Today Sheila and I joined N Depth Scuba to help out with Project Aware's International Clean Up Day out at Lake Pleasant. It is really quite amazing the amount of garbage that people just throw in the water. It doesn't matter whether it's in a lake or the ocean, trash is hazardous to aquatic life and just plain disgusting. Sheila worked on the shore and picked up everything from beer cans to an abandoned ez-up. After doing a couple of checkout dives with some Open Water students, I picked up trash underwater with a couple of other divers. In about 15 minutes we had a bag full of trash. We picked up everything from beer cans, shoes, waist bands from underwear, and even a dive mask minus the glass. Here is a link to some photos that Sheila took at the lake:
Project Aware Photos
Eric
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Belize August 2010
Even though we had no connection to the internet, I said I was going to type up a blog post every day anyway so that when we got back to civilization we could post them. Did that happen? No. Fortunately, once we got on the boat the daily schedule was pretty much the same every day, just a different location and a different menu. So I will try my best to summarize our week aboard the Sun Dancer II in Belize.
We started our journey on Saturday, August 14, 2010. My dad picked us up at 5 a.m. And we were off to the airport. When we checked in for our flight the computer offered us an upgrade to first class, so we figured what the heck. For the first time in our married lives, we flew all the way to our destination first class. What a difference from coach. They actually served us a full breakfast—WOW! We flew from Phoenix to Houston and then Houston to Belize. Our flights were pretty uneventful and we arrived in Belize with all of our baggage.
Once we arrived in Belize we were met at the airport by a member of the crew and transferred by bus to the dock where the rest of the crew and guests were waiting for us to arrive. Our flight arrived a little later than expected and we were the final passengers to board the boat. After we were shown to our room, everyone met in the salon for a quick briefing of the rest of the day's events. After a muster drill on the sundeck, the boat left port and headed for our first destination (about five hours away).
We headed back to our room to try and get some of our stuff unpacked and organized for the week ahead and get our dive gear set up on the dive deck. One nice thing with this boat is once you get your gear set up on your tank, that is the last time you have to touch it until the week is over. After every dive your original tank is refilled by the crew.
After we got somewhat settled in, we were off to enjoy the first of a week's worth of fine four-course dinners. Since there were only 20 passengers and eight crew members on this 138 foot boat it was very easy to get to know some of the other guests. Many chose to sit at a different table every time so they could get to know some of the others. We met and got to know many wonderful people during our week aboard the boat. After dinner, we were pretty much all off to bed so we could get up bright and early the next day to start diving.
Like I said above, the schedule for every day was pretty much the same:
7 a.m. Breakfast
8 a.m. First dive
Fresh-baked snack
10:30 a.m. Second dive
Noon – Buffet Lunch
1:30 p.m. Third dive
Afternoon snack
4:00 p.m. Fourth dive
6:00 p.m. Four-course Dinner
7:15 p.m. Night dive
Needless to say, this schedule left little time for anything else other than eating, diving, and sleeping. By the end of the day we were pretty much ready to go to bed so we could get up the next day and do it all over again. The food was excellent. It is a good thing we were doing at least four dives a day to burn off all those calories. Pretty much every day we did four dives. On the second day we did four dives plus the night dive. Unfortunately, I ended up getting sick on Tuesday night with some sort of GI virus. Needless to say, I spent all day Wednesday in bed without food, just trying to stay hydrated. Wednesday was also the day that we went to the famous Blue Hole. So I did not get to see it, much less dive it. Eric decided to skip the Blue Hole dive since many people said there was really nothing to see, just straight algae-covered walls down to about 130-140 feet where there were some giant stalactites. The main reason people dive it is just to say they have done it.
After everyone surfaced safely from the Blue Hole dive, the boat headed to Half Moon Cay so that everyone could go ashore during their surface interval and visit the Booby sanctuary. Again, I was in bed, but Eric decided to skip this also since it was very hot and steamy on the island and I guess he just was not in the mood to look at boobies.
