Playa August 2009 - Arena Blanca and Diving with Pluto Dive

[Rissask]

I will keep this short and (hopefully) sweet, it was just a one week trip and we did not do too much besides getting Open Water certified and diving!

We left Saskatoon the last day of July and drove 6 hours to Calgary. There were no decent flights from Saskatoon and we saved over $400 driving and flying from Calgary (sucks, but what can you do. I am unemployed at the moment so I have nothing better to do!).

My Dad drove us to the airport bright and early about 5 AM to catch our Continental flight to Houston. We had a 4 hour layover in Houston and went to the Fox sports bar and had a few Coronas and artery clogging appies to kill the wait.

We arrived in Playa around 6:30 and caught the ADO bus to Playa, arriving about 8 or so. We cabbed it up to our north end condo, unit #3 at Arena Blanca, on Calle 38 between 5th and 10th avenues.


The condo was very nice- new and modern in style, a one bedroom with large living area and fully equipped kitchen, with a nice-sized courtyard pool and palapa area in the middle. There was a security guard there from 7 PM- 7 AM, and a locking gate for extra security.

We were met by Angeles, the property manager, who showed us around and left us a cell in case we had any questions or problems.


Here are some photos of the condo...I am sorry I meant to take one from across the street and forgot. Also the bedroom I never got a pic either...it was very large with buil-in wood wardrobes, a TV with DVD player, a laundry room off the kitchen, and there were two bathrooms with a connecting shower.



The location was very good, a short walk to the best beach in town, and just down the street toward the beach was La Cueva del Chango- although if I have any complaint at all, it would be that for this very hot and humid time of year, it was a bit too far north maybe.... but that was minor, it was easy to catch a cab, and the quiet at night easily made up for that!

[Marj]

Nice condo Maggie. Friends of ours stayed there (and maybe the same unit) two winters ago. You're right, maybe just a bit far north but not too far. It just seems that way when it's so very humid and hot.

Looking forward to the rest of your report. Who did you dive with?

[caramba]

All right, a new Rissask report!
The condo looks nice, Maggie- looking forward to more...

[Rissask]

Hey, you two!

Yes, I think if it were in the winter and not as hot and humid, we would not have thought it was too far north at all....as it was, we were still happy with the location.

The unit also came with an umbrella and 2 beach chairs, which we used a couple of afternoons. By the time we finished our training every morning (from about 9-1 or 2 PM daily from Monday-Thursday) Mamitas and Kool were both too crowded to even get two loungers! So we lugged the stuff the block to the beach- that Calle 38 is the nicest beach access street in town, you come out in between Las Palapas and Shangri La Caribe- what a nice stretch of beach!

The ocean in front of the beach clubs was too packed anyway- Playa is BUSY right now!! At least we thought it was pretty busy...the beaches and Fifth Ave was crowded every day.


We did our training course and two cenote dives at Dos Ojos with Pluto Dive shop. The location of the shop was perfect, just a half block around the corner from the condo- on Fifth between Calles 38 and 40.


Owners Alberto Salvini and Barbara Biasi (both Italians, along with divemater Alessandro, aka Alex, are great people. Alberto was our teacher for the Open Water course and he was great, very patient and professional, and funny. (Don and I keep saying to each other "Don't do thees, guys....ees fu**ing dangerous." totally deadpan like he did....so funny.)

[Rissask]

So, Saturday when we got settled and unpacked a bit, we took off down Fifth to PGs Sandbox. I had read that John was going to be playing a football game between his Calgary Stampeders and our Saskatchewan Roughriders....when we got there the place was pretty quiet, maybe two or three other small groups- and no football.

We asked the cute capris-wearing boy to see if he could find the game....nope. He said something about getting a new dish recently and it was all mixed up. There was a friendly local and quite drunk man sitting at the bar who expressed surprise that Canada has it's own football teams and it is a different game with different rules....you learn something new every day.

We were disappointed (they ended up winning that game by one point too- it would have been a good one to watch) but it had been a long day so we had some of those wonderful shrimp tacos with the habanero and tamarind sauces (YUM!) and a Pacifico each, and headed home to bed.

[Rissask]

Sunday was blue skies and HOT HOT HOT....the humidity really kicked our butts for the first couple of days. In Saskatchewan we typically have dry but hot (and short) summers, so we are not used to humidity.

We went for breakfast about 9 to La Cueva del Chango. There was not much air movement in there but the food was good. Don had the chilaquiles and I had mushroom and chaya and jamon eggs with their pot beans (I had Don's beans too....I LOVE those pot beans!)


Sorry I only took a couple of food pictures this week....I was not a good photographer this trip.


This was our one day we had totally free all week, so right after breakfast we headed to the beach and settled in at Mamitas for the day. We luckily got chairs just a few rows back so had a nice breeze.

I recognized the waiter from my trip with our niece last December!









