The long awaited day finally arrived. True to TACAs scheduling, we had a departure time of 3pm so we made plans to be at the airport by noon. To make a long story filled with delays and security woes even shorter, Ill just say that we finally lifted off around 5pm. Roatan doesnt recognize Daylight Standard time so it was dark by the time we got to CCV. I really did miss seeing the sights on the bus ride from the airport, but seeing the lights of the main dock reflected on glass-smooth water made it all better.
We had 25 folks in the group this year, most of us were returning guests but I think we made believers out of the new ones! Erin met us at the dock and welcomed us back home. She shortly had us sorted out, dinner served then sent to our rooms when our luggage arrived. Some of us unpacked our gear first and did a very nice night dive on the Prince Albert to start the week off right. This is also where the tone of my week got started. As we started in at the end of our safety stop, I remembered that I had forgotten to pick up the strobe (part of the established safety measure) and went back for it. As I was rinsing gear I noticed my dive watch was missing! I knew I had looked at it just before returning for the strobe so it had to be in that vicinity. Beast still had his gear out so he gathered up and went out to look for my watch. I figured hed find it very soon so I waited in the shallow water and watched his light. Well, it was soon apparent by the direction his light was taking that hed missed it his light was WAY off to the right and it had been 15 minutes, I was getting concerned. Why I dont know because he soloss often at home and at least I could see his light! Just about the time I had gotten out to help him look for it, hes starting in to shore. He had found the watch within the first few minutes, lying right at the bottom of the buoy chain in the sand. So we figured since we were there, we might as well make a real dive out of it! So Saturday ended up to be a very long day for us. We slept like babes with the soft sea breeze floating through our bungalow.
Sunday morning started our regular schedule for the week .Breakfast 7 to 8:30am .Lunch noon to 1:30pm .and Supper salad bar 6:30pm with meals 7 to 8pm. Our days started early and ended early. Usually up by 5:30am for coffee and breakfast, over to the gear shed to check out and analyze Nitrox tanks for the next dives. While were doing this, the boat crew are loading and setting up our gear for us. The morning boats leave at 8:30am and depending on dive site location, we were usually in the water by 9am. The second dive is usually a drop off dive .you are dropped off on Newmans Wall in the mornings and CoCo View Wall in the afternoons to make your way back to the resort at your own pace and following your own plan. Part of your orientation covers the navigation around the resorts front yard so this second dive is a breeze. The sandy area known as Safety Stop Flats is at 15ft and full of life. Youll never have a boring safety stop here! Be sure to look out for the Squid.
True to form established early, on our 3rd dive Sunday afternoon, I lost my back-up computer on 40 ft. Point. I had turned it on and set the Nitrox % at the start of the dive but at the beginning of the 4th dive it was missing! I notified the boat crew and since 40 ft. Point drops off to 200 ft, just figured it was history. What else am I going to lose this trip?!? One of the other DMs found it later in the week. After a bit of a confrontation, it was returned to me.
The weather conditions on this trip were close to perfect. Daily high temps around 78º, water temp 80º with a cool 68º at night. Sunny to partly cloudy days, gentle breezes with flat-as-a-pancake seas. The only disappointment was the fact that the flat seas also produced very low vis on the Prince Albert wreck in the front yard. The mouth of the lagoon just didnt get the currents to keep the vis clear. This also made the long awaited Wednesday night full moon totally useless for night diving on the PA. I dont know if the flat seas had anything to do with it or not but for the first time ever I got SBE, commonly referred to as Sea Lice. Unfortunately I thought it was no-see-um bites for the first 3 days! Once it was correctly diagnosed, vinegar was the cure all. Next time, Im dosing every scratch and itch with vinegar FIRST just in case! I would have really been miserable if it hadn't been for Benadryl capsules. Thanks Michelle! Actually, the no-see-ums were hardly noticeable this year. **(see bottom for links to SBE)
The pinched nerve in my neck, that hadnt given me any trouble for over a year, decided to get nasty just before this trip. That, along with the itching and fever from the SBE, was the reason I didnt do any of the usual night dives and early morning dives, just the regular 4-day dives. Even so I came home with a total 22 dives and almost 19hrs bottom time. I wont bore you with dive by dive details other than to say Calvins Crack and Iron Shore are still my favorites. Marys Place is interesting, but the best area is the top of the wall It should be called Seahorse City! I didnt search for the Frogfish this trip. No one had seen it for weeks and I never got around to really searching for it.
