Thursday, June 21, 2007
Dear Stephen,
Dude! We’re totally missing you on this trip! We think you would have loved diving with us this week!
As of today, we’ve done 18 dives, and we look forward to five more before we leave on Sunday—three dives tomorrow and two dives on Saturday.
Typically, we’re up by 7:00 a.m. and out the door by 7:15 a.m. so we can have some breakfast. Greg is the lucky one; he eats all the good stuff like made to order omelets and hash browns. Me—I eat stuff that won’t cause any problems if it comes back up (if you know what I mean), like waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, and maybe a banana that Greg and I can share.
We head back to the room to finish getting ready and pick up our regulators and camera so we can be at the Centro de Buceo by 8:30 a.m. for our first dive at 9:00 a.m. The guys at the dive shop have our gear (wetsuit, BCD, booties, mask, and fins) ready to take down to the boat. We’ve learned to put on our wetsuit and booties before we get on the boat; it’s so much easier than trying to do it on the boat while it’s moving! We don’t know what boat we’ll be on until we check in at the Centro de Buceo. We always request our favorite Divemaster, Pingo; he takes care of us.
By 9:00 a.m., we’re on the boat with our gear assembling our BCD and regulator on a tank. Once we shove off, the Divemaster usually asks what we’d like to see on our dive or what reef we’d like to dive. This dive is a deep dive, usually 80-90 feet. Once the captain knows where we’re going, we motor!
After the dive, we head back to the Allegro hotel (the sister hotel to the Occidental and the one right next door) for fresh tanks for the 10:30 a.m. dive. Dive Palancar’s main operation is out of the Allegro so that’s where the tanks are held and filled. Sometimes, we drop off or pick up other divers at the Occidental before going to the Allegro. The dives are ala carte but we choose to do both the 9:00 a.m. and the 10:30 a.m. dives every morning.
We’re usually at the Allegro about 10 minutes while they switch out tanks. And it’s a good thing too, since we need to take advantage of the restrooms there.
Soon, we’re all back onboard the boat, assembling our gear on a fresh tank, ready for the 10:30 a.m. dive. This dive is a shallow dive, anywhere up to 60 feet. Again, the Divemaster asks for suggestions to determine the next dive site, and off we go!
We’re usually heading back to the Occidental pier by noonish, and I’m definitely starving! The guys at the dive shop meet our boat at the pier so they can take our stuff (wetsuit, BCD, booties, fins, and mask) and clean it for the next dive. We also sign up for the 3:30 p.m. dive before we leave.
Some days, we head to the room to clean our regulators, computers, and camera before we eat lunch. Other days, we can’t WAIT to eat so we head to the Beach Club for the lunch buffet right away. And how lucky are we! The Centro de Buceo is right next door to the Beach Club!
After lunch, we have a little down time. I do one of two things—sleep off the four to five Bonine I’ve taken before the morning dives or do some writing for the blog. Greg just hangs—sitting out on the balcony watching the world go by.
By 3:00 p.m., we’re out the door again, heading to the Centro de Buceo for our afternoon dive. We elect not to do the 2:00 p.m. deep dive as it doesn’t work well with the dive profile we’ve got going on. (Remember what you learned in class?) The 3:30 p.m. is a shallow dive and fits into our schedule well.
The 3:30 p.m. dive works just like those in the morning, and we’re back on the Occidental pier by about 5:00 p.m. If we’re lucky, we have reservations for dinner at 6:30 p.m. for one of the specialty restaurants. So, we hustle back to the room to clean the regulators, computers, and camera. Then, we hit the shower—you’d be surprised what you smell like after swimming in the ocean with fishies!
After dinner, we might walk around a bit, and then head back to the room. Greg downloads our computers and the still camera. We log our dives with the info from our computers; I usually add some commentary in my log about what we’ve seen or the people we had on the boat. We check out the still pictures or video to see what we’ve got. Then, sometimes, I blog some more.
And before you know it, it’s 9:30 p.m., and we’re exhausted. Time to hit the hay because tomorrow, it starts all over again! This is the life—the dive life, that is! Stephen, maybe someday soon, you’ll get to experience it with us! Until that day,
Always,
Aunt Eileenie and Uncle Greggie
P.S. If anyone else wants to get certified and join us on our next trip, we’d love to have ya!
