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In the end, I went with two dive operators.
My dentist gave me a Saturday off so I booked a Gordo Banks trip with Manta. I woke up really early for the trip - (especially difficult after a sunset jungle booze cruise - 200 pesos, all you can drink gahhhh). I got to the shop only to find out that the 4 other people who were supposed to go canceled. that sucked. They ended shifting me to the local dives trip which was cool, especially since I ran into a friend i'd not seen in 10 years! Her friend dove with Nacho, and we ended up going with Mr Polo. I love the morays! Swimming with sea lions is always fun (tho after a while I prefer other things). Saw some mantas jumping into the air but of course, I didn't get those on camera. GRRRR!
There's a lot more underwater photos here in my LJ scrapbook - and even more at my facebook gallery.
Manta was pretty awesome but a bit on the pricey side for the local dives. I also had to pay an additional $20 to use a computer which isn't included in the dive gear rental price ($25). I splurged a bit and paid $30 for photos. oh, and I used Nitrox - 3 tanks. The morning's dives set me back a little over $200.
I also scheduled an afternoon dive with Cabo Deep Blue - recommended by my hotel activities desk. Manta was kind enough to allow me to hold on to the dive computer I used. When I got to Deep Blue, I spoke to Oscar, the owner and he actually suggested I not go diving with them since I would be going to the exact same spots. He said it would be better to go another day. I really appreciated his honesty! I asked about other dives they were planning and he told me all were local. But in the end, they offered to set up a corridor destination for me on a Wed am. awesome!
I ended up having a full Tuesday off. I woke up early and attempted to find an operator. I called around to a few places but all were doing local dives. One operator stood out from them all: Amigos Del Mar. I could hear the owner in the background shouting questions to the person I was speaking to on the phone. He kept asking, "When was her motherfucking last dive?" or "Where was her god-damned mother-fucking last dive?!" The man on the phone translated, "Excuse me, Miss, when was your last dive?" I replied, "3 days ago, with Manta." The guy in the background kept repeating himself because he obviously didn't like the answer. Also, I think I heard him say something about Manta not being good enough. The guy on the phone translated this into "We require all divers to do a local dive - with us." I said that it wasn't going to happen. In the end, they offered me a Gordo Banks trip on the Wed AM and I declined. I already had the Deep Blue Wed AM booked. I told the guy on the phone that he sounded very nice and I thanked him for his help. I also told him that his boss sounded like a right cunt and I was sorry he worked for a god-damned mother-fucking asshole.
Later, I was to learn more about this operator from other local dive instructors and customers!
The funny thing about companies requiring divers to do a local dive with them might seem to make sense, but in the end, it really doesn't. They don't ask you to set up any gear, in fact it seemed to me that it was discouraged. Divers were on holiday so didn't need to. Of course, when I pressed they didn't mind. Dive computers are not required - at least for the local. All that is asked is that divers stick with the DM/DI and not go deeper. Ah, and safety sausages weren't required either - though I brought mine with me and actually ended up needing it!
The local dives (Lands End, Pelican Rock, Sandfalls, Neptunes Finger, etc) actually should require a sausage. There's so much boat traffic that it'd be easy to run over a separated, surfaced diver. Below, the water is nice, the sea lions fun, but the constant noise of the engines is pretty annoying.
So then, Tuesday. After my wonderful phone call with Amigos Del Mar, I decided to give up and headed to breakfast since it was too late to get on any out-going, non-local dive boats. I saw Oscar, the owner of Cabo Deep Blue in the hotel lobby with a group of Japanese divers. (He speaks Japanese fluently). I spoke to him a bit and then decided to just go diving with them albeit the local destination. They were really nice and I wanted to be under the water! On this day, a couple of the divers were finishing up their certification. There was also a cruise ship in town so I dove with a lady who had to get away from her shopping buddies and a guy who just wanted to get one dive in - plus his g/f didn't dive (WTF??!?)
The girls went down with their DI, and we jumped in the water with Garry.
Only did 2 dives that day. Got gear but no computer. No Nitrox. It cost me $85.
Afterward, I went with Garry and got some sushi nom nom nom. My treat!
Wednesday, I booked 3 dives with Cabo Deep Blue. We headed out to the Corridor and started at the Blowhole. I went down with Garry and another diver (who I'd see the following day too). There was also another DM there from the shop diving solo and shooting images. (GRR he saw sharks, turtles, and some other stuff). Saw some different life which was nice. Loved seeing the zebra moray. And some rays. Also, it was a lot more peaceful. There was no constant droning of boat engines. It seemed like we were actually diving. We all cruised along at a slow but constant pace and it was nice. The second location was Twin Dolphins. Again, great dive but a lot more current. When we surfaced we couldn't see the boat at all, but I had my sausage so once that was inflated, the boat came and found us. (I have one of those cheap $10 things but damn! It's like 7 ft tall and does the job a lot better than those fancy fold-up stick things or the little 3 ft tall self-inflating ones! It is a bitch to fold up tho.) The other guy had only 2 dives booked so we headed back to the Marina to get another tank (the other DM who was solo used one of my nitrox tanks).
