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Houston, TX 77401

Caribbean

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Cozumel – Returning Home

As I sit here listening to the waves lapping on the iron shore and here the occasional “ding” of a cylinder, it is hard to believe that we have not been to Cozumel for a year.  I have no excuse; it is only 2 hours away and the weather is purely tropical here.  We arrived on Friday and could just watch everyone’s tensions melt away as they eased into their retreat.  I love coming here, it feels like returning home.

Returning to the Presidenté Intercontinental is like visiting friends.  Many of the staff members have been welcoming me here for more than ten years.  But even if this is your first trip, they work hard to make you feel at home.      

I have been coming to Cozumel since the 1978 and while it has changed and grown, the people are still warm, welcoming and happy that you are here.  The diving is both beautiful and easy.  You just jump in and drift along unitl it is time to return to the surface and then a boat picks you up.  No navigation, no pink fin of shame for not finding the moored boat without surfacing.  It is just “easy-as-squeezy” as they say in Trinidad.

It is day three of our stay here and the second day of diving.  And, the dives have been beautiful complete with turtles, spotted eagle rays, sharks and eels.  There have been schools of yellow tail snapper and large Nassau Groupers.

A trip to Cozumel would not be complete without a visit to Buchanos at Night. And, we made this our first night stop. This is a foodie restaurant at the north end of the island.   Imagine, lobster, snapper and shrimp all redefined by their world-class chef.  Couple this with specialty cocktails and a nice bottle of wine and you have a unique dining experience and one that we love to share with our guests.

The sun is setting now and the afternoon dive boat is due in shortly.  It is time to get ready for dinner and cocktails.  So, this Armchairsailor will be signing off for the day but there is more to come.

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Dreaming of Costa Rica

Ah, Costa Rica…  This place has everything, diving, beaches, lush forests, coffee and lots of activities for the bubble deprived (i.e. non-divers).  When Oceanic Ventures was young we ran eight adventures in five years to Costa Rica.  At that time it was a little off the beaten path and things were a little challenging, especially for me since my Spanish is functional “border Spanish” and I have a vocabulary of a two year-old.  But we had a great time!

Diving in Costa Rica
White Water Rafting
Zip Line

It was during those early trips that we met Bill and Nadine Beard.  Bill brought diving to Costa Rica and Nadine kept an eye on Bill and ran the marketing arm of their operation and acted as a Dive Master too.  They helped us put together some truly unique adventures for our travelers including white water rafting, tours into the rain forest and hikes up to an active Volcano (you can’t get that close to it anymore – it is a safety thing you know).

All of these years later, we are still leading trips off the sidewalk and Costa Rica has so much to offer.  Picture yourself on a quiet beach with a gentle surf breaking or on a beach where big waves break with surfers riding them to the beach.  Or maybe peeking over a ridge and watching large bull sharks swim by is more to your liking.  The fun thing about Costa Rica is you can do both in the same day!  You can be diving in the morning and flying through trees in the afternoon.

And if you want to experience the true beauty of sharks, the Cocos Islands should be on your “must do” list.  In this remote island chain, there are schools of hammerheads swimming through cleaning stations and small sharks feeding on the rocky reefs.  And let’s not forget the tiger sharks always present in the distance and sometimes up close.

No trip to Costa Rica is complete without coffee.  Touring a coffee plantation is a fun way to understand this important part of the country.  And, you get to sample coffee made with different beans and different toasts while looking at the lush forest surrounding these plantations.

Scalloped Hammerhead
Enjoying Coffee

Costa Rican Gallo Pinto

As with all of my adventures you have to sample the local cuisine and nothing says Costa Rica like Gallo Pinto which is served with breakfast or lunch.  A combination of black beans, rich and spices makes this truly a Costa Rican dish.  But you will find beautiful fish dishes and fresh vegetables abound throughout the country. 

So as we all think about getting back to diving, imagine lush forests, soft sand beaches and pinnacles alive with fish and you can almost be there…  

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Dreaming of Cozumel

Dreaming of Cozumel

Ok, we have all been at home too long!  Spring and summer are finally arriving and it is time to start thinking about getting back in the water.  I know that the Twilight Zone episode is continuing and its effects can still be seen and most of the islands are not open to tourists right now.  But, that doesn’t mean you can’t start dreaming of being underwater!

One of my favorite spots to dream about is Cozumel.  Because of its relative location to Houston, it seems more like a local dive spot than a foreign destination.  In two hours, I can be there and in four hours I can be checked it, changed into dive equipment, and jump in the crystal blue water just off the beach at the El Presidenté Intercontinental.  Or better yet, I can be racing off in a boat with our friends at Scuba Du to do a dive further down the reefs.

