pa diver
Contributor
Taken a little while to get back in the groove but the trip was great, and this morning I woke up to freezing 1 degree temp, brrrr.
We arrived on the 5th, and because it was Superbowl Sunday, I was a little nervous about getting hung up along the way and missing the game. Not to worry, plane on time and green lights at customs. Taxi to hotel Vista Del Mar and then a quick run down to Blue XT sea to get squared away with Christi. Christi was nice enough to take us to the French Quarter and we got good seats at the bar in front of TV. With Terrible Towels in hand we watched a crappy game (with good ending). I must agree with Scuba Sherry's assessment of the food. I like deep fried turkey and this was fine, but it's also a local favorite and not something I expected to eat on vacation. The rest of the buffet left something to be desired. Although I did take a look at their menu and they had a nice selection and I'll have to give it a try when we get back.
With a Steelers win in hand, it was time to take the Terrible Towel on a victory tour.
2-6 Columbia... Dove with Jeff/Mia, Gary/John and our DM Pedro. Nice dive with good viz, the swimthru's were great and at every turn Pedro managed to point out a little critter. Pipefish, Bristleworm and a couple of others that I never did get to see. Turtles were nice to see and would turn up on just about every dive.
San Francisco was a better dive, Angels, eels, toadfish and several Southern Stingrays and one Eagle Ray
Had a nice late lunch at Camilo's, Octopus taco's yum, LaChoza for dinner and dessert at the Coffee Bean. What a great first full day.
2-7 Palancar Gardens where the current was abusive. It was like swimming in a washing machine, lots of damage from Wilma was evident. We dove with Geryl/Lydia Gary/John. Pedro did a great job keeping us together and manuvering around the swim thru's because at every turn the current would slam you in a different direction. Not a fun dive, but one you chalk up to experience
We then moved from the washing machine to Paso del Cedral, with several areas that were a complete sand storm. It actually looked like we were going through a white out (for all of you northerners), but it was still neat seeing large schools of fish hiding from the current behind the coral heads. Saw a nurse shark, several large schools of baraccuda.
Had lunch a LaChoza and dinner at Casa Denis on the square, garlic conch and pork taco's, both very good.
2-8 Palancar Bricks, what a difference a day makes. Very little current, swim thrus with turtles lurking around and a very playfull group of jawfish. Pedro found an old coin in the rubble of broken coral (how he saw that is amazing) and we had a turtle that had been swimming on the surface attempt to dive down on top of us during our safety stop, startled turtles can and do move quickly!
Punta Dalila, another very pretty dive with no current. Found a toadfish and a pair of juvenile drums along with a little inch and a half pufferfish. Lobsters and several turtles rounded out the sightings. We took the Terrible Towel for a dive with us that morning. Dive number 50, whoooo, whoooo.
Lunch at a place a couple of doors down from Casa Denis, where the fish tacos were fair at best but the mixed fajitas were very good.
Night dive at Paradise, very cool. Octopus, eels, (green, spotted and sharp tailed), crabs, more juvenile drums, 2 pairs that were either fighting or playing, a bristle worm and lobsters, lobsters and more lobsters. After coffee and dessert at the Coffee Bean, an early night.
2-9 Maracaibo. A long boat ride even on Christi's fast boat, way down to the southern tip of the island. Beautiful sunny day, little current, and lots to see. The only dive site all week where we saw lots of sea fans, found some toad fish, nurse sharks and a half a dozen turtles.
La Francesa was another great dive. We saw just about everything we wanted to see. Turtles, nurse sharks, the largest groupers I have ever seen, and a couple of eagle rays. Long narrow coral reefs surrounded by sand with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Our last dives with Geryl and Lydia.
