Taking Tracey to The Offsets

11:16 AM Rick



















It had been about a month since our first trip to The Offsets and I mentioned to my wife Tracey about going again. Much to my suprise she showed some interest in going along! This was a suprise because I have been asking her for several years to go a long but the answer was always NO. I honestly didnt think she would like and and might do one short dive but I was game to help her out and get here going. She took a practice session through the local dive shop pool to get aclimated to her gear and water and did really well despite her nervousness.
Along with us were Kevin and Katonya and their two kids. We decided to make a family event of it and brought food, drinks and barbeque to enjoy. Usually I just dive and walk around before the second dive of the day, but since we had a bigger group it sounded fun to make a picnic out of it too.







Getting the girls geared up took a while. Tracey still wasnt certain how much weight she would need in fresh water with a much thicker wet suit, hood and gloves (this was her first fresh water dive!) so this would be an exercise in trial and error. This whole process took a while but we all finally got into the water and the girls got a little suprise when they initaily got in. The water there is a little colder than most bodies of water to say the least. If your not ready for it it can take your breath away but once your wet suit fills up the water warms and its not so bad. We started over on the shallow ledge which usually has the best visibility and help you get used to the conditions by giving you a visual refrence as you go down. I noticed right away that the visibility was down quite a bit and it wouldnt be as clear as it has been for the past year or so. Bummer.


Tracey found out right away that she just didnt have enough weight to submerge with the 5 mil wetsuit on, so we had to swim back over to the exit point and retreive some more weight. This was quite an undertaking since I was the one that did it fully geared up with 60 lbs on my back in 90 degree sun! We quickly got that squared away and off we went.


The diving was cold and murky but we did manage to find lots of stuff. Tracey even managed to find and earing on the bottom. She wasnt down there very long though because it is MUCH colder down there than at the surface and she told me later that she wasnt particularly comfortable down there! (you never really get comfortable in that cold of water) After the first dive we all got out for lunch and a warm up period in the sun. We took a walk around the quarry and by the time we got back we were all burning up in the sun. I still had my wet suit on so I was rapidly overheating. The four of us jumped back into the water and those without wet suits got a taste of just how cold the water is!


Our second dive wasnt very productive since the crowd wasnt very heavy that day and there were not a lot of cliff jumpers that day. At the end of our dive Kevin and I were called over to the zip line landing platfom to find the trolley which had been accidentally dropped in the water. After a quick search I found it and got us all a free zip line ride! It was a lot more fun that I thought it would be but didnt last long enough.
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10:46 AM Rick
The next day I was scheduled for a two tank boat dive in the afternoon. Fiinally, after 5 years I was getting back in the water! The afternoon boat was almost empty too. Only 6 divers going out so there wasn't a crowd to contend with. I didnt bring my camera on this trip. I was thinking I would need a dive or two to acclimate to the borrowed gear I had on this trip but I was wrong. Shortly after I hit the water I felt back at home. Our plan was for the first dive to be a deep one which is typical. Go deep first and shallow second to reduce nitrogen build up in the blood. Our dive master said 80 feet max but that is just a formal statement most operators make. In Mexico that is usually the starting point for a deep dive! We went over the wall and dropped down the steep slope



The last time I was in Cozumel they were still recovering from the devestating affects of Hurricane Wilma. the reefs were burried in sand and much of the coral and sponge growth had been swept away. The reefs were now showing signs of a good recovery. The sand was clearing out , the marine life had returned and coral and sponge growth looked good. The visiblilty was a little less than perfect because of recent heavy rain and winds in the previous days. One thing noticeably absent were Cozumels strong currents that wisk divers along the reefs. The currents were almost still in comparison which means more work and more air consumtion on a dive. Bummer!



I managed a max depth of 96 feet on this dive. It felt good too. I had 12 pounds on my weight belt and was almost perfectly wieghted with my 3 mil suit. All was good and I was enjoying the dive. We saw the typical fish life of angel fish, wrasse, surgeon and trigger fish as well as a green moray swimming across the sand to his hiding spot. A couple of lobster tentacles sticking out of a hole cought my attention. I like playing with them a little by sticking my hand out towards their hole. Their natural curiousity will get the best of them and they will come use their tentacles to check you out. In non-protected waters this is the time to quickly grab the tentacles and yank them out of their hole, throw them in a bag and later have a nice lobster barbeque!