Wow.....the whole north end of town and the beach clubs were packed full with young, beautiful Italians. We both had a great time this week looking at all the eye candy, let me tell you!

[popeye]

Congrats on the Certification!!

[Rissask]

Why thank-you, Barry! Nice to see you!



Sunday we stayed at Mamitas until about 5 or so. By then we had had enough sun and sand and sea, and Don thought he needed a nap (he used the humidity as an excuse to sleep a LOT this week ).


We headed back to the condo, stopping at Off the Vine on the way to buy a bottle of my favourite Vina Maipo cab sauv (whaaa, the handsome and charming owner Ricardo was not there ) and he napped while I read my book (Jodi Picoult`s The Tenth Circle, not bad).

After showering and changing we first made a quick trip to Mega for supplies. We bought lime peanuts, some pop and water and beer, some pastries from the bakery, bread and butter and jam, yoghurt, bananas and mangoes and a pineapple, coffee and crema and Splenda. Breakfast fixings, basically.

After getting back and putting the food and drinks away, we strolled down Fifth to see what struck our fancy for dinner....we ended up at the new Italian place That's Amore between Calles 28 and 30th. We had Marguerita pizza, it was very good, but I have to say I still preferred good ole Hawaiian pie at Karen's!


After dinner we wandered a bit farther down Fifth and Don marveled at how fast Playa has changed and grown since his last trip there in 2005. (A LOT! especially the north end.)

We stopped on the way back at Fe bar and had a drink, then home to bed- Monday at 9:30 we were due at the dive shop for our first day of the Open Water course, so we wanted to be fresh.

[Rissask]

Sunday night we hit the hay early (damn humidity!) and so were both wide awake about 7 AM. We got up and had a nice leisurely breakfast, noticing this little guy under the dishwasher....



I am not sure what that smear is there.... the place was scrupulously clean....it maybe some coffee I spilled just before taking this particular picture.

He was there all week. I am not sure what he was eating, possibly those ants that were all over (and always seem to be everywhere). I brought him a hibiscus flower one day but he did not touch it...I guess that is igunanas who eat those.

I suppose trying to feed a gecko might be akin to feeding a rat or feeding cockroaches to some of you. Oh well. He was cute!



After breakfast we headed around the corner and down half a block to Pluto Dive shop. They were expecting us, of course and we quickly got introduced all around and got started.

This is, from left, co-owners Barbara Biasi and Alberto Salvini (he was our teacher) and that is Alessandro/Alex and his niece Jessica who was the third student that week and came with us on all our dives.





Jessica was a very nice and gorgeous girl of about 20...the first time we met, I asked her "where are you from?"....."Rome." she says (she spoke very little English). I felt like a complete hick!!



Don and I did a Discover Dive course in Playa back in 2005 at Scuba Libre and another 5 dives while we were in Holguin, Cuba, and we also had bought the book a month earlier and read it, so we discussed that and decided we would do all the pool work today in one shot. Good, get it over with!

We got fitted for our BCDs and fins and weights, etc., and suited up and hopped in the truck and headed over to a hotel on Tenth where they use the pool. I wish I could recall the name of the hotel...not Adventura Mexicana, but similar, Villa Mexicana perhaps? It was maybe between Calles 32 and 34 or thereabouts?


We ended up spending about 3 and a half hours without a break in the pool. It was a lot, but we were happy to do it, and to get it all out of the way in order to have not so much to do Tuesday. Alberto did ask us what we preferred and it was our choice- he was very flexible.

The only problem we had was for some reason I was having airway issues when it came to clearing my mask when I had to do the flooding and taking-off-and-putting-back-on exercise. I could not seem to properly blow out through my nose to clear the mask very well!

Frankly, I think I had psyched myself up to have issues about it -it was the one thing I was worried about and I had been fretting over it for ages.

I am very nearsighted (contact scrip is -7.50) and I wear contacts, and I had been nervous for years at the thought of removing my mask, and either losing the contacts and being helpless, or losing the mask and not being able to find it. Turned out I merely closed my eyes when I had the mask off and before it cleared, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

After a few tries of fairly terrible results with the mask clearing, I traded my mask with Don's which had a purge valve and it worked much better. Alberto was professional and calm and patient throughout, which helped a LOT.


After that LONG time in the pool, we were right pooped out! When we got back to the shop, he just told us to do the first 3 quizzes and report the next moring at 9:30 again, and we were free for the rest of the day.


By this time it was around 2 or so, and we were starving, so we freshened up and headed down to First Avenue and walked downtown to El Pirata at the Costa del Mar hotel. Don LOVES El Pirata, it is his idea of Mexico, a rustic, toes-in-the-sand, beer-in-the-bucket kind of place.


I had the Azteca soup (more like cheese soup, here, but REALLY really good) and Don had a clubhouse. We moved to the loungers after eating and spent the rest of the afternoon there.