Lunch at the El Foco (next to El Casino Mojoito Bar) on 5th. Taco's that were very very good and much more on the menu, we just never made it to the other side of the menu. The menu is actually the sandwich board they have out front. When we sat down and asked for a menu they just went out front and grabbed the board. After several mojito's next door and an afternoon of strolling/shopping, we all had a nice
dinner at Guido's. Another very good dinner from Christi's list. The seafood special of the day was grilled tuna (wonderful) and the sticky tofee cake and hazelnut ice cream was a good ending.
2-10 We went to Columbia Deep and as Valwood1 who joined our group that morning described, the reef was beaten up pretty good. Gone were all of the beautiful fans from last year and although some of the swim thru's were larger and a very large turtle was sitting in one, the dive was a bit disapointing. Maybe it was because last year this is where we had our first glimpse of deep blue.
Paso del Cedral AGAIN! we decided to do this dive again because we really didn't see much of anything the first time. This time we saw the sand lying down instead of whipping by our masks. Kinda eeerie with the sand dunes and differnt hues behind them. Almost like a desert and as we were starring at the patterns that surrounded the patch reef, out of the deep water came a blacktip reef shark. He parralleld us for 30-40 seconds and then just slid back into the deep. Saw a few turtles and very large snappers, then our diving was done.
We ended up back at the El Casino and then to the El Foco for dinner (unfortunately the terrible towel had one too many and wandered off... I hope he made it up on the wall of a good bar and is not destined to washing dirty mopeds). We said goodbye to our new friends John and Gary and drank a bottle of wine on our balcony overlooking tha harbor.
2-11 After a big breafast at Rock n Java we decide to look at a few other hotels in town and, after looking at several, we ended up spending the afternoon at the No Name Bar at the Baraccuda. We had heard lots of mixed reviews but thought because of the location it would be worth while checking out. There is a nice new pool with swim up bar, the rooms look like they have been freshly painted, nice easy water access and they are building a new Palapa. We liked what we saw and will consider this for our next visit. The bartenders were great (Karla has a great smile), and they even had fresh mint and made some mojitos for us.
2-12 our last day and after a good breakfast at CoCo's and one more lunch at LaChoza we had to grab cab and head to the airport. You would think all we did was eat drink and dive,.......................... sounds like a great vacation.
We arrived on the 5th, and because it was Superbowl Sunday, I was a little nervous about getting hung up along the way and missing the game. Not to worry, plane on time and green lights at customs. Taxi to hotel Vista Del Mar and then a quick run down to Blue XT sea to get squared away with Christi. Christi was nice enough to take us to the French Quarter and we got good seats at the bar in front of TV. With Terrible Towels in hand we watched a crappy game (with good ending). I must agree with Scuba Sherry's assessment of the food. I like deep fried turkey and this was fine, but it's also a local favorite and not something I expected to eat on vacation. The rest of the buffet left something to be desired. Although I did take a look at their menu and they had a nice selection and I'll have to give it a try when we get back.
With a Steelers win in hand, it was time to take the Terrible Towel on a victory tour.
2-6 Columbia... Dove with Jeff/Mia, Gary/John and our DM Pedro. Nice dive with good viz, the swimthru's were great and at every turn Pedro managed to point out a little critter. Pipefish, Bristleworm and a couple of others that I never did get to see. Turtles were nice to see and would turn up on just about every dive.
San Francisco was a better dive, Angels, eels, toadfish and several Southern Stingrays and one Eagle Ray
Had a nice late lunch at Camilo's, Octopus taco's yum, LaChoza for dinner and dessert at the Coffee Bean. What a great first full day.
2-7 Palancar Gardens where the current was abusive. It was like swimming in a washing machine, lots of damage from Wilma was evident. We dove with Geryl/Lydia Gary/John. Pedro did a great job keeping us together and manuvering around the swim thru's because at every turn the current would slam you in a different direction. Not a fun dive, but one you chalk up to experience
We then moved from the washing machine to Paso del Cedral, with several areas that were a complete sand storm. It actually looked like we were going through a white out (for all of you northerners), but it was still neat seeing large schools of fish hiding from the current behind the coral heads. Saw a nurse shark, several large schools of baraccuda.
