Playa August 2009 - Arena Blanca and Diving with Pluto Dive

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by Duck

Well he supposedly knows you by sight ( but then again he does like to count the "quacks" in the sidewalk as he walks around ) HELL ! i told him they were my ex's !

P.S. sorry you got LAID off ... i definately know what it's like... my job at MDS Pharma was eliminated last year... been there for years, but there is always better things in the future Maggie ..... nice job on the TR BTW... love the pics !

'LAID'
don't be sorry for that!


I am not sorry, I was in a huge rut, I was very unhappy with that job...onward and upward indeed, for both of us!!

I told Don we should really just semi-retire now and spend winters in Mexico, and work here in spring/fall/summer.... or buy a business down there somewhere....but he says to me 'five more years'!!!

[Rissask]

In light of some recent posts about some negative experiences with service workers and padded bills and such in Playa of late, related to the economic downturn and the lowered tourism due to the swine flu, I wanted to take the time to say that we were on the lookout for such things- and nothing, nada, zilch, zippo!

We always carefully check our checks and there was not one added charge or bogus tax, anywhere. We were pleasantly surprised by this because honestly, it usually does happen at least once per trip to us, whether accidentally or not- and it did not happen a single time. We always pay in pesos so there is no room for exchange confusion, I think that helps. If we were asked for US dollars (like the property manager wanted them for the damage deposit) we just said no, we don't ever get US dollars, give us the price in pesos, please.


We also did not notice any surly or negative attitudes from anyone.....everyone seemed pretty happy to us, although a couple of cabbies said things were slow when we questioned them, it sure did not seem too slow to us, it seemed over-crowded actually, in some parts of town! Possibly the increased Europeans visiting right now has cheered everyone up?

[PlayaGroom]

Like the report Maggie!

We were married right on the beach that you talk about; between Las Palapas and Shangri La.

Your report, and a few others, are really starting to convince me to cash in some of my miles and book a short summer getaway next year. We only walked through the north end of town twice while we were down there, but we really liked the feel of it. It's nice to see your report of the area.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by PlayaGroom

Like the report Maggie!

We were married right on the beach that you talk about; between Las Palapas and Shangri La.

Your report, and a few others, are really starting to convince me to cash in some of my miles and book a short summer getaway next year. We only walked through the north end of town twice while we were down there, but we really liked the feel of it. It's nice to see your report of the area.

That is a really lovely beach...and it was SO much wider this trip than my last one! I have comparison shots to post later.


Yeah, a few years ago we thought going in the summer was nuts....but we love it now. Why not, right? The summer weather here can be iffy (like this cold, windy summer, yuck ) and what can be better than swimming and diving in a warm ocean and spending less than we would on a one week vacation to the mountains?

It's never a bad time to go to Mexico!

[Rissask]

Wednesday we had to be at the shop at 8:30, we were doing to do our first two ocean training dives today.

We got there and suited up...posed for a shot with Alberto....





and he loaded the canisters into the truck....





and headed off the beach down Calle 40 along with the divemaster Alex and his student Jessica.

The boat was there waiting and we loaded up and set off to a nearby reef called Chunzumbul where we did a 45 minute, 10 metre depth dive (about 40 feet). During the dive we had to do some exercises, three involving the regulator (removing and then two different ways of clearing, and then tossing it away and retrieving and clearing it) and three different mask exercises -halfway flooding it and clearing it, full flood and clear, and then the one I was most dreading, full removal and replacement of the mask and clearning it. All went very smoothly.

After that, which only took about 5 minutes at most, we did our dive, and it went very well. We saw a huge barracuda, a spiny lobster, a couple BIG green moray eels in their caves, tons of fish including a small school of the biggest angelfish I have ever seen. Alberto pointed out a stonefish which was the cutest thing ever- he looked like a little old man!

After the dive we went back to shore for our surface interval of about half an hour, just swam around and lay on the beach and visited.

Our second dive was at the reef Cuevo Pargo. This dive was 47 minutes and also to about ten metres. This time we did the fin-pivot exercise and hovering, to check our neutral bouyancy abilities, after which we enjoyed our dive....even more fish schools than before and another couple of eels, spotted morays this time, and a lionfish! Also a big sting ray which we followed for a bit, from a distance.

Alberto was very excited about seeing the lionfish and after we were all aboard the boat he took Alex and they went back down to see it. Apparently once they find a home they stay put in that spot, so he found it again easily.

They are an invasive species of fish and many divers kill them on sight in areas where they don't belong...I asked Alberto about this and he said he does not kill them, he wants more information from experts before he would do that. They sure are beautiful!!

http://www.bonairepros.com/blog/wp-c...006bynoaa1.jpg

[Rissask]

We were done for the day about 2 or so, and went back to the condo to change and then headed down the beach to Fusion for lunch.


