Okay, this is my first time doing this, so bear with me, I'm going to try to keep it brief. 'Try' being the operative word.
The flight was rather uneventful, other than the fact that we got up at about 4am after only getting about 3 hours sleep and leaving for the airport at 5am. Made it to Fiesta Americana without a hitch, but we were exhausted. I mean dogmeat exhausted. The room was nice enough, with a nice ocean view. We decided to take a siesta. Some siesta, the day was gone! We got up and showered and went into town for dinner.
Dinner our first night was at Casa Denis. Great food, and cheap! and the best darn Mango Margaritas! Due to the warnings posted here I ordered a small margarita, probably half the size of their normal ones. When I ordered the second and reminded him that I wanted a small one he presented me with a shot sized margarita complete with a lime garnish. It was pretty funny. He of course promptly brought the 'medium' sized one I really wanted. We had a great time and headed home, tummies comfortably full, to get ready for the next days dives.
Day 2-
Careyitos agreed to pick us up at the FA pier. We got up and had breakfast (overpriced and mediocre) and hung out by the pier to digest and wait for the boat.
The Careyitos boat is large and comfortable with a head to boot! Tony and Ricardo greeted us as we hopped on the boat. Tony checked our C-cards and gave us a brief grilling about our prior dive experience. He told us that we'd be diving with him for the first dive and we'd see from there.
Tony gave us a short synopsis of Coz drift diving, guide rules to follow. He helped us scub our masks (with what appeared to be comet) to get all the silicone off (which he said no one really does completely) and prevent fogging. Tony was a trip, talkative, funny, lively. Ricardo was quiet and unassuming, doing yoga on the deck before each mornings first dive. Something I admired being a yogi myself.
There were 2 other 'DM's' and a full DAN kit along with a boat captian and a first mate on the boat. Ciello, Ricardo's son (as it turns out) and Aaron who's training to be a DM, but a great diver and a patient and kind dive guide. The first day the boat was nearly full. 10-12 divers, but it wasn't crowded and it was a good group, including a friend of Tony and Ricardo who took some amazing pictures that we later purchased from him.
First dive day was pretty much all of Palancar divided into the days 2 dives. On the first dive we saw probably 4 Hawksbill Turtles, a HUGE (about 6-7ft) Moray, various reef fish, some huge grouper, gorgeous coral and sponges. Drift diving was great. Fly along and see what you see.
Multi level dive (our first with computers purchased right before the trip) Max depth 78ft/66min
Careyitos is known for long surface intervals and serving a great lunch. All true. The Surface interval was spent close to shore where it was less choppy. (It was apparently unusually windy and choppy in Coz last week, though I am proud to say I didn't feed the fish!) The interval was nice and relaxing. Chatted with other divers, and laid out up top in the sun to warm up.
2nd dive Tony told us he was significantly impressed with our skills and buoyancy that we didn't need to be babysat and we could dive along with the rest of the group. We didn't need to go deep if we didn't want to, just glide along above the group as necessary (which it wasn't) We continued along Palancar. Saw many hawksbill turtles including one very large turtle (probably 4ft across it's shell) hanging vertically under a coral overhang, muching away and having lunch. He barely seemed to notice us gawking at him or everyone snapping pictures, he just wanted to eat! Lots of reef fish, some large gorgeous French Angels (do they always seem to travel in pairs or is it just me?) 1 medium sized ray (not sure which kind) seen from afar. A very large lobster, and a nurse shark.
Max depth 75ft/68 min.
I was having problems with my bouyancy for my safety stops. My body kept wanting to pop up to the surface. I was adequately weighted and there was no air in my bc, but it was a bit of an effort to stay at 15-20ft. Not sure what that was about, but I corrected it by the end of the week.
Because of the long SI, diving with Careyitos is an all day affair. We returned to the FA pier divehappy, but tired, at around 330p. The exhaustion, I think, was partially due to it being our first dive day in 6mos, and partially due to us still being wiped out from the trip down. We drank LOTS of water and took a nap.
Dinner on Sunday was at La Choza. Though highly recommended by many sources we weren't overly impressed. It was satisfactory, but nothing spectacular. Maybe we just loved Casa Denis too much! We walked around the square and looked around in the shops, but didn't stay out too late because we were diving again in the morning.
Day 3-
Woke up early and had breakfast...(see day 2)
Much to Tony and Ricardo's chagrin they had accepted a pod person and his wife. Apparently they had tryed to book another op which was full and the other op had called them and called in a favor buy asking them to accomodate the pod guy (his wife was just going to snorkel). So it was just my hubby and me, the pod guy, and another guy who drove me nutz the rest of the trip, along with Tony, Ricardo and Ciello. Aaron was stuck babysitting the snorkeler.
Dive 1 was Punta Sur. We were supposed to dive something else, but when we got there there were a few other boats and Careyitos likes to keep to themselves (which is nice) so we moved over to Punta Sur.
Did 2 swim throughs, but not Devil's throat. I know my limits as a new diver, and with the other yahoo's we were with I think they knew better. Saw a few Turtles, some rays (not eagle rays, just generic rays, Manta?) and some enormous grouper (maybe 5-6ft in length?) along with all the other usual reef dwellers. (I love seeing any and all the reef life, but if I tried to list them all here this would go on forever, which it already seems to be. So much for a QUICK trip report!)
The pod guy and the yahoo were all over the place. Swimming up under/over me, across my path as I calmly floated along or stopping dead in their tracks in front of me as I glided along with the current. UGH. Spent some air avoiding those guys.
Max Depth 88ft/45min
SI/lunch/sun/avoiding the
Dive 2 along the wall. A few turtles, a couple of rays, more great big grouper and 2 nurse sharks.
Headed back relatively happy and less tired than the day before, but we still needed a siesta before dinner.
