dannygoesdiving

Cave Diving in the Abacos (Bahamas)

dannygoesdiving — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 23:25:00 GMT

Florida ... check, Mexico ... check. As Meat Loaf once said '2 out of 3 ain't bad, but now it was time for a full house - we were off to dive what are considered by many to be some of the most highly decorated caves in the world. We were heading to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas to dive with Brian Kakuk of Bahamas Underground. Now Jon had done all of his cave training there with Brian and so knew what to expect and had been going on at me about diving there for a couple of years. Its an expensive trip but if Jon wanted to go back for a third time then it must be good.

Now you would think that as its one of our closest neighbours it would be easy for us to get there - hell no ! The flights didn't work our for connections, so 3 days of cave diving involved 4 days of travel and an overnight each way in Nassau *sigh*

Luggage weighed (try carrying all your cave diving gear and personal items with only 44lbs of checkin and 10lb of carry on) we checked in for our first flight to Nassau. Landing without incident we caught a taxi to Towne Hotel and headed to McDonalds (2nd Big Mac of the year). Jon followed that up with 2 Boston Cream donuts at Dunkin' Donuts (vomit).

Next morning we returned to the airport (where Jon ate 2 more Boston Cream donuts for his second breakfast !) and caught a 30 minute flight to Abaco where we were met by Brian. We were not really sure what to expect as he had emailed a couple of days earlier to say he had had an accident and broken a couple of ribs and wasn't sure if he could dive or not. It turned out he was well dosed up on pain killers and was planning on giving it a go, just asking that we assist with the carrying his gear (no problem).

We headed back to his place, there was a small accomodation hut 'cottage', where we would be staying. It had all we needed - beds, fridge, microwave, hotplate and oven and of course a bathroom. We unpacked and then headed to the dock to collect some O2 bottles, grabbed a bit of lunch (homemade chicken curry patty) and then headed to a place called 'Sawmill Sink'.

"The Sawmill Sink Project is a multi-disciplinary research project, funded by the Bahamas Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Corp. (AMMC) / National Museum of the Bahamas. In 2004, BCRF Director, Brian Kakuk discovered a single Tortoise shell and Crocodile skull on the peat covered talus mound of the sink hole. a decision was made to have one of the tortoise shells collected while the UF/FNHM team was on the island. When the first shell reached the surface, it was declared such a significant find, that Dr. Tinker allocated funds for formal excavations to begin. With the AMMC funding this project over the last four years, the team has collected, cataloged, preserved and dated what has been declared the most significant fossil find in the history of the West Indies. To date, the team has discovered forty five crocodiles, ten tortoises (new species), bats, birds, lizards, snakes and plant life that were living on Abaco more than 2000 years ago."

Today Brian was to be collecting samples from a particular gridded area, once bagged up they would be washed and the finds analysed. We helped with the setup then chilled whilst Brian diving. A nice relaxing start to our holiday.

It was Brians birthday so that evening 11 of us went out to a local establishment called 'Jakes' - the lobster alfrado was particularly good. Yum.

So, today was to be my first day of cave diving in the Abacos. Tanks were analyzed, gear was loaded into the van and we were off to Dan's Cave. Brian has set the area up nicely, its flat and clean, there is a table for tanks, and wooden structures for hanging suits and the rest of the gear. A tent is set up and fits flush against the back of the van, protecting you from either the sun or the rain. Access to the cave is easy with wooden steps leading down to the entrance. The entrance was quite understated considering what lay beyond, the water looked crystal clear. We carried the tanks to the waters edge, Brian briefed the dive, we geared up, carried out all out check, Brians final words were 'prepare to be amazed' and then we slowly descended beneath the water.

Dive 1: 3/12/15. Max Depth: 124ft. Dive time: 86 mins. Deco: 9 mins (plus 3 deep stops). Gas Mixes: 29% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

We left our deco bottles at 15ft then continued into the cavern zone almost immediately passing through a disorientating halocline. Continuing Past the 'STOP' sign we came upon the 'gnomes' at about the 300ft zone. There had been several stalactites and stalactities up to this point, these however were the first significant set of features - a series of stalactites which we gently glided over. If anything they felt more like sentinals than gnomes as they marked the entrance to the 'Cascade Room'. This room is so impressive that it was the cover shot for the August 2010 edition of National Geographic. There was no time to stop and admire (that was for the more leisurely return journey) as Brian wanted to make sure we reached our planned destination for this first dive - 'Crystal Palace'. Reaching our maximum depth we entered 'Crystal Palace', above us and to our left were an impressive series of stalactites and stalactites that had joined to form a series of fine columns. Shallowing up we rested on the edge of this shelf of columns, then in single file we passed through this 'passageway' of columns. The features were so delicate that we had to 'pull and glide' whilst ensuring that our feet dragged behind us - any fin movement would have destroyed what took thousands of years to create ! Once I exited I turned around to get a second look at this impressive feature and to watch Jon carefully working his way through.

Exiting Crystal Palace we reentered the Cascade room and spent time looking at many of the features in this one area. Brian also showed us trapped red sahara sand which obviously dated back to when they were dry caves, as well as various bat bones, coral formations and shells from when it was below sea level. Heading back to the entrance we carried out our deco stops and exited.

To sum up what Brian routinely (and rightly) said before each dive - we had been amazed !

With tanks changed and moved to the water, we had time to relax in deck chairs whilst eating our lunch. Then it was time to gear up and do it all over again.

Dive 2: 3/12/15. Max Depth:76ft. Dive time: 87 mins. Deco: 5 mins (plus 1 deep stop). Gas Mixes: 33% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

Once again we passed through the halocline and into the cavern zone we took a jump off to the right - this time we were heading through the 'Badlands' and onto the 'Goodlands'. Dropping vertically down through a restriction we entered a number of mainly more rugged, gnarly passages, that reminded me of the caves in Florida. That soon began to change as we moved from the badlands into the goodlands ! We passed a number of unique shaped features that Brian had named over the years, including the 'corkscrew' and the 'kraken'. Another stunning dive, on the way out we saw a number of additional bones from both turtles and long since extinct crocodiles.

A late start meant it was dark when we exited, which made packing down a little more challenging, worst of all was the barrage of mosquitos we encountered.

Gear stashed away we chilled in the evening, choosing to cook simple hearty food (tins of soup!) in the cottage.

It was day two and overcast with a real threat of rain (the previous day we were complaining about how hot it was for kitting up in !). We were already falling into a pattern, analyse tanks, load gear, breakfast patties as the garage (chicken curry) and off for another days diving at Dans Cave.

Our first dive of the day was to be the 'Big Circuit'.

Dive 3: 4/12/15. Max Depth: 143ft. Dive Time: 77 mins. Deco: 7 mins (plus 2 deep stops). Gas Mixes: 28% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

Passing through the cavern zone we hung a right just before the cascade room. As the name suggests this dive comprised of several huge chambers, this was certainly not a dive for formation lovers as they were few and far between until towards the end of the circuit. No ... this dive was about size and destruction and really reminded me of some of the cave diving I had previously done in Florida. Here we really were insignificant, our lights barely penetrated the vastness of the chambers, often not even reaching the walls, looking up the ceiling was well above us, whilst looking down there were huge slabs of rock littering the floor and vast areas of cracked, dried mud beds of old. In places the bedrock was spattered with deep acid holes, it was like something out of Aliens. Reaching one chamber we saw a line descending from the ceiling, rising up and shinning our lights it revealed itself as a narrow vertical shaft. This shaft was the 'birth canal', it could be approached from a room directly above, the line was used to lower one of your sidemount tanks down first as it was too narrow to pass through in full sidemount, then the diver would follow and squeeze through the shaft ... sound like fun ?

Towards the end of the circuit we reached another vertical shaft, rising slowly up it we entered into a room of beautiful formations which we worked out and through - a real contrast and a great end to the dive. Back in the cavern zone Brian showed us some more bones, including a crocodile jaw, complete with a couple of menacing looking teeth.

Deco stops completed we exited to pouring rain. Swapping gear, we shivered our way through lunch and keenly geared up to get back in for the second dive of the day.

Dive 4: 4/12/15. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 84 mins. Deco: 5 mins (plus 1 deep stop). Gas Mixes: 33% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

This dive would see us on the level above the 'Big Circuit', which would culminate at the other end of the birthing canal. This dive was the polar opposite of dive one, the amazing thing about Dan's Cave is not just the formations, but the versatility of the diving. This dive was about restrictions, careful movement to prevent damaging the cave and the reward of a higly decorated section of the cave. Highights included passing through a really cool low bedding plain, a type of formation that Brian called 'popcorn' that decorated the floor and had to be passed over with care - to me they looked like thousands of little skulls and reminded me of a scene from 'The Terminator', when a vehicle passed over all these skulls cushing them - maybe too vivid an imagination !. The dive ended at the birth canal, you could see the line used to attach tanks disappear into a hole in the floor. Approaching and looking down it appeared even more intimidating - apparantly you have to go in feet first and wriggle and move around to 'pop' out the other end as it was by no means a straight descent - I'll give it a miss I think.

We exited in dayight which made packing away all the more pleasant. On the outskirts of Marsh Harbour we stopped at a roadside mobile hut to get some conch salad - it was a bit of a wait as it is made to order but well worth it, its not my favourite dish but Jon is mad for it and claims it was the best he has had - high praise indeed.

We chilled again in the evening, opting to watch a dvd from Brians extensive library.

How time sneeks up on you - it was already our last day of cave diving, normal drill and we were off, our first dive was to be at Dan's Cave and our final dive was to be the 'piece de resistance' at Ralphs Cave.

Dive 5: 5/12/15. Max Depth: 116ft. Dive Time: 91 mins. Deco: 11 mins (plus 2 deep stops). Gas Mixes: 29% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

A final dive of Dan's cave was to be the 'Mad Room'! We passed through the cavern zone and Cascade Room, dropped down through a hole in the floor coming out in a large chamber which contained a face shaped rock formation that Brian had named 'Aristotles Head'. After this we entered a new chamber for us called 'Glacier Room', named because the main features in the room were chalk (the first of any significance we had seen). The room was in contrast to anything else we had seen and working around all these pure white features was like flying around the peaks of a snow covered mountain range.

Continuing on we entered the 'Mad Room', the quantity and variety of formations was staggering, certainly the most decorated room we had visited in Dan's Cave and a fitting final dive here.

Dive 6: 5/12/15. Max Depth: 79ft. Dive Time: 110 mins. Deco: 9 mins (plus 2 deep stops). Gas Mixes: 33% Primary. 100% Deco. Temp: 75F

We ate lunch and then packed up and moved onto Ralphs Cave. The entrance area was similarly well setup, with steps leading down to a platform in the water itself. Descending we entered a chamber, the floor of which was deep in age old black matter (wood, leaves etc), this gave the place an eiry feel with stalacmites emerging from out of the sediment. Brian had reinforced to us the delicate nature of this dive, there were going to be several places where we were to keep our feet low to avoid damaging overhead features and other areas where we were to pull and glide our way along. Almost immediately we passed a beautiful feature on our right hand side called 'waterfall', if you can imagine a candle where the wax has flowed down and over the holder, then increase its size and hundredfold, then thats what it looked like. We reached a vertical restriction which we had to 'flow' over and down, making sure we didn't lift our feet so as not to damage the stalactites above us. Reaching another restriction we had to position ourselves to the right hand side and pull and glide to prevent damaging some amazing delicate features, they were so fine as to be translucent, Brian put his hand behind them, then shone his torch at the features - you could make out his hand behind them. I believe he called the features 'bacon' (Mmmmmm ... bacon), with each feature hanging like a thick rasher of back bacon ! Shallowing up we entered another large chamber with a strong halocline layer within it. We spent quite a while in this room as there was so much to see - there were several well preserved bats embalmed within the floor, beautiful copper pools containing delicate crystals and towards the end of the room a number of huge features called 'wedding cakes'. There was so much to see, it was almost too much to comprehend ... this was already the most decorated dive we had done and we still weren't at our goal. Another feature ' chandelier' followed - the names often do better justice to the features than any description I can give it, then we entered the most delicate part of the cave. We had to very carefully pull our way through a narrow passage, there were so many delicate features both above and either side ... passing through we turned to look back and up on what we had passed through. Attached to the end of all the delicate stalactites were a formation of crystals that looked just like rose buds. It really was staggering ... but there was more to come. We continued onto a final room that has been named 'frozen rain', again the formations are delicate to the extreme and its almost like someone has taken a photo of rain falling and hitting the floor using an extremely slow shutter spead in order to capture the movement. So ... OK ... we had been amazed !

Heading out Brian showed us more features and copper pools, taking the time to ensure that the entire dive was a truly memorable experience. Without doubt the best cave dive I have done to date and its certainly going to be a hard one to top.

And so all too soon our cave diving adventure to the Abacos was over, but what an adventure it had been.

That evening there was an outdoor Xmas festival just around the corner from where we were staying and so we headed there for some local cuisine. A couple of local beers (Kalik) were drunk to celebrate another great trip, along with conch fritters, BBQ ribs, corn and mac n' cheese.