We were both starving and we had never tried the cheeseburgers, but I have heard great things about them, so we each ordered one, and Don had a Modelo and I had a michelada made with Negra Modelo, my favourite beer....








Other than the avacado, which we both picked off (I love guac, but not on a burger, thanks!) they were delicious!! Best burgers in Playa, no doubt! The fries were good too.


The sky was blue and the weather fine, with just the perfect amount of breeze to cool us off....it had rained Sunday or Monday night later on, but during the days it was clear, sunny and hot.



After lunch we asked the waiter if we could move to the loungers and palapa umbrella for the afternoon, and he said no problemo.

I enjoyed watching this guy set his nets and hooks....






the lifeguard was keeping a close eye on things...




and so was I! Nice.....Don doesn't seem to be enjoying him quite as much as I did, though....






This is Don imitating my uncle Ashley who always gets mistaken for a terrorist at airports....he wears a Khomeini scarf when on vacation somewhere hot, and he looks middle eastern even without a tan .





and drying it out in the breeze.....where is my lap dance, chica?

[Rissask]

When we had had enough sun and swimming and cervezas for this day we took off walking down the beach toward the ferry dock and came upon this lifeguard stand....I don't know, but something about it just struck me as funny/ironic...








Then we walked up and into that fancy schmancy mall area....saw the Doctor Dolittle guy with the 2 poor squirrel monkeys posing for photos with tourists.......walked up to tenth and caught a cab home.


This night we decided to go for dinner to Yaxche, one of my long-time favourites. It was 'just okay' tonight...Don had some chicken dish which was very good but my conchinita pibil was bland and not enough sauce...back in December it was too salty.... it's inconsistent. But the service was great, as ever.

We took our time walking back to the condo, did a little window shopping, and stopped for a nightcap at La Hora Feliz, then home to bed.

[Rissask]

The next morning we again were at the shop by 8:30 to do two dives again.

The first one was reef Moc Cae, to 14 metres for 50 minutes. Exercises we did were the CESA (controlled emergency safety ascent) in case you run out of air and need to surface in a hurry, and Alberto made me practice the mask flood and clear once more. We also did our descent without a reference line this time, for practice.


We saw a nice sized turtle (or was that on a dive the day before? Can't remember now) and a lot of small sand rays, another stonefish, and another moray eel or two.


Our second dive of the day (and final ocean dive for the trip) was at Jardines reef, to ten metres for 55 minutes. This reef has very pretty coral garden (hence the name), we did a dive here when we did our Discover Dive in 2005.

I have to say that whil Cuba had nicer coral in better shape than these 4 reefs, there are far more fish and larger ones in Playa. This is far from a scientific observation, just what we happened to see on the days we happened to be diving.


I have photos that are supposed to be being sent to me that Alex took of us underwater, I will come back and post them in here later this week.

[Rissask]

Before diving they asked us if we wanted to go down to Dos Ojos the next day and do a couple cenote/cavern dives. hell, yeah!! We didn't really plan on doing this (sorry Vanessa, but I will do it again with you some day too!!) but I really wanted to do it, why not? We were there, I'd always wanted to do it, the course was fresh, we were doing well, and we could afford it- so we jumped at the chance.

They asked if we were claustrophobic...not that we know of, no! But Don's sister tried doing it when we were all on that trip in 2005, and she tried but just could not make herself go into the cave, so she had to sit and wait for her husband to do it without her. We were hoping that would not happen to one of us! Apparently it is not uncommon for divers to bail at the last minute, it is a bit scary and dark after all.


When we were done for the day, about 2, we were (again) starved, so after changing (it was sure handy to be right around the corner!!) we headed down to see if Claudette (username Por Favor) was around at the Royal Palms, where I stayed last December (NICE place!).


She had told me she had lunch across the street at La Fragata (Calle 26, on the corner of First Ave, kitty corner from PGs) there quite often and I was hoping we could find her and convince her to come join us for a drink or something, but she was not around.

We had lunch and it was GREAT! The best lunch of the trip, I would say, along with the Fusion burgers. Don had ribs that came with a choice of three salads and dessert, for only 110 pesos- and the ribs were a big end hunk- and really meaty and tender. I had the fettucine carbonara and it was the best I have had in Playa- beating out Antica, Pummarola and Casa Mediterranea.

[katmumn]

Your trip report has really gotten me in the mood for my next trip to PDC.

And that pic of the cute guy from behind helped too.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by katmumn

Your trip report has really gotten me in the mood for my next trip to PDC.

