Hi All,
Well, I am just back from my cruise, and boy, it was fantastic. We hit Cartagena, Colombia first, for an alcohol drenched booze tour of the city. It was a blast with agua ardiente (fire water) and beer sloshing around the bus as we staggered from site to site around town. The guide, who had his troubles with English (no problem for me since my mom is Venezuelan and I lived in Caracas as a kid for a couple of years) and the small band on the bus (accordion, drum and guacharaca, a percussion instrument sort of like a giant noise maker) were great.
I did three dives (5 tanks) in Aruba, Curacao and St. Thomas. The first dive was in Aruba, my wife came along, since they offered snorkeling. Well, snorkeling over 25 feet of water with a sandy bottom isn't much, so she was disappointed. I had booked a private DM to hold my hand after our try in Brooklyn. The 20 ish young lady was very nice, but overly gung-ho, saying that the site she planned was to a sunken airplane at 80 feet deep and we could go in the cock pit and swim around inside the plane. Obviously I wan't about to pull a stunt like that so I told her, 60 feet max and no overhead environments. We went down to the plane and swam around at fuselage level for a few minutes, 68 feet on my depth gauge. My tank pressure started to go down quickly so I signaled half a tank, then 1000 psi, she never asked about my tank pressure. We started heading back to the boat at 1000 PSI, when I hit 500 we surfaced, total dive time was 20 minutes. We started swimming towards the boat until we were spotted and the boat came to pick us up. The best part about boat diving off of Aruba is that the sea was as calm, at least compared to Brooklyn, and the platform off of the back of the boat was almost at water level; no back flips and no long ladder climbs back up.
Next was Curacao, this could not have been more different. I did two dives with Mark from the Dive Bus. He reminded me of my OW course instructer in terms of professionalism, teaching style and thoroughness. I was diving with a family from Milwaukee, Dad and a teenage son and daughter. Mark did a very detailed briefing, checked my dive log, including my check out dives, and gave me quite a few tips on air consumption. I lasted 44 minutes over a "knock my booties off" reef with beautiful crystal clear blue water. I had 500 psi left and felt great! I overheard Dad ask his daughter about her ending pressure, she was wearing a smaller tank than the rest of us, AL60?, having a smaller frame, she had 1400 psi left! I figure I still have a ways to go.
Following the dive Mark did a debrief with more instruction and tips. The second dive focused on buoyancy, with Mark taking 2 pounds off of me. Mid way through he asked me to do a hover. We dove over pile of old cars and miscellaneous junk that had been sunk a few years ago to create an artificial reef. Mark said that the wreckage went down to 200 feet of water. Dad said that he and the kids had all been down to 100 feet before. Mark's response was that this was billed as an OW dive and not everyone there (me) was certified to dive that deeply. After 52 more minutes of great diving we came back to find a sea horse in 4 feet of water right off the beach. I was down to about 400, but I was really pleased that I lasted that long in the water, especially since the Milwaukeeians seemed happy at the length of the dive. I felt like I had gotten two extra course dives for the $75.00 fee for the two tanks.
We stopped in St. Martin next for some snorkeling, but the surge was so high that we could barely see our fins. After 15 minutes we were all back on the boat, the bar was opened and we headed for a very nice beach for some fun swimming in the waves. We met a nice German women on the trip who is a DM. She said with the snorkeling as bad as it was, diving would have been completely pointless.
The last stop was St. Thomas. My wife was thrilled, this was easily the best snorkeling of the whole trip with scores of princess parrots, sergeant majors and hamlets swimming around. The guide was a nice guy from Chicago, Dave, who offered to set up my equipment. When I declined and set it up myself, he inspected it and made sure I had done it correctly. I asked for 16 pounds of weight on Mark's advice. Dave reviewed the dive and signals and hurried me and a Mexican man into the water. It was only the three of us. Dave later apologized for the rush, saying that he wanted to get in the water before the surge set in and the visibility was lost. We headed over a coral restoration project first. Corals being grown out of planters and hanging on what looked like an artificial Christmas tree. It was interesting to see what they were doing to restore the reef. Thirty Eight minutes later I was down to 500PSI and we came back in.
The second dive was to a portion of the reef that been restored and it was gorgeous. We saw a couple of rays and assorted angel fish. My tank was a little short, 2700 PSI to start, but I did not say anything. After getting out to the reef and swimming around a bit I signaled half a tank and we started to head back. The last portion coming back was over the barren area that was undergoing conservation and I started to lose buoyancy. Dave gave me 2 pounds from his weight pocket so I could stay down. I finished with 250 PSI after 44 minutes. I was scolded for not bringing the short fill to Dave's attention at the beginning of the dive, he said that it should have been swapped out before we entered the water. He also told me that 16 pounds was too light for me and 18 was probably the best choice.
All in all, I had a great time diving and feel like I am much more comfortable, at least in warm water with a light wetsuit. I wore my old 2 millimeter snorkeling shorty for all of the dives. I am dialed in at 18 pounds and feel comfortable in my equipment. Once spring rolls around I would love to head out to the quarry for some more dives in heavier gear and try to get that dialed in.
Cheers,
Derek