We surfaced to some slightly choppy water to get out of. This is always fun trying to remove fins and grab the ladder. Most divers remove their fins and put them on the boat but in rough water I usually remove my fins and hang them on my arms above my wrist to carry them out myself. By doing this I dont have to approach the boat until I'm ready to grab the ladder. My instructor taught me that years ago and I prefer to be more self sufficient and not depend on other divers or boat crew the help more than they have too. But sometimes your gear just wants to fight everything you do and help is needed!



After a short surface interval we did our shallow dive. Shallow dives are great for photograhy because much more natural light is available. The natural colors are more appearant even with no additional light. A lot of divers like shallow dives for the longer bottom times also. Shallow dives are less stressful since the surface is just a few kicks away. Bottom times can last a long time in shallow waters. My best to date is 65 minutes on an 80 cubic foot tank. Really good divers who are in excellent condition can stretch them to 90 minutes!



After getting back from the dives I cleaned up and got ready for a wonderful dinner with Tracey and the rest of my family members that traveled with us. Diving can sure work up and appetitie and I was ready to do some damage to the buffet at the resort. I was making a point of eating a lot of fruit durig this trip. There is always watermelon, pineapple, honeydew and cantelope to eat there!
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7:10 AM Rick
The next several days of diving were really good. The water had calmed down quite a bit and it was much more like the Cozumel I remembered. The heat and humidity of the first couple of days was gone and the weather was very nice. I was only doing two dive a day and having to go back and forth to another resort to meet up with my dive boat. I got picked up by a shuttle boat which was great but timing was never certain. I almost missed my dive one day because the shuttle boat came early taking the rest of the group but I missed it. I got word to the dive shop that I was waiting and they came back to pick me up. I was getting aggrevated by the fact that Iwas getting moved from one dive master to another because I didnt have a regular group of divers. I ended up diving the same sites 3 times and although they never get old I did want to visit more sites. I had managed one day of diving with my old friend Gustavo , my divemaster from previous trips, but his boat was full for the week with a group. They had planned to dive Punta Sur on Thursday morning and I was supposed to be on his boat but I got bumped off and never got to dive it. I was very disappointed about this and vowed not be bumped around again. All in all the diving for the week was very good. I got 9 boat dive and one shore dive in with my wife. I always plan to dive more than I do. There is just so much fun to have both in and out of the water. I thinks sometimes that I need to go there by myself sometime to just dive and not to be distracted by everlything else.
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The Offsetts , Memorial Day 2010

6:53 AM Rick
Got back from an opening weekend dive at The Offsetts yesterday and it was a good one. I wasnt expecting much on opening weekend but there had appearantly been a flurry of activity there in the previous day and the treasure hunting was good. The visibility was excellent and my dive buddy and I picked up a bunch of treasures. Mostly sunglasses but we each found some cash too. I even scored me a nice mask which someone had lost. All it needs is a cleanup and it ready to use.



The owner is spending quiet a bit in upgrades recently. He is installing a zipline attraction set to open soon so this summer should be very busy there once it is open. I heard they are having a beer pong tournament on the 4th July weekend so I have cleared my schedule for Juy 5th to go diving there. That should be agreat dive with lots of new treasures.



The old quarry has changed a lot in the nearly 20 years I have been diving there. Some of the cliff rock is falling off the face and a few of the archways have collapsed into the water. It stayed very rustic up intil this year with the construction of the zipline tower and improved landscaping on the grounds. They have cracked down on underage drinking now by using an wristband system. Up intil this year it was anything goes once you got through the front gate but not anymore! They wont openly let someone under 21 walk around with a beer can but they say they dont check cups! Yeah it will still be a big party place for the younger crowd! What I found funny is that the crowd has changed. The parking area used to be filled with big trucks, jeeps, and vehicles associated with more rural folks but there were several Mercedes and high end SUV, and sports cars parked there yesterday! Mine La Motte is going high class! Very Funny ! Cant wait for this season of diving!
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Cozumel, April 2010

6:05 PM Rick

Well , it been a few days since returning from my trip to Cozumel. I am adjusting to "real life" again and reflecting on the trip. This was my fourth trip to Cozumel, and my third to Occiental Allegro. There were some unexpected changes at the resort since my last visit 5 years ago.

