Doppler
01-08-08, 03:41 PM
Pretty uneventful Christmas / New Year trip to visit my friends at Pirates Cove in Dominican Republic. But just in case anyone is interested.
This year was a little different to the others. I had my son and step-daughter along for company as well as a few of the usual suspects. Xavier was doing a TDI advanced nitrox / decompression procedures class with me and Vanessa was there to maybe get her SDI deep and navigation specialties completed. Things turned out a little different but we all had a good time.
Xav and I arrived on December 22, me early in the morning and him in the late pm. This made for a bunch of driving to and from the airport in Santo Domingo, but we managed thanks to Uwe and his laid back attitude. Xav and I decided to begin diving next morning. Unfortunately, my mates at Pirates Cove were in the middle of moving from Juan Dolio on the southern shore of the island to Samana, which sits on the north eastern shore. This meant that things were a little disorganized but we did manage to get out and had a fantastic little shake-down dive on the Tanya V – a small wreck about 1400 metres directly in front of the shop with a maximum depth of about 33 metres. I was surprised at Xav’s buoyancy and trim… they were very good and we managed to get in a bunch of drills on the first couple of dives. Water temperatures hovering around 29 degrees.
A day or so later, my friends Jeff and Doreen from Brooklin arrived. Jeff had an advanced trimix student in tow and so we went out to the deeper reefs where he and Russ were able to get the depth they needed. Xav and I got to work between 30 and 40 metres on various dives we needed to get into our log books. The reefs are all within a 10 to 15 minute boat ride from the dock at Pirates and included: Punta Margarita, Los Coquitos, A Cup and B Cup. Lots of sponges, some neat coral, plenty of small fish and one visit from dolphins at the very end of a decompression hanging from a liftbag.
Quite apart from the fun diving, we had the usual excellent food in local restaurants… breakfast was always a bit of a challenge requiring a early morning walk, but we managed to find a colmado close to our apartment building that sold yogurt, bananas, juice, bread and local rum… the perfect breakfast fare.
Somewhere in there was Christmas Day, which was a non-diving day. The whole bunch of us dined with John and Carolina at their home in Santo Domingo… food and hospitality excellent as usual… Then back to the airport to wait for Vanessa’s flight in from Dallas… it was late.
Unfortunately, ‘Nessa had an ear infection and was unable to join us diving… but she had fun laying in the sun and chatting up the locals.
One highlight of the trip was a dive at La Sirena (Cueva Taina). This is a highly decorated cave next to the highway between Boca Chica and Santo Domingo. It’s shallow and not a huge swim – although part of it remains unexplored – but it is always a pleasure to see. There are three air-filled chambers along the main line all filled with magnificent flow stones, straws and stalactites. Maximum depth is about 40 metres but most of the cave can be seen at less than 15. Awesome dive very similar to the Bahamas’ caves.
Disappointment of the trip was not being able to make it to Catalina in the big boat. The whole bunch of us left early one morning but heavy seas turned us back and we ended up diving the reefs close by the resort.
Anyhow, Xav and Russ both passed their courses and we conducted the very last dive at Pirates Cove, Juan Dolio before they pulled the plug and crated up the last of the dive gear. We headed to our hotel smack in the middle of the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo for a couple of days as gingo tourists.
Got to visit one of my favorite little restaurants... Museo de Jamon in Plaza Espana... saw lots of statues of Senor Colon senior and junior, tons of historic buildings and had a wonderful New Year's party at the Admiral's home (Carolina's dad). Flight home uneventful except for dragging my ass around the parking lot in Halifax at midnight in freezing temperatures looking for my truck... wrote down the wrong aisle number!<o:p></o:p>
This year was a little different to the others. I had my son and step-daughter along for company as well as a few of the usual suspects. Xavier was doing a TDI advanced nitrox / decompression procedures class with me and Vanessa was there to maybe get her SDI deep and navigation specialties completed. Things turned out a little different but we all had a good time.
Xav and I arrived on December 22, me early in the morning and him in the late pm. This made for a bunch of driving to and from the airport in Santo Domingo, but we managed thanks to Uwe and his laid back attitude. Xav and I decided to begin diving next morning. Unfortunately, my mates at Pirates Cove were in the middle of moving from Juan Dolio on the southern shore of the island to Samana, which sits on the north eastern shore. This meant that things were a little disorganized but we did manage to get out and had a fantastic little shake-down dive on the Tanya V – a small wreck about 1400 metres directly in front of the shop with a maximum depth of about 33 metres. I was surprised at Xav’s buoyancy and trim… they were very good and we managed to get in a bunch of drills on the first couple of dives. Water temperatures hovering around 29 degrees.
A day or so later, my friends Jeff and Doreen from Brooklin arrived. Jeff had an advanced trimix student in tow and so we went out to the deeper reefs where he and Russ were able to get the depth they needed. Xav and I got to work between 30 and 40 metres on various dives we needed to get into our log books. The reefs are all within a 10 to 15 minute boat ride from the dock at Pirates and included: Punta Margarita, Los Coquitos, A Cup and B Cup. Lots of sponges, some neat coral, plenty of small fish and one visit from dolphins at the very end of a decompression hanging from a liftbag.
Quite apart from the fun diving, we had the usual excellent food in local restaurants… breakfast was always a bit of a challenge requiring a early morning walk, but we managed to find a colmado close to our apartment building that sold yogurt, bananas, juice, bread and local rum… the perfect breakfast fare.
Somewhere in there was Christmas Day, which was a non-diving day. The whole bunch of us dined with John and Carolina at their home in Santo Domingo… food and hospitality excellent as usual… Then back to the airport to wait for Vanessa’s flight in from Dallas… it was late.
Unfortunately, ‘Nessa had an ear infection and was unable to join us diving… but she had fun laying in the sun and chatting up the locals.
One highlight of the trip was a dive at La Sirena (Cueva Taina). This is a highly decorated cave next to the highway between Boca Chica and Santo Domingo. It’s shallow and not a huge swim – although part of it remains unexplored – but it is always a pleasure to see. There are three air-filled chambers along the main line all filled with magnificent flow stones, straws and stalactites. Maximum depth is about 40 metres but most of the cave can be seen at less than 15. Awesome dive very similar to the Bahamas’ caves.
Disappointment of the trip was not being able to make it to Catalina in the big boat. The whole bunch of us left early one morning but heavy seas turned us back and we ended up diving the reefs close by the resort.
Anyhow, Xav and Russ both passed their courses and we conducted the very last dive at Pirates Cove, Juan Dolio before they pulled the plug and crated up the last of the dive gear. We headed to our hotel smack in the middle of the Zona Colonial in Santo Domingo for a couple of days as gingo tourists.
Got to visit one of my favorite little restaurants... Museo de Jamon in Plaza Espana... saw lots of statues of Senor Colon senior and junior, tons of historic buildings and had a wonderful New Year's party at the Admiral's home (Carolina's dad). Flight home uneventful except for dragging my ass around the parking lot in Halifax at midnight in freezing temperatures looking for my truck... wrote down the wrong aisle number!<o:p></o:p>