The following morning we walked into town for some breakfast at the 'Family Island Restaurant', tempted as I was I avoided the two specials on offer - stewed conch and sheeps tongue broth - instead opting for the somewhat safer sounding breakfast sandwich (egg, sausage and cheese) and a cup of coffee. We spent the better part of the day chilling at the cottage before Brian dropped us off at the airport and we flew back to Nassau. We spent another night at Towne Hotel and ate there that night - baked chicken, pea n' rice and coleslaw.

The followng morning we headed back to the airport where Jon managed to get in another couple of boston cream donuts before we boarded our flight back to the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The only question now is where is our cave diving destination for 2016 going to be ?

Photos: Cave Diving in the Abacos

dannygoesdiving — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 08:44:00 GMT

Cave Diving in the Turks & Caicos

dannygoesdiving — Fri, 27 Nov 2015 06:03:00 GMT

This is an ongoing and continuely updated journal of the efforts of Jon Ward and myself to discover, explore and map the blue holes and caves of the Turks & Caicos islands. We both work as full time dive instructors on the island and both have full cave dive qualifications.

In 1999 the original 'Caicos Cave Project' was setup, with many caves being explored and indeed new species of marine life being discovered. The project has been largely dormant for the last 6 years and most of the caves explored were on the islands of North Caicos and West Caicos.

For further information on their achievements and discoveries check out the following:

www.amphibiousadventures.org/caicoscavesproject.html

www.timespub.tc/2012/03/ancient-discoveries-in-the-caicos-caves/

www.timespub.tc/2002/04/225-feet-into-cottage-pond/

We believe there have to be a number of caves on the island of Providenciales on which we live and work. The challenge of finding and possibly being the first to dive these is an opportunity too good to miss.

What follows will be a record of our exploits, our blood (literally), sweat and tears; recording both our sucesses and failures :)

As with most people a lack of resources (both money and time) have had an impact of what we can achieve, in the absence of being able to use a helicopter or private plane to fly over the island in the hunt for potential blue holes and caves, we took advantage of the cheaper technology of 'Google Earth' which offered the opportunity to view the whole island, albeit without the same level of detail. Jon found a promising lead and set off on some initial exploration using the coordinates from Google Earth and a hand help GPS. Fighting through the bush he found the pond, startling a stand of flamingos (with one white flamingo amongst them). After a few minutes snorkelling in the vicinity indicated on google earth, he successfully found the blue hole, freediving down a little way to ensure it didn't bottom out after a few feet we had our first potential cave and the Caicos Cave Project was reborn.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 1 - Date:01/09/12. Max Depth:46ft. Dive Time:6 mins. Temp:81F. Tide:Incoming

Working 6 days a week with differing days off makes planning any other activities challenging. The initial plan was to head out to the pond after work, we would take one set of diving equipment; utalising a single 50cft tank, a reel and a couple of torches. Whilst this goes against cave diving guidelines we were not planning a dive of any significance, we just wanted to find out if the blue hole had any potential. We also only had about 3 hours of daylight to get there, check it out and get back.

We drove as far as we could with the last 3 miles being on a very bumpy unpaved road. The sun was still blazing in the sky as we set off on the next part of the journey - a 15 minute walk along an old track (not suitable or accessible for vehicles). I carried the dive gear, whilst Jon hauled the tank. With the handheld GPS we relocated the pond then had to fight through the thick bush for about 5 minutes (long trousers, tops and boots required) eventually arriving at the edge of the pond. We were on the far side of the pond so had to wade through the pond for a further 5 minutes or so disturbing a layer of very smelly silt in the process, finally arriving close to the location of the Blue Hole. Whilst fending off the mosquitoes we set up the diving equipment and full of anticipation swam out to the hole. The depth at its edge was no more than a few feet, however looking down into the hole it just seemed to disappear, the water temperature was noticably cooler over the hole and visibility looked amazing. I tied off the line on the edge of the hold then slowly descended. I kept descending slowly down, looking at the holes topography whilst checking my depth gauge... 10ft, 20ft, 30ft...it kept going (this was more than we could have hoped for). At 30ft I noticed the start of an overhead environment, continuing down I reached the bottom at a depth of 46ft, tied off and ventured a few more feet into the cave . The cave appeared to be a large dome room, it was clearly tidal as I could feel the current, there were small free swimming fish, but most amazingly the walls of the cave were adorned with thousands of shrimp. The temptation was to explore and see if it continued past my torch beam, however that had not been the plan and I was not equipped to turn this into a cave dive, reluctantly I tied off the line. Turning 180 degrees the ambient light provided a silouette of the bluehole above me as I headed back to the surface to tell Jon the great news - against our expectations it didn't bottom out ... there was a cave ! We didn't know how extensive it was but it was there to be explored. Jon wanted to have a look so dropped down and followed the line to where I tied off before returning to the surface. As Jon had initially found the cave (and in the absense of knowing if it had any other name) it seemed only right that he should name it, hence it became 'White Flamingo Cave'.

White Flamingo Pond

We used an alternative route to get back to the track that avoided wading through the water, and headed back to the car. It was dusk by the time we returned to the car - to some a 3 hour round trip including carrying dive gear in the heat of the day for a 6 minute dive may seem excessive, but to us it was worth all the time and effort to find a potentially unexplored cave on the island.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 2 - Date:03/09/12. Max Depth:77ft. Dive Time:33 mins. Temp:81F. Tide:Incoming

September is a quiet time of year here on the island (hurricane season, US schools have restared) so it means getting time off is easier. We coordinated a day off together to give us more time to revisit White Flamingo Cave.

We decided on a 7am start as we would be carrying more equipment and wanted to be on the move before it got too hot. We had opted to use single 80cft tanks due to the logistics of transporting our equipment, we were also limited to using yoke regulators due to an absence of DIN tanks on the island (apart from those on my twin set). We would be carrying both primary and backup lights and reels; cutting devices and spare masks and had planned to accomodate the less than desirable gas and regulator situation. These included not penetrating further than 100ft, not exceeding a depth of 100ft and not entering anywhere that was not wide enough for 2 people. We would dive the rule of thirds and the agreement was that anyone could end the dive for any reason, without repercutions.

Parking the car we setup our gear, having decided carrying it on our backs was going to be the easiest option. We had an additional bag each to carry which held all our dive accessories (fins etc) as well as water and mosquito repellent. Even at this time of the day it was hot and hard going, fighting through the bush was especially challenging and we were both exhausted by the time we reached the pond. Upon arriving we were rewarded with a stand of flamingos and a couple of great herons feeding in the pond. Having rested for a while we eagerly setup our gear, waded into the water and surface swam out to the hole. Descending down into the hole we followed our guide line until we reached the reel. Retrieving the reel I continued to reel off into the cave; the ceiling soon started to slope downwards and after about 40ft and at a depth of 65ft it became too narrow to safely continue with our current configuration. The floor was made up of shells and shingle and formed 'ripples' caused by the tidal movement. It looked like the ceiling rose again further in and we could probably have progressed further if we removed some of the bottom composition, that however was not part of our plan so reluctanly we turned back. Enjoying the topography and exploring the walls Jon spotted another reasonably sized hole just inside the mouth of the cave (which we later named 'the cauldron'). Tying off another line I dropped down to this lower level which bottomed out at 77ft. A tunnel led off and my torch was unable to see if and when it ended. The tunnel was barely wide enough for one person at a time though with a restriction at its entrance; again our dive plan and dive configuration prevented us exploring further. Reluctantly we headed out of the cave. We had mixed emotions at the surface; jubilation that we had indeed found a cave, mixed with dissapointment that it didn't look to be an extensive cave system.

Base Camp !

We snorkelled the remainer of the pond to see if there were any other entrances and although we found two other sizable holes, they were relatively shallow and full of silt.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 3 - Date:03/09/12. Max Depth:77ft. Dive Time:28 mins. Temp:81F. Tide: Slack

We still had 2000 psi in our tanks so after a surface interval chose to do a second dive just to enjoy our cave, play with the shrimp and see if we had missed anything. The tide was slack by this dive and as a result of this the shrimp seemed to have multiplied tenfold .. the walls appeared to be moving and exhaled breaths caused them to fall on your face, it was all very surreal.

It was a long walk back, the sun was high, there was not a cloud in the sky and the gear was heavier for being wet, reaching the car was a welcome relief.

You can check out our exploits at http://youtu.be/5Cs0pIaY4lE

On the journey back we stopped off at another pond which had looked like there may be a hole. There was an easy path to the pond, the pond itself was shallow and we waded through thick mud in the direction of the hole; it turned out to be a natural depression not more than a few feet deep. Hot and stinking of the mud we staggered back to the car... well you can't win them all !

A few days later I bumped into Mark Parrish (one of the founders of the 1999 Caicos Caves Project) and told him of the cave and its location. He confimed that they had not previously dived it and knew of noone else who had done so - it really is possible that we were the first 2 people ever to have been into the cave !

CHALK SOUND CAVE

Dive 1 - Date:06/09/12. Max Depth:57ft. Dive Time:49 mins. Temp:90F. Tide:Outgoing

We had both heard about a supposed cave in Chalk Sound but knew of noone who had actually dived it (again having spoke to Mark Parrish I established that the Caicos Cave Project team had not been there). The wonders of Google Earth again came into play and we found its likely location. This time it appeared more accessible, being not too far from the shoreline. Jon investigated on his day off, found easy access from the roadside and snorkelled out to its general vicinity. The water was quite murky and it was impossible to determine if anything of any significance existed.

After work I joined him, armed with the same equipment configuration from our previous dives we set off to determine if there was a cave to be dived. We had about a 10 minute surface swim, the water was very warm and visibilty pretty poor. As the water got a little deeper we chose to descend down and follow a compass bearing, visibility was about 10ft and the bottom composition was a thick layer of fine clay. After a few minutes we found what we were looking for, it appeared to be more of a huge crack rather than a hole, with water depths being about 15ft on its edge. Tying off we slowly descended into it, visibility was even less here, in some places as little as 2ft and our torchlight merely reflected back against all the sediment in the water. It was definately a cave but how far back it went was difficult to determine, the sloping bottom made our entry angle difficult and it was impossible not to stir up the clay; combine this with an outgoing tide which was sucking out further sediment as well as trying to push you into any entrance we probed and it became a very challenging situation. I was glad of the line, as at times I could only make out the reel in my hand as I reeled in and out looking for possible accessible locations. All that said though,we had the dive under control at all times, and we never ventured more than a few feet in, merely probing for a later visit.

We left knowing that there was definite opportunity for further exploration but not really sure if it was a cave as such. We plan to revisit this site during an incoming tide in the hope that the visibility will be better.

Chalk Sound Blue Hole

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE - 09/09/12

Due to the distance required to get to the site and the equipment logistics we decided to transport some of the equipment to the site in preperation for subsequent dives. After work we loaded a wheelbarrow up with 4 tanks, weights and drinking water and wheeled them to where the bush trek started. This time we took time to cut a narrow path through the bush to the pond then carried the gear the remained of the way.

In all it was a 2 hour round trip but would hopefully make for an easier life the next day !

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 4 - Date:10/09/12. Max Depth:76ft. Dive Time:20 mins. Temp:84F Tide:Outgoing

Another early start to try and avoid the heat of the day. We took the wheelbarrow again to transport the rest of our equipment, only having to carry it the last few hundred yards through the bush. It was a breeze compared to our last trip. The pond was full of birdlife - flamingos, pelicans, both Great and green herons, as well as a few ducks.

White Flamingo

We had decided on 2 seperate plans over the dives, firstly to get past the restriction in the 'cauldron' and see how far the passage progressed; secondly to see if we could progress in the main level by excavating some of the shingle. To allow us to do the first more safely we had modified our regulator setup, adding our usual 7ft cave diving hose to our primary regulator - this would mean that in the event of an emergency we could airshare whilst travelling in single file.

Kitting up we entered the water, visibility was poor and the water was very green with sediment flowing into the cave. We had not really thought of the significance of an outgoing tide with regard to visibility, but we were here now so decided to make the best of it. We descended down and even at the bottom visibility had not improved, we even had trouble finding the entrance to the lower level! Securing the line I descended down the 'cauldron' and managed to squeeze past the restriction. I cautiously worked my way down the passage aware that at this point it was not wide enough to turn around. After a short while it turned at a right-angle and continued on for maybe 15 feet or so before opening into another chamber. The good news was that I now had plenty of room to manoveur, the bad news was that the botton composition changed from shingle to silt, meaning we had to be very careful. The passage itself continued beyond the chamber and there appeared to be at least on other passage exiting the chamber itself. I was really excited at this point and wanted to continue to explore but having achieved our plan I tied off and left the reel before heading out of the cave to discuss our next actions.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 5 - Date:10/09/12. Max Depth:69ft. Dive Time:31 mins. Temp:84F. Tide:Slack

We had a slightly longer surface interval than usual in the hope the visibility would improve and spent it wandering through the bush looking for another close by pond we had identified, we successfully found it, but it was shallow and had no tempting nooks and crannies to investigate.