Friday the schedule only included two dives, the first of which was at 6 a.m. After the second dive the boat started up and we headed back to the dock at Belize City. For an extra charge you could book land excursions around Belize City on Friday and/or Saturday. They had excursions to the Zoo, the Mayan ruins, and cave tubing. Eric and I decided to just stay on the boat and get a head start on our packing and relax a bit. Friday night was a BBQ buffet on the boat with ribs, BBQ chicken/beef, corn on the cob, etc., and the captain gave his video/photo presentation. It was a good time to socialize with everyone before leaving early the next morning.
Saturday everyone had to have their bags in the hallway by 7:30 a.m. and everyone had to be off the boat by 8 a.m. (no matter what time of the day your flight was). Unfortunately, our flight was not until 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. However, they have a deal with the Radisson hotel across the street that Sun Dancer II guests can use the lobby and bar/restaurant and pool until it is time for them to head to the airport. So we hung around the hotel until 1:00 p.m. when the bus picked us up and transported us to the airport. Luckily we were not the only couple on that flight, so we had other people to socialize with during our wait. We especially enjoying talking with Mike and Marsha.
Our flight left Belize a bit early and our trip home was smooth sailing. We arrived home safely and our luggage made it in one piece too. We very much enjoyed our trip and would highly recommend this boat and crew to anyone who has never experienced a live-aboard before. For further information you can check out their website at: http://www.dancerfleet.com/belize-home.shtml
As far as sea life was concerned, our first dive of the trip we saw a caribbean reef shark. As a matter of fact, it swam right up to Eric, checked him out, and then swam off. That ended up being the only shark we saw for the whole trip. We also saw one spotted eagle ray, a couple turtles, a seahorse, a couple eels, sting rays, a couple of remoras looking for a home, hermit crabs, lobsters, an octopus on our night dive, several larger jellyfish, garden eels, jaw fish (some with eggs in their mouth) and lots and lots of your typical caribbean fish species like angel fish, trigger fish, chub, horse-eye jacks, barracuda, etc., etc.
Some of our photos from the trip can be seen in our Photo Gallery.
Now we are back home and counting down the days to our next trip...Palau.
We started our journey on Saturday, August 14, 2010. My dad picked us up at 5 a.m. And we were off to the airport. When we checked in for our flight the computer offered us an upgrade to first class, so we figured what the heck. For the first time in our married lives, we flew all the way to our destination first class. What a difference from coach. They actually served us a full breakfast—WOW! We flew from Phoenix to Houston and then Houston to Belize. Our flights were pretty uneventful and we arrived in Belize with all of our baggage.
Once we arrived in Belize we were met at the airport by a member of the crew and transferred by bus to the dock where the rest of the crew and guests were waiting for us to arrive. Our flight arrived a little later than expected and we were the final passengers to board the boat. After we were shown to our room, everyone met in the salon for a quick briefing of the rest of the day's events. After a muster drill on the sundeck, the boat left port and headed for our first destination (about five hours away).
We headed back to our room to try and get some of our stuff unpacked and organized for the week ahead and get our dive gear set up on the dive deck. One nice thing with this boat is once you get your gear set up on your tank, that is the last time you have to touch it until the week is over. After every dive your original tank is refilled by the crew.
After we got somewhat settled in, we were off to enjoy the first of a week's worth of fine four-course dinners. Since there were only 20 passengers and eight crew members on this 138 foot boat it was very easy to get to know some of the other guests. Many chose to sit at a different table every time so they could get to know some of the others. We met and got to know many wonderful people during our week aboard the boat. After dinner, we were pretty much all off to bed so we could get up bright and early the next day to start diving.