To be continued...
The flight was rather uneventful, other than the fact that we got up at about 4am after only getting about 3 hours sleep and leaving for the airport at 5am. Made it to Fiesta Americana without a hitch, but we were exhausted. I mean dogmeat exhausted. The room was nice enough, with a nice ocean view. We decided to take a siesta. Some siesta, the day was gone! We got up and showered and went into town for dinner.
Dinner our first night was at Casa Denis. Great food, and cheap! and the best darn Mango Margaritas! Due to the warnings posted here I ordered a small margarita, probably half the size of their normal ones. When I ordered the second and reminded him that I wanted a small one he presented me with a shot sized margarita complete with a lime garnish. It was pretty funny. He of course promptly brought the 'medium' sized one I really wanted. We had a great time and headed home, tummies comfortably full, to get ready for the next days dives.
Day 2-
Careyitos agreed to pick us up at the FA pier. We got up and had breakfast (overpriced and mediocre) and hung out by the pier to digest and wait for the boat.
The Careyitos boat is large and comfortable with a head to boot! Tony and Ricardo greeted us as we hopped on the boat. Tony checked our C-cards and gave us a brief grilling about our prior dive experience. He told us that we'd be diving with him for the first dive and we'd see from there.
Tony gave us a short synopsis of Coz drift diving, guide rules to follow. He helped us scub our masks (with what appeared to be comet) to get all the silicone off (which he said no one really does completely) and prevent fogging. Tony was a trip, talkative, funny, lively. Ricardo was quiet and unassuming, doing yoga on the deck before each mornings first dive. Something I admired being a yogi myself.
There were 2 other 'DM's' and a full DAN kit along with a boat captian and a first mate on the boat. Ciello, Ricardo's son (as it turns out) and Aaron who's training to be a DM, but a great diver and a patient and kind dive guide. The first day the boat was nearly full. 10-12 divers, but it wasn't crowded and it was a good group, including a friend of Tony and Ricardo who took some amazing pictures that we later purchased from him.
First dive day was pretty much all of Palancar divided into the days 2 dives. On the first dive we saw probably 4 Hawksbill Turtles, a HUGE (about 6-7ft) Moray, various reef fish, some huge grouper, gorgeous coral and sponges. Drift diving was great. Fly along and see what you see.
Multi level dive (our first with computers purchased right before the trip) Max depth 78ft/66min
Careyitos is known for long surface intervals and serving a great lunch. All true. The Surface interval was spent close to shore where it was less choppy. (It was apparently unusually windy and choppy in Coz last week, though I am proud to say I didn't feed the fish!) The interval was nice and relaxing. Chatted with other divers, and laid out up top in the sun to warm up.
2nd dive Tony told us he was significantly impressed with our skills and buoyancy that we didn't need to be babysat and we could dive along with the rest of the group. We didn't need to go deep if we didn't want to, just glide along above the group as necessary (which it wasn't) We continued along Palancar. Saw many hawksbill turtles including one very large turtle (probably 4ft across it's shell) hanging vertically under a coral overhang, muching away and having lunch. He barely seemed to notice us gawking at him or everyone snapping pictures, he just wanted to eat! Lots of reef fish, some large gorgeous French Angels (do they always seem to travel in pairs or is it just me?) 1 medium sized ray (not sure which kind) seen from afar. A very large lobster, and a nurse shark.
Max depth 75ft/68 min.
I was having problems with my bouyancy for my safety stops. My body kept wanting to pop up to the surface. I was adequately weighted and there was no air in my bc, but it was a bit of an effort to stay at 15-20ft. Not sure what that was about, but I corrected it by the end of the week.
Because of the long SI, diving with Careyitos is an all day affair. We returned to the FA pier divehappy, but tired, at around 330p. The exhaustion, I think, was partially due to it being our first dive day in 6mos, and partially due to us still being wiped out from the trip down. We drank LOTS of water and took a nap.
Dinner on Sunday was at La Choza. Though highly recommended by many sources we weren't overly impressed. It was satisfactory, but nothing spectacular. Maybe we just loved Casa Denis too much! We walked around the square and looked around in the shops, but didn't stay out too late because we were diving again in the morning.
Day 3-
Woke up early and had breakfast...(see day 2)
Much to Tony and Ricardo's chagrin they had accepted a pod person and his wife. Apparently they had tryed to book another op which was full and the other op had called them and called in a favor buy asking them to accomodate the pod guy (his wife was just going to snorkel). So it was just my hubby and me, the pod guy, and another guy who drove me nutz the rest of the trip, along with Tony, Ricardo and Ciello. Aaron was stuck babysitting the snorkeler.
Dive 1 was Punta Sur. We were supposed to dive something else, but when we got there there were a few other boats and Careyitos likes to keep to themselves (which is nice) so we moved over to Punta Sur.
Did 2 swim throughs, but not Devil's throat. I know my limits as a new diver, and with the other yahoo's we were with I think they knew better. Saw a few Turtles, some rays (not eagle rays, just generic rays, Manta?) and some enormous grouper (maybe 5-6ft in length?) along with all the other usual reef dwellers. (I love seeing any and all the reef life, but if I tried to list them all here this would go on forever, which it already seems to be. So much for a QUICK trip report!)
The pod guy and the yahoo were all over the place. Swimming up under/over me, across my path as I calmly floated along or stopping dead in their tracks in front of me as I glided along with the current. UGH. Spent some air avoiding those guys.
Max Depth 88ft/45min
SI/lunch/sun/avoiding the
Dive 2 along the wall. A few turtles, a couple of rays, more great big grouper and 2 nurse sharks.
Headed back relatively happy and less tired than the day before, but we still needed a siesta before dinner.
To be continued...