Our next dive plan was to use use the same tanks and see if we could excavate any of the shingle in the main level and progress any further. Visibility was a little better, however the couple of routes we chose to excavate proved of little success allowing us only to push forward a further 10 feet or so.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 6 - Date:10/09/12. Max Depth:76ft. Dive Time:38 mins. Temp:82F. Tide:Slack/Incoming

We carried our depleted tanks back to the wheelbarrow and setup our new tanks. We now planned to continue exploration along the 'cauldrons' lower passage, strictly adhering to the rule of thirds. We quickly reached the chamber having opted to check this out first, it was not too large and seemed to only have one further passage exiting from it which we chose to follow. Sadly after only about 20ft we came to another restriction and shinning our torch beyond this the passage seemed to end shortly after. There was another passage looping back which I assumed bought us back the way we came. At this point visibilty had been reduced by the silt we had disturbed so we chose to leave the reel in place and exit for the day.

We again checked out the main level but determined that we really need sidemount configurations to progress further here.

Lugging the gear back we reflected on the day, hoping that the cave still has a few secrets to reveal to us !

AIRPORT CAVE & SNAKE CAVE - 15/09/2012

We had a couple of hours of available daylight so decided to undertake some land exploration and see if we could find two caves that we had heard about, both of which were within a mile of each other.

AIRPORT CAVE:

We knew this to be a sink (usually associated with collapsed ground and many times provide access into extensive cavern and cave passages) and that it had been dived previously by the Caicos Cave Project team (short video of it at http://www.amphibiousadventures.org/caicoscavesproject/providenciales.html). Mark Parrish had described the route to find the cave and after a few minutes fighting through the bush we reached our destination. There were 3 sink holes, 2 were dry, however the third appreaded to be what we were hunting for . A narrow fissure, about 20ft deep (there is an old rope in place to help with the climb) with a pool of water at the bottom. Peering down we disturbed a small colony of bats which subsequently buzzed us during our time there. Once at the bottom we peered into the pond, the water appeared reasonably clear but you couldnt really make anything out. We know that from talking to Mark there is a small chamber containing stalagtites and stalagmites, the bottom composition is silty and access is via a tight vertical chimney (room for one!).

Clambering back out we headed back to the car. We plan to dive here at some point in the future.

SNAKE CAVE:

Whilst researching on the web we came across a paper published in 1984 identifying new findings of a species of 'troglobitic mysid genus' (http://www.tamug.edu/cavebiology/reprints/Reprint-19.pdf) at a location on Providenciales named 'Snake Cave'. The description went 'Snake cave is a long but narrow fissure, mostly water filled that forms one margin of a larger collapsed sink. Maximum observed water depth was 8m.'

Armed with this information we were able to find the likely location on good old google earth. The road was pretty much opposite Airport Cave, however the track we needed to follow was on private land ! It turned out the private land was a farm which was a real suprise as I didn't even know there was one on the island, more importantly the owners were very helpful and friendly and let us access their land. They had heard of the cave and searched for it about 15 years previously but failed to find it due to the thickness of the surrounding bush. Using a handheld GPS we fought through the bush often stumbling upon narrow trails and abandoned illegal Haitian camps. After about 20 minutes we emerged hot and covered in scratches at the top of the water filled fissure, which certainly appeared to match the above description. There was evidence of people living in the area and lots of trash around the site. The water was an appealing brown colour, but temptingly though there were stalagtites hanging down and dissappearing under the water.

Another success !!!

We got lost wandering back, eventually emerging behind some wooden shanty huts and disturbing a man standing in a tub having a wash - excusing ourselves we wandered through the huts reaching the road and retracing our path to the car.

To our knowledge other than the freediving for the samples noone has ever dived here to see if there is an entrance under the water. We plan to come back with a weight and line to check the depth and also to get a water sample for testing to make sure there is nothing too nasty in there before we consider diving it !

Snake Cave

Watch this space concerning both of these caves.

CHALK SOUND CAVE

Dive 2 - Date:17/09/12. Max Depth:65ft. Dive Time:43 mins. Temp:90F. Tide:Incoming

It was theoretically a perfect morning to dive at Chalk Sound, hightide was at 10:30am, so a 09:00am dive should mean an incoming tide, this would mean we would be pushed out of the cave (if there was one) rather than into it (a much safer scenario), also it should mean better visibility - to be honest it could hardly be worse than our first dive there !

We surface swam out again and lined up our 3 points of reference (taken at end of previous dive) to ensure we were positioned over the blue hole. Dropping down we were rewarded with equally poor visibility - Oh joy ! Our plan we to swim along the edge of the hole to ensure we hadn't missed anything; that accomplished without discovering anything new found we dropped down the 15ft or so to the top of the hole (much more of a crescent shaped crack really). We swam the length of the crack looking for options, there was a promising looking entrance at one end, the remaining length being more of a vertical fissure rather than a real entrance of any sort.

Returning to the entrance, we tied off our line and headed in, visibility was significantly better here (about 15ft) and you could really feel the incoming waters pushing against you. We continued in slowly, being very mindful of the thick clay sediment on the bottom, even our exhaled bubbles dislodged silt from the ceiling, it was actually far easier to use the ceiling to 'pull and glide' along rather than using fins for propulsion. The passageway was large enough for one person at a time to comfortably progress, the walls were adhorned with a variety of small yellow sponges and the whole topography was captivating. After about 30ft we had to rise over an obstruction before dropping back down again and after about 60ft a vertical crack dissapeared off to one side (but was too small to progress into). We continued on until at about 90ft we had exhausted the line on our reel - our bigger reel was still tied off in White Flamingo Cave ! The passage appeared to show no intention of ending, merely continuing out of view, frustrated at a lack of better planning with regard to our line we turned and headed back out, reeling in as we went.

Upon turning the issue of the water movement raised its ugly head as we were pushed out of the cave. I had to brace myself as I reeled in; the water movement forceably pushed us around, causing us to impact into the silt and massively reducing visibility - not too bad for Jon as he was leading the way, for me at times I probably had less than a foot visibility and could only make out the reel in my hand.

Once we had exited and congratulated ourselves on finding another cave to further explore, we chose to drop down into the crack at its most promising point to check out if progress could be made there. Lining in again we got to about 65ft depth and about 40ft in, it continued to get tighter and looked as if it bottomed out at 70ish ft with no discernable passageways to explore.

We had made significant progress from our first dive here, having identified both the best time to dive and probably the only passageway there that is worth persuing.

We celebrated with corona and hotdogs and can't wait to go back there :)

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 7 - Date:24/09/12. Max Depth:77ft. Dive Time:55 mins. Temp:82F. Tide:Slack/Incoming

A few days previously we had lugged out a couple of new tanks and retrieved the couple of remaining used tanks, the wheelbarrow was indisposed so today we had to carry our dive gear to the site :(

Jon had had a delivery of new dive goodies - including a sidemount system, so the main plan of the day was to try out his new equipment configuration (he had already tested the gear in an open water environment). We had already decided that sidemount configuration was probably the way forward with alot of the caves on the island and I have plans to buy a sidemount system at DEMA in November (we have both previously cave dived using sidemount systems). In addition to our main plan we also wanted to spend more time in the 'cauldron' and retrieve the reel & line to allow us to extend our penetration into the Chalk Sound Cave.

Arriving without incident we geared up and descended into the hole. We worked our way into the 'cauldron' and soon reached and retrieved the reel. Just as I was about to exit the lower level I noticed a previously missed side passage; shinning the torch the passage appeared to descend down to a greater depth. The passageway has a number of restrictions and has a very low ceiling before appearing to open up again. There certainly isn't room for a back mounted system and it would be tight even with sidemount - this cave just continues to suprise.

Lower Level Plan of White Flamingo Cave (not to scale)

Back in the main level Jon tested to see if he could progress further back with sidemount and proved that we could make further progress with this configuration - looks like its the way to go !

Exiting we packed up and hauled the gear back to the track. We had identified another potential site in the near vicinity and after fighting off the mosquitoes whilst struggling through thick bush and mangroves we finally reached our goal- a small oasis of tranquility, which we named Mangrove Pond. We jumped in with snorkel and mask and swam a circuit. Duckdiving down, the pond appered to bottom out after only a few feet, however, just beneath the surface at one end of the pond there was a limestone ledge which went a few feet underneath the mangroves before revealing what looked like the mouth of a small cave !

Mangrove Pond

There certainly appears to be something new to explore. Maybe another success .... definately another logistical nightmare.

Again, watch this space !

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 8 - Date:17/12/12. Max Depth:78ft. Dive Time:51 mins. Temp:79F. Tide:Incoming

First return to the cave after an absense of a couple of months (holidays etc) and first opportunity for Jon to try out his sidemount rig with two tanks. The plan was for me to reestablish the line in the 'cauldron' whilst Jon got comfortable with his configuration in the more roomy main level.

Once I had laid out the line I took advantage of the good visibilty and incoming tide (to carry anything I stirred up away) to double check what we had explored so far. I was pretty convinced that 2 of our passages joined, more interestingly though at the extent of our reeling what had looked like a dead end now appeared to be a continuation of the passage, although there is a significant restriction hindering progress.

Dive 9 - Date:17/12/12. Max Depth:78ft. Dive Time:24 mins. Temp:79F. Tide:Slack

The plan was for Jon to accompany me into the 'cauldron', he would shine his torch down one of the 2 passageways that we believe link up (but are too restricted to progress down). I would follow the line until I got to the other end of the passageway and see if I could detect his torchlight, thus confirming the link. All went well and we confirmed that that there is just one passageway. The continuation through the restriction will have to wait another day.

MANGROVE POND & MALCOLM'S CAVE (?)

We lugged a set of gear to Mangrove Pond to check out if there really was a cave entrance, getting there is a logistical nightmare so some part of me was hoping it was not another cave system ! There is a small hole and shrimp around the entrance, however its so small that even if you took the equipment off and pushed it through and you then followed it would be touch and go as to whether you would not get stuck. That sort of diving is certainly out of my league for the moment so its firmly on the back burner.

We also checked out another promising lead near Malcolm beach, sadly slack tide meant poorer visibility and a clumsy hand in the silt meant a blackout. It does look as if there is a vertical crack in the bedrock though so we will have to check it out again at a later date.

Busy at work now so no more cave diving in the Islands until 2013

AIRPORT CAVE REVISITED

The clocks going back an hour has given us the opportunity to continue our exploration of the caves of the Turks & Caicos. Last week we improved the trail to Airport Cave, located an easier access route to the water level and snorkelled the site itself. The water was relatively clear, however there was a serious amount of silt. Looking down there is a long, thin crack that disappears into an overhead environment. There are a number of good sized stalactites descending into the water, as well as stalacmites below the water level and one huge column. We also found the cave line left behind by the Caicos Cave Project, complete with about an inch of silt attached to it !

The plan today was to do our first dive in the cave.

Dive 1- 28/03/2013. Max Depth: 49ft. Dive Time: 25 mins. Temp: 75F/77F. Tide: n/a

The walk to the cave with our gear was a piece of cake compared to our visits to White Flamingo, we installed rope on the slope leading to the water to make life a little easier, a short climb down and we were on the waters edge. Even slowly lowering ourselves into the water kicked up the silt; I can only assume its decades of guano from the resident bat colony. The water was colder than we had become used to (75F) and was devoid of marine life - I believe the water here is fresh water, there certainly appears to be no tidal movement. I tied off our line on a hugh stalactite and descended down the crack; there are a large number of both stalactites and stalagmites in this section (which make for easy tieofffs), looking behind there were a really impressive row of columns that gave you the appearance of being behind bars. Looking down at the sloping floor, even the mildest of finning techniques created an avalanche of silt which slowly cascades downwards. The room itself was large and it was great to be in our first, formerly dry cave.

At the bottom (at about 35ft) there was a hole, shaped like a chimney and large enough to squeeze through with full cave diving gear, continuing to tie off we descended down and into a smaller room which dropped down to 48ft, the water was noticebly warmer here (77F), the floor was covered in a thick layer of silt. There was a pasage heading South, however a rockfall prevented further exploration; just as I was about to turn I noticed another possible way to proceed further, a narrow bedding plane blocked by a mound of silt. Now was not the time, however, I believe that if we levelled the silt we may be able to squeeze through and proceed (of course the silt could be merely covering another rock); visibility was already at a minimum and without having discussed my idea first with Jon, now was not the time to reduce visibility to zero ! Exiting we spent a little more time in the main chamber before exiting the water.

Discussing my plan we decided that we would leave it for another day as we didnt have much daylight left. The plan is to come back (have to retrieve my line amongst other things), take some photos of the main chamber and then see if we can remove the silt and progress further.

Stay tuned ...

AIRPORT CAVE

Dive 2- 21/05/2013. Max Depth: 48ft. Dive Time: 30 mins. Temp: 77F. Tide: n/a

WOW, 2 months since our last dive in the TCI - well its busy, busy at work.

