If you have not had the opportunity to hear one on Scuba Steve’s presentations, you do no know what you have been missing. Steve is an entertaining presenter with lots of practical knowledge to share. He has previously spoken on Dehydration and diving, as well as first aid hints for divers.
Blending practical advice with current medical knowledge as well as experience from his travels, Dr. Steven Brennan, more affectionately known as Scuba Steve, will talk about traveling around the world in this month’s Club Aquarius Social Club get together. His presentation entitled To the Ends of the Earth: Tips on Remote Travel will prneude you with some great tips for traveling around the world as an adventure traveler, whether you are diving or not.
I hope you will plan on joining your friends at the February Club Aquarius Social Club meeting. Remember members and non-members are welcome.
Time: 7:00 PM on 20 February 2014
Location: The Black Labrador, 4100 Montrose Boulevard (at Richmond) Houston, Texas 77006
Travel
Experiencing the Solomon Islands a Scuba Diving Trip Aboard the Bilikiki
Diving in the Solomon Islands – Guadalcanal
The morning finds is on our first diving location. Diving off the Bilikiki is done primarily off the “tinies,” aluminum boats with cylinder holes and a small ladder. Csaba (pronounced Chaba) was in charge of the first dive and after the briefing it was – this way to the South Pacific and Tinie 1, Tinie 1 as the crew moved the diving equipment from the deck to the tinie. The order was the same each day, diving equipment, cameras then divers. All you as a diver needed to do was to let the crew members know that you were ready, move your name tag from “on-board” to “diving” and then step aboard your waiting diving chariot.
The adventure continues…
Experiencing the Solomon Islands a Scuba Diving Trip Aboard the Bilikiki
Beginning in the Solomon’s
Evan, the shore based manager met us at the airport and like the crew on board the boat, Evan has been a part of the operation for a long time (I can attest that he was here in 2006 when we last visited the Bilikki.) Amazingly, all of our luggage arrived with us and we were promptly taken to the Kitana Medano Hotel to wait for our time to board. To capitalize on our available time, Ann had arranged for a tour of Honiara and some of the sights that made Guadalcanal such a memorable location in World War II. There is a beautiful tribute to the men who died in the Pacific defending our freedom and bringing it to others. This war memorial sits atop a hill above Henderson field and has multiple marble carvings highlighting the battles in this region of the Pacific. So many men died here that the locals are still finding mess kits and other personal items scattered throughout the jungle.
The ships scattered on the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound even now contain the remains of American, Australian, British and Japanese sailors. The majority of these wrecks lie well beyond the range of recreational scuba divers in over 240 feet of water.
Our tour also encompassed Henderson field (we landed here), the river near Red Beach, and a stop at the statue of Sir Jacob Vouza, the Solomon Islander who alerted the allies to the advancing Japanese troops despite being tortured, stabbed and left for dead. He survived, was Knighted by the Queen of England and even renamed his village to California so he could tell his friends in America that he was in California.
As our tour ended, our diving adventure was about to begin. Csaba, on of the on-board boat managers met us at the hotel and transported us to the Honiara Yacht Club – a stuffy name for a simple location with small boats and a nice bar. Here we joined our luggage which had already been loaded by the crew. We were met by Daniela, the lively Venezuelan on-board manager. She is also married to Csaba and no, he is not from Venezuela but rather hails from Hungry and Eastern Europe.
The first day on a live aboard is always busy with everyone scurrying around trying to assemble their dive equipment which is scattered around various bags necessitated by the airline luggage rules. Only after everything is reassembled, tested and stored is there time to relax.
It was soon after dinner that the boat set sail for the beginning of our ten-day cruise through the Solomon Islands.
The adventure continues…
Traveling – Talking to Strangers
This morning I was reading a blog post by Richard Branson entitled “Do Talk to Strangers.” It seems his son went to Hawaii to go surfing but returned home when no-one would talk to him. I found that to be a sad commentary on life. I am basically a shy person, so initiating conversations with strangers can be difficult. If people are not open to the conversation then it makes it even harder.
One of the wonderful things about traveling is the interactions with people, especially the people who live and work in the places we are visiting. These conversations open a window into a whole new world and the daily life of the people in those places we visit. On a recent trip to Arizona, we met some very talented artists who invited us into their homes and work areas. Not only did we learn about their art, we caught a glimpse into their life on the reservation, their religious beliefs and their families.