There were two special activities this week that some of our group took part in. One was the shark dive with the Waihuka Shark Dive Adventures. The site was only a couple miles off-shores and it was a 30 minute dive in 74 fsw. Some 12-15 Caribbean reef sharks, sizes ranging 5-9 ft. in length were the stars. The other was a day trip to Utila to search for whale sharks and do a couple dives. Its a 2-3 hr boat ride to Utila. During the surface interval they putt around in search of the whale sharks. This trip they found one! It was a smaller juvenile but still bigger than anything we usually see! Ill have the photos added to the album soon.
Our trip home through Roatans International Airport was horrible. We had leave CCV at 6:30 am to be at the airport by 7 for a 9 am flight. Even though Nora had already checked us in, we still had to check our luggage and go through security. They set up two tables with one man on each and started searching everyones bags and I do mean SEARCHING! They opened every bottle in toiletries and sniffed them, checked every pants/shirt pocket, as well as looking for hidden compartments in belts and shoes. This was going to take forever! We were 7th or 8th in line and just as it was our turn, we got waved around security to go directly to check in. Talk about luck! We had our same seats on the return flight and were into the waiting room in a matter of minutes. They never even weighed our carry-ons. As our departure time was approaching, the same two men who did the searches in the lobby carried in their tables and set up at the departure gate. They were going to search all carry-ons again! Figuring they would get us this time, we were resigned to being searched. No. As we moved to the front of the line, we were waived past and onto the tarmac. But we did notice the same people being searched as in the lobby. Go figure!
We had a great time with even greater friends and made a couple new ones. There was also a lot of celebrating on this trip. Our delayed 30th anniversary, Davis birthday, my 500th dive and induction into the CoCoNut club (5 visits to CCV) but best of all Ryan and Amber got engaged! I sure hope its not a secret! Time to start planning for next years trip.
It's taking longer than planned to get the photos online so please have patience! HERE's a couple dozen to get ya started.
I've written so many of these CCV reports I'm always afraid I'm boring folks, I can talk about CCV for days! So if you have any particular questions, just ask.
**Doc V's article on SBE
**Mary Russel, fau-edu. research article on SBE
We had 25 folks in the group this year, most of us were returning guests but I think we made believers out of the new ones! Erin met us at the dock and welcomed us back home. She shortly had us sorted out, dinner served then sent to our rooms when our luggage arrived. Some of us unpacked our gear first and did a very nice night dive on the Prince Albert to start the week off right. This is also where the tone of my week got started. As we started in at the end of our safety stop, I remembered that I had forgotten to pick up the strobe (part of the established safety measure) and went back for it. As I was rinsing gear I noticed my dive watch was missing! I knew I had looked at it just before returning for the strobe so it had to be in that vicinity. Beast still had his gear out so he gathered up and went out to look for my watch. I figured hed find it very soon so I waited in the shallow water and watched his light. Well, it was soon apparent by the direction his light was taking that hed missed it his light was WAY off to the right and it had been 15 minutes, I was getting concerned. Why I dont know because he soloss often at home and at least I could see his light! Just about the time I had gotten out to help him look for it, hes starting in to shore. He had found the watch within the first few minutes, lying right at the bottom of the buoy chain in the sand. So we figured since we were there, we might as well make a real dive out of it! So Saturday ended up to be a very long day for us. We slept like babes with the soft sea breeze floating through our bungalow.
Sunday morning started our regular schedule for the week .Breakfast 7 to 8:30am .Lunch noon to 1:30pm .and Supper salad bar 6:30pm with meals 7 to 8pm. Our days started early and ended early. Usually up by 5:30am for coffee and breakfast, over to the gear shed to check out and analyze Nitrox tanks for the next dives. While were doing this, the boat crew are loading and setting up our gear for us. The morning boats leave at 8:30am and depending on dive site location, we were usually in the water by 9am. The second dive is usually a drop off dive .you are dropped off on Newmans Wall in the mornings and CoCo View Wall in the afternoons to make your way back to the resort at your own pace and following your own plan. Part of your orientation covers the navigation around the resorts front yard so this second dive is a breeze. The sandy area known as Safety Stop Flats is at 15ft and full of life. Youll never have a boring safety stop here! Be sure to look out for the Squid.
