Posted by Seth on December 28, 2009 under Trip Reports | 
A few more photos here from diving in Hurghada, Egypt. Day two of the diving was much better than day one. The folks on the boat were more friendly and generally better divers so we had a much better time both in the water and during the boat rides and surface intervals. No pedicure service on the boat – that was rather disgusting – and a smaller and more friendly crowd.
There were a whole bunch of interesting animals to be seen on day two, including an octopus, several blue spotted rays, some tiny blue banded shrimp and plenty of clown fish.
And then there were the dolphins. Wow. Just plain wow. We saw them on the surface and knew that there was a chance we’d see them underwater. We headed in and didn’t see them right away but they showed up about 5 minutes into the dive heading away from us. OK, fine. We saw them. I can’t really complain. And then, about 45 minutes later, as we were wrapping up the dive, the dolphins came back. This time they were swimming towards us and they were not shy at all. I was able to get pretty darn close – enough that i couldn’t get a wide enough shot with my camera – and swim right with them. At least for a few seconds, anyways.
That was a TON of fun.
Lots more underwater photos (and the rest of the shots from Egypt when I get around to posting them later) in the gallery here.
Posted by Seth on December 26, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Not a ton of time to post now as we’re between diving and dinner but I wanted to share a couple photos from our first day of diving. Suffice it to say that all the hype I’ve heard about Red Sea diving seems to be entirely justified. It really is quite impressive. I wasn’t all that impressed by the dive or social skills of the other folks diving on the boat with us, save one pair, but overall it didn’t cause us too much trouble. Over two hours underwater today and looking for a repeat tomorrow. Much happiness, indeed.
Posted by Seth on April 30, 2009 under Trip Reports |
Sliding down the descent line the wreck slowly comes into focus. I reach the top of the wreck, ironically the bottom of the overturned ship, and notice one of the other divers calling me over to the edge; clearly he’s found something that I need to see. I let go of the line and swim across the 30 feet or so to the edge of the hull. Peering over the side I see the cargo of the ship – large cement pipe sections – and then the reason for my buddy’s call. Baby was headed right at me and she didn’t look all that happy.
Baby is a six foot long Morey eel that is a resident on the wreck of the Sea Emperor. The ship was purposefully sunk along the south Florida coast several years ago as part of an artificial reef project. It capsized during the (not so) controlled ditching and now rests in 75 feet of water just a few hundred yards off the coast of Pompano Beach. The cement pipe sections that were initially loaded into her cargo compartments spilled out as the boat sank, creating the basis for a decent artificial reef near the wreck. The site is home to several “special” treats, including a couple of Goliath Grouper (~300-400 pounds), rays in the 10 foot range and Baby, along with many other “regular” reef fish typical of the region.
Like most dive trips that I’ve done solo, the first 30 minutes or so on the boat are critical. That is when you meet the others who are out diving and get paired up with a buddy for the trip. I met Kyle and a couple of his buddies (bringing donuts certainly helped break the ice) and we chatted a bit. Eventually we agreed that I could tag along with their crew which turned out to be a great opportunity.
Kyle & company were quite experienced divers and very comfortable underwater. That was good news in more way than one. They had brought along some frozen baitfish for the dives, figuring that it would help ensure more lively interactions with the sea-life. They were certainly correct on that front. Having the fish helps us coax a couple spiny lobster out of their coral hideaways and also helped bring Baby out into the open water. It also brought a reef shark out for a passing view, but the shark chose to leave us alone. Only Baby really took the bait, so to speak, interacting quite readily with us during the 20 minutes or so we spent on the wreck. She was certainly not shy about trying to get at the lunch being offered and didn’t seem to care too much who was holding it; she came after all of us for it.
Seeing a six foot long eel swimming right at me, teeth bared, was quite a shock. I actually freaked out enough that I somehow managed to wriggle out of my weight belt – a very dangerous proposition while 50 feet below the surface. Fortunately my training kicked in, I remembered that the weights were more important than just about anything else and I managed to fin down to where they had fallen and grab them, stabilizing my position in the water. The bad news was that I was now seventy feet below the surface with my camera in one hand, by weight belt in the other and an eel swimming at me with its teeth rather prominent in the whole scene. It was also at this point that I truly realized the good fortune I had to be diving with these guys. One of them had seen my weights drop and was already moving into position to help keep me underwater. Plus they were the ones that got Baby into the open. Well done on both fronts.
The dive on the wreck was actually our second dive of the day, though it was intended to be our first; when we got out there initially it was too crowded with other divers so we did our dives out of order that day. Or first dive was on a small reef system called Crab Cove. The reef system runs north/south along the coast with scattered coral heads and a sandy bottom. There were lobster, angelfish (a favorite of mine) and even a blowfish among the coral but the colors were rather subdued, similar to what I’ve come to expect from diving in Florida.
More significantly of note on our boat was a group of divers from Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba (S.U.D.S.). This is a group focused on helping amputee veterans remain connected to the world through diving. The group was truly amazing, both the guys diving and the woman who organized the trip for the group. One of the divers was a very recent amputee – it has only been a couple months for him – but they were out there having a phenomenal time underwater just like I was. It didn’t take much for them to fit fins onto their prosthetic limbs and get out into the water, and they were truly enjoying the experience. It was rather uplifting to see that scene. I now have a new charity to support as I was incredibly impressed by the whole bit of what they were doing.
