do something nice for him. Oh and it is Independence Day too. My Spanish is weak, but I think they are wishing him a Happy Birthday. That is him in the hat at the bottom of the vid:

[youtubehq]gw6vj07eiqI[/youtubehq]

And Scuba with Alison chose to post my photos on her Facebook page. I think any one can see them there? : Facebook.com/ScubawithAlison

Yes, I know, but I finally got around to screwing them up in LightRoom and posting them.[/QUOTte]

CVchief, my wife, Jeanie, Big Mike and I were 10 yards forward and 20 left.It was a great celebration and the fireworks that followed were impressive. This is one of the great days in Cozumel each year, even in the torrential rains like last year. September is the starvation season but to myself it looked like the dive activity was up around 30% over last year. It looks like the decent weather will hold out for at least another couple weeks, I am heading down Thursday for a long weekend to try and tune a new rig.