Diving in Cozumel is a real treat.  No matter what you are looking for, they have it.   The reefs offer a wide variety of marine life and formations.  There are vertical walls at Palacar and coral bommies in twenty feet of water nearby at Columbia.   There are gently sloping walls at Chankanauub and fast-moving fun at Passo Cedral.  For snorkelers, there are sites up and down the coast with beautiful fish and healthy corals just out of reach but easy enough to swim over.  For the hard-core diver, you can do four dives a day plus a night dive right off the beach or off a boat with your own guide. 

Eric & Ann Keibler
Eric & Ann Keibler

I have been going to Cozumel for over thirty years and I never tire of the diving or the island.  My home away from home is now the El Presidenté.  The staff at the hotel make me feel so welcome when I arrive and they are truly happy I am there.  But it is not just me; they go out of their way to make everyone who visits feel welcome.  Last December, Ann and I spent our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with a group of divers at the hotel and it was a very memorable experience. 

Beachside Anniversary Party Set-up

Another of the things I love about the island is the food.  I know, I am supposed to be there for the diving but you have to eat.  Cozumel is fast becoming a foodie destination with a number of well-known restaurants serving creative dishes that draw on all of the senses.  But there are also some hidden gems serving very traditional Mexican and Yucatecan dishes.

Because things are still a little in flux, I can’t hop on a plane right now but we can sit back and dream.  I can also try and recreate a little magic myself by making a special dish or two from my favorite hotel.  Chef Sergio Turriza, the Executive Chef for El Presidenté sent me a couple of suggestions that I could make to bring Cozumel to Houston.

Sergio Turriza is the Executive Chef.
Chef Sergio Turriza, and the team at El Presidente Cozumel

So my suggestion is to make one or both of these recipes and sit back and imagine yourself having just completed a beautiful dive and relaxing at the Palapa bar and watching the sun slip slowly under the horizon with its vivid reds and yellows dancing across the blue sky.  Think of the day dives and the joy of anticipating more diving soon…

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Panama Bound (#1)

15 March 2002 13°07N / 071°46W

Headed towards the Panama Canal. This is an area of unusually high winds and seas so we’ve been waiting for a decent weather window for days hoping to have an easy trip. Twelve hours into the trip we ran out of wind and turned south towards the Colombian coast hoping to find it again.
0100 Local Time – Getting any sleep during the first night of a trip is hard for both of us. I’m in the back cabin, dozing fitfully in my carefully arranged nest of pillows that help stop the rolling. It’s two hours into my three-hour off-watch period and I’m finally getting snatches of sleep when a large wave breaks just at our stern and throws a few buckets of seawater through the hatch. This soaks the curtain, sheets, a couple of pillows and me. I yell for help. Karen strips the bed, rolls everything into a ball, and sends me back to bed saying we’ll deal with the mess in the morning..

0300 Local – I’ve been on watch for an hour now, sitting in our well-protected cockpit. The rolling isn’t so noticeable when you’re not trying to sleep. The early morning skies are gorgeous with Sagittarius and the Southern Cross high in the southern sky. In the middle of this uneventful watch, a flying fish buzzed past my head, flew down the companionway, and onto the floor under the Nav. station. I wasn’t sure what had happened till I heard the desperate flopping of the fish on the clean carpet. I threw the fish and loose scales overboard, wiped up the mess, poured a cup of coffee and went back on watch.

Karen on the bow of Enchante


0730 Local – Up early to enjoy the beginning of a beautiful, cool morning. We jibed in light winds and the gooseneck fitting on the main boom broke – before my first cup of coffee! It took three hours to get the main sail down and the broken boom and sail securely tied along the side deck. It would have gone a lot quicker if the topping lift hadn’t managed to snag the main halyard requiring a trip to the top of the mast. I don’t mind going up in a calm anchorage, but the top of the mast swings wildly offshore. Back on deck, after dropping the sail, I sat and enjoyed a large glass of water before I calmed down enough to help Karen clean up the mess of lines, blocks and heavy sail and boom. This fitting was replaced two years ago by an experienced, high-priced rigger in Houston. Half of his rivets in the fitting missed the boom. When we reach Panama I’ll order the parts and do the job myself.

Meanwhile, we’re continuing on in light airs. This long-distance cruising is rough!

