Or is that certifiable?
Anyway.
We departed from our LDS just a bit after 6 Friday morning, and after a short stop in Nogales, Arizona to pick up a few more folks for the caravan, we crossed the border and headed down Mexico's highway 15. This was the first time in my entire life I've driven into Mexico, and only the second time in the past 40 years I've been to the country at all.
We enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery on our way down to Himalaya Bay, with the caravan regrouping after each toll booth, and again at the Pemex gas station where we turned off the main highway towards the bay. Even taking the perimeter route around the city of Hermosillo, the drive really wasn't much different than what I would have expected driving to California (well, other than the toll booths and a Federales checkpoint).
The first part of the real adventure began when we turned off the paved road towards the bay. It's about 15 miles on dirt/rock roads to Himalaya, first past some farms, and then through natural desert hills. I think we were the only vehicle in the caravan that wasn't at least "off-road" high-rided, and one of the very few that wasn't 4WD. Adding to the fun of driving a standard 4 cylinder, 2WD Toyota Tacoma down this road, I was also pulling our old Palomino Shetland tent trailer.
I should apply to be in a Toyota commercial. That little truck did admirably well all the way to the beach, and all the way out on Sunday. I would not recommend trying to get to Himalaya Bay with a standard family sedan, though I've heard some have made it there okay in such things. Of course, I've also heard the stories of those who had to be pulled out of a deep rut when they high-sided, too. At the very least, you need higher ground clearance than most sedans have.
The bay is gorgeous, and I have to say pictures don't do it justice. After getting set up, we had a little time before the first cert dive of the weekend, so we donned our lycra skins, grabbed our fins, masks, and snorkels, and checked out the shallows. The water on Friday and Saturday was calm, and the abundance of life within a few feet of shore surprised us.
Also, whatever had my sinuses in an uproar all last week must be local to Tucson. By the time we reached the bay, I was clear and uncongested.
We did one of the cert dives on Friday evening, and three on Saturday. All went very well, with eight of us getting certified this weekend. After the exercises in each dive, the instructor and the two dive masters took us on short exploration swims to see some of the fauna of the bay (particularly to let us know which ones were absolutely "do not touch"). Visibility was better than 20 - 30 feet on all dives, and temperatures at the bottom ran in the 80 - 85 range. I took a 3mm wetsuit, and never wore it. Both my wife and I were comfortable in just the lycra skins for all the dives.
Yes, I've been told this isn't the way it's supposed to go; cert dives are supposed to be in murky quarries, with bone-chilling water temperatures.
While waiting our turns for the different exercises, we got to enjoy the entertaining antics of the schools of small fish that stuck close to us, hoping our fins would stir up edible detritus from the bottom. On our fourth dive, I figured out I could attract these fish close to my mask by scooping some of my exhaled air in my hands, and bringing it to chest level. They would flock to check out the small bubbles, and many of them were as curious about what was inside my mask as I was about what was outside.
I need to go through my book and figure out what all varieties of fish we saw. On every dive, we managed to stir up at least a few stingrays, the largest of which that I saw were somewhere in the 8" to 12" diameter range. We also spotted stone scorpionfish on each dive, and while I already knew to leave those alone, our instructor stressed repeatedly not to touch or bother those at all. Several species of damselfish were in abundance, and we saw several angelfish at various times.
One highlight was a visit to "Stingray Alley", where literally hundreds of rays congregate in a narrow channel between two rock mounds.
All the dives went well, and we wrapped up on Saturday afternoon as certified Open Water divers. Our legs were telling us about all the swimming that day, and I have a slight sunburn to boot (with my skin, there is very little chance that I'll avoid that even with the best sunscreen), but we had a blast and accomplished everything we needed to do without any problems.
We had planned on diving again Sunday morning with the camera, but overnight on Saturday the wind picked up and took the placid waters of the bay and turned them choppy. None of the divers on the trip bothered going in on Sunday morning, as they said visibility wouldn't be worth squat. We decided to go ahead and get everything ready to leave, and see if things seemed to calm down later in the morning (we didn't need the tent trailer popped-up to get a dive in, and figured it made more sense to go ahead and do the menial work before it got hot). If anything, it actually became worse through the morning.
We already want to go back, though next time we think we'll just take a tent rather than the trailer. We're also looking at other locations for diving, because, doggonit, one weekend just wasn't enough.
