billeelou
December 10th, 2007, 08:08 PM
Nov 26- Dec 1 The Spousal unit and I went to Cancun, stayed at the Oasis Palm Beach and engaged a series of Dives with MAD, and Ben. Upopn arrival at the 4.5 km located hotel,based upon reccomendations here at SB, I went about to find MAD, No one knew where it was located, either my hotel, the concierge, the embarcadero, two cabbies, or even the Doormen at the International Club( also located at the 4.5 km) so at about 8pm, we went into the lobby of the international Club to locate anyone who knew about MAD, and found a company that, lo and behold, was the representative for MAD!!!! I purchased a 4 tank ocean and 2 tank Cenote package for the spousal unit and I ($245 each) and were told the first dive would be the next AM at 8 on the beach at the hotel.
The next morning we met Ben at the office who lined us up with Ulysess( DM for the trip)and our other two divers at the dock and went out to the site calledAristos(sp?), the pre-dive plan as put forth by U was to dive for 45 minutes to a depth of 50 feet (AL80's) safety stop for 3 miutes and then surface.( Now note, I am a LARGE GUY and everyone kept asking me about my air consumption). Since I have dove Cancun before, and know the average in that area is 35-50 feet deep, I asked could we plan on a longer dive( since I would be down to 700 in about an hour 10-15 minutes). Ulysess told me sure," 46 minutes total." (A check of my and my spousal unit's log books shows both tanks were starting at 2600-2800) True to form the dive was 45 minutes and we were told to surface. Spousal became sea sick and the warm water to drink did not help her, so she did not dive the second dive, ending pressure for me was 900 for first dive, and for the second dive, 1150 which was 43 minutes 34 seconds according to my computer. water temp was 80. Second location was at " JewFish" also at the 40-50 foot range. The guys ( Ulysess and Isidro)on the boat were pleasant and I took lots of pictures with my new camera, strobe of jacks , barracuda, barrel sponge, lobster and yellow tails, but no Sharks, rays etc. Water was Choppy but clear with Vis in the 80 feet range.SURGE under the water.
Nov 28 Chac Mool Cenote: Alvaro Gonzalez picked us up along with Paul from UK and Juan as 2nd DM. Water was crystal clear 77 degrees as was a SHALLOW 20feet to max depth of 44 feet, we were in for 59 and 63minutes (start 3000 ending 950+) FANTASTIC!!! I live about 3 hours from Carlsbad caverns, this was like diving in Carlsbad and surfacing in the jungle....My spousal said from here on , she would throw away Ocean Diving for Cenotes.( but then she went shopping, and so would not take advantage of any more diving on this trip)
Ben traded me my wife's two ocean dives and my remaining two ocean dives for one more two tank Cenote dive which Alvaro took us to at Dos Ojosoon NOV 30.My friends, the Pictures in this months Diving magazine does not impart the true wonder of it to anyone who has been there. The Bat dome, the stilagtities, stilagmites and other formations werea wonder to behold.ANd behold them we did for 59 and 57 minutes and still had over 1000lbs at the end. The "GUYS" at Dos Ojos have their CD for sale of pictures taken etc. for about $35 American and Denise, Paul(UK) and Dave( Canadian) and I agreed to split the cost with Dave to be posting it when he returns to Can.next week. I cannot say enough good things about Alvaro!!
All in ALL a good week of diving, but the "45 and out" left a bit of an aftertaste. I traveled 5 hours by plane to get there to get 89 minutes of Ocean Diving...Maybe I should have complained to Ben, but when one specifically asks if they can "dive their air" and they are told, "this is it"....oh well, next Jan/Feb we'll make sure its that way BEFORE we book...
Still good trip except for the 14 hour return flight!!! but thats for another forum...
The next morning we met Ben at the office who lined us up with Ulysess( DM for the trip)and our other two divers at the dock and went out to the site calledAristos(sp?), the pre-dive plan as put forth by U was to dive for 45 minutes to a depth of 50 feet (AL80's) safety stop for 3 miutes and then surface.( Now note, I am a LARGE GUY and everyone kept asking me about my air consumption). Since I have dove Cancun before, and know the average in that area is 35-50 feet deep, I asked could we plan on a longer dive( since I would be down to 700 in about an hour 10-15 minutes). Ulysess told me sure," 46 minutes total." (A check of my and my spousal unit's log books shows both tanks were starting at 2600-2800) True to form the dive was 45 minutes and we were told to surface. Spousal became sea sick and the warm water to drink did not help her, so she did not dive the second dive, ending pressure for me was 900 for first dive, and for the second dive, 1150 which was 43 minutes 34 seconds according to my computer. water temp was 80. Second location was at " JewFish" also at the 40-50 foot range. The guys ( Ulysess and Isidro)on the boat were pleasant and I took lots of pictures with my new camera, strobe of jacks , barracuda, barrel sponge, lobster and yellow tails, but no Sharks, rays etc. Water was Choppy but clear with Vis in the 80 feet range.SURGE under the water.
Nov 28 Chac Mool Cenote: Alvaro Gonzalez picked us up along with Paul from UK and Juan as 2nd DM. Water was crystal clear 77 degrees as was a SHALLOW 20feet to max depth of 44 feet, we were in for 59 and 63minutes (start 3000 ending 950+) FANTASTIC!!! I live about 3 hours from Carlsbad caverns, this was like diving in Carlsbad and surfacing in the jungle....My spousal said from here on , she would throw away Ocean Diving for Cenotes.( but then she went shopping, and so would not take advantage of any more diving on this trip)
Ben traded me my wife's two ocean dives and my remaining two ocean dives for one more two tank Cenote dive which Alvaro took us to at Dos Ojosoon NOV 30.My friends, the Pictures in this months Diving magazine does not impart the true wonder of it to anyone who has been there. The Bat dome, the stilagtities, stilagmites and other formations werea wonder to behold.ANd behold them we did for 59 and 57 minutes and still had over 1000lbs at the end. The "GUYS" at Dos Ojos have their CD for sale of pictures taken etc. for about $35 American and Denise, Paul(UK) and Dave( Canadian) and I agreed to split the cost with Dave to be posting it when he returns to Can.next week. I cannot say enough good things about Alvaro!!
All in ALL a good week of diving, but the "45 and out" left a bit of an aftertaste. I traveled 5 hours by plane to get there to get 89 minutes of Ocean Diving...Maybe I should have complained to Ben, but when one specifically asks if they can "dive their air" and they are told, "this is it"....oh well, next Jan/Feb we'll make sure its that way BEFORE we book...
Still good trip except for the 14 hour return flight!!! but thats for another forum...