19 March 2002 In Panama!

W E MADE IT!!! We arrived in Panama this morning. Had to slow down yesterday because we were going to make a nighttime landfall and we avoided that at all costs. We are anchored in the area known as the flats. Lots of rolling from the tug boats and pilot boats coming through. “Flats” must have been a euphemism. “Yacht Club” is another euphemism. We took a quick tour around there with the boat. Tomorrow, we’ll go in and put our names on the list so we can get a slip. It might not be much, but hopefully, it will make getting work done on the boom easier. We’d like to get it fixed here instead of the Pedro Miguel Yacht Club because that would mean doing 2/3 of the transit with the boom and sail in the way.

14 April 2002

Your email arrived on the same day as one saying our parts have been shipped. The $190 FedEx charge helped push this project to the usual $1000 (1 Boat Bill) range. Hopefully, everything will match Isomat’s catalog dimensions. Knowing it’s on the way, we’ll start the process of having the boat measured and scheduling our transit. Our transit should be one week or so after starting the paperwork.
Last week I went through as a line handler on another boat. The locks are very impressive but not nearly as large as I expected. Our raft of two boats tied alongside a tug and shared the three up locks with a huge container. After a long motor across Gatun Lake we rafted back together and locked down the center chamber in front of another container ship. Interestingly, sailboats cross the lake as quickly as large ships. We get to take shortcuts outside the main channel, don’t have to reduce speed when passing dredging operations, and don’t need the assistance of tugs for the tight turns going into the lock area.

I worked on a letter describing the city of Colon but haven’t finished. On the plus side, there are some very nice locals and excellent Chinese food is cheap!

Hopefully, we’ll get everything together and be on our way to the Marquesas in a couple of weeks. 

[Note from Eric: in 1997, one of our instructors, Carl Strange and his wife set off to sail the world.  Everyone wanted to know what was happening with Carl, Karen and later with the addition of their new crew member, Rebecca.  So, we started to publish “The Strange Chronicles” so everyone could travel with them.  I was looking through some old files and found the Chronicles.  I started rereading them and decided it would be fun to republish some excerpts from them. They are an insight to the cruising lifestyle.]

Carl Strange Avatar
Carl and his wife Karen set-off on a journey around the world on-board their sailboat S/V Enchante. Along the way, they had a lot of adventures and in Aruba, a new member of their crew was born. Now a family of three with Rebecca’s birth, they sailed the Caribbean and the Pacific experiencing life along the way.

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Scuba Diving – Life on Liveaboards

Scuba Diver in Raja Ampat Indonesia

Have you ever dreamed of living and scuba diving right on top of one of the world’s best dive sites, starting the day by pulling on your wetsuit, slipping into your dive gear, and dropping into the clear, warm ocean above a coral reef teeming with fish all waiting to wish you good morning?
This is the dream made real by liveaboard dive boats, which have been multiplying in recent years in response to demand from divers with busy lives who want to make the most of the leisure time they have.

There are options for all budgets, from dormitory accommodation to palatial private cabins, from canteen-style buffets to fine dining. You can share the deck with a couple of dozen other keen divers or scuba in style on an exclusive boutique luxury vessel with personal rinse tanks and dive valets to look after you and your gear. Some liveaboards offer weekend schedules; others extended voyages to really let you get away from it all.

What are the pros and cons of Liveaboard Scuba Diving?

The main advantages are that you get access to more remote and unspoiled places that see comparatively few divers and you can easily dive four or even five times a day.

The disadvantage is that you are living on a boat, which can be uncomfortable if sea conditions become rough. Your food options are limited and nightlife is usually non-existent. If you do not get on with your fellow travelers it is hard to escape but liveaboards are usually very convivial places full of like-minded, outgoing folk.

A Typical Liveaboard Day

You wake early, roused from your sleep by sunrise and the sound of activity. You throw on your swimsuit and a t-shirt and head for the galley for a snack to wake you up and give you energy and hydration for the first plunge of the day.

You greet your companions on the dive deck where your equipment is ready to go. You showed the crew how you like it set up on the first day and they are quick learners. During the trip, your dive gear lives permanently in the space allocated to you. Your wetsuit hangs nearby although you will be diving so frequently it will never get really dry! On some boats you gear up fully on deck and jump straight in; other liveaboards use small boats called tenders to take you back and forth to the sites.

