A Quick Trip Report 4/17-4/24/04

[cxg31s]

goofygirl, so far it sounds like you had a great trip! I admire your attitude on not letting the few bad things ruin the entire vacation.

Speaking of Ricardo, did you see him running to and from the marina? He also typically does about a 2 mile swim during the surface interval. Amazing.....One of these days, I'm just going to focus my camera on his head to see if I can get a pic of a bubble coming from his reg! LOL

Sorry to hear about the yahoo--I have had at LEAST one of those on every dive trip I've ever been on. Truly aggravating and short of going to jail for murder, there's not much you can do. It is a shame that you had to cancel a dive because of that idiot but given your aggravation, it was probably best. Isn't Mexican bail pretty steep?

At any rate, can't wait to read the rest!

 

[goofygirl]

Thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my half finished report!
I apologize for leaving you all hanging, and I promise to return later today to wrap this thing up. These things take WAY longer to write than I expected!!!

 

[goofygirl]

So after having such a lovely day we decided we'd try to have a nice dinner. We went to Ambar. I forgot to mention that we had tried to go to Ambar Tues night (the sign says they're only closed Mondays) but they were CLOSED on Tues.!!! So we walked by and they were open, thankfully. The atmosphere was really nice, they have a modern yet quaint atmosphere. We ate in the backyard with metal and wood funiture and gauze canopies. They're supposed to be affiliated with the Italian cooking school, but we both ended up having Filet Mignon with a mushroom sauce, which was excellent, but the pasta that accompanied it made us glad we didn't order the pasta. If was fine, just with they hype of being affiliated with the italian cooking school we were expecting more.

(You must understand that we're both foodies, love to eat, love to cook, and we live in NYC, foodie paradise, so we're really tough critics!)

Day 6-
2 dives with Careyitos. Ricardo and Ciello were back that day, and I think feeling a little guilty about the day before by the way they were acting. Tony was MIA as he was having difficulties planning an upcoming trip and his girlfriend was in town. Saw 2 sleeping? nurse sharks, a HUGE crab, all the various reef fish and coral, and a turtle or 2. Did a few swim throughs on the first dive. Ricardo mentioned that he liked my good habit of waving to the fish and animals. I said that I was in their home and thought I ought to be polite. He thought that was funny.
Dive 1 max depth 95/47min
Dive 2 max depth 70/60min

That was our last dive day. We were kinda bummed to know we wouldn't be diving the next day. Decided to go to dinner with 2 guys from Jersey that were on our first and last dives with Careyitos. Went to Casa Mission again, but these guys were Coz vets and knew some secrets. We got the Crab appetizer which isn't on the menu. HUGE crab and oh so yummy. And we had the 'sexy coffee' which is more a show than a drink. It's this whole elaborate flaming liquer coffee thing that the waiter makes at your table. At one point they turn the lights out as the waiter pours the flaming liquer from one cup to another, trailing flame as it goes. Actually tasted pretty good too! Stayed for a long time drinking and chatting. Those guys were pretty entertaining.

Day 7-
No diving, boohoo. Decided we'd try out one of the 'beach clubs' and relax and sit on the beach, since there really wasnt an actual sand beach at the hotel. Boy, was that a mistake! What a rip off! You have to pay for everything! Not only was it a $10 cab ride, then you have to pay for your chairs, it's crowded and loud, the drink prices are just plain silly, and they try to lure you into their souvenir shops, it's just a tourist trap! We stayed for a while since we were already there, but then headed back to the hotel when we jsut couldn't take all the screaming kids anymore.

Back at the hotel had a much nicer time. Later in the afternoon my husband decided to take a siesta. I went back to the room to get my mask fins and snorkel so I could say goodbye to the fishys. Snorkeled right of FA's beach. Saw lots of stuff!
Bye bye baracuda
bye bye french angelfish
bye bye tiny ray (about the size of a dinner plate and brown)
bye bye butterfly fish
bye bye parrotfish
bye bye grouper
bye bye filefish
bye bye fishys...