As of today, we’ve done 18 dives, and we look forward to five more before we leave on Sunday—three dives tomorrow and two dives on Saturday.
Typically, we’re up by 7:00 a.m. and out the door by 7:15 a.m. so we can have some breakfast. Greg is the lucky one; he eats all the good stuff like made to order omelets and hash browns. Me—I eat stuff that won’t cause any problems if it comes back up (if you know what I mean), like waffles, pancakes, oatmeal, and maybe a banana that Greg and I can share.
We head back to the room to finish getting ready and pick up our regulators and camera so we can be at the Centro de Buceo by 8:30 a.m. for our first dive at 9:00 a.m. The guys at the dive shop have our gear (wetsuit, BCD, booties, mask, and fins) ready to take down to the boat. We’ve learned to put on our wetsuit and booties before we get on the boat; it’s so much easier than trying to do it on the boat while it’s moving! We don’t know what boat we’ll be on until we check in at the Centro de Buceo. We always request our favorite Divemaster, Pingo; he takes care of us.
By 9:00 a.m., we’re on the boat with our gear assembling our BCD and regulator on a tank. Once we shove off, the Divemaster usually asks what we’d like to see on our dive or what reef we’d like to dive. This dive is a deep dive, usually 80-90 feet. Once the captain knows where we’re going, we motor!
After the dive, we head back to the Allegro hotel (the sister hotel to the Occidental and the one right next door) for fresh tanks for the 10:30 a.m. dive. Dive Palancar’s main operation is out of the Allegro so that’s where the tanks are held and filled. Sometimes, we drop off or pick up other divers at the Occidental before going to the Allegro. The dives are ala carte but we choose to do both the 9:00 a.m. and the 10:30 a.m. dives every morning.
We’re usually at the Allegro about 10 minutes while they switch out tanks. And it’s a good thing too, since we need to take advantage of the restrooms there.
Soon, we’re all back onboard the boat, assembling our gear on a fresh tank, ready for the 10:30 a.m. dive. This dive is a shallow dive, anywhere up to 60 feet. Again, the Divemaster asks for suggestions to determine the next dive site, and off we go!
We’re usually heading back to the Occidental pier by noonish, and I’m definitely starving! The guys at the dive shop meet our boat at the pier so they can take our stuff (wetsuit, BCD, booties, fins, and mask) and clean it for the next dive. We also sign up for the 3:30 p.m. dive before we leave.
Some days, we head to the room to clean our regulators, computers, and camera before we eat lunch. Other days, we can’t WAIT to eat so we head to the Beach Club for the lunch buffet right away. And how lucky are we! The Centro de Buceo is right next door to the Beach Club!
After lunch, we have a little down time. I do one of two things—sleep off the four to five Bonine I’ve taken before the morning dives or do some writing for the blog. Greg just hangs—sitting out on the balcony watching the world go by.
By 3:00 p.m., we’re out the door again, heading to the Centro de Buceo for our afternoon dive. We elect not to do the 2:00 p.m. deep dive as it doesn’t work well with the dive profile we’ve got going on. (Remember what you learned in class?) The 3:30 p.m. is a shallow dive and fits into our schedule well.
The 3:30 p.m. dive works just like those in the morning, and we’re back on the Occidental pier by about 5:00 p.m. If we’re lucky, we have reservations for dinner at 6:30 p.m. for one of the specialty restaurants. So, we hustle back to the room to clean the regulators, computers, and camera. Then, we hit the shower—you’d be surprised what you smell like after swimming in the ocean with fishies!
After dinner, we might walk around a bit, and then head back to the room. Greg downloads our computers and the still camera. We log our dives with the info from our computers; I usually add some commentary in my log about what we’ve seen or the people we had on the boat. We check out the still pictures or video to see what we’ve got. Then, sometimes, I blog some more.
And before you know it, it’s 9:30 p.m., and we’re exhausted. Time to hit the hay because tomorrow, it starts all over again! This is the life—the dive life, that is! Stephen, maybe someday soon, you’ll get to experience it with us! Until that day,
Always,
Aunt Eileenie and Uncle Greggie
P.S. If anyone else wants to get certified and join us on our next trip, we’d love to have ya!
// posted by Leenie @ 9:49 PM 