Breakfast follows the first dive and from there the day progresses in a sequence of rest – dive – eat – rest – dive – eat until you fall into bed and are rocked to sleep by the sea.
Every boat has a sunbathing area, shaded deck space, and a communal lounge where there might be a Scrabble game going on or someone running through their photos from the last dive. If you want some privacy, you can retreat to your cabin, which on most boats is a shared twin room with bunks or single beds. If you are traveling alone you may find yourself sharing with a stranger, usually of the same sex. This is not necessarily a bad thing. You may find you have made a buddy for life!

There are fresh water showers on deck and usually in the cabins but expect hot water to be in short supply. Think of it as a wonderful surprise if you get some and use it sparingly as you may not be the most popular person on board if you are the only one that got to enjoy it!

Tips for Liveaboard Trips for Scuba Divers

Join a pool session or a local dive. Run an in-water check on your equipment before you go. If you find problems get them fixed and then go back in the water and check everything again before you leave.

Pack light: liveaboard life is very informal. Take a few T-shirts and pairs of shorts, a sarong or two, and a sweatshirt for the cool evenings at sea. Don’t bring shoes apart from those you wear to travel; you will go barefoot on board and can use your dive booties for any beach walking.
Be prepared with: –

  1. Multiple surface signaling devices such as a torch, a noisemaker, and a tall, brightly coloured safety sausage
  2. A small spares kit containing a mask strap, regulator mouthpiece, and two fin straps, (as they both tend to break at the same time!)
  3. A personal medical kit containing anti-motion-sickness pills, patches, or wristbands; eardrops; antibiotic ointment for coral cuts and hydrocortisone cream for hydroid stings.

Warning: liveaboard diving can be very addictive!

Simon is the best-selling author of Scuba Confidential – An Insider’s Guide to Becoming a Better Diver and Scuba Professional – Insights into Scuba Diver Training & Operations. Both books are available from Oceanic Ventures. Simon has also just published a new book for divers-to-be and absolute beginners called Scuba Fundamental – Start Diving the Right Way

Simon Pridmore Avatar
Originally from the UK, Simon has lived in the Asia-Pacific region for almost 40 years and has been involved at the sharp end of the scuba diving industry since the early 1990s, pioneering mixed-gas deep diving in the region, first in Hong Kong and later through Professional Sports Divers, his dive centre in Guam, Micronesia. He then moved to the United Kingdom to run a major technical diver training agency and work with cutting edge dive equipment manufacturers VR Technology. Today, he is one of the most prolific and well-known scuba diving and travel authors around. As well as his many books and guides, Simon writes regular columns for a variety of magazines and, under the pen name S.J. Pridmore, has recently published a highly-acclaimed first novel May the People Know I’m Here? After a decade in Indonesia, then a couple of years back in Hong Kong, these days Simon and his wife Sofie live in the south of Taiwan, still on the move as always, trying, but so far failing, to find a cure for their itchy feet.

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The Making of a Scuba Diver

Scuba Diver Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji
Susan Long Relaxing in Fiji

I have been scuba diving for over two years – since December 2012. Not only that, I had 100 dives within 10 months, and I had another 100 dives within another 10 months. I LOVE it! I am 59 years old, a retired IT professional, not athletic or mechanical in the slightest. How did I get here?

When we got married in 1992, my husband and I made a deal. He would not buy a Harley, and I would not go scuba diving. That way, we thought we could keep each other alive for a good long time. I have always had friends who scuba dived, and I have long been intrigued by it.

I swam for exercise in college – or more precisely, struggled through maybe 10 lengths a session. It was awful and so difficult, but for some reason, I did it. I did not enjoy it at all. Fast forward 25 years, and we went with some diving friends to the Yucatan for vacation. They did some diving, and we all snorkeled one day. I was terrified! I did not understand how I was supposed to breathe underwater. But I made myself jump in and try it, and within a minute or two, I was having a great time! There were lots of glamorous fish! Who knew? And I really enjoyed being in the water – which was also a surprise, after my college swimming experiences.

Scuba Divers Susan & Larry on a motorcycle trip
Susan and her husband, Larry on their last motorcycle trip.

After I retired in 2005, I decided to go to graduate school in Spanish Linguistics at the University of Houston. The parking is horrible! (The classes were great!) I soon realized if I had a motorcycle or scooter, I could park in the designated areas much more easily. So I bought a Vespa scooter! When my husband got over the shock, he got himself a Harley! So now I had permission to scuba dive! (We now both really enjoy our motorcycle trips together!)

I had permission to scuba dive, but on the other hand, I knew it was an expensive habit. I was reluctant to get a lot more “stuff”. We already had plenty of stuff. Being overweight, I didn’t think there would be enough weight available to keep me down (seriously). I also knew myself it could be dangerous – I had looked at some books detailing scuba diving “incidents” and they are pretty scary. You wonder why anyone comes back alive!

