- Christopher Coutu's trip Pacific Mexico 2010
2010-09-12 - Las Marietas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
11.3m - 42 min - Dived with Angel (231659) from Vallarta Adventures
ADVANCED - PEAK BUOYANCY Felt comfortable w/ buoyancy control. Overheated in 2mm shorty from Costco while waiting to enter the water for ~10min. Many fish, very nice. Instructor is VERY thorough The boat from Puerto Adventuras was long and I got sea sick. SEA SICKNESS: Took Transderm-V and it was good for the ride in and diving but sick on after the 1st dive. The instructor gave me Dramamine for the 2nd dive and it worked well. GEAR: Had no trim weights next to tank and was not as comfortable in the vertical position.
2010-09-12 - Las Marietas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
10.7m - 44 min - Dived with Angel (231659) from Vallarta Adventures
ADVANCED - NAVIGATION I find Natural Navigation quite difficult. I got lost 3 of 3 attempts. Compass navigation went rather well. I cover 30m with 30 kicks in 42 sec (although I don't remember what tension setting my fins were at) REFERENCE: Distance - 1 kick cycle = 1 m Speed - 10m / 15 sec or 40m/min No wet suit
2010-09-15 - Acuario Los Arcos, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
14.3m - 46 min - Dived with Angel (231659) from Vallarta Adventures
ADVANCED - NIGHT DIVE GEAR: No wetsuit. Felt like I had too much weight. Less streamlined. Conditions: Waves. Surge all the way to bottom. SEA SICKNESS: Fighting sea sickness w/ 1 Dramamine on the way for a 30 min boat ride (Boat = Panga 115 HP). On the verge of puking as I entered the water. Puked in my REG after ~ 30 min. Puked my guts out at the surface ~ 10x. Was still sick after 2 days. ISSUE: Got to safety stop nicely and controlled but due to communication error w/ coco, we cut the safety stop too short. Nice controlled descent w/ coco. Started w/ basic new skills that went well. Saw many fish and plankton bioluminescence. FIRSTS: 1) Another buddy grabbed a puffer and made it expand. 2) Started knowing fish names 3) Puked underwater 4) Night Dive
2010-09-18 - Acuario Los Arcos, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
26.5m - 28 min - Dived with Angel (231659) from Vallarta Adventures
ADVANCED - DEEP DIVE GEAR: No Wet Suit Thermocline @ 78ft. Surprisingly shocking temp diff especially not having a wet suit. FISH: Saw at least 50 pufferfish, many moray eels, drum fish and jacks. We followed Angel's CPU and always stayed shallower than him... still 13 min NDL. Did not feel any slowed reaction at depth.
2010-09-18 - Caletas, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
18.3m - 48 min - Dived with Angel (231659) from Vallarta Adventures
DPV DIVE- GEAR: Bombardier Sea-Doo DPV's. Easy to take apart and put back together. Drop in performance toward the end on the instructor's DPV. DPV not very fast but much faster than finning. The control was easy and intuitive. Had a lot of air by the end of dive! (for once) Had no trim weights and always felt pushed forward on surface... quite annoying. No Wet suit Viz in some spots was very blurry due to fresh water / sea water mix from a river nearby. Saw a bunch of fish: puffer, butterfly, angel, trumpet, squirrel, lizard, trigger and some electric eels, groupers and a few sting rays. Saw 2 wrecks. 1 pangas and 1 sunken peer where I practiced slalom. SEA SICKNESS: Took the Transderm-V off at night ... feel ok the next day.
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