Like I said above, the schedule for every day was pretty much the same:
7 a.m. Breakfast
8 a.m. First dive
Fresh-baked snack
10:30 a.m. Second dive
Noon – Buffet Lunch
1:30 p.m. Third dive
Afternoon snack
4:00 p.m. Fourth dive
6:00 p.m. Four-course Dinner
7:15 p.m. Night dive
Needless to say, this schedule left little time for anything else other than eating, diving, and sleeping. By the end of the day we were pretty much ready to go to bed so we could get up the next day and do it all over again. The food was excellent. It is a good thing we were doing at least four dives a day to burn off all those calories. Pretty much every day we did four dives. On the second day we did four dives plus the night dive. Unfortunately, I ended up getting sick on Tuesday night with some sort of GI virus. Needless to say, I spent all day Wednesday in bed without food, just trying to stay hydrated. Wednesday was also the day that we went to the famous Blue Hole. So I did not get to see it, much less dive it. Eric decided to skip the Blue Hole dive since many people said there was really nothing to see, just straight algae-covered walls down to about 130-140 feet where there were some giant stalactites. The main reason people dive it is just to say they have done it.
After everyone surfaced safely from the Blue Hole dive, the boat headed to Half Moon Cay so that everyone could go ashore during their surface interval and visit the Booby sanctuary. Again, I was in bed, but Eric decided to skip this also since it was very hot and steamy on the island and I guess he just was not in the mood to look at boobies.
Friday the schedule only included two dives, the first of which was at 6 a.m. After the second dive the boat started up and we headed back to the dock at Belize City. For an extra charge you could book land excursions around Belize City on Friday and/or Saturday. They had excursions to the Zoo, the Mayan ruins, and cave tubing. Eric and I decided to just stay on the boat and get a head start on our packing and relax a bit. Friday night was a BBQ buffet on the boat with ribs, BBQ chicken/beef, corn on the cob, etc., and the captain gave his video/photo presentation. It was a good time to socialize with everyone before leaving early the next morning.
Saturday everyone had to have their bags in the hallway by 7:30 a.m. and everyone had to be off the boat by 8 a.m. (no matter what time of the day your flight was). Unfortunately, our flight was not until 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon. However, they have a deal with the Radisson hotel across the street that Sun Dancer II guests can use the lobby and bar/restaurant and pool until it is time for them to head to the airport. So we hung around the hotel until 1:00 p.m. when the bus picked us up and transported us to the airport. Luckily we were not the only couple on that flight, so we had other people to socialize with during our wait. We especially enjoying talking with Mike and Marsha.
Our flight left Belize a bit early and our trip home was smooth sailing. We arrived home safely and our luggage made it in one piece too. We very much enjoyed our trip and would highly recommend this boat and crew to anyone who has never experienced a live-aboard before. For further information you can check out their website at: http://www.dancerfleet.com/belize-home.shtml
As far as sea life was concerned, our first dive of the trip we saw a caribbean reef shark. As a matter of fact, it swam right up to Eric, checked him out, and then swam off. That ended up being the only shark we saw for the whole trip. We also saw one spotted eagle ray, a couple turtles, a seahorse, a couple eels, sting rays, a couple of remoras looking for a home, hermit crabs, lobsters, an octopus on our night dive, several larger jellyfish, garden eels, jaw fish (some with eggs in their mouth) and lots and lots of your typical caribbean fish species like angel fish, trigger fish, chub, horse-eye jacks, barracuda, etc., etc.
Some of our photos from the trip can be seen in our Photo Gallery.
Now we are back home and counting down the days to our next trip...Palau.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The long awaited Grand Cayman video from our trip in May has now been released. We think it turned out well, but keep in mind this was my first time using this video camera. You will probably notice that toward the end the video gets much better. Hopefully the next video will be even better now that I have had some practice using the camera. A big thank you to Eric for all his hard work in editing it down from approximately 8 hours to about 8 minutes. I hope you all enjoy watching it.
Click here to view video
Click here to view video
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Grand Cayman Pictures
May 20, 2010
I finally got caught up on everything and posted some of the photos from our trip to Grand Cayman. You can view the photos here. Next I will be working on all the video footage that Sheila took.
