Maui Day 2

Today we snorkeled Honolua Bay and I saw two fish I have never seen before. The first one is a Bluestripe Butterfly fish and the other a Bandtail Goatfish. These are not my pictures, I got them off the Internet so I could show them to you. The water was so clear today that I could see fish shadows.
Connie got in at 5:00 and we went to the busiest restaurant in town, Costco, for pizza and then home. Connie hauled her luggage up and started unpacking. Her carry on was heavier than her checked bag and that weighed 49.5 lbs. She says scuba gear sure does weigh a lot. We are scheduled to go dive with Ron Ross tomorrow morning. There is a south swell and everyone is saying the visibility won't be so good. Connie's response was "we are used to diving in CA where we think 20 ft is good". Ron's response was "you'll get that. Connie put her new 4g card in her camera and she is ready for what ever she can get to stay still long enough to snap a picture. Otherwise it's video time.

Maui, 2009

Flying into Maui at the time I did gives me a wonderful view of a sunset. It lasts for a couple of hours and looks like the earth is encircled with a band of orange light. I forget about it from year to year, so it never fails to amaze me.
Bob had to go get his air conditioner fixed this morning, so I slept in and then fooled around before I went across the street to snorkel. Bob had said the visibility has been poor, but it was good today. It felt really good to be back in the water.
There wasn't many fish, but there were a lot of different fish. (No yellow tangs).
I found a mask on the bottom and I actually tried to get down to get it and for the first time in my life I actually got down under the surface. I couldn't get down far enough to get the mask (a kids mask), but I was really proud that I almost did it. Of course there was no one to see me and Connie will never believe me because she has been a witness to my feeble attempts in the past.
This is going to be a good trip.

San Diego Boat Dive

Girls Gone Diving did the Yukon and the Ruby E today. With all of the high surf and wind we were positive we could be blown out. In fact we were so positive we probably called so many times that they were sick of us. They assured us they had been out and it was fine and the forecast was for more of the same for today, and they were right. We didn't believe it until we saw it for ourselves. The ocean was so calm that for the first time on the Marissa that I could do both dives beause I didn't get seasick.

Connie, Sylvia, myself, Don, Phil, Joby, Chad, and Alex dove. The Northrop Grumman Dive Club plus family and friends.

The anemones on the Yukon and the Ruby E are beautiful and amazing. The white ones are huge and look like brocolli. The wrecks actually remind me of a Rose Bowl Float with all of the different colors of anemones. They completly cover the wrecks. The fact that the visibility was 20 ft today sure helped make it a good dive. It was cold though, 52 degrees. Connie stayed warm with her new chemical heat packs. They worked really well and the next time I am cold between dives I will use her extra set.

All in all a great weekend. We started it with a square dance with Magic Squares. Dave and Carl called a great dance. Then Connie and I stayed with Carl and Donna (thanks for everything guys) so we could do this dive. They have awesome animals, Loriketts, and Coy fish. I'd heard about them, but they are better in person It was great since the dive started at 1:00 and we didn't have to up at the crack of dawn. Tough life, but someone has to do it.

Cozumel 09 Last Day

We planned to sleep in today, but that didn’t work. We were both up when the morning dive boat came, and it killed us not to be on it.
But then we got in the water for our shore dive and life was good again. We did a shore dive the first day we were here and saw lots of stuff and didn’t take our cameras. So today we planned to take lots of pictures and Connie did just that. I on the other hand figured out I left my camera on yesterdays boat and they had to bring it to me. Of course the battery was dead, so once again Connie gets the picture credit. We made the most of our last dive since it was only 25ft; we stayed out for 105 min. I was down to 400 psi, but Connie still had almost 600. I think she and Sylvia are Mermaids.
Pictures:
A yellow tang because it is my favorite fish and no dive trip would be complete without a picture of a yellow fish. The little spotted ball is a baby boxfish, about the size of a penny. The black and yellow striped fish was also teeny and gave Connie a run for her money. I laughed and laughed watching her trying to get this picture because it was all over the place. Not only that but she had a little black fish that was biting her while she was trying to take the pictures. She was in his space and he wanted it back.
After we got done we had to go to town to do our shopping. It was easy to do, stop at Diamonds International and get the free charm for her bracelet, on to the pharmacy to get the drugs, have a beer with Ivan at the Flamingo Hotel (where we stayed for the last two years), let Connie get talked into spending $20 on a dive ring that matches the necklace and bracelet she got last year, on to Camillo’s for guacamole and chips and walk back to enjoy the air conditioned room.
Tomorrow we will retrace our five legs of the trip and be home tomorrow night. It’s all over for this trip. Back to the real world.

Cozumel Day 6

Last day of boat diving brought us Palancar Brick, Cedral Wall, Villa Blanca Wall. Great way to end our boat diving. We may do a shore dive tomorrow, but our package ended with the first two dives of the day. The afternoon dive was only an extra $15, so we had to do it.
Palancar Brick had the best of both worlds, amazing formations and lots of fish. The current was pretty friendly also.
Dive 2, the current was it's usual fast. You can tell by the video how quickly I am moving with no effort. Look close at the picture of the big grouper and you will see a lobster's antennae sticking out of his mouth. Yummy dinner.
Dive 3 was interesting in that the boat seemed overloaded because the back end was below sea level. The dive spot was nice with lots of fish, but the current was so fast that we ran out of reef and still had half of our air left. The water was pretty rough so it was a little tough to get back on the boat. One guy sucked 1000 psi of air just holding on to the tow line waiting to get back on the boat. Of course Connie never has trouble getting back on and she never has them take her BC when she comes up. To do so would be too woosy for a real CA diver. They always take mine, so I guess it means I'm a woose and proud of it.