Had more of a look around in the main chamber and took some (albeit poor) photos of the cave decorations.

Dropped into the lower room, held the line for reference and spent about 5 minutes moving rocks and large piles of silt where the potential progression point is. Visibility was reduced to shit and will need a while to settle. Will head back later in week to see if all the effort has paid off, whether more needs to be done or if indeed its possible to progress further in the cave.

AIRPORT CAVE

Dive 3 - 22/05/2012. Max Depth: 48ft. Dive Time:15 mins. Temp: 77F

Really, really poor visibility, probably less than 2 feet, had to use line all the way down to the chimney. Lower level clear, major progress with rock and silt removal. Moved another large rock, debri and silt and cam just squeeze through. Visibility so poor by removal of debri that I couldnt even see where to tie off line, so chose not to progress through. Great feeling though that on the next visit we will be able to progress further. Visibility was even worse on the way out (if thats possible). Speculated on poor visibilty; not sure if its the result of our work from a couple of days earlier, or the major construction work on the new airport carpark thats started just a couple of hundred feet away. We are going to leave it a week before we revisit the site and hope that the visibility is better.

CHALK SOUND CAVE - UPDATE

Dive 4/5/6 - 18/09/2013. Max Depths: 44ft, 46ft, 48ft. Dive Times: 50mins, 15mins, 30 mins

Quiet season at last ! Time to catch up on some cave diving here in the TCI, progress has been pretty limited due to long work days and a serious lack of energy at the end of the day. Its been over a year since diving Chalk Sound so we were a little rusty with our surface references. After some time we found the crack, tied off and dropped down to where the cave entrance should have been - it was gone ! Swimming the length of the crack, its topography was not consistent with what we remembered - we'd only gone and found a different fissure in chalk sound, close to where our original discovery had been ! When you look at google earth it looks as if theres 2 fissures, but we had been unable to locate then both the first time round. Exploring it we determined that it went nowhere. Further swimming around and with the sun beginning to drop we finally found our original fissure and so the cave. Surfacing we retook visual references and headed home.

A few days later we returned, this time armed with a 2 litre plastic bottle to tie off about 3 feet under the surface from where the cave is located, giving us an additional refernce point. Makeshift buoy tied off, we entered the cave to find that it was still an outgoing tide (despite tide reports), visibility was poor and we struggled with ties offs due to a lack of suitable protruding rocks. Called it a day.

Third visit saw us find the cave with no problem, thanks to the buoy. In the interim Jon had make a number of 'silt pegs' from plumbers pipe. They are about 3ft long, have a point on one end to drive into the silt and a groove cut into the top to tie line around. The chalk sound tides and the tide tables still were not playing ball and we were pretty much at slack tide so the strirred up silt was just hanging in the water which meant visibility was between 3 - 5ft. Progressing in, we found the silt pegs to be a real bonus, allowing us secure the line as we progressed. We finally passed our penetration point from over a year ago, continuing until we came to a restriction. With almost no visibility it was impossible to see if it could be passed; we may need to drop dowm deeper, or even twist sideways to progress. We called it a day, leaving all lines in place. A better understanding of how the tides seem to uniquely affect Chalk Sound are needed to allow us some good visibility.

LONG BAY HILLS 'THE HOLE'

Dive 1- 19/09/2013. Max Depth: 16ft. Dive Time: 8 mins. Tide: n/a

There is a sink hole in Long Bay; its even classed as a tourist attraction (though god knows why). We had heard various reports of a cave here - which made sense if the hole was a collapsed cave itself. Again, there are no easy caves/potential caves here - would love just to turn up, kit up and dive - but Oh no ! Firstly I scrambled down to the water level which was pretty precarious, especially as I was wearing my sidemount harness and weight system. Jon in the meantime had secured my equipment to a rope and lowered it down over the vertical drop to the water (about a 100ft + drop). I untied my gear, put it on , then waited whilst Jon lowered his gear down, he then came down to join me. Suprise, suprise ..... poor visibility. Dropping down (and maxing out at about 15ft) we did complete circuits of the hole - I knew I had circuited at least twice as I passed the same dead crab under the water ! If there had even been an entrance, it was now collapsed ... so no cave to explore. We did find two old house safes (opened), which had obviously been dumped after a robbery in the past. Climbing out we disturbed an owl - its the first one I have seen in the 7 years in Providencials. The climb up was even worse as we now had wet footwear and were dripping water everywhere. Also let me tell you that I will never complain again about hauling tanks off a boat after hauling the gear back up from the bottom of the hole - I though my arms were going to explode.

So... no cave... just another day of cave exploration here in the Turks and Caicos. We're still having fun ! Stay tuned for more crazy exploits.

MALCOLMN'S (STINKEY) CAVE

Dive 1- 25/09/2013. Max Depth: 27ft. Dive Time: 12 mins. Temp: 81F. Tide: Incoming

This was the last potential cave that we sought out at the end of 2012 - it seemed that it was time to make a return visit.

Looking into the pond, it could not have been less appealing even if it had tried ! The water was brown/red (tannic acid); stepping in made the situation worse; silt kicked up and a foul smell filled the air - hydrogen sulphide, which results from the bacterial breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The gas it gives off is a potent respiratory toxicant and smells like rotten eggs. What a wonderful start and we were barely ankle deep at this point ! Trying not to think about how disgusting the water was, I tied off the reel and dropped down, visibility was zero, the reddish colour of the water was due to the tannic acid (again from decaying vegetation). I kept one hand on the edge of the rock face as I felt my way under the overhang. Suddenly two things happened simultaneously, first the water temperature dropped about 6 degrees, secondly we were in crystal clear water. We were confronted with a large chamber (floor was thick with silt), which temptingly slopped down to a bedding plane. Looking around the chamber we were confronted with two contrasting features - firstly huge stalactites (showing it had once been a dry cave system above the water level) as well as large quantities of fossilised coral (including brain coral), and a large conch shell embedded in with the coral (showing that it had once been below sea level). This is our first discovery of coral fossils in the caves to date. The disturbed silt from our initial water entry was already reducing visibility as it slowly and eirily rolled downwards. We still headed down to the base of the cave to see if progress could be made - in sidemount if you were willing to pull yourself through the silt it looks if progress could be made - how far is difficult to tell and it would be a pretty scary prospect. Even in the main chamber with plenty of space to manouveur visibility was rapidly deteriorating. We chose to call it a day, as I reeled out I was completely blind for the last 15ft or so, not even able to see the line as I reeled it back in. I couldn't begin to image that sort of situation in a severe restriction !

We reeked when we got out, so walked to the sea and jumped in the clean up as best we could.

So, looks like it does not progress beyond the main chamber, an exciting find none the less, again we don't believe anyone has dived here before. We shall probably brave it at least once more to try and get some photos. A better entry with less silt kick up might also make for a better situation !

SNAKE CAVE

Dive 1 - 26/09/2013. Max Depth: 81ft. Dive Time: 29 Mins. Temp: 75F. Tide: N/A

We had mild concerns about the quality of the water here, so had earlier had a water sample tested by the water authority, it had come back with nothing harmful so we had a green light to proceed.

The path had become overgrown in the months since our last visit, however, we managed to find our way without too much difficulty. The water was full of trash and the same reddish (tannic acid) colour of Malcomn's Cave - yipee!

Clambering down and avoiding the broken glass we slowly lowered ourselves into the water. Jon tied off and then reeled off into the gloom. I had a hand on the line as I followed as once again visibility was pretty much non existent. Low and behold after about 15ft the visibility cleared and we found ourselves in a pretty good sized room, containing a good number of large stalactites and a huge column; typically there was a deep layer of silt on the floor.

The big difference here though was that at 23ft there was a hole in the middle of the floor which seemed to drop down quite a way and was comfortably sized for a diver. We proceeded down and at 55ft were confronted by another room, greater numbers of stalactites and less silt. This room also continued downwards, following it we bottomed out at 81ft (our deepest cave dive to date). As we proceeded down the quantity of the decorations continued to increase, with multiple stalactites, stalactites (including some really delicate ones), columns and some beautiful crystals (first ones we have seen in TCI). It really was stunning, to be honest its what we had been hoping to find when we first set out cave diving here. We were aware that the bedding plane seemed to progress and that we had minimal silt at this depth. The silt that did exist was also much heavier than we had experienced elsewhere so settled quickly. Tempting as it was to proceed, we were not really equipped for further exploration, instead we spent time exploring what we had already discovered.

Exiting the cave there was some real elation at what we had just dived; we were planning a return even as we were carrying our gear back to the truck.

Its amazing to think that the two potential caves that we thought would reveal so little (and so we put off), have produced the most exciting finds. Not only that but we dived them both in the same week !

SNAKE CAVE

Dive 2- 26/09/2013. Max Depth: 83ft. Dive Time: 42 mins. Temp: 75F. Tide: N/A

Three cave dives in a week - unheard of, but we just could'nt wait to go back. The plan was to continue to explore what we had already seen to date, take some video footage (to follow) and remove some of the trash in the lower level.

It still takes me by suprise when you pass through the layer of no visibility into this beautiful underwater world; visibility was as good as previously, again showing that the silt here is not as fine as elsewhere (in airport cave it takes about a week to settle).

We pretty much followed the plan, made some new decoration discoveries and pushed a little further along the bedding plane to see if it would open out. Its certainly a tight squeeze and so we only progressed about another 30ft before continuing explorations elsewhere. Managed to reach a new record depth of 83ft.

We both agreed we could just keep visiting this cave even if it progressed no further - 2 happy cave divers !

CHALK SOUND CAVE

Dive: 6 - 30/09/2013. Max Depth: 70ft. Dive Time: 38 Mins. Temp. Tide: Incoming

We now figure that Chalk Sound seems to run about 2 hours behind the tidal charts (go figure); so set off with this calculated knowledge. Great visibility finally and and steady incoming tide which pushed any kicked up silt oit of the cave. progress was smooth, lots of crabs and shrimp as well as numerous delicate and colourful sponges. Confirmed that we had indeed reached the end of the passage on our previous exploration. Exited with total time of 20 minutes. Reeled down the crack/slope that we had explored on our first ever dive here, sidemount meant we could progress more easily, passing previous depths we reached a low bedding field (seems to be becoming the norm) which seems to continue on. Low and silty, the increasing strength of the outgoing tide and lack of tieoffs (or silt pegs) made further progress unrealistic. May be an opportunity for a later date although the disturbance of silt would be a big issue.

SNAKE CAVE

Dive 3- 05/10/2013. Max Depth: 74ft. Dive Time: 35 mins. Temp: 75F. Tide: N/A

The dive plan was to remove accumulated trash (3 mesh bags full) and insert a permanant line. Mission accomplished

SNAKE CAVE

Dive 4- 07/10/2013. Max Depth: 82ft. Dive Time: 42 mins. Temp: 75F. Tide: N/A

Improved the pathway to the cave.

There appear to be 3 potentials for further cave penetration along the bedding plane. Explored and discounted 2 of them; more stunning decorations discovered along the way mind you.

CAVE DIVING REVISTED

Wow, its already April 2014 and apart from a most excellent cave diving adventure in Mexico earlier this year, the cave gear has been sitting idle; our last cave dive here was 6 months ago ! The best we have managed since then was in March when we waded through Flamingo Lake to eliminate the slim possibility of there being a cave :(

The clocks have gone back and now its not getting dark until 7:30PM, so work allowing its cave diving season again here on the rock.

NW POINT POND

Dive 1 - 07/04/2104. Max Depth: 52ft. Dive Time: 39 mins. Temp: 78F. Tide: Incoming

Towards the end of last year, we hooked up with Agile, a fellow explorer (the above water kind) on the island. We had shown him Airport Cave as he was interested in the bat colony there and he had accompanied us to Snake Cave. During his years of exploring the island he had found his way to a remote pond that had not initially shown promise on google earth and as such had been overlooked by us. From his visits there though, he had concluded that there was definate tidal movement - a cave(s) perhaps ? Better go check it out then !

Thankfully for me, Jon and Agile did the legwork - clearing a path to make access manageable (barely) and confirming that there were at least 2, and maybe 3 potential caves.

A week of slow down on the island gave us both our first opportunity to get a day off together, Agile was in on the adventure, the tides were in our favour - it was time to go adventuring :)

None of our caves are what you would call accessible, these ones however simply take the biscuit ! Leaving the paved roads, its a slow 10 minute bone shaking drive (in a landrover - would dread to take a normal car here). Then its the usual process of equipment hauling - walking through swampy ground and working through/under/over the tightly knit network of mangroves. We eventually reached the edge of the pond and proceeded to set up the gear (2 tanks,full sidemount setup) whilst trying the minimise how much mud we covered everything in. We then climbed over the final mangroves and by working chain gang fashion reached the waters edge. Standing waist deep in the water we clumsily kitted up - now all that was left was a 10 minute surface swim to the first cave !