Eric
I finally got caught up on everything and posted some of the photos from our trip to Grand Cayman. You can view the photos here. Next I will be working on all the video footage that Sheila took.
Eric
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 8
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Well, today was our final full day in Grand Cayman and we had an awesome day of diving with Adam and Brooke, our friends that we met at Ocean Frontiers. Adam and Brooke met us at Turtle Nest Inn at 9:30 a.m. and we all headed to Sunset House for our first dive.
For our first dive we headed out to the mermaid and then to the shipwreck. Thanks to Brooke we were able to get some really good photos of the two of us with the mermaid. As we started our dive we spotted a very colorful flounder and then later in the dive we saw a lion fish. We did run into our friendly gray angelfish again, but other than that it was just a very nice dive. After our dive the four of us had lunch at the bar at Sunset House and made plans for our next dive.
For our next dive we decided to head down to Turtle Reef. This is one of our favorite dive sites on Grand Cayman. We all geared up and headed out to the right on the wall. This is a very pretty mini-wall dive with lots of colorful corals and sponges and lots of interesting fish. We saw an eel, a Scorpionfish, a Spotted Drum, Queen Angelfish, Gray Angelfish, French Angelfish, Trunkfish, Pufferfish, Barracuda, plus too many other fish to name. The visibility was very good on this dive and it turned out to be a very nice last dive for us.
After our dive we joined Adam and Brooke at the bar and had a drink and a snack and some good conversation. We are very glad we met them and hopefully they will keep in touch. Unfortunately, we had to leave our table in the shade by the water to head back to the Inn to get our laundry done and all our gear repacked for the trip home tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, but now we can look forward to our next vacation to Belize in a couple months.
Keep checking the website in the next several weeks as we will be working on posting some of the 1000+ photos and video we have taken while here.
Well, today was our final full day in Grand Cayman and we had an awesome day of diving with Adam and Brooke, our friends that we met at Ocean Frontiers. Adam and Brooke met us at Turtle Nest Inn at 9:30 a.m. and we all headed to Sunset House for our first dive.
For our first dive we headed out to the mermaid and then to the shipwreck. Thanks to Brooke we were able to get some really good photos of the two of us with the mermaid. As we started our dive we spotted a very colorful flounder and then later in the dive we saw a lion fish. We did run into our friendly gray angelfish again, but other than that it was just a very nice dive. After our dive the four of us had lunch at the bar at Sunset House and made plans for our next dive.
For our next dive we decided to head down to Turtle Reef. This is one of our favorite dive sites on Grand Cayman. We all geared up and headed out to the right on the wall. This is a very pretty mini-wall dive with lots of colorful corals and sponges and lots of interesting fish. We saw an eel, a Scorpionfish, a Spotted Drum, Queen Angelfish, Gray Angelfish, French Angelfish, Trunkfish, Pufferfish, Barracuda, plus too many other fish to name. The visibility was very good on this dive and it turned out to be a very nice last dive for us.
After our dive we joined Adam and Brooke at the bar and had a drink and a snack and some good conversation. We are very glad we met them and hopefully they will keep in touch. Unfortunately, we had to leave our table in the shade by the water to head back to the Inn to get our laundry done and all our gear repacked for the trip home tomorrow. All good things must come to an end, but now we can look forward to our next vacation to Belize in a couple months.
Keep checking the website in the next several weeks as we will be working on posting some of the 1000+ photos and video we have taken while here.
Grand Cayman Day 7
Friday, May 7, 2010
Again, we started our day by getting up at 6:20 a.m. and getting our stuff ready to head to Ocean Frontiers for our final two-tank morning boat dive. When we arrived and checked in at the desk we were told there were only six divers on our boat, which was a very nice surprise. Normally there are about 12 divers per boat, which is okay, but six makes it a lot nicer.