Cozumel Day 5 2009

We had four very different dives today. First dive was at Palancar Caves. Very few fish, but great formations. Tons of swim-thrus and tall coral. I really enjoyed the swim-thrus this year; guess I’m more comfortable in the current now.
Dive two was an E ticket ride. The current had us flying. We saw lots of stuff, but there was no time to stop and look, much less take pictures. Connie is playing with her camera settings to try and get better pictures. Two guys on the boat have the same camera and they are showing her all kinds of neat stuff. In the picture of the turtle, that’s me behind it, cool huh. This picture will probably end up on the Edie Wall.
The afternoon dive was on Paradise Reef again and it was the opposite of the E ticket ride. Going out there was almost no current. I could swim over and see what everyone found. It was great. Then the current picked up going the opposite direction so we turned around and drifted back I was a happy camper after this dive, it was my kind of dive.
Night dive: Best night dive we have ever done. We had pretty much decided that night diving wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, but tonight might have changed our minds. We saw at least six octopuses, a dozen big crabs, nurse shark, ells and other critters of the night walking and slithering around. Days don’t get much better than this one.

Check out the Octopus video below.

Cozumel 09

Day 4 in Paradise and a different fish to be seen. Our first dive today was a wreck, the C-53 Felipe Xicotenantl. Not bad for a wreck but there are hardly any critters that have taken up residence. Last year I was too nervous to go inside, this year, no problem. The most exciting thing was the Lion Fish that Connie found. They are an invasive species here so no one wants to see them, put it was cool to look at. The divemaster actually caught it to turn in for a bounty. We found 2 larger ones, but they didn’t have bags big enough to capture them. I’m sure the next time they dive the wreck they will be more prepared.
On the second dive we saw a huge lobster out of his hole, a scorpion fish and two spotted drums. This is the first time we have seen spotted drums here.
The third dive of the day gave us a crab with claws as big as my hand and another Splendid Toad Fish. We saw a couple of them yesterday.
We must be getting used to the routine here because we are not so tired today. It might be because we are in bed by 10:00 pm. As those of you who know us, know that doesn’t happen often.
We’re off to watch the sunset from our porch. Later

Cozumel 2009

I'm in Heaven, 3mm wet suit, no hood, no gloves, 14lbs of weight and 83 degree water. This is Monday and we already have 7 dives in. Life is good.
We left on the red eye of Friday noght and flew into Cancun. Actually flew into DC and from there to Cancun. The last leg of the fllight was almost empty, lots of room to strech out. I guess this means the Mexican economy is still in the toilet. The hotels are not full, the dive boats 1/2 full, which is nice for us, since we have fewer people to deal with.
As soon as we got off the ferry in Cozumel and in our hotel, Connie wanted in the water. The pkg we have had a check your weight shore dive . We did that and since it was only 25ft we were in for an hour and 50 min.
As you can see in the pictures we found a seahorse, actually 2, but the other one looks like a stick in the picture. These are only the second and third ones I've ever seen. They are so cool.
Since then we have done 2 morning dives and one afternoon, Except for this last one they have all been great. This one was over sand, but we saw a big stingray.
Eat, sleep, play with pictures and DIVE is our motto when we are here.
Later

4th of July Weekend

This 4th of July turned out to be a good time. I spent it doing some of the things I like to do best.
Diving, clogging, and playing board games.
Friday Connie, Sylvia, Phil and I went diving at Old Marine Land. It turned out to be a fabulous dive. They have the resort built, but divers have access down this nice paved path so we could put the gear in the cart and roll it down. There were a number of reasons this was such a great dive,
1. No waves
2. A nice young man helped me get my BC on.
3. Two nice you men helped me over the rocks to get in the water.
4. We saw lots and lots of good stuff.
5. I was weighted just right.
6. Phil came back in and got my BC for me.
If this is not a lazy womens way to dive.
The only thing about it was that Sly was light with her weight and had to fight to stay down because it was a shallow dive.
Saturday I messed around here until about 4:00 when I went over to Connie and Roger's to play games. We played four games and I won one and would have another except for a really stupid error.
Sunday, Connie and I went to San Diego to the Del Mar Fair. The San Diego Cloggers have a day at the fair and it is a four hour non-stop dance. It's always fun to see friends you don't always see. Afterward we had to go "do" the fair. Connie is fun to go to a fair with because she always wants the newest gadget out there. This year she got off pretty easy, we couldn't find anything to spend her money on. All in all a great weekend without having to deal with much traffic.

Reef Check/Little Corona/Broomtail Reef

July 27/28 was a Reef Check weekend. On Sat we went to Little Corona and I tried to get in past the waves, (thank you Craig for your help) but I just couldn't make it. So I sat this one out. Reef Check's main motto is, safety first and I didn't feel good, so I didn't do it.

Sunday was another story. We went to San Diego aboard the Marissa and did a survey on Broomtail Reef. It was so cool, I want to dive it just for fun. Lots of kelp and fun stuff on the bottom. The water temp was 51 degrees, and that is just plain cold. Connie and Donna got real cold on the second dive. Connie is so good at this stuff. She pasted her seaweed test and did her first full survey with Donna on the second dive. I will get there, it will just take me longer. Sylvia reminded me that I cannot compare myself to Connie, I'll never be as good, but I have learned to use her abilities to my advantage. Again I couldn't do the second dive, there was a mixed swell and even with the wrist bands, I got sea sick. I was one of three that didn't make it. Next time I am going to get the patch along with the wrist bands because sitting on the boat sucks.