September 2008

We are back from Cozumel! It was the best diving we have had in all the years we have been going there! We saw a total of 26 sharks; most of which were black tipped reef sharks. The remainder was nurse sharks. The reef was in excellent condition and currents were mild. In addition to diving Cozumel we went to Holbox Island and swam with the whale sharks and mantas. That was a trip! The service we received from Bill Horn at Aqua Safari and Sara Baeza at Condumel just can’t be beat. Chino Mex is by far the best divemaster on the island. We are already putting together our reservations for next year.

Thanks to all who came to the potluck. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Especially me!!! Lisa surprised me with a new Mazda MX-5 Miata convertible: Bright red. It is for my 65th birthday. She gave it to me a few months early so I could enjoy it before winter. I was in shock. In fact, when I saw the paperwork from Mazda I called them and told them we didn’t own a Miata and that someone must have stolen Lisa’s ID. I told them to call their fraud division. They refused to do so, so I told them I was calling the FBI. I hung up and called Lisa to give her the bad news that someone had bought a car using her ID and social security number. She had to fess up so I wouldn’t call the FBI. Thanks to all who helped her pull this off. She had quite a few accomplices. So, if you see an old fart in a candy apple red Miata convertible please wave. That would be me. For once I will hate to see winter come.

For those of you who weren’t at the potluck, Smitty’s Cove is now an underwater park. Signage should be up soon restricting anchoring, wakes and spear fishing. It took 12 years, but is finally a reality. Thanks to all of you who spent your time helping me on this. It is appreciated greatly.

We spent some time in the cove over the weekend. Visibility varied between 5 and 20 feet most of the weekend and water temperature was a balmy 52 degrees. It was tough getting back into my dry suit after spending 3 weeks diving in a swimming suit. Still, it was great visiting all of our beautiful critters. I want to congratulate Crystal Frost and Natalia Weems on completing their advanced class. Congratulation also goes to Crystal, Natalia and Sean Weems for completing their dry suit specialties. Thanks to Colin Rust for his help as divemaster. He sure makes our job easier. Also thanks to Terry Drake for helping out on Sunday.

David House did his open water class earlier this month. I got an opportunity to dive with him on Saturday. His skills were excellent and we hope he will continue diving with us.

It has been a great month, and we hope to see more of you on the dive site and in Cozumel with us next summer.

Sunshine Sports has moved to a new location: 123 E. Fireweed Lane. It is on the corner of Fireweed and “A” Street. The phone number remains the same. As a “welcome to the new location” Sunshine will be giving free air fills throughout the month of September. If you own your own tanks stop in and get them filled. If you don’t, this is an excellent time to buy some. Also, they are having a huge end of season bicycle sale. The new location is beautiful, so stop in and visit them.

I am going to turn this over to Lisa now, so Dive safe, dive often and whatever you do DIVE IN BEAUTIFUL ALASKA!!!!!

Lisa’s

       Corner

Greetings fellow divers! I have so much to tell about our wonderful trip to Cozumel. So here is an attempt at keeping it condensed but still give you a good recap. Our first day of diving found us on Columbia Wall. It is a section of the reef that has 100 ft. high coral heads that are truly magnificent. We dropped onto the top of the reef and immediately had two black tip
reef sharks swim past. I am talking 2 minutes into the dive. Seconds later another two came by followed by one more. What a grand way to start. Then a turtle about the size of a dinner plate comes moseying along. He swims past me, gets a breath of
air at the surface then drops back down almost on my head. He literally was inches from my mask! The variety and colors of the fish are amazing, delightful and
fascinating to watch and experience. The walls are so incredible. You drift over Open Ocean along side of them and are weightless like a space man floating outside of Challenger. As we move along we
see giant grouper and 6-foot barracuda as well as tiny beautiful little critters that sometimes need a magnifying glass to get a good look. All the while it is peaceful and quiet.

Our whale shark
adventure started with rising at 4am to catch the ferry to the mainland at 5. A 2 1/2 hour drive north brought us to another 2 1/2 hours on a boat before we got to the
whale shark feeding grounds. But it was all worth it when we caught site of these magnificent fish. We did not get to see any 50-footers, but were able to snorkel with 2 in the 25-foot range. It was amazing. I was within 2 feet of them and the sheer power and size blew my socks off!! As an added bonus we were able to observe several mantas munching on plankton too. I was able to snorkel up to one that had at least a 12-foot wingspan. It was awe inspiring to see these massive gentle animals so close.

Mean while back at the reef.  One day we heard dolphins speaking to
each other underwater. To hear them clicking and sending sound to each other is a real
thrill. Then while taking our surface interval a big pod came swimming by. I quickly got on my mask, snorkel and fins and got to swim with
them for a while. It was so incredible to watch them interact and play underwater and on the surface. We have had some other great sightings too. I got to watch a 40 lb. grouper
pulled up to a coral head, open its giant mouth and see cleaner shrimp jump in to
give it an underwater version of brushing it's teeth. At the same time cleaner wrasse were working away on its face and head including one cleaning its nostril!
I also watched a queen triggerfish find itself a nice snack in the form of a 2” clam. Funny thing was it could not figure out how to break it open, so it was swimming around with it in its mouth. Very comical to see this fish with this big old white clam stuck between its jaws. Every so often it would get tired and put it down. But she guarded her prize and after a little rest reclaimed it and
continued her quest to figure out how to get the delectable morsel out of its shell.

I can’t say enough about Mariano and his skills as Dive Master. He just loves diving and the critters and delights in showing them to us. He is also a good friend and wonderful person. So is Sara, who runs Condumel, and Bill, who owns it and Aqua Safari. Visiting and spending time with them is a large reason why we go back every year. Add to that the fantastic accommodations and beautiful quiet setting of Condumel and the first class dive operation of Aqua Safari and you just can’t go wrong. This year our Alaska friends Angie Ekle, Mario and Mary Lanza and Californian Kris Kirsten joined us. We all had a wonderful time and everyone is presently planning on returning next summer. We are looking at going the last two weeks of August and the first of September. In anticipation Sara has not only set aside rooms for Angie and the Lanza’s, but Tim Gardner, Grant & Dena Vineyard, plus Colin & Gail Rust.

The next potluck is Wednesday, September 10th. It will be held at Colin and Gail’s house. The main dish will be Korean Steak (strips of marinated beef cooked in a combo with sesame oil).

Dive safe! Lisa