I'm all full on Grade A steak. You can't expect me to have an appetite for low-grade dog food for at least a few weeks, amigo.
K,
I think I have all my ducks in a row now. For anyone interested in the quick-n-dirty vid I made, you can get it using any FTP software. I tried to host it on a server, but ran into more trouble than I cared to deal with. If anyone knows of a solid site, please give me the 411. The vid is a compilation of 5 or 6 dives I did on the Palancar Reef. I played a bit with editing to the music early, but towards the end, decided to let you see a complete dive. Since my girlfriend (who did the filming with our Olympus c-5050) was unable to follow me, all vids are taken from the surface. I think she did quite well, despite getting smacked around by waves the whole time. The downside of this is that you can't get a feel for the relief. What frequently looks like a level dive, actually varied by as much as 40 feet. Oh well...better than nothin.
The numbers:
IP: 127.0.0.1
Port: 21
User: deeperblue
Pass: unirdna
*EDIT*
OK,
Forget all that FTP mumbo jumbo. If you'd like to see the vid, copy and paste this link
"https://www.ibackup.com/qmanager/servlet/share?key=17287157714543522uuuuuuu" The password is
'deeperblue'. It may be that only 1 or 2 people can be downloading at one time, so try later if the link is dragging.
Ted
We (me and the girlfriend) flew in directly to the island on Sat afternoon. Immediately, it was obvious that this was not going to be a 'sanitized' vacation. Dense jungle surrounded 3 sides of an airport consisting of one runway strip, seemingly too small for any passenger jet to land.
Upon check-in to our hotel, I immediately hit the beach. In less than 5 feet of water I saw an octopus tearing up a big crab. A little further and we spotted numerous little rays and flounders hiding in the sand. I took it upon myself to do a bit of 'experimental harassment' of these, and quickly found out that the flounders run, but the rays stand their ground. After a few close calls, I decided to let em be
.
It was too windy for any boats to go out on Sunday....then Monday. But on Tuesday, we got out to the "Gardens", "Palancar" and the "Horseshoe". I was immediately comfortable in this water. Depth ranged from 40-150 feet, but I spent most of my time in 50-80 feet. True, there were numerous critters to be seen in the shallow reefs near shore. But the big fellas were all in 50 feet or more; so that's where I wanted to spend my time.
I know that the dive reflex is triggered by 'cold' water on the face, but despite the 80 degree F bath, my reflex kicked in faster than it ever has in the cold. Within minutes, I established a 2 min down, 1 min up pattern. I've never had it this good in the cold. As if my envy of you salt water folks wasn't bad enough before...now it's downright ugly. Of course, not all of you salties have 100+ feet of vis either, so maybe my envy is somewhat misplaced
.
The wind picked up again on Wed...then Thus....and even Friday (but we got out anyway and endured the boat ride). On the days I couldn't get out, I did manage to do a bit of shallow diving adjacent to a breakwall near my hotel; but it wasn't the same. If I wouldn't have gotten out Friday, I would have become completely unbearable to have around, as my crankiness grew with each hour that wind kept me from the reefs.
Well, I realize that if I type up my whole experience, I'm going to fill page after page, and bore the bajezuz out of everyone, so I'll just let the photos do the talking. If anyone has a question or comment, I'd be happy to strike up the chat.
Hope you enjoy.
Ted