I love traveling with Ann, because she loves to interact with people and she is not shy about it. Children seem to come out of the woodwork to say hello to her and their parents tend to follow. She meets people everywhere and at times these complete strangers become lifelong friends. Her ability to talk to anyone makes travel fun and different. You just never know who she will meet. For instance, she met group of nuns in Ecuador who knew some of her elementary school teachers in Scottsdale. On another trip to Fiji, she was invited to go down to the river with a group of local village ladies to cool off and gossip. I am envious of her ability to always say hello and start a conversation with a stranger.
As many of you know, her conversations can lead to wonderful opportunities. Our school project where we carry school supplies to the places we visit started with a conversation with some of the local staff at one of the dive resorts. There is no reason we cannot emulate her openness to a conversation. Of course we have to be careful, but for an adult, rarely is a simple conversation a risk. It is sad that we ask our children to “not talk to strangers” because some “strangers” have a lot of information and stories that are interesting and fun. But, this warning should not apply to adults.
Don’t miss out on the stories and adventurers that people have to tell. Say hello to people you meet. Practice talking to people at home so you will feel more comfortable in foreign countries. At least be open to a conversation with a stranger; your life will be enriched.
At The Office – Scuba Travel & the Art of the Layover
My least favorite part of travel is actually traveling. I’ve never been fond of airplanes, undressing for seemingly dazed TSA agents, airport food, the fluorescent indistinguishability of different airports around the world. I’ve always thought that when one is an airport, one could very well be anywhere in the world. They all have evenly spaced Starbucks, bookstores with the same publications, Cinnabon, and garbled announcements about a gate change or lost elderly person or some such thing. So, needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled to find myself facing the possibility of six long hours of contemplating how my wonderful dive vacation is over and the imminent return of my daily routine in the Puerto Rico airport on the way home from St. Croix.
Fortunately for me, the Oceanic Ventures trip leaders had something planned. I felt an overwhelming surge of relief when David Morris causally announced “we’re going into town, who’s coming?” Of course I was going to tour Old San Juan. Luckily enough, Donna, John, Yuliya, Deeba, and Kendall all decided to join David and I.
We left our bags with Eric, and hopped into Israel’s cab. He dropped us off at Castillo San Felipe del Morro, an old Spanish Fort dating back to the 15th Century. Castillo San Felipe del Morro is a grand site, the surrounding brick walls are enormous, the grassy expanse on the pathway in seemed to stretch straight out into the sea. After the obligatory group photo–thanks, Yuliya!–we started out tour of the Fort. We walked through barracks living quarters, holding cells–apparently, according to the sign, one does not want to strike a white person in the 15th century. We went up to the top levels and took in the view of Old San Juan and of the sea we had been diving in only the day before. After our curiosity had been sated, and a few more photos snapped, we took the tram to the second fort, Castillo San Cristobal. This is where, according to David, Kiera Knightley takes a dive into the sea in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film. After seeing that spot we took a brief at stroll over the grounds.
It was about this time that group hunger directed us to the Parrot Club, which was closed. A happy accident, though, as the tapas bar we were directed to was delicious. I had a bacon chorizo burger with garlic aioli that easily makes my top ten burgers list, not an easy feat. After lunch, David had another idea up his sleeve. He took us down to Cruzan House where we learned what “proof” really means and sampled some delicious frozen drinks.
With only a bit more time before Israel came to pick us up, we toured the side streets off the town square in Old San Juan. Donna took photos, John and Kendall toured around, Yuliya and Deeba walked into peculiar looking antique shop while David and I set off on a quest for a quest for a Panama hat–aka “my rum drinking hat”–though, to no avail.
When Israel returned to the town square it was with heavy hearts that we boarded the cab for the return to the airport, Houston, and home. But I’m very glad to have gotten to tour Old San Juan with some very good friends on such a fine day.
At The Office – A Trip Report From St. Croix
When David started diving with Oceanic Ventures, he talked a lot about the Virgin Islands and his desire to introduce us his home town, Christiansted, St. Croix. It seems that he has a lot of his Grandmother in his blood and he wants to introduce everyone to the uniqueness that is St. Croix. (David’s Grandmother, Janet Foster, was the Commissioner of Tourism for St. Croix and along with Vogue Magazine, coined the term The Island of Superlatives).
While he has taken several people to the island during the past few years, on February 1 he got one of his wishes; we took ten of our close warm personal friends to the island to discover what David already knew — there is good diving in St. Croix and a lot more.
