Trying to Dive since 11/20

[Christi]

OMG! SEVEN DAYS?!? That has got to be a new record for a Norte.

It is and it's not over! And of course it comes at "opening week" of high season after an extremely low, low year following Hurricane Wilma. We're all doing weather chants, dances, prayers, rituals...whatever it takes...haha!

It's been a tough stressful week, I won't lie!

 

[loudives]

Ports are closed, none of us can control the weather. It's the truth. Trust me, we (dive ops) want to get you out diving as much as you do....we can't pay the bills if we can't send our divers out! Lucky for you, you've only missed 2 days. This is day 7 for us!

Don't worry Christi!!!! I will be there Dec 1 about 5 pm. I will stand on the ferryboat pier facing south. Bending over and grabbing my ankles, I guaranty that I can make the wind change and blow north. It's a good thing your shop is south of the pier.

PS Don't strike a match between 5 and 5:30 pm.

Lou

 

[heiligenwho]

We took the ferry to the mainland on wednesday and got 2 tanks in. Luckily with the wind shift their port was finally open. We enjoyed our dives and saw tons of very large turtles, nurse sharks, and a giant eel. Good times.

looks like we may be renting a big boat today.:shakehead

 

[Christi]

We took the ferry to the mainland on wednesday and got 2 tanks in. Luckily with the wind shift their port was finally open. We enjoyed our dives and saw tons of very large turtles, nurse sharks, and a giant eel. Good times.

looks like we may be renting a big boat today.:shakehead

Don't get your hopes up too high. It doesn't look good. The report will be in about 20 minutes with a decision from the harbor master.

 

[Nevis Diver]

I'll be down there tomorrow through Friday, Dec. 1. Hope it calms down by then. Christi, based on the conditions shown at bouyweather would it be likely that the harbor would close for smaller boats?

 

[Christi]

The port just opened for all boats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mawg]

Pffttt! Good luck! If the port is closed that boat is full of Aldora's customers (if it's even allowed to go out).

Moodie,

Did you stay at the Presidente and if so, how was it?

 

[Moodiejeff]

Moodie,
Did you stay at the Presidente and if so, how was it?

No, this was a real budget trip for us... we stayed at Caribe Blu (and loved it). I considered staying there [Presidente] 2 days at the end of the trip but am thankful we did not considering how the weather turned sour. It would have been interesting to see what rate they would have given me walking in off the street.

It was our intention to go to The Presidente and check it out but we both decided with the rate hikes it's unlikely we'll be staying there anytime soon. OK, never say never but we don't spend a lot of time at the resort anymore, we're either diving, eating or sleeping. If it would have been open this summer we would have stayed there and gotten married on the beach, that much I can assure you. It has a special place in our hearts.

From passing on the boats it looks really nice, definitely different. A lot more grass where there used to be sand, new paint scheme etc. Layout looks pretty much the same... Scuba Du is still in the same place. I didn't notice if they rebuilt the other pier (the one that fell apart 4 years ago ) so i'm assuming they did not. They were still working on the rooms closest to the calleta. I didn't see anybody walking around or laying on the beach but it was pretty windy towards the end of our trip . If anybody's going there anytime soon, you'll probably have the place to yourselves.

My real question is how the house reef fared (probably not too well considering what happened to the hotel), that was one nice shore dive. If that miraculously survived somehow, staying there in the summer (with more available sunlight) would look a lot more appealing.

And no, I did not do the shore dive at Caribe Blu either... it was our intention to do so on Friday but Pina Colada's at Chen Rio & Coconuts put the kabosh on that idea... plus the wind kicked up and the surf was pretty bad. Hmmm, now that I think of it, I never did get my $12 back :shakehead

I uploaded most of my photos from this trip Here if anyone's interested.

 

[Moodiejeff]

I actually did get my divers out today.

So you were probably the only one's diving on the island yesterday? Good for you girl!

See that people? Now you know why we all love Christi so much. She goes way out of her way to make sure her customers are satisfied.

I'm sure you're happy the port is open though

 

[Christi]

So you were probably the only one's diving on the island yesterday? Good for you girl!

See that people? Now you know why we all love Christi so much. She goes way out of her way to make sure her customers are satisfied.

I'm sure you're happy the port is open though

Yes, I am SOOO happy that the port is open! I just pray that it stays that way.

We weren't the ONLY ones, but almost the only ones. Aldora had their boat on the east side, and a couple of other shops had instructors and students doing shore dives/certification dives on the other side. I know ALison took her divers to Playa del Carmen and did two boat dives over there with Tank Ha in the afternoon. Five of my divers were set up over on the mainland doing cenotes dives or boat dives as well, thanks to the help of Dennis (Diablo Divers).

It wasn't a perfect solution, but my divers really wanted to dive and were ok with the resources we had available to us yesterday I'm already working on a solid solution for future nortes, but it will take some time to get everything ready.

Happy Thankgiving!!!

I am thankful today that the port is open now and we are working and our divers are diving....that IS what they came to Cozumel to do!