My third dive of the day was just with Garry. We headed to the local dive area and straight for Middle Wall. There we jumped in and headed straight down to 130 ft. Now that was cool. There were no other divers in the area and it was almost eerie with some tall outcroppings and little passages. Some different life too. My computer was beeping a lot. lol. But we slowing swam along the wall while going up a bit. I really liked this dive - I think I liked it more than the sea lions. Yeah. Definitely.
The 3 dives for that day were just over $100 (including the gear rental, 2 nitrox/1 air tank, + dive computer). NICE!
The last dives of my trip were with Manta. I woke up early and rang them up around 7am after checking their website and seeing they had a Gordo Banks trip scheduled. I spoke to Kiki on the phone and he said to come on down. I asked if Mr Polo was working and he said he was too!
I got my shit together and walked over to Manta. BTW, after coming back from the dive, I noticed that the prices on the Manta and Deep Blue sites are listed the same ($175) for this dive - though it seems the rental gear is a little different - and I wonder if sometimes Deep Blue includes the gear in the price. In the end, it works out the same since I tip out the DM and boat captain sometimes. Ended up spending over that though cuz of the Nitrox and computer rental in addition to the gear.
This dive was a little crowded with about 10 divers. It was also a little rougher out on the water and some of the divers were not happy with the boat moving to and fro. Personally, I like it. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get there and we were the only dive boat. But there were fishing boats out. So then, this time, I had to throw on a full 3mm suit. The water was still around 85F but at 125 feet down the were a dramatic change which we noticed immediately. It wasn't too bad for me but I noticed at least one diver look a bit uncomfortable. Basically, we all head straight down the line to about 60 feet or so. Maybe it was 80. In any case, it's basically so we can hunt for the sharks. By hunting, I mean look for. That way we can then swim deeper towards them without using up all the bottom time. Unfortunately, for both dives we didn't get to see any hammerheads. But it was still enjoyable.
Oh, and on this dive, I met a lady who happened to have been in the Amigos del Mar shop the morning I made my phone call. She said she, as well as everyone else in the shop, got to listen to the owner screaming and cursing live! HAH!
^^kikimolamola^^
^^mr polo in the middle - the guy on the left was diving with me the day before too!^^
so yeah. manta and cabo deep blue were awesome. i would definitely recommend both and dive with both again. !!!!!
My dentist gave me a Saturday off so I booked a Gordo Banks trip with Manta. I woke up really early for the trip - (especially difficult after a sunset jungle booze cruise - 200 pesos, all you can drink gahhhh). I got to the shop only to find out that the 4 other people who were supposed to go canceled. that sucked. They ended shifting me to the local dives trip which was cool, especially since I ran into a friend i'd not seen in 10 years! Her friend dove with Nacho, and we ended up going with Mr Polo. I love the morays! Swimming with sea lions is always fun (tho after a while I prefer other things). Saw some mantas jumping into the air but of course, I didn't get those on camera. GRRRR!
There's a lot more underwater photos here in my LJ scrapbook - and even more at my facebook gallery.
Manta was pretty awesome but a bit on the pricey side for the local dives. I also had to pay an additional $20 to use a computer which isn't included in the dive gear rental price ($25). I splurged a bit and paid $30 for photos. oh, and I used Nitrox - 3 tanks. The morning's dives set me back a little over $200.
I also scheduled an afternoon dive with Cabo Deep Blue - recommended by my hotel activities desk. Manta was kind enough to allow me to hold on to the dive computer I used. When I got to Deep Blue, I spoke to Oscar, the owner and he actually suggested I not go diving with them since I would be going to the exact same spots. He said it would be better to go another day. I really appreciated his honesty! I asked about other dives they were planning and he told me all were local. But in the end, they offered to set up a corridor destination for me on a Wed am. awesome!
I ended up having a full Tuesday off. I woke up early and attempted to find an operator. I called around to a few places but all were doing local dives. One operator stood out from them all: Amigos Del Mar. I could hear the owner in the background shouting questions to the person I was speaking to on the phone. He kept asking, "When was her motherfucking last dive?" or "Where was her god-damned mother-fucking last dive?!" The man on the phone translated, "Excuse me, Miss, when was your last dive?" I replied, "3 days ago, with Manta." The guy in the background kept repeating himself because he obviously didn't like the answer. Also, I think I heard him say something about Manta not being good enough. The guy on the phone translated this into "We require all divers to do a local dive - with us." I said that it wasn't going to happen. In the end, they offered me a Gordo Banks trip on the Wed AM and I declined. I already had the Deep Blue Wed AM booked. I told the guy on the phone that he sounded very nice and I thanked him for his help. I also told him that his boss sounded like a right cunt and I was sorry he worked for a god-damned mother-fucking asshole.
