23 replies to this topic

[Desert_Diver]

There's gotta be a FEW advantages to selling a house for twice what you paid for it!

Just got back (briefly) from Fantasy Island in Roatan,

It's 4am in Miami and I'm back in the airport again, headed to San Pedro, Belize at the Banana Beach resort on Ambergris Caye. After that, I'm off to the True Blue Bay resort in Grenada for a week, then a week in the Bahamas on the Aqua Cat, ending with a final week in October somewhere in the Caymans (still TBD).

Roatan was great, but *hot*. I'm guessing Belize will be pretty similar, since they're so close.

[Capn Jack]

There's gotta be a FEW advantages to selling a house for twice what you paid for it!

Just got back (briefly) from Fantasy Island in Roatan,

It's 4am in Miami and I'm back in the airport again, headed to San Pedro, Belize at the Banana Beach resort on Ambergris Caye. After that, I'm off to the True Blue Bay resort in Grenada for a week, then a week in the Bahamas on the Aqua Cat, ending with a final week in October somewhere in the Caymans (still TBD).

Roatan was great, but *hot*. I'm guessing Belize will be pretty similar, since they're so close.

I still think you should get the DAN Chamber Ride ticket - 10 rides gets you one free Table 6 ride.

Enjoy the Caribbean, I am very envious. Glad we got to do that one dive at least in Roatan.

[Desert_Diver]

Belize is interesting, kinda like a cross between Bonaire and Coz (to me). The water's darker, but the vis is better. What's up with that? One of the guys said that some of the coral had started spawning.... so I'm swimming in the 'wet spot'. Ewwwww.

For those that've never been here, the island is overrun with bicycles and golf carts. There's a few cars and vans, mostly taxis, and a few commercial trucks. It feels like I'm on the back 9 as I'm tooling around town.

[netmage]

For those that've never been here, the island is overrun with bicycles and golf carts. There's a few cars and vans, mostly taxis, and a few commercial trucks. It feels like I'm on the back 8 as I'm toddling around town.

but does the beer girl come around to deliver cold ones?

[Desert_Diver]

Yep, she sure does! Interesting mix of Central American and Jamaican folks living in San Pedro. You can have Reggae playing two doors down from Salsa.

Weird: I got 30 to 40 mosquito bites in Roatan with religious application of 100% DEET. I got 2 bites in Belize, and didn't bother unpacking the DEET. Must be a lucky time of the year over there. The island was nearly deserted. We had maybe 10-12 folks at Banana Beach, looks like it'd hold 150 or more. It's like that all over. I guess the heat scared everyone off.

Our own PeterBJ introduced me to a little British Pub called "Pedro's Inn". The only thing missing was Belikin Stout. I had to go elsewhere for it. There's a bunch of UK ex-pats that stop by and knock a few back, and the pizza is great!

It rained and sprinkled a little the first few days, then dried up. With all the dust the golf carts and taxis were kicking up, my head closed totally on the second dive day before yesterday, and my left eustachian tube is still plugged solid. It made the flight today BZE > MIA real fun!

BTW, if you're transiting through Miami, the Comfort Inn is a lot nicer than Days Inn for the same price, AND they have both wired and wireless Internet in the rooms. The online ad for Days Inn *said* they had high-seed, but it's just wireless in the lobby. I'm glad I switched reservations last week.

Tomorrow morning, on to Grenada!

[Desert_Diver]

Sigh. AA just cancelled the MIA > SJU leg on me, and all of my flight details on AA.com have disappeared for the next week+. I'm theoretically on a later flight that connects to the original SJU > GND hop to meet up with WreckWench, but I'm at the mercy of the Surprise Party department and the Practical Joke department right now (not sure which one is running the show). My 11am flight just changed to 2:15pm, so I'm cooling my jets in the Miami terminal.

Fingers crossed that my itinerary crosses the desk of the Fairy Godmother department sometime later today...

[peterbj7]

Oh dear, Stan! But at least it'll give more time for your ear to clear.

[Desert_Diver]

Oh dear, Stan! But at least it'll give more time for your ear to clear.

Not a chance; I'm stuffed (in both senses of the word!)

The dust in San Pedro really did me in the last few days. I've poured several ounces of saline up my nose to help flush it out, but I'm still dead on the left side from 2 days ago. DOH!

