Downing
Contributor
Gator. That's the other dog.
Flying Out of Ohio to Belize Saturday
- Thread starter marshallkarp
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craracer
Contributor
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Ah yes, Gator! How could I forget! Those two dogs can fish from the dock like nobody's business. 
Last time we were there, it was pretty hot, so the dynamic duo spent the day in the office, where the AC was on high, and the floor is cool.
TIR really did set the bar high, hence our apprehension trying out a new place. I really got the impression that the resort is much like TIR. Again, I wanted to try somewhere new; they do more diving than TIR, the price was better, and you can snorkel around when not diving.
Last time we were there, it was pretty hot, so the dynamic duo spent the day in the office, where the AC was on high, and the floor is cool.I'll take plenty of photos and write up a review. Maybe I'll bring my "good" camera this time.
TIR really did set the bar high, hence our apprehension trying out a new place. I really got the impression that the resort is much like TIR. Again, I wanted to try somewhere new; they do more diving than TIR, the price was better, and you can snorkel around when not diving.
Ralph Capeling
Contributor
Downing, I'm glad you like our mission statement and look forward to seeing you when you get down this way.
Regards
Ralph
Regards
Ralph
Hank49
Contributor
Well damn...I was going to head across to Turneffe yesterday but from here, it looked dark and gray up that way. How was the weather out there?
Saturday was beautiful out on the reef. I could see Turneffe clearly but didn't take enough gas along for that trip.
Downing
Contributor
I guess Marshall couldn't find any internet access on AC.
More likely, he's having too much fun to plunk himself down in front of a computer.
:goingdown: or :work:
Not a tough choice.
More likely, he's having too much fun to plunk himself down in front of a computer.
:goingdown: or :work:
Not a tough choice.
OP
marshallkarp
Contributor
Huh, where am I? Oh yeah, must have fallen asleep under this palm tree. Anyway, what was I saying?
Got into the Costa Maya Resort Saturday on every form of transportation imaginable - plane, puddle jumper, taxi, boat, elephant (alright, maybe not elephant). The Costa Maya is very slow and quiet now, there appears to be only a handful of people here, minimum staff, but we are comfortable. Along the way of getting here, we had to grocery shop and drag our groceries along with our luggage by boat to the resort. The northern end is being slowly developed, but there are no super markets or circle k's that I know of here, so you need to take the water taxi back to town if you need groceries.
The restaurant on grounds is very nice and there is a chef, just not a cook, preparing the meals. I thought my wife and I might have a problem with eating the local food, and we brought as much food as our luggage weight limit allowed, but we are okay with eating the food. We are not drinking the water and drinking bottle water and bottle diet coke.
San Pedro is the sort of town you see in a Mexican type movie, not Hollywood Mexico, but real Mexico. It is dirty and gritty, but very interesting. Real photo opportunities everywhere.
But without further ado, let me get to the diving, as I am sure that is what you want to know. Never had the opportunity to wake up, walk out the dock to the dive boat, and go diving five minutes out. You have to go beyond the barrier reef as it is too shallow inside the reef. On the dock is the Belize Academy of Diving with Craig, the owner, Geo, the dive Master, and Captain Kirk, the boat driver. These guys are good. We actually had a problem on the first dive, some lady hadn't dove for awhile and went up too fast too soon and Geo was on her and him and Captain Kirk took matters well in hand. Maybe too much, as I thought she was headed for the chamber and turns out she was vomiting underwater, continually. She was okay, though.
I've made two dives everyday. Reefs look good, lots of fish. Saw the same stingray every day. Second day, school of five dolphin played with us the whole dive. People pay money to dive with the dolphins and they just hung out with us. They circled, performed, shot to the surface, clicked, whistled, and sonared us. Dive of a lifetime and I will never forget this.
The humidity is wrecking havoc on my electronics. I just got the dell netbook going and connected to the internet finally today. It was crashing the first day and it will not let my down load the video card from my camera, so I will post pictures upon my return. The hotspot is in an open air building, so to solve the computer problem, I open the computer, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then turn it on. In other words, we are going from air conditioning to humidity to use the internet.
As for my Flip HD video camera, I could not get it to turn on underwater. I left it on the boat the dolphin dive, as it was useless, but at least I had my backup camera where I got stills and some standard def video of the dolphins. Wouldn't you know, dive of a lifetime and my equipment is malfunctioning?
Got the gear back to the room and examined everything. Now, I know what you are thinking, why didn't I test it before I left on the trip? I did, I took it into Gilboa two weeks before we left and no problem.
Well, it turns out that the L shaped brackets in the housing are cut too deep by fractions of an inch. The camera sits too far down and though it powers on, I can't get the outer control to reach the record button. In the quarry dive, it might not have been pressed this far far down, but I did not press the record button too much, just a couple of test video shots. Anyway, some thin rubber strips and duct tape wrapped around strategic spots on the camera keeps it from being pressed down, so it is working again and I used it on the subsequent dives. I've never had a problem with Ikelite before and I am sure they will take care of this when I get it back to them for adjustments next week, so other than the dolphin dive, no other problems.