The pond itself was completely screened by mangroves, looking down into the water I quite taken aback, instead of the usual clay/sediment/rock bottom composition, I was greeted with lush green plantlife and a deep emerald algae that completely smothered the bottom of the pond; amidst which were thousands of upside down magrove jellyfish. Small fish darted around, whilst needle fish glided just below the surface. Simply stunning and a reward in itself.

Reaching the first potential cave we dropped down into a wonderfully cylindrical sinkhole which took us down to about 47ft. The passageway that greeted us was pretty straight in direction and progressing along seemed neither to veer or entice us with side passageways to explore. There was a definate incoming current, the ceiling was low and I was glad both that we were diving sidemount (not a backmount cave) and that I was wearing a helmet. There were a few vertical holes that we pocked our heads into but none offered anything of interest. After about 18 minutes of lining in we sadly came to a halt having reached the end of the road, the length of the cave was probably in the region of 200ft. Exciting to have probably been the first people to dive it whilst dissapointed that its potential was reached so soon.

Retracing our steps we pulled ourselves into every available overhang looking for other routes but to no avail; looking up out of the sinkhole during the safety stop was awesome, it was so clear that you could see the mangroves reflecting off the water.

Exiting, we made our way towards the next potential cave. The route to this one was even more unique, the mangroves had choked the waterway at the surface so we had to swim under the mangroves, pushing aside the prop roots as we passed. We surfaced in a perfect little pond complete with sinkhole entrance. The hole went down about 40 feet but sadly ended in a small chamber (filled with shrimp) but didn't progress any further.

Not being daunted and thoroughly enjoying the whole unique experience we headed towards the last of our 3 potential locations.

Dive 2: 07/04/2014. Max Depth: 46ft. DiveTime: 27mins. Temp: 78F. Tide: Incoming.

The entrance was similar to the previous two and it was evident that although there was a passage it would,nt be as long as the first we had dived. The whole passage was both narrower and lower and soon started to taper to nothing; it still went back about 100 feet and was certainly worth the effort.

Swimming back to our exit, we began everthing in reverse and a few cuts, bruises and curses later were back at the vehicle.

A tiring, but rewarding and exhilerating day. There's just something about pioneer exploring that makes you so very sleepy. yawn. That aside its given us the renewed impitus to get back up and running and see what else 2014 has in store for us. Watch this space

And suddenly 6 months had passed us by and no exploring had been done ! So, we took a day off and went back to some of our old cave haunts.

SNAKE CAVE

Dive 5: 03/11/2014. Max Depth: 83ft. Dive Time: 41 mins. Temp: 80. Tide: N/A

It was great being back in this caves, its my favourite because of all the decorations. We checked out and eliminated the final option for further exploration. We have now discounted any further potential for new discoveries here - a bitter, sweet feeling. The plan is to return here at some stage with a decent camera rig and take some pictures.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 10: 03/11/2014. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 36 mins. Temp: 80. Tide: Incoming

Its been almost 2 years since I last visited WFC, the place where our cave diving exploits first began in the Turks & Caicos.

We had decided to make an effort to push beyond the shingle restriction in the main level to determine once and for all whether the cave opened up again (the shingle had to come from somewhere after all), the question was what if anything was beyond it. We were once again diving using a single tank H-valve sidemount configuration (we had already determined that no progress could be made with backmount).

Once we reached the restriction (which we later named 'Plane Insane') Jon proceeded first, wriggling his way through the restriction he quickly disappeared out of my view as a result of the inevitable disturbing of the sediment that was mixed within the shingle bed. The incoming tide soon cleared everything out and I could see that Jon had pushed beyond the restriction (which turned out to be about 20ft). Then it was my turn to follow, and it was pretty tight, I could feel my back against the ceiling as I wriggled my way in, luckily there was enough 'give' in the floor composition; once through I looked back to see the body shaped groove that I had left behind !

Looking around I could see that we had emerged into a reasonable sized chamber, exploring about 50 feet to the left it looked as if there were two potential passageways for later exploration. Whilst to the right it progressed a similar distance as it dropped down through a tumble of rocks to a lower level; again with the possibility of further progress.

Sadly at this point I had developed a problem with one of my first stages and had had to shut it off; that effectively made it game over for the day and so we exited.

A truly exciting dive with real progress made, easily doubling our progress in the main level - and with the promise of more to come.

Maybe I won't wait another 2 years before going back !

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 11: 10/11/2014. Max Depth: 79ft. Dive Time: 50 mins. Temp: 79. Tide: Incoming

It was too good an opportunity not to take advantage of an extra day off, tides were not the best with a high tide of 11AM meaning we would only realistically get one dive in - still one is better than none !

The visibility was at its best with the tide still incoming; passing through 'Plane Insane' we headed off to the left and Jon entered one of the two passages we had previously identified. He didn't get too far before hitting a tight restriction, so returned and tried the other passage - this proved more successful at it appeared to rejoin the first passage on the otherside of the restriction.

With only the opportunity for one dive, the decision had been made to make quick investigations to allow us to plan better for further exploration. Having determined that one of the passages held promise, it was now my turn to checkout the right had side of the chamber. Reaching the end of the line I could see a small vertical hole ('Keyhole') at the end of the passage, which once squeezed through opened up into another reasonable sized passage (large enough for both of us). This continued for another 60ft or so before ending in another tumble of rocks (this time heading upwards). It looked like it would be possible to progress beyond this, however, air and deco limits meant that we had reached the end of the road for the day. More line had been laid, 2 passages still offered further exploration and a new maximum depth had been reached. All in all a pretty successful dive.

Returning to the entrance, it was time to lug all the gear back to the car and speculate on what we might find on our next dive. Sadly we are not too sure on when this will be as I am off to DEMA next week, then Jon is on vacation and then its crazy season again. It woud be great to get another couple of dives in this year though :)

CAVE DIVING REVISITED 2015

So Xmas came and went with no more opportunity to continue our explorations of White Flamingo Cave, a lull at work, coupled with the tides being in our favour gave us a day to haul ass back through the bush and try and carry out 2 dives - the downside was lugging 2 tanks all the way there and all the way back !

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 12: 13/01/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 41 mins. Temp: 79. Tide: Incoming

The visibility was not at its best, however, beggars cannot be choosers. The plan was to continue where we left off. Jon led the way and soon came to where I had previously tied off. We managed to squeeze through yet another obstruction (i got stuck the first time) and the passage continued upwards a short way before becoming seeming to become too tight to proceed any further - so another dead end.

I had spotted a side restriction just prior to where we had tied off on the previous dive that I thought was worth a quick look. Tying off from our line I managed to push through the restriction which then opened up into a reasonable size passage which I followed into a room of sorts. The passage continued to the right and it looked as if there was another route off to the left. At this point though I had run out of line and only had my emergency reel left - so it would have to wait for another dive.

I had decided earlier that on the way out I would head back into what we had previously called the 'cauldron', somewhere we had not returned since moving to sidemount - I was intrigued if we could get past the restriction that had initially ended our progress there. Reaching the end of the line I squeezed through successfully, having proved we could continue I retraced my path as remaining air, limited deco time and no line didnt make any further exploration a realistic option.

All in all a successful, yet slightly frustrating dive.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 13: 13/01/2015. Max Depth: 78ft. Dive Time: 42 mins. Temp: 79. Tide: Slack

We used our surface interval to take our empty tanks back to the car and bring our second set of tanks.

Continuing to where I left off, Jon then continued to the right, the passage shortly went upwards to a restriction of loose, sharp stones ('Dragons Teeth') before entering another room 'Dragons Lair'). Sadly, it was now slack tide and the area we were in was full of silt which was impossible not to disturb due to the tightness of the passage and there was no flow to move it along and restore visibility. As such we could not tell if we could progress further, heading back we had to stay in physical contact with the line as there was simply no visibility. I took a quick look off to the left, it progressed but it would be a seriously tight restriction which I didnt fancy persuing without water flow - a tight restriction is one thing, but to do it in reverse for the first time effectively blind was not something I was too excited about. It just means we will have to return.

Once again I went into the 'Cauldron', lined past the restriction and entered a room with a serious collapse of rocks and no apparent way of proceeding. Another dead end. Another loose end tied up.

Until the next time.........

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 14: 13/02/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 44 mins. Temp: 74 Tide: Slack/Incoming

We had the opportunity for a quick dive before dark if we got our skates on !

Arriving at the pond we were confronted with the lowest water level we had seen to date, that meant a lot of outgoing water and poor visibility; our hope was that as it was just on an incoming tide then at least any silt we disturbed would be pushed out of the cave. The next shock was the water temperature - a drop of 5 degrees in 4 weeks (by the end of the dive we were both shivering).

The plan was to continue where we had left off on dive 13, I led the way this time and upon pushing through 'Dragons Teeth' (having had to back up once when a hose got snagged) I entered 'Dragons Lair' in which Jon had tied off. The visibility was good enough that I could identify exploration possibilities both to the left and right. I chose to continue right along a reasonable sized passage, there was no real flow and so visibility started to reduce, it was time to tie off and retrace my steps. Still new passages lined and more to investigate.

Returning to the initial t-junction (after'Plane Insane') Jon investigated the 2 passages we had identified but not pursued on dive 10. The first soon came to a blockage, however the second showed much more promise actually bypassing the blockage and rejoining as a single passage of the far side. Good news.

Meanwhile whilst I had been waiting for Jon to return I had glanced up to see a small hole in the ceiling ('The Attic'), poking my head into it I saw in turned at a right angle and soon became a room in which you could turnaround. I lined off as far as the room, observed that it then continued into a further passage. Gas limits and cold limits had been reached so I turned aroud and waited for Jons return a few minutes later.

Exiting with chattering teeth and too cold to chat we lugged the gear back to the truck (which warmed us up) with a few minutes to spare before it became too dark.

We celebrated with a traditional beer - 2 passages continue to show promise and a new passage on a seperate level has been discovered. Not a bad way to spend a few hours after work ! If only we could dediacate ourselves full time to our explorations here in the Turks and Caicos, who knows what we might discover.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 15: 20/03/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 40 mins. Temp: 77 Tide: Incoming

The clocks have finally changed so more opportunities to keep on exploring. The passage that Jon explored on the previous dive comes to an end shortly after the restriction. The'Attic' though shows promise, progressed further but came to a tight restriction where there has been a rockfall in the past. I moved some of the smaller rocks, its a tight squeeze but may be possible if we remove tanks, tantilisingly it opens out and continues once through the restriction - wasn't feeling brave enough to pursue it on this occasion though ! Jon lined off in a new direction, off to the right of the very beginning of 'Plane Insane', lining out about 100ft before running out of line - further progress is possible. Finally I "re-found" a new passage on the 'Cauldron', to be fair I had seen it a couple of years ago but deemed it too tight to proceed through, managed to wriggle through with sidemount just to try it out, just got through and it looks likely to continue. So to conclude - 1 loose end tied up, passage continues ('attic') and 2 new passages still to explore.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 16: 08/05/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 50 mins. Temp: 79 Tide: Incoming

Its quiet at work so an extra day off and only one thing to do and thats go cave diving. Our plan for the first dive was to return to 'Dragons Lair' so that Jon could have the opportunity to see where I had previously explored and also to allow further exploration of the area. I led the way through to 'Dragons Lair' at which point my primary light failed. This would normally mean end of dive, I was however happy to revert to one of my backup lights and stay put by the line whilst Jon proceeded with the exploration (He travelled to the end of the line but didn't find anything new worth investigation). Upon his return we started to head out, just as I started to leave the 'Lair' I glanced down to see a small stalagmite lying in silt on the bedrock. I was completely gobsmacked and slighty confused as we had been exploring the cave system for a while with absolutely no indication that any part of it had previously been a dry cave - we had assumed that it was a solution cave. To be honest we had not been investigating too closely within the system, choosing further exploration over fine combing of what we had already discovered. Exiting I told Jon of my find, the plan of action for the second dive was now established - a return to 'Dragons Lair'.

Dive 17: 08/05/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 49 mins. Temp: 79 Tide: Incoming. Deco: 12 Mins

Its amazing what you discover when you look at something with fresh knowledge and information ! As soon as we passed through 'Dragons teeth' and shone our torches in the lair we saw several crystal domes that we had managed to miss on our previous visits to this part of the system. There were maybe 5 or 6 and only 8 inches high (and that was the largest) so we can be forgiven for missing them. We also found 2 more broken stalagmites (due to constant tidal flow ?) and in one protected area a lone intact stalagmite, maybe 10 inches in length. It doesn't sound much to most people but we were elated and I'll even admit to 'high fiving' under water (not a very British thing to do). This area was now for later more detailed exploration as Jon wanted to show me the passage he had explored to the right of 'Plane Insane' that I had yet to see. Retracing our steps we set out along the new passage - the longest restriction so far of probably 60 feet of pulling yourself through shingle whilst trying not to bang your head on the ceiling (sounds like fun huh ?). At the end of the restriction there is a chamber and then a new passageway which is wide enough for one person at a time. As with all new lining that we have done, one person lines and the other person waits, as there is nothing worse than getting to a dead end/restriction and wanting to back up only to find someone behind you. Jon lined about another 50 ft before turning (due to deco times), but said afterwards that it proceeds further - I look forward to getting to see it on our next dive here. A few minutes of deco and we surfaced. - today felt like a major accomplishment with a promising looking passageway and most importantly proof that at least part of White Flamingo cave was once a dry system. To our knowledge this is a first as all previously dry systems found/dived to date on Providenciales (Airport Cave/Snake Cave/Malcomns Cave) are non flow systems. Needless to say we celebrated with a beer !