As I expected the lack of a direct flight caused some headaches and delays in getting there. The typical 2 1/2 hour flight turned into a 9 hour trip. Much too long!

We got to the resort and got settled into our room. I was anxious to get down to the dive shop to sign up and try to get my wife Tracey and I ready for an afternoon shore dive. I turned the corner to the dive shop and where Dive Palancar should have been only to find a new dive operator! I walked up to the gal in the window and asked about doing a shore dive and she bluntly said "There are no shore dives here" She wasnt rude but her attitude wasnt exactly friendly either. I asked why and she said something to the referring to it being illegal and the "previous operator" was poorly managed. I wasnt exactly impressed with this first meeting. I had to bite my tounge to keep from expressing my opinion so I said thanks and left. At this point I was getting worried. Who the heck would i dive through! I wanted to start diveing first thing in the morning but wasnt sure who to go through at this point. I walked to the pier and looked up the beach to the next resort and I spied what looked like the Dive Plancar boats tied up off of Occidental Grand resort. I took a quick walk up the beach and found that Palancar had moved to the Grand resort for some reason or another. No one wanted to talk about it too much but I seemed there were some hard feeling about what happened. Nonetheless, I got signed up with them for some afternoon dives and I was happy to be diving with some old friends in
Cozumel. They agreed to pick me up at the pier at my resort and deliver me to the dive boat every day. That would save me a long walk on the beach every day! The best part is that they still allowed unlimited shore dives at their new beach area at Grand. The next morining I took Tracey and our gear up the beach to do a shore dive with her. It had been 5 years since her last dive so she needed some refresher water time. Unfortunately the water was kind of rough that morning and she had a difficult time. The waves freaked her out and ultimatley she bailed out after her unsucsessful attempt of getting though the waves. I was initially upset with her for quiting so soon, she is a good diver and knows what to do. All she had to do is get through the waves and she would be in the clear! Tracey got out but i decided to go out for a while and try out the borrowed gear I was using. I did have one problem. I had recently purchased some new boots but never tried them on until arriving in Mexico. When I put them on and tried to put my fins on I found they wouldnt fit in the fin pocket!! Ultimately I had to force them into the fins and loosen my fin straps . Now getting them off would be quite a work out!

After the shore dive I returned to our resort for a look around. There were some obvious changes going on here! After talking with a few locals I discovered that Cozumel was in the middle of a recession itself. With an economy that revolves around tourism , the recession in America has had an affect on the Cozumel economy. Our resort which had rebuilt and expanded after Hurricane Wilma was mostly empty. The official number was 55% capacity but it almost seemed deserted at times. The services had been cut back too. It could be downright frustrating to get a drink at the bar sometimes! It seems the bartenders were told to be extra slow to serve drinks to discourage consumption. I usually tip at the begining of the week to get quicker service but after my first attempt at the bar I decided to wait to see if service improved.....it didnt. Dont get me wrong here, they employees were very cordial and nice but very slow. In previous trips here even with a very busy bar the wait for your drinks was usually very short and the selve serve Corona on tap was no more. I tried to pour my own but was quickly told NO. Bummer! It is obvious the resorts are cutting back to conserve money. They have to to survive I supose. Despite the changes the resort is still very nice , clean and inviting to be at. I have no complaints about the facilities. Even the beds are softer and more comfortable now. The food was average but good enough for seconds! I had read many complaints on line about food but found a good selection and for the most part flavorful.

I will continue my trip later on another posting!
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Getting Ready!

6:30 AM Rick












Putting some final details together for our upcoming trip to Cozumel. Picked up my regulator form local dive shop after getting serviced. Now I need to call the airlines we are taking to try to better understand what kind of luggage charges we can expect. To top it off, I am hearing on the news this morning that some airlines will now be charging for carry-ons as well. Unbelievable! They feel compelled to charge for everything now to get your hard earned....and saved...money. I'm not rich, so how do they expect us to be able to continue to travel and "stimulate" the economy if they keep pushing prices higher?



It seems you cant get non stop flights to your destination anymore either. What once was a 2 1/2 hour flight from home to the beach is now half day or more of travel and layovers! That's what happens when an airline moves its hub city and airline traffic dwindles away.