Later, about 6:30, we met Stewart G and Kelly and their kids Iain and Adrienne for dinner at El Fogon (the one across from Mega).

We had tons of great food and far too short a visit, (although it was a really nice visit!)- it was smoky from the grill in there and SUPER sweaty, and the Stewart Gs had to travel back home tomorrow, so the party broke up early and we all headed home- us to do our quizzes and them to finish packing and saying good-bye to Playa!

[Duck]

Hey Maggie-May ! you and Don sure slipped in and outta Playa ... pretty much a private trip eh ? except for Stewart G's...Congrats on the cert. in diving....which I would never do, ducks only go under water for a very brief time You must of stayed right by AL....he said he ran into you the other day... he wants to know who the HOT chicas are with you in your other avatar So good to hear you and Don had a great time ! Miss ya kiddo !

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by Duck

Hey Maggie-May ! you and Don sure slipped in and outta Playa ... pretty much a private trip eh ? except for Stewart G's...Congrats on the cert. in diving....which I would never do, ducks only go under water for a very brief time You must of stayed right by AL....he said he ran into you the other day... he wants to know who the HOT chicas are with you in your other avatar So good to hear you and Don had a great time ! Miss ya kiddo !

Hiya Duckman!

Yes, we saw Al walking down Fifth on HIS way to breakfast our last day when WE were having breakfast....I recognized him right away but he did NOT recognize moi...he is in big doo-doo for that one!

Yeah, it was a quick trip, solely to get certified, mainly...we saw the StewartGs and also Anna (Anna_Tortuga) and maestranba/Nancy and her family, that was about it.

Went to see Jez a couple times, he was not around, and we went to see Russell at Carboncitos, also MIA........and we wanted to go to the dog wash but we arrived and left on a Saturday so that didn't work either! Oh well!


Oh, who those HOT ones in my old avatar with ME are? Wanna re-word that? They are my GFs back home here.

[Rissask]

Tuesday morning we got up and had breakfast and coffee and were at the dive shop at 9:30 again.

Alberto checked over our quizzes and we talked about some theory and shortly after he gave us our 'assignment' for the day (some reading and another quiz) and we got to leave!

This was working out great for us. We were hesitant about doing the course while 'on vacation' but it didn't feel like a chore at all. We figured we would far rather take it there than do it at home, where we would have needed to dive in much colder water, have thicker wetsuits that we were required to buy, have to drive a half hour to each class, and pay a lot more to boot- this was perfect and we got a vacation as well.

We decided to go and see my friend Anna at La Tortuga and have lunch at El Bistro there, we had eaten breakfast there once before and the food is wonderful.

She was there working and luckily was able to come and sit with us and advise us on what to order! Her advice was perfect, we had the chicken salad foccacia sandwich with yummy carrot and jicama sticks, and a roast beef and queso on a baguette.

We had a lovely visit with Anna, and the only bad thing was we never got to see her again....all the woman does is work work work.

After that we meandered down to the beach where we parked ourselves in front of the Shangri La and lay out on our towels and read our dive textbooks, and went in swimming when we got too hot....the ocean was about 28 C so it was not too refreshing, sadly.

We went back to the condo later and UGH- the pool water was even warmer! That was the first of only two times I went into the pool all week, I think. I hate bathtub warm water in a pool. But it sure is nice to have one, anyway!


That evening we went to one my old standby favourites.....






Babes Noodle Bar! The north end location, of course, since it was about 3 blocks from our condo. Babes, where as usual the service was on the cold side, but the food was hot and tasty....as long as the food is good I really don't care if the server kisses my butt a lot.

Don had the Swedish meatballs (YUM) and I had the yellow curry with chicken on noodle and we shared a spring roll appetizer.


Home, do the last quiz, study a bit and to bed.

[katmumn]

Great trip report so far, Maggie!

[Rissask]

Not too boring? Basically what we did was dive, study, eat and sleep.



Did I mention how amazed we were flying into Houston? We, for some reason (movies? books?) assumed that Texas was a big, flat, dusty treeless plain....like home, but drier ....we were blown away by all the water and thick forest everywhere! It looked beautiful. Like up north here, with all those trees! Lucky Houstonites!


one other funny story involves what I found in the bedside table drawer....to be revealed later.

[Duck]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Hiya Duckman!

Yes, we saw Al walking down Fifth on HIS way to breakfast our last day when WE were having breakfast....I recognized him right away but he did NOT recognize moi...he is in big doo-doo for that one!

Yeah, it was a quick trip, solely to get certified, mainly...we saw the StewartGs and also Anna (Anna_Tortuga) and maestranba/Nancy and her family, that was about it.

Went to see Jez a couple times, he was not around, and we went to see Russell at Carboncitos, also MIA........and we wanted to go to the dog wash but we arrived and left on a Saturday so that didn't work either! Oh well!


Oh, who those HOT ones in my old avatar with ME are? Wanna re-word that? They are my GFs back home here.

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 !