Our first dive was at a dive site called Three Sisters. Again, this was our deep dive. We went to about 110 feet. There was a very strong current at this dive site that made it very challenging for all of us to get back to the boat, but we all made it back safely, just a little tired.
The next dive site we headed to was called Grouper Grotto. This was our shallow dive. We did several swim-throughs here and saw a bunch of Tarpon but nothing else out of the ordinary. I did manage to get some good video of a lot of fish swimming around on the top of the reef. The current was much milder here, which made it much easier getting back on the boat.
This was our final dive with Ocean Frontiers. We would definitely highly recommend them to anyone looking to dive on Grand Cayman and will definitely use them the next time we come back to Grand Cayman.
We then came back to the Inn and had some lunch and headed down to Sunset House to do another dive. Right after we got into the water we came across a very friendly turtle who let us get some really good video and photos. We then headed out to the mermaid and the ship wreck and then headed back toward shore. When we got most of the way back in we came across a very friendly Gray Angelfish. Eric was trying to take its picture and it was practically swarming him. According to some people we talked to,Cathy Church (well-known photographer with a shop at Sunset House) used to feed the fish, so a lot of them are very friendly and used to photographers.
After this dive we decided to come back to the Inn and get cleaned up and go out for a nice dinner since we had been well under budget for food this past week. We went and had dinner at Casanova's. We highly recommend it. It is not cheap, but the food is out of this world. Plus we had left-overs, so we have dinner for another night. It also has very nice ambiance. We dined on the patio right at the water's edge with the breeze blowing in off the water as the sun set into the ocean. What more could you ask for.
We met a very nice couple that was on most of our dives at Ocean Frontiers, Adam and Brooke, who were also very much into underwater photography. We made plans to meet them tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. to do some shore diving. We are thinking we will probably return to Sunset House as the subjects (fish) there are very amenable to having their picture taken.
Again, we started our day by getting up at 6:20 a.m. and getting our stuff ready to head to Ocean Frontiers for our final two-tank morning boat dive. When we arrived and checked in at the desk we were told there were only six divers on our boat, which was a very nice surprise. Normally there are about 12 divers per boat, which is okay, but six makes it a lot nicer.
Our first dive was at a dive site called Three Sisters. Again, this was our deep dive. We went to about 110 feet. There was a very strong current at this dive site that made it very challenging for all of us to get back to the boat, but we all made it back safely, just a little tired.
The next dive site we headed to was called Grouper Grotto. This was our shallow dive. We did several swim-throughs here and saw a bunch of Tarpon but nothing else out of the ordinary. I did manage to get some good video of a lot of fish swimming around on the top of the reef. The current was much milder here, which made it much easier getting back on the boat.
This was our final dive with Ocean Frontiers. We would definitely highly recommend them to anyone looking to dive on Grand Cayman and will definitely use them the next time we come back to Grand Cayman.
We then came back to the Inn and had some lunch and headed down to Sunset House to do another dive. Right after we got into the water we came across a very friendly turtle who let us get some really good video and photos. We then headed out to the mermaid and the ship wreck and then headed back toward shore. When we got most of the way back in we came across a very friendly Gray Angelfish. Eric was trying to take its picture and it was practically swarming him. According to some people we talked to,Cathy Church (well-known photographer with a shop at Sunset House) used to feed the fish, so a lot of them are very friendly and used to photographers.
After this dive we decided to come back to the Inn and get cleaned up and go out for a nice dinner since we had been well under budget for food this past week. We went and had dinner at Casanova's. We highly recommend it. It is not cheap, but the food is out of this world. Plus we had left-overs, so we have dinner for another night. It also has very nice ambiance. We dined on the patio right at the water's edge with the breeze blowing in off the water as the sun set into the ocean. What more could you ask for.