Next week I will be taking my wife to a pool session with a group of students from the dive shop to refresh her skills. She is looking forward to it but is nervous since she seems to have forgotten most everthing in the 5 years since she last got wet! Starting from scratch.





I think I will be getting in the pool as well since I haven't dove since last summer. I used to go diving several times a month but life is a bit more hectic now and dive time isnt as easy to schedule any more! How life changes as you grow older!



My final checklist of bug spray, suncreen, chapstick, Ibuprofrin, extra batteries and a supply of dollar bills for tips . Everything operates on tips in Cozumel and batteries for cameras and lights are hard to find and expensive when available. Just when I think I've got it all together , then there is something else to get. One of these days I'm going to pack a single bag and get a one way ticket and stay a while! My goal before I die!!












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Getting Started

8:39 AM Rick



























Bay Island Beach Resort Boat dock. Dive boats await the arrival of Tropical Storm Gamma!




I have some friends that have decided to get certified this spring so they can go with my wife and I on a trip to a tropical paradise. The plan is for them to get certified this spring and then get some experience locally. They should have plenty underwater time and be comfortable with their gear before making their first ocean dive.

I think that is an ideal situation for new divers. Having logged possibly a hundred dives in less than ideal conditions before my first trip made my first reef dive that much more enjoyable and stress free. My wife on the other hand, decided to do her certification in the most inconvenient way. Two weeks before a trip to Cozumel in '05 she decided she wanted to get certified. I was rather upset at her last minute decision because it usually takes 2 weeks to do your class and pool sessions, and then another weekend to get to the open water check out dives. Not enough time. We took a trip to our local dive shop which a buddy of mine owned. We bought the course book, got her some mask, fins and snorkel and headed home for some home school crash course studies. We made arrangements with the dive shop that I would help her with the book work and pool work on her underwater skills. The pool work proved difficult because she doesn't take instruction from me very well but we managed to cover all of the necessary underwater skills successfully. She did her own book work. I helped her with questions and demonstrations.

We met a class at a pool for some follow up with an instructor who agreed she was doing skills correctly. The night before we left she took the written test and made arrangement on line with the dive shop in Cozumel to do her check out dives there. It was pretty stressful for both of us but we managed to get her up to speed in two weeks. Her check out dives in Mexico went well and she is now an accomplished diver with 10 dives under her belt and a max depth of 80 feet!
























Looking up the wall at a diver

I wouldn't ever recommend anyone getting a certification in such a hasty manner. The skills you need to get etched in your mind are not fully there yet. It has been 5 years since her last dive and were going again soon so now she has to "review" her skills in a pool. Now she will be nervous and unsure of herself all over again. She classifies herself as a warm water diver only which is fine but living in the Midwest, doesn't offer much skill development. Now that our friends are getting certified she might push herself to do some local diving and refine her skills.

What my wife doesn't realize is that sooner or later something will go wrong on a dive and she has no practical experience with gear or problem solving underwater. The thought of her mask getting bumped off her face or regulator getting torn out of your mouth is a reality so I'm not sure how she will reacts to these situations at 50, 80, or 100 feet. Most new divers don't plan for such circumstances but they will happen. In my nearly 20 years of diving I have had many scary, if not life threatening situations to deal with. Some were my own stupid mistakes, others were someone elses cause but regardless, it takes some fast thinking and rationalizing to get yourself through it. Stupid mistakes , bad decisions and panic will get you! I witnessed a very experienced diver (much more so than me) make one bad mistake and it killed her! She left a husband and two young children. I keep her obituary in my log book so I don't forget what can happen!

You don't have to be an extreme technical diver to be a good diver. I am a recreational diver with only 5 certifications. I don't even have a rescue diver certification but I know divers that do who are no better in the water than I am. Its easy to get the certification cards by passing courses and some planned water exercises , but it how a diver handles real life scenarios that proves their worth. That comes with experience. I have saved two divers from severe consequences of their bad decision making or for not paying attention to their situation.



















Conch Pile. Roatan, Honduras

Everyone gets spooked underwater at some point. Wether in fresh water of in the ocean there is much that can scare you. Its having confidence in your abilities and skills that will get you through it and keep you coming back for more. It a real rush to explore these underwater realms that surround us. BE SAFE

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