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 18: 30/05/2015. Max Depth: 78ft. Dive Time: 51 mins. Temp:79. Tide: Incoming

The plan was to revisit 'Dragons Lair' to see if there was any evidence of further decorations. Explored and found a few more in the Lair itself. Continued past the lair but no further decorations and concluded that the passageway ends at this point with no further areas to explore, there was a small side tunnel but didn't run far before ending. Tied up a couple more loose ends. The passage explored by Jon at the beginning dive 12 (and thought to end in a restriction that was too tight) was revisited by Jon, he managed to proceed and we were both suprised that it joined 'Dragons Lair'. The room prior to 'Dragons Teeth' that contained the left hand passage with restriction (dive 13) also progressed into 'Dragons Lair'. Not as fruitful as we hoped but a few loose ends tied up.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 19: 13/06/2015. Max Depth: 71ft. Dive Time: 46 mins. Temp:81. Tide: Incoming

The plan was to revisit 'The attic' (dive 15) to determine if we could actually proceed beyond the restriction. Once there we found that with 2 of us working together we could just manage to roll back one of the boulders. It was still seriously tight and it took me several attempts to get my body position correct to enable me to pull myself through. It was a bit like opening a bottle of champagne as once through the tightest section I literally 'popped' out into the room. I was not in the mood to progress too far as I was more than a litle concerned with how I was going to get out again ! Shinning my torch around it appeared to be a largish room that sloped down to the floor and without a further way to progress. The disappointment was short lived as I caught sight of several decorations (both stalagmites and crystal domes). Although only about 30ft away I chose not to examine them further but to retrace my steps and exit the restriction. Getting back was even harder work and I had to back up several times as I kept getting stuck. Finally with lots of pulling and twisting I reemerged. That was enough excitement for the day and it was decided to head back out. We will try and move the boulder further which should make the going slightly easier, set up a 'jump' as I don't fancy having to contend with a permanant line providing us with another entangelment issue and go check out the features properly. We named the restriction 'slim fast'.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 20: 29/06/2015. Max Depth: 78ft. Dive Time: 45 mins. Temp:81. Tide: Incoming

Quick visit to 'The attic', Jon squeezed through 'slim fast' to check out the decorations. He lined in but it shortly came to a dead end. He got to see the formations though which was the main thing.

Headed back to retrace the steps Jon took on dive 17 (passage to right of 'plane insane'). Its a squeeze initially but opens up into a nice passage, the bottom composition is shells which is a good sign. Jon found a fossilized conch shell embedded in the wall (first we have found), aswell as a new cave critter that we had never seen before (a bit like an albino scorpion?). I proceeded to where Jon's line had ended - it certainly continues, but air limits prevented further exploration. On my way becak out I spotted 2 more stalacmites in the passageway, so now thats formations in 3 sperate areas of the cave. A great dive for new discoveries and the tides should be good for getting a further dive in tomorrow.

WHITE FLAMINGO CAVE

Dive 21: 30/06/2015. Max Depth: 77ft. Dive Time: 39 mins. Temp:81. Tide: Incoming

Headed back to where we had left off yesterday with the hope of lining further in. Jon lead and took the main passageway, I chose to poke my head into a side passage. I couldn't get too far as there was a restriction (it opens up afterwards). It appeared to end in a room, which had a silty bottom (not a good sign as this always means an end of flow). That aside what I saw was amazing - stalacmites, stalactites (first ones found at this cave), a huge crystal dome and what looked like flow formations. As I was wishing Jon could see this, his flashlight came into view at the opposite end of the room. He had worked his way round from the other side and actually managed to get into the room (was slighly jealous). His GoPro footage afterwards showed amazing domes and definite flow formations and Jon aptly named the room 'jewelery Box'. He also found another of scorpion type critters (I have yet too see one except on his GoPro footage). The only downside is that it appears the cave ends at the 'jewelery box', this seems to be the feature of this cave with formations always signalling a dead end. That said it was another amazing dive and I look forward to exploring in the room properly next time.

MIDDLE CAICOS OCEAN HOLE

Whilst we have focussed on exploring the caves we have discovered, there are several known places that have long been on our radar to check out. One such 'place' is the Middle Caicos ocean hole. There are 3 reasons why we have not managed to dive it, firstly we needed the right tides, secondly we needed to be able to get the same day off work and thirdly to get there we needed to travel 25 miles over the Caicos banks on a small skiff - so the seas needed to be calm. You just can't imagine how difficult it is to get all 3 of those things to coincide.

December the 27th 2015 was such a day ! So a little about the ocean hole:

At nearly twice the diameter of the Great Blue Hole of Belize and three times the diameter of Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas, the Middle Caicos Ocean Hole is likely the widest blue hole in the world.

Found off the south coast of Middle Caicos in the shallow Caicos Banks, The Ocean Hole is a 250 feet (76 m) deep geological feature that can clearly be seen by air when flying by Middle Caicos. At nearly 2000 feet (.6 km) in diameter, the Ocean Hole is by far the largest of the blue hole features in the Turks and Caicos.

Like nearly all caves and sink-holes in the country, the Ocean Hole was formed by the Karst Process. In previous ages when sea levels were lower, slightly acidic rain water would slowly dissolve the soft limestone of the Turks and Caicos plateau as it made its way to the water table. Because this process happened anywhere rain water puddled, small sink-holes and formations can be seen wherever there's the harder Turks and Caicos limestone, even on the highest points in the islands.

Although not much is known about the Ocean Hole, several expeditions were made out to the site over the last few decades for sounding and diving.

The giant Ocean Hole off the south coast of Middle Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands.

Due to the hole's location, access is difficult. The entire south side of Middle Caicos is mangroves and wetlands with no roads breaking through to the south coast. Ocean depth in the vicinity of the Ocean Hole is also quite shallow. Access is only feasible as a long ride on a small boat that draws very little water.

The journey accross the banks took nearly an hour and a half, but the seas were relatively friendly and it soon passed in a mixture of banter and tom foolery (a pretty typical scenario actually). Anchoring at the edge of the hole in less than 6ft of water, we kitted up and jumped in ...

Dive 1:27/10/2015. Max Depth: 101ft. Dive Time: 23 mins. Temp: 80 surface. 75 at 100ft. Tide:Outgoing

There was an evident outgoing current at the surface and looking down you could barely see the bottom - not the most promising of starts.

We secured our line to the anchor and reeling out dropped in the hole. The scale of it meant that you simply felt like you were wall diving, we slowly descended, the water got cooler as we descended and at about 70ft the water was the colour of ink ... and below ... nothingness. All you could see was the wall, then blackness. It was quite spooky. The actual wall was covered in a fine silt from the banks, we stopped at 100ft and followed the wall for a while, I'm not sure what we hoped to find, I'm sure we each harboured ideas of finding a formation or passage. We had a better chance of winning the lottery, you could dive the hole every day for a year and barely scratch the surface. We hadn't really discussed a plan so after swimming vaguely around for a few minutes we ascended and climbed back on the boat.

Dive 2:27/10/2015. Max Depth: 71ft. Dive Time: 4 0mins. Temp: 79F.

Well! we had finally dived the middle caicos ocean hole. As we had come all the way out here we thought it was foolish not to do another dive. We navigated along the wall at a depth of 60ft for about 15 minutes. It was all the same, a featureless and silty wall. I looked uptowards the surface hoping to see the sharks that were rumoured to be here but to no avail. Turning, we retraced our steps.

We stopped off on the way back to checkout a potential cave in the mangroves but it didn't pan out.

Returning to the dock we washed the boat and called it a day.

Were we glad we dived the ocean hole? ... Yes ! Would we make the effort to go back again? ... Probably not.

Photos: Cave Diving in the Turks & Caicos

dannygoesdiving — Thu, 26 Nov 2015 04:52:00 GMT

Climbing the highest peak in the Caribbean

dannygoesdiving — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 22:57:00 GMT

'What do you want to do for your birthday this year?'. It was a casual question that ended up with us undertaking one of our most challenging trips !

Josies answer was 'somewhere green where we can do some walking'. The obvious choice was the Dominican Republic, one of our closest neighbouring islands, only 370 kilometers (230 miles) away and a mere 35 minute flight. The contrast between the 2 islands could not be more extreme - Turks and Caicos is low lying, its highest point is a mere 161ft (49 m), the island is infertile but boasts some of the most amazing blue waters in the world. The Dominican Republic on the other has a highest point of 10,164 ft (3098 m), is lush and incredibly green and vibrant.

The next question was where to go and what to do, then someone mentioned that you could climb to the summit of Pico Duarte, the highest peak in not just the DR but the whole all of the Caribbean islands (refer back to the highest point in the DR !). Well it seemed too good an opportunity to pass and so the decision was made - to climb the highest peak in the Caribbean, with no real preperation (we consider ourselves to be fit and healthy) during the hottest month of the year......how easy was this going to be.

We chose to use a company called 'Iguana Mama' to arrange the logistics for the trip and chose to undertake the 46 km (28.5 miles) hike over a more leisurely 3 days/2 nights. It is possible to arrange everything yourself but we had neither the language skills, equipment or time. Iguana Mama arranged the taxi, accomodation, english speaking guide, mules and mule driver, all equipment (sleeping bags etc) and food. Theoretically that means you only need to bring yourself and personal items.

Landing in Santo Domingo we were met by our taxi driver who took us on the 45 minute drive to our hotel (Jarabacoa River Club). Upon check-in we were met by our guide for the upcoming 3 day hike and immediately a few alarm bells started quietly going off in the background. The first thing he told us was that he was getting married in a hour and that his bride would be coming along on the trek ! That aside his 'details of the hike' consisted of telling us that we would be picked up at 6AM and that we would walk for about 7-8 hours - now I love a concise briefing, however ........

The hotel itself was OK, it was an all inclusive and seemed to mainly caters for Dominicans, they had beer though so life was good. That evening the food options were very overcooked meat on the BBQ, chips and plantains.

Trek - Day 1:

We were at reception early the next morning and met promptly by our guide, getting into the taxi we said 'buenos dias' to his new wife (she spoke no English and made no effort to interact during the 3 days) and travelled the hour journey to our starting point. The views and the cool air were a tonic at such an early hour. Arriving at the park office we met out mule driver and his 4 mules (one for the mule driver, one for our gear, one for the bride and a spare mule incase anyone had an accident and needed to de bought back down), filled out some paperwork (name and country of origin) and acquired our permits.

At this point our guide points to a sign which indicates the start of the trail and tells us to head off as you can't get lost and that he'll catch up with us in 10 minutes. Well, we were keen to start so off we set.

La Cienaga de Manaboa - Los Tablones - La Cotorra (7.8km. 1110m - 1720m)

The air was still crisp at this hour of the morning and the tall canopy of the trees kept the rays of the early morning sun from bothering us. Walking along a wide, flat, hard earth packed path we made good progress. The Tablones river was our constant companion, we could hear it even as it appeared and disappeared depending on the thickness of the vegetation. Every now and again we caught glimpses of wooden homes, brightly coloured laundry and small holdings of crops. Reaching a ford we crosssed a rickerty looking bridge and shortly after reached the first official looking stopping point of Los Tablones, complete with office (closed), corral for mules (empty) and toilet facilities flushed by water pumped diectly from the river. At this point we hadn't seen another living sole and that included our mule party.

Deciding to continue on we soon entered a magical grove of wild canes which grew on either side of the path, intertwining together creating a natural tunnel of vegetation. We crossed several more streams before arriving at a stream which was signposted as being suitable for drinking. As we only had our individual canteens with us (still no mule party after over an hour) we happily filled then up and treated ourselves to cool, clear spring water - boy did it taste good.

The terrain was starting to change as we gained elevation, we found ourselves walking through and up a series of deep carved gulleys, under foot was loose soil and stones which made walking a little more challenging. The vegeation started to change too, smaller trees, ferns and generally less canopy cover. We could now hear what sounded like our party behind us, turning a corner we reached our next stop point and waited for them to catch us up. We had completed 7.8km, climbed an elevation of 610m and felt great.

Our guide appeared (riding the spare mule), along with his new bride, the mule driver and most importantly the mule carrying our bags and all the supplies. The guide made no effort to engage us in conversation, answering our questions before reverting back to Spanish to converse with the other two - they spoke no english, but then again we spoke little spanish so that was fine, but I thought the guide should have made a little effort. When Josie asked him if he would be walking with us on any part of the hike he said he wouldn't as he had blisters from a previous tour and had done the hike many times ! With hindsight I think the problem was the word 'guide' and the expectations that that brings with it. The word 'organiser' (although that was not the best as you shall find out) or 'translator' may have been more apt and led to far less expectations.