I was sincerly sad as I waved goodbye to the fish. :happywave

Decided it was only fitting that we went to Casa Denis (again) for our final dinner in Coz. We were greeted just as warmly as before seated at 'our' table and served with a smile our feast. Had a few Mango Margaritas (had to say goodby to them too!) and were BOTH given tequila shots on the house with our check! I think the waiter was shock when he came to collect the check and my glass was empty too. I told him I was no ordinary gringa! :biggrinba

Next morning, got up fairly early and had the crumy overpriced breakfast and packed for our 12n check out and departure as our flight was supposed to leave around 2pm. Tried to change our pesos to dollars at the desk but they told us they couln't do that. They supposedly only change dollars to pesos. Is this strictly BS or true? Anyway they told us there was a cambio in the airport. Well guess what, there ISN'T!!! At least not in the departures area! So without a single dollar in our wallet we were going home! I knew the NYC cabby wouldn't think it was funny when we tried to pay him with pesos.

We were delayed over 2 hours because of snow in Dallas. Yes, apparently it snowed in Dallas, which threw everyone for a loop. So we were in the airport for 4 glorious hours! Had to practically sprint through Dallas to make our connecting flight (after doing the customs shuffle) which ended up being delayed too. Didn't get home and to bed until about 3am. Man were we wiped!!!

Tan and dive happy, but wiped! And that's our Coz adventure!
:goldfish:

 

[goofygirl]

I apologize for the poor scan, but I thought these were fun. I can't take credit for these, they were taken by a friend of Ricardo.

1-Wave to the nice barracuda, nice barracuda please don't bite me!

2-have you hugged a turtle today

3-A couple that SCUBA's together...

 

[goofygirl]

I totally forgot to mention the yahoo on our final dive day! That's because he didn't bother me!! Didn't talk to me, except to ask if my ears felt better. It may be because the boat was a little more full the last day, or it may be because we were talking to the Jersey guys, OR maybe somebody said something to him. I'm thinking Aaron or Ricardo or someone said something to him. Probably said "stay clear of that crazy NYer, she may seem quiet, but she's gonna hurt ya!" Anyway, he didn't talk to us on the boat (which was a HUGE change since usually we couldn't shut him up, and he was the expert on EVERYTHING, at least in his own mind.) And he really didn't get in my way too much underwater. A few times due to his complete lack of awareness of his surroundings, but not as much as before. And for once the SI was a nice quiet sunbathing session! We all laid out up top, there was some idle chit chat, but we were all mellow and cool!

I also forgot to mention 'Nature Boy' We met Nature Boy and his friend on the FA pier, they too were waiting for Careyitos. Nice guys, chatted a bit until the boat arrived. Then, when we got on the boat my hubby and I were getting our gear out and set up while chatting with the Jersey guys and I glance back towards the front of the boat and I see HEINEY, and I don't mean beer! :moon: Now, I'm a nurse, so I know what a heiney looks like, and I've seen more than my share, but I had to do a double take. Yup its a heiney! This guy must have been of scottish decent because he apparently didn't wear anything underneath his wetsuit! And he was chatting with Ciello and Ricardo as he was changing as if nothing odd was going on at all. Ciello noticed that I noticed, I just shrugged my shoulders and he laughed. But it was definitely in the back of my head all day.

'that dude is nekkid under that there wetsuit!' Why it stuck with me when a bathing suit is just one flimsy layer more, I don't know, but that dude was nekkid under there!

Anyway, I just realized that I had left out the most important info from our last day of diving so I had to add.

 

[goofygirl]

Mike- Good to know the lions are better off than they were before. Any chance you know their history? Where they came from, how they got rescued and ended up at Casa? Just out of curiosity...

cxg31s- They picked us up at the FA pier so I never made it to the marina to witness the further athletic prowess of Senior Ricardo! He also never took a SI swim that I noticed (it was unseasonable windy and choppy last week Ricardo kept saying, maybe that's why) but one of the Jersey guys mentioned seeing that feat on one of their past trips with Careyitos. He said it was just amazing!

Glad to hear you've had experience with yahoo's too. I was afraid I was just being an oversensitive girl about the whole thing. It's a great big ocean I just don't understand why people feel the need to bunch up! Maybe humans have an inate schooling instint too. Hmmmm....