We were fortunate to hook up with Ed and Molly Buckley from SCUBA in St Croix and Elsie from the Caravelle Hotel. They helped us coordinate everything from transfers, to Nitrox, Trimix, Sorb and rebreather bottles.
The diving in St Croix varies from steep deep walls to shallow flats with coral bommies and then spur and groove formations. Their are a lot of sharks in the area as well as other marine life from turtles to eels, snappers to butterfly fish. While it appears the large groupers have been fished out, other reef fish have survived and thrived.
The water temperature in this area is a little colder than the western Caribbean with temperatures ranging from 79 to 80 degrees. The waters off the island are not as protected as in some locations so there is a little more surface activity (i.e. waves) which may deter some divers from venturing out too far.
Because of the waves, winds and the relative health of our diving group, we dove mostly around the Salt River area and the channel area on the North side of St Croix. There are some other spectacular pillars and deep walls in the Cane Bay Area (I’ve seen photographs and heard stories) but the boat ride to these sites is long compared to the Salt River sites.
Despite diving solely in these areas we found the sites to be beautiful with some fun steep walls and cut-throughs in the coral formations. Because the water temperature is a little colder, there are fewer species of corals than in more temperate waters. However, the corals are healthy and plentiful.
After the dives, it seems that the national pastime in St Croix is drinking. The boardwalk is lined with bars and there are bars all around town. That is not to say that there are not restaurants serving nice meals but they tend to close early while the bars stay open until all hours of the night. Thursdays and Fridays are the big nights on the island with Saturdays being rather tame because everyone goes to the beach on Sundays (this was according to Alexandra “Alex” Morris, David’s Sister, who lives in St. Croix).
Food ranges from fresh sea food to burgers and steaks. There is a distinct West Indian flair to much of the cooking which adds a unique flavour to the dishes. Hints of Coriander, Cumin and Tamarind can be found in many of the dishes. And, there are the lobsters. Prepared in a variety of ways, all sweet and buttery.
On the last night, David arranged for a special treat for the group — a dinner in one of the St. Croix great houses with dinner prepared by none other than Alexandra Morris, a young, up and coming chef on the island. The house was built as a town house in the late 1700’s by a pair of sugar plantation owners whose plantations were several days ride from Christiansted.
This Town House is decorated with period antiques showing that the owners are well traveled. The feel is of a traditional west indian home but with antiques from the orient and Europe. This would have showcased the wealth of the land owners who built the home.
Our meal, served out in the Gazebo featured more of the local lobster, this time marinated in Cruzan Coconut Rum with toasted coconut sprinkled on top, as well as jerked chicken with a cream sauce, traditional peas and rice, local okra with mushrooms, sweet potatoes (made with spices and mashed white potatoes), a fruit salad and beans. All of this was followed by a traditional Cruzan Rum Cake (yes, it is better than the Cayman Rum Cakes) and Alexandra’s now famous passion fruit cheese cake (amazingly, there was a vine still producing passion fruit this far out of season). Fun food and fellowship, this is a way to end a trip.
Of course, David’s other goal for this trip was to finish his Principles of Technical Diving Course. Hence the reason we needed all of the logistical help from Ed and Molly. They are a tech friendly facility with Nitrox, Trimix and rebreather support available. They have granular sorb, cartridges, rebreather cylinders, twins or double cylinders, 40 cubic foot pony cylinders and other cylinders available, with or without rigging. They have a good group of gas blenders available as well as some technically trained Dive Masters to help lead the dives.
Getting to St. Croix from Houston is not as easy as the western Caribbean because this is primarily an American destination out of Miami. We went through San Juan and took an American Eagle flight over to the island. There are some other smaller carriers as well but luggage may be more of an issue with them.
One other thing to be aware of when heading to St. Croix is the island is expensive. Food, diving, technical diving supplies, etc are all expensive. Most things are imported from the states and the operating cost (water, power, fuel, etc) are expensive. This means that the prices are higher than you might expect so be prepared.
So what can I say other than traveling with David to St Croix is special and fun. He made sure everyone had a good time and for Dive Mom, he helped everyone have an exceptional shopping experience. Almost everyone came back with a St. Croix hook bracelet! Most of them purchased multiple ones — you know, it is hard to make a decision.
David loves to show off the finest points of St Croix because he is proud of the island and what it has to offer. He is truly a off-island minister of tourism. I am sure his Grandmother is smiling down on him.