Much to my surprise, I made it. My bags did, too! I arrived at SJU after they'd started boarding my connecting flight to Grenada at one extreme end of the terminal, and of course the other flight was at the other extreme end. I was literally the 'last call' by the time I made it down there. How my bags got onboard is a complete mystery. Someone must have humped 'em directly from one plane to the next. Thank you, mystery person! I owe you a tip, and I don't even know who you are.

The 'Fairy Godmother' department was probably some underpaid baggage handler for AA that was nice to a stranger...

I *do* believe in spooks... I do, I do, I do.....

[Desert_Diver]

Too late! I had the desk call the Dr before I logged in here. Oops. He'll be here momentarily. A 5-day course of Z-Pack typically clears it in about 30 to 32 hours (can you guess I'm an expert at sinus problems?). I won't be diving tomorrow, but I ought to be good the day after.

Today was a disaster. Constant sinus block at 22', no good after 11 or 12 minutes so I blew it off. Coming up, I had a strong reverse-block on my right ear at 16'. DOH!!! Can't go down, can't go up. I spent 4 minutes slowly going back and forth, reverse-Valsalva wasn't helping, slowly surfaced and it cleared at 4'.


To those of you that considered it and blew the Grenada trip off: your loss! It's gorgeous here, and the people are wonderful. You'll have to see the other folks for a dive report, though ;-) I'm guessing the Bianca C was fun yesterday for WW and OTWDiver. They still had smiles on last night.

[Desert_Diver]

Back in Miami again, just about to head out to Nassau to catch up with the Aqua Cat

I *finally* got to dive the Bianca C yesterday. WW and OTWDiver hit it FOUR times this week! That's a lot better than the poor folks on the Peter Hughes 'Wind Dancer' got. The boat wouldn't drop them there 'cos they were afraid the currents would cause problems, so they never got to dive it.

[BaysWaterBabe]

Back in Miami again, just about to head out to Nassau to catch up with the Aqua Cat

I *finally* got to dive the Bianca C yesterday. WW and OTWDiver hit it FOUR times this week! That's a lot better than the poor folks on the Peter Hughes 'Wind Dancer' got. The boat wouldn't drop them there 'cos they were afraid the currents would cause problems, so they never got to dive it.

We got to dive the Bianca C twice and it was abso-bloomin-lutely fabulous! How the hell did WW & OTWDiver manage to persuade Peter to let them do it 4 TIMES?!! No doubt he rang up on the dot of 40 mins after they got in the water - everytime - just to check

Have a brilliant time on the Aqua Cat, and don't forget to post a report when you get back. (I'll get round to doing mine on Grenada once the massive pile of files on my desk has gone down a tad )

[Desert_Diver]

Just got back from a week on the Aqua Cat (102 foot long, 35 feet wide triple-deck catamaran) in the Bahamas. It was a hell of a good time for everyone! I'd recommend the boat & crew to anyone. The boat is built on the same design that Peter Hughes uses for his cats, and there's PLENTY of room to stretch out. We only had 12 guests on a boat designed for 22 or more, so it was uncrowded. The diving was great, the weather perfect, food was absolutely fantastic, altogether a fun trip!

When I get back, I'll upload some UW photos that other folks took. I also have a video clip of the "Washing Machine" dive we did. It's a long vortex created between two islands on the incoming tide... and it's a hoot! In the meantime, here's some surface shots I took:



I'm in the Nassau airport on a free hotspot (take note, you stingy US airports!) waiting for the flight to my final destination, Sunset House on Grand Cayman. At the price they charge, they better have free wireless there. It's that or hot and cold running beach bunnies! Woof! $2K/week is a bit stiff, so we'll see if they're worth what they think.

[Desert_Diver]

First impressions on the Sunset House on Grand Cayman:

Less than stellar. They tout themselves as a "resort FOR divers BY divers", yet they only have aluminum 72s, and they only run 2 boat dives per day, 40 to 60 minutes depending on depth, max 100' per Cayman laws(?).

The rooms are OK, but I'm not sure it's worth $2000USD per week for a single, $1400USD per week for a double room & dive package. You have unlimited shore dives on the days of your dive package, but I'd bet the 'house reef' gets old in a hurry. I skipped the boat dives this morning and just did a shore dive with a small group of students. Never got below 60 feet, so I don't know if the deeper reefs survived the hurricane that they're still recovering from. The resort grounds have been completely restored, but the 'beach' area still looks like a moonscape. There's only a hint of sand if you look really close.


It's also *right* under the inbound flight lane for the airport. The double-pane windows don't do much when a 737 is coming in...