In the fall of 2012, my friend Donna Collins (another scuba diver, and Oceanic Ventures, Inc. denizen) and I were planning to go on a cruise to Costa Rica and Panama. She suggested that we could go snorkeling, and she might try to go diving. I was enthusiastic – I had not had a chance to go snorkeling in years! She took me to Oceanic Ventures to look into getting my own mask, snorkel, fins to take on the trip.

My First Trip the the Dive Store

Ann, Alex and David Morris were in the shop, and I will never forget the warm welcome. David took me under his wing and explained everything I wanted to know about masks, snorkels, fins. I could not believe how expensive they were! But I was sold on the part of getting good equipment so I could really enjoy the experience. I left with the mask, snorkel, fins, a bag, a skin, and maybe a few other goodies. David offered to give me a snorkeling class for free, which I gladly took him up on, since I was certainly not an expert snorkeler, having only done it once.

At the snorkeling class, I learned quite a bit, especially how to “duck dive!” David offered to give me a Try Scuba session, and I was, well, OK, sure! If he’s offering, I sure will try it. Within a few days, I was trying out the scuba equipment in the West U pool, and learning the first rule of scuba. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, but the next inevitable step was signing up for Open Water Scuba classes so I could go on the Cozumel trip that December. And buying all my equipment. Oceanic Ventures made it so easy. I could not have chosen (and still can’t) between Buoyancy Compensaters, Air Delivery System’s or computers. I trusted their advice, and I really liked the idea that they had a lot of experience with the equipment they sold, and they believed in it for all levels of diving.

Open Water Scuba Training with Oceanic Ventures

I had a great time in the Open Water Scuba training with David and Alex. It was hard for me to clear my mask, but eventually I figured it out. It was hard remembering all the steps for sharing air, or the out-of-air ascent. But I did it! The Cozumel trip was fantastic. I did my open water dives there with Alex as my instructor, and it was so much fun! He was so calm, and knowledgeable, and encouraging. I could see it was going to take some time for me to get really comfortable with my buoyancy, and the breathing, but I was plenty comfortable enough to enjoy the diving, and the Oceanic Ventures group was so wonderful. All those experienced divers were so encouraging and helpful to the brand-new,” baby diver.”

Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands Susan Long and Ann Keibler
Scuba Diving in the Solomon Islands with Susan Long and Ann Keibler

David had let me know in the  Open Water Scuba training that he was the first Oceanic Ventures student to get 100 dives in a year. That sounded like a challenge to me, and I like challenges! Also it was quite clear after the Cozumel trip that the more experience I had, the more fun I could have as a diver. So I set myself the informal goal of getting 100 dives in a year. In order to keep diving through the winter, I started drysuit training and bought a drysuit. I started Advanced Open Water Scuba training, if for no other reason that it was more diving experience! I went with Oceanic Ventures to St. Croix, Belize, Cozumel, and then to Grand Cayman in August! (Donna and I did get to do a few dives on our trip to Costa Rica.) By the time I got to Grand Cayman, I had achieved the 100 dives, between the trips, the training, and being a fun diver at Blue Lagoon and 288 Lake.

Where I Am Now…

So what about all the concerns I had, and my husband had? Well, first off, safety is obviously the first priority at Oceanic Ventures. Now that I am diving, I wonder how people got themselves into those situations in those scary dive books. Of course, mistakes can happen, but most of those incidents are inconceivable on an Oceanic Ventures trip. Yes, diving is expensive, and I have a LOT of stuff. I am still dealing with how to organize it and where it all needs to go between trips. Oh well! The experiences I have had as a diver, and the friends I have made, have been more than worth it.

Scuba Diver Susan Long Diving in Fiji
Susan in Fiji

I love being a part of the Oceanic Ventures “tribe.” It feels like home. I am very impressed with the emphasis on safety and professionalism at Oceanic Ventures. Ann and Eric Keibler run a tight ship, with little room for error, but lots of room for fun. It is easy to have fun when you have confidence in the trip leader, the dive location, the divemasters, and the choice of dive sites. And you get to go play with your dive peeps!

My husband has put up with all this graciously, taking me to the airport and kissing me goodbye as I go off on my next diving adventure. I am so happy to report that since his retirement last August he has become a certified scuba diver, and we are going on our second trip to Cozumel with Oceanic Ventures next month!