And that pic of the cute guy from behind helped too.

one of the several Italian or Argentians I was fortunate enough to be able to gaze at all week....sigh....sadly, they are mostly concentrated in such high numbers in August, I hear! Good timing....no, it wasn't planned....but I think we may have to go in August every year, and stay in the north end.

[melliedee]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Wednesday we had to be at the shop at 8:30, we were doing to do our first two ocean training dives today.

We got there and suited up...posed for a shot with Alberto....

Lookin good, Maggie! *construction worker whistle*

Alberto is a cutie. Don too.

[Rissask]

He doesn't really look Italian does he! Until he speaks of course *swoon* .

Alberto, that is, not Don.

Where was I, where was I...oh yes, yummy lunch at La Fragata....I think this was the day we went to Kool and Mamitas and could not find any open loungers, wow it was packed with people! I would have thought around 3 some people would have been leaving, but we sat up in the Mamitas restaurant/bar and had a beer, and waited a half hour, no dice.....very busy!




and there was a rainstorm over Cozumel....





We paid for the beers and walked north up to the Shangri la Caribe beach and settled in there. It was too hot to bother walking back to the condo to grab the umbrella and chairs so we just lay on our towels and kept going in swimming.

Looking back toward the crowded beach clubs...(well, to ME this was crowded....I suppose it is somewhat relative?!?)...it is so funny to me that no one seems to ever go out past their chest.






On the way up to the beach...





and just for comparison, to show how much wider this beach is than last early December....





Look at where the water line was!! Now it is way wider....funny how the beaches change all the time.

Obligatory toes and beach pic...my monkey toes.





My man....not bad for 46 ....too bad about the bum hip, sweetie!!




We had a nice time going in and out, swimming. The storm kept getting closer and closer until we had to make a break for it.








and then it ended up not raining anyway!

[Rissask]

We had to go back to the shop at 5 and write our final 50 multiple choice question exam for our OWD course, so we did that.....YAY, we passed!!! I got 3 wrong and Don had 4 wrong, so you can imagine how hard a time I gave him over that....we were even though, since I had that mask clearing issue and he had nothing wrong in the practical side of things.

Whoo hoo! We had to have a quick beer to celebrate and then hurry and get ready- we were meeting Nancy (maestranba) and her husband Ed and son Christian for dinner!

They were recently arrived in town and staying at the condo complex Le Meridien (not sure that is spelled correctly?). I knew the general location and as it turned out, it was a building we had passed in the dive truck the past two mornings- I thought that was it but there was no sign on the building....but there was a guard and I just asked him the name, that worked out well. Luckily Nancy and Christian had come down to meet us and we had no problems.

We went up to their third floor unit and it was gorgeous! Spacious and very new and modern. The best part was the rooftop patio area complete with hot tub, plenty of seating with shade, even a bathroom! And access to the rooftop pool. Nice place!

We had a couple of cocktails and visited, it was great to finally meet Nancy, and Ed and Christian were very nice too. We decided to just head to Pummarola, as it was so close, they loved it and had not been there yet, and I really wanted to go there again this trip and we only had two nights left.

Nancy and Don and I had the porcini mushroom/ricotta ravioli in marsala sauce and it was very rich and good. The meatball appetizers in tomato sauce were also good. Nancy also ordered an ensalada mixta which I had some of, very good....except that corn, it adds colour but I still am not too sure about corn in a salad!

Sadly, no pictures from this ight- we both forgot our cameras!! We had to be at the dive shop early again for the cenote dive the next morning, so we headed for home after dinner. On the walk home back up Calle 40, I was remembering back last year when we tried to find Pummarola one night and Steph got too scared and refused to go any further down that road!

[Rissask]

We, along with divemaster Alex and his neice Jessica, were going to dive the cenote/cavern at Dos Ojos, down by Hidden Worlds park.

We left about 9 and go tour instructions and safety info in the truck (in both English and Spanish!)

First we had to lug our tanks for the second dive down the steps...






The skeeters were biting like mad!




Gorgeous cenote...



hi Jessica!



We got suited up and walked (VERY carefully!) down the steps again, and then got in the water and checked our buddies equipment and descended.....Don is the far left and I am the one next to him to the right who starts bobbing up...not weighted enough plus I had not released all the air out of my BCD...so clumsy! sheesh, I was excited!







(edit: I just watched this again and the one having issues was Jessica, not me! I figured it out because I am not that tall and my legs are NOT hat skinny. ha.

I am the one waiting, second from right.)


During the dive...

















There was a photographer in the cenote shooting pics and video and afterward I bought the DVD with our group on it (Fish Eye Productions I think is the name) for $450 pesos and it was well worth it to have these pictures.