Caribe Blu shore dive?

[1KWIK_69]

El Cid. There is far less left of it since Wilma, and no boat dive will take you there. You'll have to get there on a shore dive, assuming that they let you in there at all if you're not a guest of the hotel.

That's the same plane that's in front of Aqua World just south of Casa Del Mar
right? Or what's left of it anyway. They couild enter at Aqua by the pedestrian
bridge and go south to it. That use to be my favorite night dive!

A bonus is they can also have a tasty adult beverage at Aqua after the dive!

 

[ggunn]

That's the same plane that's in front of Aqua World just south of Casa Del Mar
right? Or what's left of it anyway. They couild enter at Aqua by the pedestrian
bridge and go south to it. That use to be my favorite night dive!

A bonus is they can also have a tasty adult beverage at Aqua after the dive!

Yes, that's the one.

 

[sharky60]

El Cid. There is far less left of it since Wilma, and no boat dive will take you there. You'll have to get there on a shore dive, assuming that they let you in there at all if you're not a guest of the hotel.

I'm sure after Wilma there's not much left, there were HUGE pieces of cement washed up on the shore in that area after the hurrican. Dive with Martin's old shop was under a lot of it.

There used to be a huge anchor out there also,

but again, no promises

If the hotel won't let you use their dive op to rent tanks, you can go to DWM, their shop is located just at the end of the International Pier, right next to El Cid (south), and get tanks from them and enter the water by Senor Frogs and head out to Airplane flats and see what's left.

You could also rent tanks from one of the dive ops just north of El Cid, Papa Hogs, Scuba Shack?, maybe a couple others? and attack from the north.

That day's currents may help make the decision.

We've devised several schemes to get back out there, we used to stay at La Ceiba (El Cid), and this was a regular shore dive for us, so we've wanted to get back after the hurricane, but the first year they wouldn't allow any shore diving in the area due to too much debris and last year we just didn't make it. So we are shooting to give it another try this year.

Before Martin passed away he used to take people on dives on the International Pier, I think he had to get special permission from harbor patrol and only do it on days when no ships were in. I always wanted to do that with him, pier dives can be very cool.

 

[randapex]

Thanks for the information. Even if we don't do the dives on the flats, you've given me some background that will help if the right situation arises. It would be interesting to take a look around the area.
Rand

 

[MyPC8MyBrain]

These are all pics from Shore dive at caribe blu. We would go up current toward villa blanca/papa hogs pier then turn when the air was low. With the current only used about 300# to get back to caribe blu. You have to slow down and look.. things are smaller and hiding better than on the big reefs. There was an octo that lived out past the left corner marker for the swim area, But that was a year ago... Your results may vary

Overall it looks kind of like this:

Golden Eye eels:

Spotted:

Puffer:

Puffer & Angel:

Teenage Drum:

Some sort of puffer:

Better shot of the eels:

Arrow Crab:

Flamingo Tongue:

I think there are more, if anyone wants i can "fish" them up.

Don

 

[cxg31s]

Hey thanks for posting the pics, that gives me a much better idea of what we can expect! Looks like there's tons of life to photograph, we probably won't even make it as far as Papa Hogs. I can't wait!

 

[Daweri]

Those pictures are GREAT, thanks for posting!! My husband and I are newbies so pretty much excited about anything we see underwater. We will be heading to the Caribe Blu in a few weeks and can hardly wait!!