We met a very nice couple that was on most of our dives at Ocean Frontiers, Adam and Brooke, who were also very much into underwater photography. We made plans to meet them tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. to do some shore diving. We are thinking we will probably return to Sunset House as the subjects (fish) there are very amenable to having their picture taken.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Grand Cayman Day 6
Thursday, May 6, 2010
We had another good day of diving. Again, we got up around 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and packed up our gear to head down to Ocean Frontiers for a two-tank morning dive. We got there a little early and checked in and then headed down to the boat. We departed about 8:30 a.m. and headed southwest for about 20 minutes to the first dive site. As is usual, the first dive was our deep dive, so we dove to about 100 feet. Eric and I decided to stick with the group on this dive. No large pelagic sitings on this dive, just the usual marine life. However, the crew did spot a Lion fish, which they captured and brought on board the boat.
We all got back on the boat and headed to the next dive site not too much further back east called Tarpon Terrace. Eric and I decided to go off on our own on this dive so we could take pictures and video at our leisure. I got some really good video of a midnight parrot fish, a gray angelfish, a French angelfish, and several lobsters. The crew also captured three more Lion fish on this dive. Lion fish are very pretty to look at, but they are a nonnative species that are moving into this area and if left unchecked will kill off many native species of fish. The Lion fish is equipped with poisonous spines that run down its back and unfortunately it has no predators to keep it under control. It is very unfortunate, but when the crew sees one they catch it and bring it on board to dispose of it.
We then all climbed back on the boat and headed back to Ocean Frontiers. When we started our day we heard a rumor that we had made it onto the night dive trip, so when we got back to Ocean Frontiers we checked at the desk to see if the rumor was true. We were amazed to find out that we had made it onto the night dive for tonight, which kind of surprised us because we were number three and four on the waiting list.
We returned for out night dive about 6 p.m. and headed out about 6:30 p.m. We went back to Sunset Reef, which is where they do all the night dives as it is a nice shallow dive with lots to see. We decided to go off on our own on this dive too. We saw several lobsters (one of them gigantic), an eel, a couple tiny squid, a sting ray, some banded shrimp, and a giant parrot fish After we climbed back on the boat we toweled off and enjoyed some hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins before returning to the dock.
We had another good day of diving. Again, we got up around 6:20 a.m. and had our breakfast and packed up our gear to head down to Ocean Frontiers for a two-tank morning dive. We got there a little early and checked in and then headed down to the boat. We departed about 8:30 a.m. and headed southwest for about 20 minutes to the first dive site. As is usual, the first dive was our deep dive, so we dove to about 100 feet. Eric and I decided to stick with the group on this dive. No large pelagic sitings on this dive, just the usual marine life. However, the crew did spot a Lion fish, which they captured and brought on board the boat.
We all got back on the boat and headed to the next dive site not too much further back east called Tarpon Terrace. Eric and I decided to go off on our own on this dive so we could take pictures and video at our leisure. I got some really good video of a midnight parrot fish, a gray angelfish, a French angelfish, and several lobsters. The crew also captured three more Lion fish on this dive. Lion fish are very pretty to look at, but they are a nonnative species that are moving into this area and if left unchecked will kill off many native species of fish. The Lion fish is equipped with poisonous spines that run down its back and unfortunately it has no predators to keep it under control. It is very unfortunate, but when the crew sees one they catch it and bring it on board to dispose of it.
We then all climbed back on the boat and headed back to Ocean Frontiers. When we started our day we heard a rumor that we had made it onto the night dive trip, so when we got back to Ocean Frontiers we checked at the desk to see if the rumor was true. We were amazed to find out that we had made it onto the night dive for tonight, which kind of surprised us because we were number three and four on the waiting list.
We returned for out night dive about 6 p.m. and headed out about 6:30 p.m. We went back to Sunset Reef, which is where they do all the night dives as it is a nice shallow dive with lots to see. We decided to go off on our own on this dive too. We saw several lobsters (one of them gigantic), an eel, a couple tiny squid, a sting ray, some banded shrimp, and a giant parrot fish After we climbed back on the boat we toweled off and enjoyed some hot chocolate and homemade blueberry muffins before returning to the dock.
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