Diving in Ft. Lauderdale means picking either a dive shop or a boat operator. In many cases the dive shops just pay for your space on the boat if they don’t have a boat of their own so it may be that you are diving with a wholly different operation. It pays to do a bit of extra research when choosing a dive shop/operator to make sure that you understand exactly who you’ll be out on the boat with and who is actually responsible for what is going on. In my case the dives and the boat, operated by South Florida Diving Headquarters out of Pompano Beach, were OK, but neither was particularly great and there were enough rough edges that I’d be willing to find a different operator next time. Getting yelled at for mis-navigating a reef where we went exactly where they told us to go wasn’t particularly fun, nor was the fact that my rental gear almost didn’t make the boat.
South Florida may be most famous for its sun and surf, but the underwater experience is lively as well. There are natural and artificial reefs running from Miami to Boca Raton with enough options along the way to keep anyone busy for several weeks of daily diving. With a half day to spend underwater I only experienced a couple dive sites, but it was enough to make me appreciate the options available in the area and certainly enough to whet my appetite for future dives in the area.
Posted by Seth on February 2, 2009 under Uncategorized |
First off, a bit of a pronunciation lesson, as I got it wrong for most of the trip. The middle syllable of Tobago rhymes with lay, may and hay.
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me say that spending time in Tobago is a great way to play, for a week or even just a day. It is ridiculously laid back, but also almost completely dependent on the tourism infrastructure so they understand the value of actually dealing with visitors in a reasonable manner. I didn’t get the same feeling from my stay in Trinidad but that will be a different story for a different day.
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| Pigeon Point beach in Tobago |
I had made arrangements with the guest house I was staying at to be picked up from the airport when I got in late on Saturday night. The guy came right over and about 20 minutes after landing I made it to my room, dropped off my bags and headed out to see what there was to see on a Saturday night. Quick aside here: I stayed at a place called Candles…In the wind. It was fine. It was cheap, clean and in a decent location. Not much more one can ask for at $40/night. Somewhere between a true hotel and a hostel, but nice enough. Call in direct rather than booking online; I saved ~$20 that way.
Back to the evening in Tobago. Good times. I wandered about 5 minutes from the hotel to a bar and had a beer while enjoying the sights and sounds of the island. There was a good mix of locals and tourists at the bar flowing out into the street, which wasn’t too hard since the bar had a parking lot and small dance floor and then literally was in the street. There were 30-40 people milling about and generally having a good time. Music was pumping (dance/techno) and it was an interesting scene. I wasn’t up for a big party so I called it a night after one beer and headed back to the room and my reasonably comfortable bed.
The next morning I was up early; too early. For reasons I still do not understand I woke up around 6am. On the plus side, it wasn’t too hot out yet. On the down side, it was ridiculously early. I had planned to spend most of my morning in the water, snorkeling the great reefs of Tobago. I didn’t get to see the great reefs, but I did have some decent snorkeling opportunities on the beach about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. It is an open public beach that abuts a ridiculously high priced resort (Coco something or other) so pretty much the same fish at a significantly discounted price. The snorkeling wasn’t phenomenal, but it was pretty good. Definitely a good alternative to just sitting on the beach the whole day.
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| Some of the fish and coral off of Pigeon Point beach in Tobago |
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| Bake ‘n’ Fish breakfast at Liz’s |
After snorkeling I did sit on the beach for a bit reading and then, around 9am, decided to find some food. Knowing nothing about where I was I randomly ambled up the road, hopeful that a decent opportunity would present itself. It did, in the form of Liz’s By D’ Bay, a restaurant i found on the road to Pigeon Point. I saw the place as I was walking but kept on, just in case there were other options. Finding none I was headed back to Liz’s when I saw a woman sitting in front of her shop eating breakfast. She also endorsed Liz’s (and made the 10th offer I heard that morning for a glass bottom boat tour of the reef) so I made my way over for breakfast. The food was pretty cheap ($3 for fresh Bake ‘n’ Fish) and pretty delicious. It doesn’t quite meet the technical description for street food since it was a permanent building, but it was pretty close in terms of atmosphere and quality – great on both accounts.
I should note at this point that ordering breakfast made me feel a bit like I was in the movie My Cousin Vinny. Sadly, it is not because Marisa Tomei was stomping her foot at me. Still, there was no menu at Liz’s, so ordering mostly consisted of looking around at what others were eating and then casually saying that I wanted “breakfast, like these guys.” All I can say is that it worked. The food was great and rather filling, too.
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| Store Bay Beach |
And then my time in Tobago was done. I waited out a quick tropical rain storm, wandered back to the hotel, gathered my belongings and walked the mile or so back to the airport. Yeah, I walked to the airport. I had the time to kill and it let me stop off along the way at Store Bay beach. Nestled between the two high priced resorts on that section of beach, Store Bay is an impressively nice public beach facility. The beach isn’t huge, but big enough to accommodate a good crowd. Beach chairs and umbrellas are for rent at decent prices. And there are decent changing rooms and other facilities there. Oh, and basically all of the snorkel/glass-bottom boat tours operate from the beach there, too. So there is that to deal with, but they were pretty low key in terms of soliciting business, so no big deal.
Finally back at the airport, I hopped back on the DASH8-300 and made the quick jump down to Trinidad. That was the end of the more relaxing part of the trip. I could easily see going back and spending a couple days in Tobago. The diving with the manta rays is supposed to be pretty good, and it is way more accessible than Yap. Know going in that the facilities are still pretty limited, but that’s not too big a deal, especially considering the prices.
Oh, and add to the previous list of things I forgot for this trip (passport, books) some new entries, like a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen. Those aren’t important, especially when you’re going to the Caribbean.