Anyway.
We departed from our LDS just a bit after 6 Friday morning, and after a short stop in Nogales, Arizona to pick up a few more folks for the caravan, we crossed the border and headed down Mexico's highway 15. This was the first time in my entire life I've driven into Mexico, and only the second time in the past 40 years I've been to the country at all.
We enjoyed a lot of beautiful scenery on our way down to Himalaya Bay, with the caravan regrouping after each toll booth, and again at the Pemex gas station where we turned off the main highway towards the bay. Even taking the perimeter route around the city of Hermosillo, the drive really wasn't much different than what I would have expected driving to California (well, other than the toll booths and a Federales checkpoint).
The first part of the real adventure began when we turned off the paved road towards the bay. It's about 15 miles on dirt/rock roads to Himalaya, first past some farms, and then through natural desert hills. I think we were the only vehicle in the caravan that wasn't at least "off-road" high-rided, and one of the very few that wasn't 4WD. Adding to the fun of driving a standard 4 cylinder, 2WD Toyota Tacoma down this road, I was also pulling our old Palomino Shetland tent trailer.
I should apply to be in a Toyota commercial. That little truck did admirably well all the way to the beach, and all the way out on Sunday. I would not recommend trying to get to Himalaya Bay with a standard family sedan, though I've heard some have made it there okay in such things. Of course, I've also heard the stories of those who had to be pulled out of a deep rut when they high-sided, too. At the very least, you need higher ground clearance than most sedans have.
The bay is gorgeous, and I have to say pictures don't do it justice. After getting set up, we had a little time before the first cert dive of the weekend, so we donned our lycra skins, grabbed our fins, masks, and snorkels, and checked out the shallows. The water on Friday and Saturday was calm, and the abundance of life within a few feet of shore surprised us.
Also, whatever had my sinuses in an uproar all last week must be local to Tucson. By the time we reached the bay, I was clear and uncongested.
We did one of the cert dives on Friday evening, and three on Saturday. All went very well, with eight of us getting certified this weekend. After the exercises in each dive, the instructor and the two dive masters took us on short exploration swims to see some of the fauna of the bay (particularly to let us know which ones were absolutely "do not touch"). Visibility was better than 20 - 30 feet on all dives, and temperatures at the bottom ran in the 80 - 85 range. I took a 3mm wetsuit, and never wore it. Both my wife and I were comfortable in just the lycra skins for all the dives.
Yes, I've been told this isn't the way it's supposed to go; cert dives are supposed to be in murky quarries, with bone-chilling water temperatures.
While waiting our turns for the different exercises, we got to enjoy the entertaining antics of the schools of small fish that stuck close to us, hoping our fins would stir up edible detritus from the bottom. On our fourth dive, I figured out I could attract these fish close to my mask by scooping some of my exhaled air in my hands, and bringing it to chest level. They would flock to check out the small bubbles, and many of them were as curious about what was inside my mask as I was about what was outside.
I need to go through my book and figure out what all varieties of fish we saw. On every dive, we managed to stir up at least a few stingrays, the largest of which that I saw were somewhere in the 8" to 12" diameter range. We also spotted stone scorpionfish on each dive, and while I already knew to leave those alone, our instructor stressed repeatedly not to touch or bother those at all. Several species of damselfish were in abundance, and we saw several angelfish at various times.
One highlight was a visit to "Stingray Alley", where literally hundreds of rays congregate in a narrow channel between two rock mounds.
All the dives went well, and we wrapped up on Saturday afternoon as certified Open Water divers. Our legs were telling us about all the swimming that day, and I have a slight sunburn to boot (with my skin, there is very little chance that I'll avoid that even with the best sunscreen), but we had a blast and accomplished everything we needed to do without any problems.
We had planned on diving again Sunday morning with the camera, but overnight on Saturday the wind picked up and took the placid waters of the bay and turned them choppy. None of the divers on the trip bothered going in on Sunday morning, as they said visibility wouldn't be worth squat. We decided to go ahead and get everything ready to leave, and see if things seemed to calm down later in the morning (we didn't need the tent trailer popped-up to get a dive in, and figured it made more sense to go ahead and do the menial work before it got hot). If anything, it actually became worse through the morning.
We already want to go back, though next time we think we'll just take a tent rather than the trailer. We're also looking at other locations for diving, because, doggonit, one weekend just wasn't enough.