Last night, we drank coconut milk of a coconut, sat on the deck and talked under the moon and stars and listened to the sounds of the waves. Life is too short and you need to take advantage of moments like this.
We will be returning Saturday and photos and video should be posted on my blog www.marshallkarp.com next week.
Yuns take care.
Be seeing you.
Got into the Costa Maya Resort Saturday on every form of transportation imaginable - plane, puddle jumper, taxi, boat, elephant (alright, maybe not elephant). The Costa Maya is very slow and quiet now, there appears to be only a handful of people here, minimum staff, but we are comfortable. Along the way of getting here, we had to grocery shop and drag our groceries along with our luggage by boat to the resort. The northern end is being slowly developed, but there are no super markets or circle k's that I know of here, so you need to take the water taxi back to town if you need groceries.
The restaurant on grounds is very nice and there is a chef, just not a cook, preparing the meals. I thought my wife and I might have a problem with eating the local food, and we brought as much food as our luggage weight limit allowed, but we are okay with eating the food. We are not drinking the water and drinking bottle water and bottle diet coke.
San Pedro is the sort of town you see in a Mexican type movie, not Hollywood Mexico, but real Mexico. It is dirty and gritty, but very interesting. Real photo opportunities everywhere.
But without further ado, let me get to the diving, as I am sure that is what you want to know. Never had the opportunity to wake up, walk out the dock to the dive boat, and go diving five minutes out. You have to go beyond the barrier reef as it is too shallow inside the reef. On the dock is the Belize Academy of Diving with Craig, the owner, Geo, the dive Master, and Captain Kirk, the boat driver. These guys are good. We actually had a problem on the first dive, some lady hadn't dove for awhile and went up too fast too soon and Geo was on her and him and Captain Kirk took matters well in hand. Maybe too much, as I thought she was headed for the chamber and turns out she was vomiting underwater, continually. She was okay, though.
I've made two dives everyday. Reefs look good, lots of fish. Saw the same stingray every day. Second day, school of five dolphin played with us the whole dive. People pay money to dive with the dolphins and they just hung out with us. They circled, performed, shot to the surface, clicked, whistled, and sonared us. Dive of a lifetime and I will never forget this.
The humidity is wrecking havoc on my electronics. I just got the dell netbook going and connected to the internet finally today. It was crashing the first day and it will not let my down load the video card from my camera, so I will post pictures upon my return. The hotspot is in an open air building, so to solve the computer problem, I open the computer, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then turn it on. In other words, we are going from air conditioning to humidity to use the internet.
As for my Flip HD video camera, I could not get it to turn on underwater. I left it on the boat the dolphin dive, as it was useless, but at least I had my backup camera where I got stills and some standard def video of the dolphins. Wouldn't you know, dive of a lifetime and my equipment is malfunctioning?
Got the gear back to the room and examined everything. Now, I know what you are thinking, why didn't I test it before I left on the trip? I did, I took it into Gilboa two weeks before we left and no problem.
Well, it turns out that the L shaped brackets in the housing are cut too deep by fractions of an inch. The camera sits too far down and though it powers on, I can't get the outer control to reach the record button. In the quarry dive, it might not have been pressed this far far down, but I did not press the record button too much, just a couple of test video shots. Anyway, some thin rubber strips and duct tape wrapped around strategic spots on the camera keeps it from being pressed down, so it is working again and I used it on the subsequent dives. I've never had a problem with Ikelite before and I am sure they will take care of this when I get it back to them for adjustments next week, so other than the dolphin dive, no other problems.
Last night, we drank coconut milk of a coconut, sat on the deck and talked under the moon and stars and listened to the sounds of the waves. Life is too short and you need to take advantage of moments like this.
We will be returning Saturday and photos and video should be posted on my blog www.marshallkarp.com next week.
Yuns take care.
Be seeing you.
You seem to have learned this for yourself, but a word to the wise for others - don't keep laptops & cameras etc in an A/C room. With the extreme humidity here you can guarantee condensation inside, which can destroy either. I lost a laptop that way - the service shop found the mother board badly corroded and irrepairable, and several people have lost camera lenses which have grown severe fungus inside.
If things HAVE to be kept in an A/C room, pack them in thick absorbent material, the more layers the better, and let them warm up still in the material until they are at ambient.
If things HAVE to be kept in an A/C room, pack them in thick absorbent material, the more layers the better, and let them warm up still in the material until they are at ambient.
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Odd, I thot that ACs removed humidity.
Hank49
Contributor
Don, It's when you carry the cold computer from the AC room out into the warm, humid ....luxurious, perfect tropical air that it gets condensation.
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