The Background
In 2004 we decided to treat ourselves with a wintertime trip to warmer temperatures and nicer weather. Through a series of unlikely queries and choices we found ourselves booked at the Bahia Principé Akumal for March break.
We were hooked!
We have returned there each year since as well as broadening our destinations and the duration of our stay. With Donna's retirement, we were no longer tied to the public school calendar.
When we decided we would go to the Caribbean, I was determined to get my Open Water scuba diving certification. I wasn't, however, quite as quick of the mark as I might have been and started my course in late November or early December of 2003. After the studying and the pool work, the critical component of scuba certification is, rather naturally, diving in open water, e.g. the ocean. By this time it was February and the water temperature of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nova Scotia was -2o C! My excellent instructor, Mike Huntley of Sand & Sea Dive Shop in Kentville wore a dry suit. I wore a 7 mm wet suit. I'm afraid I could go on at some length about this adventure. It's enough to say that diving in warm water is wonderfully different and has become a passion.
2010
St. Lucia
January 15 - 22, 2010
We selected the Anse Chastanet Resort for two reasons: the best diving in St. Lucia and the best snorkelling (we're not complicated). Both lived up to expectations. The dive shop, Scuba St. Lucia, is staffed with knowledgeable, helpful and friendly people. Although all the dive masters were very, very good, I got to know Victor (who is actually my age!) and Errol particularly well. I'd dive with them anytime.
There are twelve dive sites available. I was able to do ten of them. I was not able to dive the wreck of the Lesleen M. That dive is on Friday - the day we arrived and left. The Piton Wall also fell outside time constraints. I have put the dive sites, coast and the resort on a Google map for those interested.
View St. Lucia Dive Sites in a larger map
The underwater pictures are here and
the pictures I took of the resort and the area immediately around the resort can
be seen here (as soon as I can get them edited, sorted and uploaded).
Cozumel
February 6 - 20, 2010
We had a wonderful two weeks at the Iberostar resort on Cozumel. It was very relaxing, comfortable, good food, friendly service. We would, and likely will, go back.
I did my diving through the resort dive shop, Dressel Divers, and was very pleased. They were knowledgeable, helpful, attentive to the divers and knew how to direct us to the many fascinating things in the reefs and walls. Here is a link to my pictures, primarily underwater, but a few of the east coast of the island (no diving there). Cozumel is very flat!
Mayan Riviera
April 18 - May 2, 2010
We arrived at the Akumal Beach Resort, or ABR to its friends, shortly after noon on Saturday, April 18. Following recommendations from participants on the bulletin board Locogringo (http://www.locogringo.com) I had been in email contact with dive masters Ivan & Natalie (http://www.divewithnatalieandivan.com/) and arranged to do my diving with them.
That was a great decision!
We had agreed not to plan anything for the afternoon of the 18th, but if I was at the dive shop (Akumal Dive Center) by 2:30 we'd do the afternoon dive. Fortune was with me. I arrived around 2:00 PM, met Natalie and we went out for the 3:00 PM afternoon dive. Wet again! I met Ivan the next morning and we did the two morning dives.
That was the pattern over the next two weeks and I managed to do 17 dives. It's difficult to imagine a better dive setup. Their website accurately describes the personal attention I received with the focus on making my diving as interesting and enjoyable as possible. Many of our dives were hour-long adventures. Both Ivan and Natalie are knowledgeable, experienced, dedicated and extremely well qualified dive masters and dive instructors. I'm not thinking that I should pursue the PADI Master Scuba Diver certification just so I could do a course with them. If you're looking for someone to dive with while in or around Akumal you won't go wrong with Ivan and Natalie and I can't recommend them highly enough!
My underwater pictures can be found here. I have been having some significant challenges with my strobe flash. The problems almost entirely speak to my general incompetence, but I do have to think that there's something not quite right with the design. The problem is that I've managed to flood two external flashes. In both cases I thought I had closed the case properly, but obviously did not. Salt water and electronics do not play nicely with each other and I now have two very nice, completely dysfunctional, SeaLife strobe flash units.
The trip also involved a lot of time with our extended family, the Callahan-Cross family, who joined us for the two weeks. We had an excellent excursion to the Mayan ruins at Ek Balam. This was organized for us by Alma and Marco who head up iTour Mexico. They both used to work at ABR before they set out on their own enterprise. If you're interested in seeing sights in a way that you won't achieve through the resort package tours (that we've also done and enjoyed), this is an excellent way to go.
Cayman Islands - November 1 - 7, 2010 (August 14, 2010)
This is our next trip for diving and snorkelling. We will be staying at Cobalt Coast resort
on the north end of Grand Cayman and have received a tremendous amount of help from friends on the Locogringo bulletin board with finding where to stay and dive/snorkel. We have heard wonderful things about diving and snorkelling in the waters around the Cayman Islands and we're already getting quite excited about this trip. I will try a new external flash and hope that I'm less problem-prone with it. (I'm looking at the INTOVA strobe. If anyone has any experience with this, please let me know.)A trip report and pictures will be posted when we get back.