Everyone- Thanks to all the Scubaboarders who helped us plan this great dive trip! We scoured these boards prior to our trip and all the info here was incredibly helpful! It was a fantastic vacation, and wonderful diving. Now it's on to plan the next dive trip! Hmmm, where should we go now??? :jump013:

 

[Scuber]

Hi! Glad to hear your trip went well! I just HAD to tell you that I also experienced a yahoo on our trip. We were diving w/ a family of three. The daughter, (about 15 years old, I'm guessing) was all over me! Above! Under! Infront (fins in face)! And yes-behind! She must've came down on my tank at least 3/4 times! Very frustrating-saw hardly anything, and used up too much air! I was always on the lookout for her to be ready for when she would come around!
La Choza was great! We'll have to try Casa Denis next time we're there!

 

[ggunn]

Hi! Glad to hear your trip went well! I just HAD to tell you that I also experienced a yahoo on our trip. We were diving w/ a family of three. The daughter, (about 15 years old, I'm guessing) was all over me! Above! Under! Infront (fins in face)! And yes-behind! She must've came down on my tank at least 3/4 times! Very frustrating-saw hardly anything, and used up too much air! I was always on the lookout for her to be ready for when she would come around!
La Choza was great! We'll have to try Casa Denis next time we're there!

New divers tend to bunch up near the DM, flail around with all 4 limbs, flit around like moths, and collide with each other and anyone else nearby. I was a newbie once, too, and did all of those things myself. Nowadays, my wife and I hang back at the end of the group and stop well back when we see the others stop; if you're at the end of the line you can control your degree of separation. New scuba hand sign => "please, after you".

 

[goofygirl]

New divers tend to bunch up near the DM, flail around with all 4 limbs, flit around like moths, and collide with each other and anyone else nearby. I was a newbie once, too, and did all of those things myself. Nowadays, my wife and I hang back at the end of the group and stop well back when we see the others stop; if you're at the end of the line you can control your degree of separation. New scuba hand sign => "please, after you".

Ggun- You make a very good point, and while we are newbies, we were hanging towards the middle or back of the group. The yahoo however (with all his big talk and expensive gear) always had to be the first one right behind Ricardo...until he'd stop to look at something, hang around way too long, then realize he was no longer right behind Ricardo, then had to race through all the other divers (not too many on most dives since we didn't have large groups) to resume his place up front.

I did use your 'please, after you' hand sign a few times. In hindsight what I think I can claim responsibility for is being a newbie/new drift diver and not really knowing how to STOP other than turning around and finning against the current.

I loved drift diving for it's effortlessness, just let the current carry you along and see what you see along the way. But when the yahoo stopped right in front of me several times I either had to swim around him or try to stop.

I'd try to swing wide so we weren't in such an obvious 'line' formation, which was fine on the days when there were more divers on the trip, but when there were fewer of us, the DM's/dive guides kept us more tightly corralled and we always ended up in a line. On the days when it was just 3 or 4 of us, I ended up right behind the yahoo.

If anyone can give me some tips on easy ways of stopping, or slowing down in the current so I can be a better drift diver, and avoid yahoos in the future I would really appreciate it.rofile:

 

[ggunn]

If anyone can give me some tips on easy ways of stopping, or slowing down in the current so I can be a better drift diver, and avoid yahoos in the future I would really appreciate it.rofile:

Here's a couple of things that you may or may not have figured out on your own:

The speed of the current is a lot slower right down on the bottom, so you can get right down on the deck and let the other divers catch up and/or pass you. The water is very still in the lee of coral formations, too, so that's a good place to stop, and if you can find one off to the side of the track that the others are following, you lessen the chances that your yahoo will try and duck into the same quiet water as you.

When you head back out into the current, try to do so with your body already pointed in the right direction. I see a lot of folks go out of calm water facing into the current, start going backwards, and then get swept quite a ways downcurrent just trying to get turned around; that point where your body is perpendicular to the current you are like a sail and you don't have much control.

One spot where divers tend to bunch up is right before a swimthrough; the DM wants to count heads before and after, so he will stop and do that before he goes in. If you are near the end of the line, stop well ahead of where the entrance to the swimthrough is, but in easy sight of the DM, and don't advance to the opening until you can fin right over to it and through without stopping again.