Had lunch a LaChoza and dinner at Casa Denis on the square, garlic conch and pork taco's, both very good.
2-8 Palancar Bricks, what a difference a day makes. Very little current, swim thrus with turtles lurking around and a very playfull group of jawfish. Pedro found an old coin in the rubble of broken coral (how he saw that is amazing) and we had a turtle that had been swimming on the surface attempt to dive down on top of us during our safety stop, startled turtles can and do move quickly!
Punta Dalila, another very pretty dive with no current. Found a toadfish and a pair of juvenile drums along with a little inch and a half pufferfish. Lobsters and several turtles rounded out the sightings. We took the Terrible Towel for a dive with us that morning. Dive number 50, whoooo, whoooo.
Lunch at a place a couple of doors down from Casa Denis, where the fish tacos were fair at best but the mixed fajitas were very good.
Night dive at Paradise, very cool. Octopus, eels, (green, spotted and sharp tailed), crabs, more juvenile drums, 2 pairs that were either fighting or playing, a bristle worm and lobsters, lobsters and more lobsters. After coffee and dessert at the Coffee Bean, an early night.
2-9 Maracaibo. A long boat ride even on Christi's fast boat, way down to the southern tip of the island. Beautiful sunny day, little current, and lots to see. The only dive site all week where we saw lots of sea fans, found some toad fish, nurse sharks and a half a dozen turtles.
La Francesa was another great dive. We saw just about everything we wanted to see. Turtles, nurse sharks, the largest groupers I have ever seen, and a couple of eagle rays. Long narrow coral reefs surrounded by sand with lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Our last dives with Geryl and Lydia.
Lunch at the El Foco (next to El Casino Mojoito Bar) on 5th. Taco's that were very very good and much more on the menu, we just never made it to the other side of the menu. The menu is actually the sandwich board they have out front. When we sat down and asked for a menu they just went out front and grabbed the board. After several mojito's next door and an afternoon of strolling/shopping, we all had a nice
dinner at Guido's. Another very good dinner from Christi's list. The seafood special of the day was grilled tuna (wonderful) and the sticky tofee cake and hazelnut ice cream was a good ending.
2-10 We went to Columbia Deep and as Valwood1 who joined our group that morning described, the reef was beaten up pretty good. Gone were all of the beautiful fans from last year and although some of the swim thru's were larger and a very large turtle was sitting in one, the dive was a bit disapointing. Maybe it was because last year this is where we had our first glimpse of deep blue.
Paso del Cedral AGAIN! we decided to do this dive again because we really didn't see much of anything the first time. This time we saw the sand lying down instead of whipping by our masks. Kinda eeerie with the sand dunes and differnt hues behind them. Almost like a desert and as we were starring at the patterns that surrounded the patch reef, out of the deep water came a blacktip reef shark. He parralleld us for 30-40 seconds and then just slid back into the deep. Saw a few turtles and very large snappers, then our diving was done.
We ended up back at the El Casino and then to the El Foco for dinner (unfortunately the terrible towel had one too many and wandered off... I hope he made it up on the wall of a good bar and is not destined to washing dirty mopeds). We said goodbye to our new friends John and Gary and drank a bottle of wine on our balcony overlooking tha harbor.
2-11 After a big breafast at Rock n Java we decide to look at a few other hotels in town and, after looking at several, we ended up spending the afternoon at the No Name Bar at the Baraccuda. We had heard lots of mixed reviews but thought because of the location it would be worth while checking out. There is a nice new pool with swim up bar, the rooms look like they have been freshly painted, nice easy water access and they are building a new Palapa. We liked what we saw and will consider this for our next visit. The bartenders were great (Karla has a great smile), and they even had fresh mint and made some mojitos for us.
2-12 our last day and after a good breakfast at CoCo's and one more lunch at LaChoza we had to grab cab and head to the airport. You would think all we did was eat drink and dive,.......................... sounds like a great vacation.