Now don't get me wrong, it was actually really nice to be able to do the walk ourselves, safe in the knowledge that logistical support and provisions were there, as I said its just about expectations.

Shouldering our packs we got ready to continue on with our guide saying he would catch up with us at the next stop, where we would also have lunch.

La Cotorra - La Laguna (2.8km. 1720m - 1980m)

The trail now seemed to follow the ridgeline and was a mixture of more deep gulleys to scramble up and then open areas which provided breathtaking views of the valley. We soon reached our lunch stop, we had gained a further elevation of 160m and covered over half of the days hike, with 10.6km completed from 18.1km - it was fair to say that we were feeling confident. Lunch consisted of 2 soft rolls with a single processed cheese slice (and a processed ham slice for me) and 2 small packets of biscuits. Not great but welcome none the less. We chilled for half an hour before getting set to continue. It was at this point that our guide stated that the next 3.5km were the most challenging of the hike - boy was that ever an understatement !

La Laguna - El Cruce (0.5km. 1980m - 2180m)

Now maths is not my strong point but even my brain started to work out that gaining an elevation of 200m over a distance of 500m means it is likely to be quite steep ! Oh yes - it was steep, the footing was loose and the sun was beating down on us. That half a kilometer was harder than the previous 10km, and that was just the start ! I would love to tell you what the terrain was like and what the vegetation was like and how the views were, but honestly I haven't got the faintest idea. It was simply enough to put one foot in front of the other.

El Cruce - Aguita Fria (3km. 2180m - 2650m)

Up, up, up we went. It was steep, the footings were loose, the vegetation cover was minimal and the sun was beating down on us. It was here that we met up with the a handful of people working there way down Pico Duarte. As they stumbled and slid there way down they kept repeating the same phrase ' path of regret'. It turned out that this was the name given to this stretch of the climb. Just when we thought we couldn't put one foot infront of the other we reached the top. Both the breeze and stunning views were a welcome relief from the last arduous couple of hours. We simply sat on a grassy bank and got our breath back. At this point our mule team caught up with us and declared they were going on ahead to set everything up for our arrival. Hello and goodbye.

Aguita Fria - La Comparticion (4km. 2650m - 2450m)

The final 2 hour push before reaching base camp ! The first part of the section continued to climb before dropping steeply down in to the valley. At every bend or vantage point the path seemed to go on forever, then in the distance we saw a few huts dotted amongst a pine forest. With our final reserve of energy we reached the camp and simply dropped to the ground, both elated and exhausted. Lying on the ground and staring up at the blue sky and towering pine trees we tried to decide whose fault it was that we decided to carry out this hike :)

La Comparticion - base camp

Once rested we set about exploring our home for the next 2 nights, There was a cabin for the staff who stay here on a 2 week rotation, a large shared cabin for sleeping, a cabin for cooking in and bathroom/showers which run of stream water. Now for the reality.... the bathroom/showers were locked up as a lack of water at this time of year meant they were out of order - the toilet was a tin shed with a toilet sized hole cut into a bench which simply dropped into an open pit. I've seen and used worse and at least the cool air meant there was no real smell. Showers were at the bottom of a ravine and was actually a pipe of stream water running into a bucket, with a gallon water bottle for use as a scoop. I opted to stay smelly, Josie stripped down and braved it and claimed it was invigorating ! The sleeping accomodation was a sleeping bag on a wooden floor, funnily enough you could rent thin matresses off of the staff stationed there for a few dollars. We would just be sharing the room with the newly weds ! The kitchen was a series of stone hearths with a grill over the top - cooking was all done over a fire that was lit in the hearth. All very rustic and all more than adequate for our needs.

We sorted our gear and generally chilled until dinner - chicken, rice and beans, orange tang and a packet of biscuits - all of which we devoured. It was still light but we were exhausted so climbed into our sleeping bags (at only about 7PM) and slept.

Trek Day 2:

We awoke somewhat refreshed (although the thin matress on a wooden fllor wasn't the most comforable of experiences). It was chilly at this height and it was refreshing to breath in the cold morning air. We had coffee and breakfast (2 potatos and 4 slices of salami for me, 2 potatos and a very greasey fried egg for Josie), then got prepared for the hike to the sumit. Our guide stated that we wasn't going to join us and that the mule driver would accompany us (no english spoken). His reason was so that he could prepare lunch, the reality was more likely that he wanted to stay with his new wife - now I can understand this, but again what is the actual role of the 'guide' ?

La Comparticion - Pico Duarte (5km. 2450m - 3087m)

The climb to the sumit took about 2 hours and was thoroughly enjoyable. We managed to communicate with our 'replacement guide' through a combination of the small ammount of spanish I knew, asking the normal questions about family and home - infact he asked us more and engaged with us more than our suposed guide. He also taught me a few new words - a combination of pointing to things and asking 'Que dice en Espanol' worked wonders !

The trail started thorough a pine forest, following the ridgeline we had some awesome views, passing through a small marshland/meadow with some stunning blue flowers we continued to climb the ridge until reaching an open meadow and the final stopping point. Off to our right was the second highest peak in the caribbean (La Palona at 3070m) and right infront of us was the sumit of Pico Duarte.

The trail wound its ways way through sparse pines before ending with a series of huge rocks and boulders; climbing those last few boulders we stood on the roof of the Caribbean. Taking in a full 360 degrees panorama of truly magnificent views and best of all we had it all to ourselves. We just sat in silence taking it all in and enjoying the moment. My endearing memory was just enjoying breathing in the cold morning air, something so simple and yet so rewarding.

After about 15 minutes we slowly climbed down from the boulders and began the 2 hour hike back down to the base.

Josie braved another mountain stream shower, we ate (chicken and rice) and spent the rest of the afternoon sunning ourselves on the mountainside, reading and sending happy thoughts to our aching feet :)

Another meal (pasta and canned fish) and then we lit a fire in the accomodation hut and snuggled up in sleeping bags marvelling at how we needed a fire to keep warm in the caribbean in July. The smoke kept blowing back down the chimney, slowly filling the room with smoke and Josie awoke in the night barely able to see due to the thick smog. Jumping up she opened opposite shutters to allow a through breeze and with our lives saved returned to her sleeping bag :)

Trek Day 3:

We were up early as we wanted to cover the first 4km climb before it got too hot and had two wonderful suprises to start the day. Firstly there was no coffee as we had run out - not sure how that happened and we only had one cup each the previous morning. Secondly being presented with breakfast (2 potatos and 4 slices of salami for me, and 2 potatos and a greasy egg for Josie) we were told to make sure we ate it all as there was no more food ! Honestly - an 18 km physically demanding hike ahead of us and a couple of potatos was meant to sustain us for the whole journey. There are not many things that stun me, but that was one of them !

Choosing to save a potato each for the day (honestly you had to laugh) we left our party behind and headed out. It was verging on chilly which was welcome and with the sun still low in the sky we covered the first 4km in the shadow of the ridgeline. The views were breathtaking as we looked over the valley below and at the mountain ranges in the distance. It felt like a completely different hike, on the way up this was our last stretch and to be honest at that point we had neither the energy nor inclination to look around, now it was difficult not to keep stopping and looking around.

We reached Aguita Fria with no real problems, it was still cool and being barely 9am the sun was not yet in a punishing mood. heading down the 'path of regret' was marginally easier than coming up it, due to its steepness and looseness underfoot you really had to concentrate on each step to prevent you loosing your footing. I had known it was a tough climb but you got a much better perspective of just how steep it was looking down upon it.

We ate our potatoes (!) at exactly the same place where we had eaten lunch on the way up and whilst resting were joined by a group of teenages making the climb with some older group leaders. We had a good chat with them, certainly didn't mention what was coming up for them, especially as one of them was already talking about having had enough of walking and wanting to continue on a mule.

The last few hours ticked by, familar sights started to appear (place where you could drink the stream water, rickerty bridges etc). The last stretch of 4km was a case of mind over body as by now we really were starting to feel the strain - a blister here, an aching joint there. Then, behold we were crossing the bridge and waiting on the otherside of the road was the same taxi driver.

Being dropped off at the hotel, the last words from our guide was to tell us that he could have done the whole tour far cheaper if we had come to him direct as opposed to through the company he worked for and to give us his telephone number to pass on to anyone we know who wanted to climb Pico Duarte. Needless to say I cannot recall the precise location of said piece of paper.

We showered (bliss), ate real food (sheer joy) and chilled on our balcony as our limbs slowly stopped screaming and crying in protest at their cruel and unusual experience.

Next day we flew back home to be warmly welcomed by our dogs.

An amazing, although physically and mentally challenging walk that I would strongly recommend to anyone, although maybe with a different guide !

Photos: Climbing Pico Duarte. DR

dannygoesdiving — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 09:55:00 GMT

Misconceptions about Haiti

dannygoesdiving — Sat, 2 May 2015 06:31:00 GMT

The media never say anything positive about Haiti, its mostly shown on television for political turmoil, violence, poverty or natural disasters. Haiti is portrayed as a country that is slum filled, dirty, ugly, devoid of vegetation (deforrestation from charcoal production), a place with no activities and a place purely of hardships.

This was my view of Haiti, reinforced by it being one of our closest neighbours (307 kms/190 miles apart) and both hearing reports in our media of the regular interceptions/landings of overfilled sloops (small masted sailboat) bearing Haitian men, women and children all hoping for a better in the Turks and Caicos.

Then I saw a picture in a magazine of an impressive looking citadelle surrounded by beautiful green mountain ranges, only to find out it was in Haiti. A little research and suprise, suprise, what the media portrayed was not the complete picture, there are beautiful parts of Haiti and precious treasures if you care to look beyond the stereotype.

This wetted my appetite to see Haiti for myself, and was made easier though Josies friendship with the owners of 'Caicu Naniki' (www.caicunaniki.com) an adventure/activities company who amongst other things offer a 3 day/2 night Northern Haiti tour. We worked out some dates and left the rest to Ben.

A short 55 minute flight saw us leave the Turks and Caicos (voted the No. 1 travellers choice island in the world by tripadvisor) and arrive in Cap-Haitian (not on many peoples radar as a tourist destination).

We met Dominique (one of our 2 guides) once through customs, exiting the airport we were immediately assulted by an array of sights, sounds and smells, however, before we could take it all in we were ushered into a car where we met Jenny (our second guide). To say the roads were chaotic was an understatement and then some, it took us almost 40 minutes to travel less than 2 miles, but what an eye opening and inspiring 40 minutes it turned out to be ! The roads were packed with all manner of vehicles - 'chicken buses' (similar to those in Central America), brightly colured 'jitneys' (trucks with converted covered beds), trucks, UN vehicles, cars, motorcylces galore (many driving on the pavements), push bikes and pedestrians. - all of which were overtaking, undertaking and jostling for position. On our right hand side was the Atlantic Ocean - serene with a number of brightly coloured sloops fishing in the waters, the land between us and the water was a narrow wasteland littered with rubbish and refuse, all of which was being sifted through by people and animals alike (pigs and goats mainly). There were hugh mounds of plastics (all for recycling) and burning tyres (for extracting the wire); nothing seemed to be going to waste. On our left hand side were a constant line of buildings, a mixture of yards, shops, residential buildings and compounds (UN buildings complete with watch towers). What was most memorable though was the industry taking place infront of the buildings. There were stalls and roadside workshops galore - tyre repairs, food stands, secondhand clothes and furniture for sale, blocks of ice kept cool under wood chips (broken down and sold in pieces) and roadside laundry to name but a few - I don't think there was a service or product not available - all a credit to the ingenious and resourceful people of this country. I could honestly have spent all day just taking in these sights. It was both awe inspiring and depressing at the same time, especially when passing over the rivers as you could look back further inland to the shanty towns lining the trash choked waters, complete with kids swimming in the polluted waters.

Leaving the outskirts we entered Cap-Haitien itself. The architecture was strikingly different, domintated by old colonial buildings reminisent of parts of New Orleans, heading for the Place D'Armes we saw the Cathedral before heading back to the coast to have lunch at the evidently popular Lakay restaurant, which dished up refreshing local juices and tasty creole food (in my case Creole goat).

We made a quick stop off at the craft market, which had a wide variety of paintings, crafted metalwork and carved woodwork and most pleasantly none too pushy vendors. I ended up buying a wooden globe of the world, hand painted with the continents and with the countries all written on in pen - it certainy felt like a unique souvenier.

It was time to unwind so we headed a short distance to our hotel - Roi Christophe, a charming colonial hotel set in well maintained gardens, yet located right in the heart of Cap-Haitien. In most parts of the world it would have seemed charming but dated and in need of updating, here though it seemed opulent and out of place within the surrounding neighbourhood. Our room was clean and comfortable, a mixture of the old and the new. The old comprised of dark colonial furniture, thick wooden window shutters and heavy wooden double doors that opened out onto a large balcony (overlooking the gardens). The new was air conditioning and cable tv on a flatscreen tv. There was a welcoming flask of chilled water which was always topped up on our return.