True to form established early, on our 3rd dive Sunday afternoon, I lost my back-up computer on 40 ft. Point. I had turned it on and set the Nitrox % at the start of the dive but at the beginning of the 4th dive it was missing! I notified the boat crew and since 40 ft. Point drops off to 200 ft, just figured it was history. What else am I going to lose this trip?!? One of the other DMs found it later in the week. After a bit of a confrontation, it was returned to me.
The weather conditions on this trip were close to perfect. Daily high temps around 78º, water temp 80º with a cool 68º at night. Sunny to partly cloudy days, gentle breezes with flat-as-a-pancake seas. The only disappointment was the fact that the flat seas also produced very low vis on the Prince Albert wreck in the front yard. The mouth of the lagoon just didnt get the currents to keep the vis clear. This also made the long awaited Wednesday night full moon totally useless for night diving on the PA. I dont know if the flat seas had anything to do with it or not but for the first time ever I got SBE, commonly referred to as Sea Lice. Unfortunately I thought it was no-see-um bites for the first 3 days! Once it was correctly diagnosed, vinegar was the cure all. Next time, Im dosing every scratch and itch with vinegar FIRST just in case! I would have really been miserable if it hadn't been for Benadryl capsules. Thanks Michelle! Actually, the no-see-ums were hardly noticeable this year. **(see bottom for links to SBE)
The pinched nerve in my neck, that hadnt given me any trouble for over a year, decided to get nasty just before this trip. That, along with the itching and fever from the SBE, was the reason I didnt do any of the usual night dives and early morning dives, just the regular 4-day dives. Even so I came home with a total 22 dives and almost 19hrs bottom time. I wont bore you with dive by dive details other than to say Calvins Crack and Iron Shore are still my favorites. Marys Place is interesting, but the best area is the top of the wall It should be called Seahorse City! I didnt search for the Frogfish this trip. No one had seen it for weeks and I never got around to really searching for it.
There were two special activities this week that some of our group took part in. One was the shark dive with the Waihuka Shark Dive Adventures. The site was only a couple miles off-shores and it was a 30 minute dive in 74 fsw. Some 12-15 Caribbean reef sharks, sizes ranging 5-9 ft. in length were the stars. The other was a day trip to Utila to search for whale sharks and do a couple dives. Its a 2-3 hr boat ride to Utila. During the surface interval they putt around in search of the whale sharks. This trip they found one! It was a smaller juvenile but still bigger than anything we usually see! Ill have the photos added to the album soon.
Our trip home through Roatans International Airport was horrible. We had leave CCV at 6:30 am to be at the airport by 7 for a 9 am flight. Even though Nora had already checked us in, we still had to check our luggage and go through security. They set up two tables with one man on each and started searching everyones bags and I do mean SEARCHING! They opened every bottle in toiletries and sniffed them, checked every pants/shirt pocket, as well as looking for hidden compartments in belts and shoes. This was going to take forever! We were 7th or 8th in line and just as it was our turn, we got waved around security to go directly to check in. Talk about luck! We had our same seats on the return flight and were into the waiting room in a matter of minutes. They never even weighed our carry-ons. As our departure time was approaching, the same two men who did the searches in the lobby carried in their tables and set up at the departure gate. They were going to search all carry-ons again! Figuring they would get us this time, we were resigned to being searched. No. As we moved to the front of the line, we were waived past and onto the tarmac. But we did notice the same people being searched as in the lobby. Go figure!
We had a great time with even greater friends and made a couple new ones. There was also a lot of celebrating on this trip. Our delayed 30th anniversary, Davis birthday, my 500th dive and induction into the CoCoNut club (5 visits to CCV) but best of all Ryan and Amber got engaged! I sure hope its not a secret! Time to start planning for next years trip.
It's taking longer than planned to get the photos online so please have patience! HERE's a couple dozen to get ya started.
I've written so many of these CCV reports I'm always afraid I'm boring folks, I can talk about CCV for days! So if you have any particular questions, just ask.
**Doc V's article on SBE
**Mary Russel, fau-edu. research article on SBE