Later, I was to learn more about this operator from other local dive instructors and customers!
The funny thing about companies requiring divers to do a local dive with them might seem to make sense, but in the end, it really doesn't. They don't ask you to set up any gear, in fact it seemed to me that it was discouraged. Divers were on holiday so didn't need to. Of course, when I pressed they didn't mind. Dive computers are not required - at least for the local. All that is asked is that divers stick with the DM/DI and not go deeper. Ah, and safety sausages weren't required either - though I brought mine with me and actually ended up needing it!
The local dives (Lands End, Pelican Rock, Sandfalls, Neptunes Finger, etc) actually should require a sausage. There's so much boat traffic that it'd be easy to run over a separated, surfaced diver. Below, the water is nice, the sea lions fun, but the constant noise of the engines is pretty annoying.
So then, Tuesday. After my wonderful phone call with Amigos Del Mar, I decided to give up and headed to breakfast since it was too late to get on any out-going, non-local dive boats. I saw Oscar, the owner of Cabo Deep Blue in the hotel lobby with a group of Japanese divers. (He speaks Japanese fluently). I spoke to him a bit and then decided to just go diving with them albeit the local destination. They were really nice and I wanted to be under the water! On this day, a couple of the divers were finishing up their certification. There was also a cruise ship in town so I dove with a lady who had to get away from her shopping buddies and a guy who just wanted to get one dive in - plus his g/f didn't dive (WTF??!?)
The girls went down with their DI, and we jumped in the water with Garry.
Only did 2 dives that day. Got gear but no computer. No Nitrox. It cost me $85.
Afterward, I went with Garry and got some sushi nom nom nom. My treat!
Wednesday, I booked 3 dives with Cabo Deep Blue. We headed out to the Corridor and started at the Blowhole. I went down with Garry and another diver (who I'd see the following day too). There was also another DM there from the shop diving solo and shooting images. (GRR he saw sharks, turtles, and some other stuff). Saw some different life which was nice. Loved seeing the zebra moray. And some rays. Also, it was a lot more peaceful. There was no constant droning of boat engines. It seemed like we were actually diving. We all cruised along at a slow but constant pace and it was nice. The second location was Twin Dolphins. Again, great dive but a lot more current. When we surfaced we couldn't see the boat at all, but I had my sausage so once that was inflated, the boat came and found us. (I have one of those cheap $10 things but damn! It's like 7 ft tall and does the job a lot better than those fancy fold-up stick things or the little 3 ft tall self-inflating ones! It is a bitch to fold up tho.) The other guy had only 2 dives booked so we headed back to the Marina to get another tank (the other DM who was solo used one of my nitrox tanks).
My third dive of the day was just with Garry. We headed to the local dive area and straight for Middle Wall. There we jumped in and headed straight down to 130 ft. Now that was cool. There were no other divers in the area and it was almost eerie with some tall outcroppings and little passages. Some different life too. My computer was beeping a lot. lol. But we slowing swam along the wall while going up a bit. I really liked this dive - I think I liked it more than the sea lions. Yeah. Definitely.
The 3 dives for that day were just over $100 (including the gear rental, 2 nitrox/1 air tank, + dive computer). NICE!
The last dives of my trip were with Manta. I woke up early and rang them up around 7am after checking their website and seeing they had a Gordo Banks trip scheduled. I spoke to Kiki on the phone and he said to come on down. I asked if Mr Polo was working and he said he was too!
I got my shit together and walked over to Manta. BTW, after coming back from the dive, I noticed that the prices on the Manta and Deep Blue sites are listed the same ($175) for this dive - though it seems the rental gear is a little different - and I wonder if sometimes Deep Blue includes the gear in the price. In the end, it works out the same since I tip out the DM and boat captain sometimes. Ended up spending over that though cuz of the Nitrox and computer rental in addition to the gear.
This dive was a little crowded with about 10 divers. It was also a little rougher out on the water and some of the divers were not happy with the boat moving to and fro. Personally, I like it. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get there and we were the only dive boat. But there were fishing boats out. So then, this time, I had to throw on a full 3mm suit. The water was still around 85F but at 125 feet down the were a dramatic change which we noticed immediately. It wasn't too bad for me but I noticed at least one diver look a bit uncomfortable. Basically, we all head straight down the line to about 60 feet or so. Maybe it was 80. In any case, it's basically so we can hunt for the sharks. By hunting, I mean look for. That way we can then swim deeper towards them without using up all the bottom time. Unfortunately, for both dives we didn't get to see any hammerheads. But it was still enjoyable.
Oh, and on this dive, I met a lady who happened to have been in the Amigos del Mar shop the morning I made my phone call. She said she, as well as everyone else in the shop, got to listen to the owner screaming and cursing live! HAH!
^^kikimolamola^^
^^mr polo in the middle - the guy on the left was diving with me the day before too!^^
so yeah. manta and cabo deep blue were awesome. i would definitely recommend both and dive with both again. !!!!!
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