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We had two great boat dives today. Drift diving as I imagined it to be :-). We did two dive sites Palancar Gardens and Yucab. The first site had amazing coral formations and swim-throughs. We saw a turtle and lots of the usual fish. The current was flowing but it was easy to ride and manoeuvre and you could hold you position long enough to take a photo when the opportunity came by. The second dive was shallower and was a festival of fish...lots of beautiful ones to see. The dive started out with us being greeted by an Eagle Ray and smaller Southern Ray when we descended down to the sandy bottom before heading over to the coral. The current was a bit stronger on this dive but we quickly learned to flow over the hills of coral then drop down behind them to hover and look in the nooks and crannies for critters. Both very fun and entertaining dives!
Then it was back to the dock and time for lunch. TACOS were the special today and they were excellent! Imagine...real TACOS...:-).
Wade then heard the call of the hammocks and had a little snooze while I wandered around and took some pics of the cute crabs scuttling around on the shore.
After lunch the fun and nap time was over and it was time to get serious (yeah....right)...it was time for our Rescue Diver skills dive...four of our group are completing our Rescue Diver certifications while we are here and need to prove we can do in the ocean what we have done in the pool. A bit intimidating for sure thinking of what we had to do out in the open ocean with the current running strong! We were under Dave's scrutiny as we rescued him, Monica and Brian in a number of scenarios. We had to reassure them and tow them when they were tired (on the surface). We had to subdue them when they freaked out and panicked on the surface. We had to calm an agitated diver under water then share our air and surface with them when they indicate they have run out of air. We had to bring up an unresponsive diver from the bottom and stabilize them on the surface and we had to rescue a non-breathing diver on the surface by providing rescue breathing while removing their gear and towing them to shore. Sounds easy right? Now add a strong surface current...a inconveniently placed mooring line that was eager to strangle us and an instructor that was happy to throw in a few curve balls like disconnecting his inflator hose for the retrieve from the bottom exercise (Thanks a lot Dave...I really LOVE orally inflating BCDs at the surface!) and victims trying to bolt for the surface (good on Jeff for not letting Dave get away!). It was pretty cool to see how we kept our composure and thought our way through the exercises. Our training really kicked in and we were able to do everything required :-).
I learned a few things today about myself...I can easily flip a 300+ man over in the water and keep him afloat while I remove his gear and provide rescue breathing...it seemed like a daunting task but was not nearly as hard as I anticipated...now we'll see how hard it gets when we have to do extractions from the water! That may be a bit tougher LOL. I also sadly learned that apparently Brian thinks Jeff is a better kisser than I am...oh dear...what happens in Coz stays in Coz...nuff said ;-)
After all of the rescue stuff was done...we were EXHAUSTED...and we had clearly earned our dinner so after a quick shower and a debrief with Dave we headed up for a delicious dinner...where someone (not naming any names WADE) ordered me a Margarita...and let me tell you...whew...potent...as I sit here on Brian's porch writing this blog as the others chat about the day...I can still feel the world spinning around me! I will take a buddy with me to navigate the staircase from hell tonight! LOL
One other cool tidbit before I stagger off to bed...not only are there cute little geckos running around here...there are BATS in the courtyard! Doubt I'll be able to get a photo as they are out in the dark (of course) and are very fast...maybe that's why we haven't seen a single mosquito since we got here :-). May have to move here...no bats or geckos at home...
Nuff for now...the adventure continues tomorrow....
We had two great boat dives today. Drift diving as I imagined it to be :-). We did two dive sites Palancar Gardens and Yucab. The first site had amazing coral formations and swim-throughs. We saw a turtle and lots of the usual fish. The current was flowing but it was easy to ride and manoeuvre and you could hold you position long enough to take a photo when the opportunity came by. The second dive was shallower and was a festival of fish...lots of beautiful ones to see. The dive started out with us being greeted by an Eagle Ray and smaller Southern Ray when we descended down to the sandy bottom before heading over to the coral. The current was a bit stronger on this dive but we quickly learned to flow over the hills of coral then drop down behind them to hover and look in the nooks and crannies for critters. Both very fun and entertaining dives!
Then it was back to the dock and time for lunch. TACOS were the special today and they were excellent! Imagine...real TACOS...:-).
Wade then heard the call of the hammocks and had a little snooze while I wandered around and took some pics of the cute crabs scuttling around on the shore.
After lunch the fun and nap time was over and it was time to get serious (yeah....right)...it was time for our Rescue Diver skills dive...four of our group are completing our Rescue Diver certifications while we are here and need to prove we can do in the ocean what we have done in the pool. A bit intimidating for sure thinking of what we had to do out in the open ocean with the current running strong! We were under Dave's scrutiny as we rescued him, Monica and Brian in a number of scenarios. We had to reassure them and tow them when they were tired (on the surface). We had to subdue them when they freaked out and panicked on the surface. We had to calm an agitated diver under water then share our air and surface with them when they indicate they have run out of air. We had to bring up an unresponsive diver from the bottom and stabilize them on the surface and we had to rescue a non-breathing diver on the surface by providing rescue breathing while removing their gear and towing them to shore. Sounds easy right? Now add a strong surface current...a inconveniently placed mooring line that was eager to strangle us and an instructor that was happy to throw in a few curve balls like disconnecting his inflator hose for the retrieve from the bottom exercise (Thanks a lot Dave...I really LOVE orally inflating BCDs at the surface!) and victims trying to bolt for the surface (good on Jeff for not letting Dave get away!). It was pretty cool to see how we kept our composure and thought our way through the exercises. Our training really kicked in and we were able to do everything required :-).
I learned a few things today about myself...I can easily flip a 300+ man over in the water and keep him afloat while I remove his gear and provide rescue breathing...it seemed like a daunting task but was not nearly as hard as I anticipated...now we'll see how hard it gets when we have to do extractions from the water! That may be a bit tougher LOL. I also sadly learned that apparently Brian thinks Jeff is a better kisser than I am...oh dear...what happens in Coz stays in Coz...nuff said ;-)
After all of the rescue stuff was done...we were EXHAUSTED...and we had clearly earned our dinner so after a quick shower and a debrief with Dave we headed up for a delicious dinner...where someone (not naming any names WADE) ordered me a Margarita...and let me tell you...whew...potent...as I sit here on Brian's porch writing this blog as the others chat about the day...I can still feel the world spinning around me! I will take a buddy with me to navigate the staircase from hell tonight! LOL
One other cool tidbit before I stagger off to bed...not only are there cute little geckos running around here...there are BATS in the courtyard! Doubt I'll be able to get a photo as they are out in the dark (of course) and are very fast...maybe that's why we haven't seen a single mosquito since we got here :-). May have to move here...no bats or geckos at home...
Nuff for now...the adventure continues tomorrow....
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