Posted by JRM on January 08, 2001 at 21:08:16:
First off, let me say that most people who found out I'd be visiting the warmer diving climes told me I wouldn't venture into the cold stuff again. To those many I say: "Ha! Ye of little faith"
OK, So it's off to beautiful Cabo San Lucas for a weeks relaxation over the New Year. And diving. And after the majority of the list told me the diving would suck, not much expectation for the diving. As such, it was better than expected. But poor enough that the rest of the tank diving days were tanked in favor of free-diving.
Day one was a *real* free diving day. We climbed over some granite rocks to Lover's Beach, carrying only masks, to "check it out". Well, it was great. The water was cool, but warm enough to enjoy an hour and a half wet with nary but a T-shirt and shorts. The best stuff was in less than 20 feet of water. I managed to move a rock on the bottom into position, and by diving down and hanging on to it, bottom times were greatly enhanced. (At this point I should add that I've been working on my freediving skills, and have gotten much better). Three of us enjoyed the fun. We saw all sorts of great fish, tangs, moorish idols, a huge parrotfish, hogfish, king angels, a big school of jacks (I think), and a bunch of others I couldn't recognize and weren't in the books. One note: Mexican water taxis obey the "larger vehicle has the right of way, pedestrians beware" rules that govern the roadways. I think the glass bottom's are to ID the divers they mow down. Nearly got hit several times, and I was *really* close in to the rocks.
Day 2 was a two tank dive at Land's end, basically the same location as day 1. What I didn't gather from day 1 (or would have had to get mown down by the water taxis to gather) was that Land's End is on the edge of a trench, much like Monterey. Go as deep as you want. Vis was in the 40 foot range (rather low, so I'm told) at the surface up to 80 at 100fsw. We were diving with Amigos del Mar, and I recommend them highly. In our group was my wife and I, a young guy from Chicago, and a 14 year old boy (this was his first post-cert dive. He also was from Chicago, but was not affiliated with the other gent in any way. His father accompanied him on the boat, but didn't dive). The four of us had a DM/ guide. We hit the water in 3mm two piece suits (rented), jacket BCs (rented) and our own regs and computers. After everyone played with their weight, we descended the anchor line into boat traffic. Oh, there were two other dive boats already there, and the usual water taxi traffic.
We hit the sandy bottom in about 20 feet of water, and the DM checks everyone and we move out. I would almost consider these dives OE, because if you had to surface you would instantly be mowed down by the water taxis, sport fishers, lunatic panga pilots, and the other dive boats. We saw lots more of the same stuff as day 1. We kept descending, till we were sitting at 50 feet, looking down into the endless blue of the trench. There were sea fans, some coral, and lots of fish. On the way down we encountered a rather large school of barracuda. These were great.
The entire time the DM pretty much stuck glued to the kid. He was constantly coaching him on bouyancy, indicating inflating and de-flating. in 10 minutes in the kid was low on air, so the DM signaled us to stay put while he returned him to the boat. He was back in like 2 minutes. We descended further, hitting a max depth of 95 feet. We cruised a while taking in the sites. The fish were great, and we also saw a goodly sized eel. We headed back to the boat just about the time I hit the first yellow bar on my computer (yes, I use the evil thing, sorry, guess I'm not DIR :-). I signalled to the DM that my wife and I were going to do a safety stop, he OK'd and surfaced with the other guy. We stuck around till she had 500 psi (about 5 minutes) at 15 feet, and then headed up (directly at the swim step).
We waited around for our surface interval. We had the water taxis for entertainment, and the sweet melodic sounds of half the boat yaking due to motion sickness. Our non-diving friends accompanied us to snorkel, and the wife chummed the fish quite effectively by puking in one of our spare snorkels. Lather, rinse, repeat. They spent the rest of the time waving at us from shore (having braved the water taxi death zone). We moved about 300 feet, to where another three dive boats were anchored, then tried as hard as possible to hit each of them while dragging the anchor. After a valiant attempt by the captain to run the boat up on the rocks and several successfull rammings, we moved out into deeper water. Where the anchor finally caught, leaving us resting directly in the path of the water taxis. I think the captain forgot to disable the ship's cloaking device, because the water taxis didn't seem to see our tri-maran anchored directly in their path. After a brief lesson in spanish vulgarities from the DM's at the captain, the water taxi pilots at the captain, and a reprise in english from the seasick snorkeling couple, we entered the water for our second tank.
The second tank was great. Everything was pretty much the same, except the kid managed not to suck dry his tank until almost at the end, and we hit 105fsw. Oh, and there were great sand falls. Those were really cool. Bouma eat your heart out. Because of the elapsed time, we did three safety stops on our way up. 5 minutes at 20 fsw, 5 minutes at 15 fsw, and 4 at 10fsw. We were anchored on this slope that made keeping a constant depth really easy. We just moved up the slope, and sat down at the appropriate depth.
Overall, the diving was enjoyable. It was really loud though. There was a constant stream of heavy boat traffic, which didn't bring any quiet ambiance. Kind of like diving in a metal shop, or a grunge rock concert. I wonder if anyone down there in Mexico has heard of engine lubricant?
Day 3 was free-diving in Santa Maria cove. Here I had a blast. Again, mostly the same fish. But I spied a dive boat, and couldn't help myself. I dove down to a group of SCUBA folks at 40 ft, and waved at them, hung out for about 30 seconds, and surfaced. They reacted about like I'd hoped. I was diving in shorts, a white bandana about my head (sunburn protection), and a dive store shirt. I've been working on the freediving stuff a lot for hunting, and it was fun to be an exhibitionist for a bit. I waved goodby to the SCUBA folks, content in demonstrating their waste of money on tanks. The water was great, and except for the large pleasure boats that kept dropping in, water taxi free. No more playing frogger, which is good because I only have one life left :-)
All in all, a good trip. There was much merriment out of the water, but this isn't the "California Diving BBS" for nothing! As a note, Seahunt told me Cabo isn't a diving destination, and I agree whole heartedly. But the diving we did was fun. And it didn't spoil me. I think it was a good introduction to wussy diving. Of course, the swell and surge made me feel more at home.
So, now it's back to the good old cold stuff. Of course, I'm leaving the tanks behind more and more now, I actually find I enjoy the freedom of freediving more. Oh, and I got a pair of longfins for Christmas, and they're crying to get wet.
JRM
-- of course, being gone for a week doesn't mean you miss a weeks worth of work, only postpone it :-(