A busy work schedue back home was starting to take its toll - we were here to unwind as well as see the Citadelle so slept the afternoon away, waking in late afternoon we took a dip in the pool before heading to the hotel restaurant. A couple of local Haitien beers (Prestige) and some traditional Haitien fried pork with rice and we were ready to call it a night.

A great nights sleep aided by the heavy shutters and doors that allowed no light to penetrate, a quick breakfast of coffee and eggs and we were ready for a day at the citadelle. Dominique and Jenny arrived promptly, our first stop was the fire department to pick up a firefighter who for logistical reasons (?) would be accompanying Josie and myself on the walk. Cap-Haitien was still a hive of activity/chaos, however , leaving the city behind we started to see fields of crops (lots of sugarcane) and cattle, as well as daily life from the roadside habitations, all of which were surrounded by lush green mountains.

Our destination was the town of Milot which was about 12 miles from Cap-Haitien, its home to the Sans Souci Palace as well as being at the foot of the mountain upon which the Citadelle is located. It was from here were we planned to walk the 5 miles (8 kilometers) uphill to the Citadelle (you can also choose to drive to a higher carpark and walk only the last 2 kilometers to the Citadelle). Accompanied by our firefighter (whose only 2 words of english were 'stop' and 'go' which she shouted with relish) we set off, Dominique and Jenny were going to drive and meet us at the upper carpark. It transpired that we were the only 2 people who were walking the whole route - we were passed by a handful of tourists either clinging on to the back of motorcycles or sitting in the back of open topped trucks, it seemed a shame to whizz by and miss what turned out to be a wonderful hike. The road was lined with trees and various crops (coffee, cocoa, avacardos, mangos, plantains, papayas to name but a few), interspaced with a few basic homes. The views were stunning, the Haitiens we met were friendly and although we were approached to buy the occasional trinket we did not feel in the slightest either hassled or threatened.

Eventually we got our first glimpse of the Citadelle and shortly afterwards arrived at the upper carpark. There was a cafe, clean toilets and a number of stall holders (still no real hassle), along with a number of horses for those who didn't even want to walk the last couple of kilometers (there were plenty of takers). Here we were introduced to our guide who was to take us upto and around the citadelle - our fighfighter spoke to him and he translated that could we please walk a little slower as she was struggling to keep up with us ! The final stretch of walk gave us regular glimpses of the Citadelle, there were more vendors selling food and drinks along the way as well as opportunities to buy paintings and wood carvings and enterprising youngers making a din with drums and wind instruments made from bamboo. The number of visitors increased, but certainly there were no more than a hundred or so and all but a handful were Haitiens.

I'd seen it in pictures, I'd seen it in the distance, finally I was at the base of the Citdelle itself.

The Citadelle is the largest fortress in the Western hemisphere and was built when Haiti became a free republic. It was built by Henri Christophe who was a key leader during the Haitien slave rebellion during which time they gained independance from France. It was designed to keep Haiti safe from French incursions, though never used. It is virtually in the same state as when built and boasts the dubious record of housing the largest number of 18th Century armamants in the world (365 cannons plus stockpiles of cannonballs).

It was seriously impressive to walk around, a real testiment to engineering let alone the determination involved in free men hauling all the materials and guns upto the top of the mountain. The cannons, mortars and stockpiles of munitions are staggering and the vistas are breathtaking. Without a doubt it alone was worth the trip to Haiti and our guide did a fantastic job of telling us its history.

Returning to the carpark, we took the car back down to Milot and spent some time walking around the ruins of the palace, it must have been stunning in its day and if the heat of the day and hunger had not been taking their toll we could have given it the time it deserved, rather than the 20 minutes we managed.

We headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a siesta. Later I wandered a few blocks from the hotel to the central square and cathedral, I felt pretty safe considering I was the only white face I saw and people were friendly to my presence.

Afterwards it was pool time, rum and cokes and creole fish with rice and plantains before sucumbing to the sleep of the dead.

An early morning saw us heading throuh all but empty streets (a Sunday) back to the airport and a flight back to the Turks and Caicos.

Another countey visited, another 'wish list' item checked, but most importantly of all another side of Haiti seen.

Go visit Haiti and change perceptions, both yours and others.

Photos: Haiti

dannygoesdiving — Fri, 1 May 2015 06:39:00 GMT

Visiting the Citadel

Under the weather in Grand Turk

dannygoesdiving — Tue, 3 Mar 2015 10:15:00 GMT

Its our 9th year in the Turks and Caicos (how time flies) and there are still parts of the island chain and annual events that we have not yet visited/experienced. We barely skimmed the surface of Grand Turk (the Capital) on our last day trip visit (back in 2010) and so using the arrival of our friend Bev as an excuse we decided that it was time to become better aquainted. On the agenda was whale watching (the main reason for taking Bev there), scuba diving and chillin'.

Flights, accomodation and car rental were arranged and the day had finally arrived for our 3 day adventure and wouldn't you believe it I awoke with a sore throat and congestion.

A short flight and we were back in the Capital and it was ony 8:30 am, I phoned the car guy within minutes a crazy dude arrived on a scooter and started madly waving at us and shouting 'car hire, car hire'. Cash was handed over, no paperwork was signed and then he was off with not a word about the car, no sign of a map, infact not even verbal directions as to which way we should exit the airport. Luckily you can't go too far wrong and I had a vague memory of which direction to head - I dread to think how a tourist would have reacted to this abandonment !

Reaching the old town and having located the Osprey Beach Hotel where we were staying (no checkin till after 2pm but they secured our bags for us) we decided that our first priority was some breakfast.

We had scheduled a boat trip to Gibbs Cay in the afternoon with Grand Turk Divers and so with a few hours to kill decided to go exploring. Heading towards the most northerly part of the island and the location of the historic lighthouse (dating back to 1852). Despite hearing repeated reports of trying to control the wild donkeys on the island there was little to indicate that this had been done as they were everywhere ! Charming for us visitors but I'm sure a real problem trying to keep out of your vegetable plot !

We reached the lighthouse and began to notice the changes that had taken place on the island since our last visit. Firstly there was a refreshments booth which had previously not existed, however more significant was the construction onf an extensive ziplining operation which circled the lighthouse and then ran along the coastline. It seemed a real shame as there had previously been unrestricted and breathtaking views, however I suppose the cruiseship dollar speaks loudly. Fortunately we arrived inbetween the hoards , having the place pretty much to ourselves; wandering the trails that lead off along the coastal cliffs we watched the angry seas breaking on the reefs and realised what an important role the lighthouse must have played to prevent ships falling foul of them.

Heading back to the old town we passed cruise shippers travelling to the lighthouse in pretty much every form of transport possible - air conditioned buses, private taxis, rental cars, off road open air safari buses, ATV's, dune buggies and scooters - I almost expected to see the local donkeys, horses and cows ladden down with cuiseship tourists !

To add to the almost surreal experience we were passed by the town trolley train as we parked up outside the Osprey Beach Hotel !

After a tasty beachside lunch we met up with 4 other friends who had travelled from Provo for a few days away and jumped aboard one of Grand Turk Divers boats for an afternoon excursion to Gibbs Cay. Stopping off along the way we snorkelled at a place called 'The Library', the area was full of fish and colourful corals and best of all was right on the edge of the wall. Freediving down you could even hear the singing of the humpback whales cruising along the columbus passage.

Next it was onto Gibbs Cay, which is an unihabited island laying just off of Grand Turks southeast tip, popular for snorkeling, photography, beachcombing and stingray encounters. We were the only boat on this Robinson Crusoe style island; even before the engine stopped we could see a number of stingrays (large and small) making there way towards the boat (they are used to being fed, something we don't approve of and so chose not to do). Jumping into the shallows we enjoyed watching them swim upto, under and over us, they had no fear of humans and came so close that you could touch their velvety skins. They soon realised that there no scraps to be had from us and disappeared just as effortlessly as thay had appeared.

Stepping ashore onto the pristine white sand beach we made the short hike to the far side of the cay which afforded spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean. Beachcombing we found both driftwood and numerous pieces of different coloured sea glass (all for Lucie and her art gallery on Provo).

Heading back to Grand Turk we chilled before heading to Barbies restaurant (a local eatery) where between us we enjoyed typical island food - conch, ribs, grouper, oxtail and chicken. Tasty and cheap.

As soon as I woke the next morning I knew that there was no way that I would be diving, so trying not to sulk I went back to bed leaving Josie to enjoy what Grand Turk had to offer beneath the waves. I spent the morning wandering around the historic downtown, taking photos of beautiful waters and old Bermudian-style buildings from the salt raking era.

Meeting up with the rest of the group we were met by the owner of the charterboat with whom we were meant to be whale watching that afternoon - it went from bad to worse - the seas were too rough to visit the normal area that the whales frequented. We chose to postpone until the next day and decided to further explore the island

Heading to North Creek we continued on to Little Bluff Point - no tourists in sight, just us, lots of donkeys and beautiful scenery - especially the beach at the point. Heading from one end of the island to the other to see th now defunct and derelict conch world at South Creek Sound - what a waste of investment and such a shame - mind you it really was located in the arse end of the island. We at least got a good view of Gibbs Cay in the distance.

My energy levels were rapidly diminishing so it was back to the hotel for some rest before heading out for a meal at the Salt Raker Inn and then (for me at least) an early night.

It was already our final day in Grand Turk, bravely dragging myself out of bed and fortified by breakfast we headed to an old animal watering hole that we had been told about by one of the locals. Fresh water is in short supply on the island and so any fresh water is much sought after by the wildlife. Sure enough there were horses. donkeys and a variety of birlife in the area, as well as a number of now disused hand dug wells. At this point we were advised that there would be no whale watching this trip due to mother nature :(

So instead we headed from one extreme to the other with a visit to Margaritaville at the cruise terminal - just to enjoy a margartia or two mind you. A quick lunch of jerk chicken at the Jack Shack and then we chilled out at Governors Beach and explored the freighter that had run aground last year (not another person in sight).

All too soon it was time to catch the flight back to Provo - no diving, no whale watching and much grumbling about man flu - that all said it was still a great visit to the Nations Capital.

Photos: Grand Turk 2015

dannygoesdiving — Sun, 1 Mar 2015 12:43:00 GMT

St Valentines Cup 2015 , Turks & Caicos

dannygoesdiving — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 09:22:00 GMT

Having spent the last couple of years enjoying our travels around the world, we have decided that this year we should concentrate more on experiences closer to home (its also cheaper !). So the first thing on our Turks and Caicos calender is the St. Valentines Day Cup Model Sailboat Races.

Its an annual event that takes place at Bambarra beach, Middle Caicos, now in its fithteenth year. It began as a milennium project in 2000 to revive the traditional hand carved model sailboats – a beloved toy in bygone years – this event is now a major feature on the TCI calendar each year with over 50 model sailboats boats participating in four race classes.

These boats are built in Bambarra, Middle Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands, from large branches of the "gum - elemi" tree , (Bursera simaruba) a Caribbean softwood tree, commonly called Gumbo Limbo, found throughout the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The sail plan reflects all the actual rigging found on a full size sloop, stays/shrouds can be tightened as needed, sails hoisted/furled with sheets as normal. Each boat has its weatherboard to stabilize it in the water as the gum - elemi wood is very light and there is no weight in the keel of these sailboats.

This type of model boat was a common childhood treasure, children and adults involved in carving, building and racing their sailboats. An energetic and active sport, beloved by participants and spectators, the boats are sailed in the shallow waters by running alongside to adjust the tiller and trim the sails!

The ferry service makes the whole experience nice and easy, offering a combo ticket that includes both a ferry to North Caicos and then a bus service onto Bamabarra Beach. That said, its obviously an island experience ! That meant that despite booking a ferry slot, it still ended up as a disorganised free for all, with poor planning, too many people and too few boats - we ended up arriving on time and waiting over 90 minutes before being able to catch a ferry.

The north shore (the ferrys normal route) was far too choppy for the ferry so we headed over the shallow banks and on the opposite sides of the islands to reach North Caicos. This was a real treat as having used the ferry on a number of occasions this was the first time we had travelled this route, offering us a different view of the islands. We jumped off the ferry and scrambled onto the bus to prevent another delay - the bus was one of the US yellow school buses and was a great way to travel, sitting higher up gave us great unrestricted views as we travelled through the 2 islands to Bamabarra Beach. The journey here had already made our day - and there was still corona to drink !

It was a beautiful day - blue skies and blue waters; first stop off was a couple of coronas, followed by cracked conch and mac n' cheese from one of the local eateries that had set up along the beach for the day.

We mingled, catching up with the people we knew, watched the boat races, listened to the conch blowing competition and strolled along the near but deserted beach.

All too soon it was time to board the bus and head for home. It took us 8 years, but finally we had made it to the Middle Caicos St Valentines Cup.

Photos: St Valentines Cup 2015

dannygoesdiving — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 02:10:00 GMT

Panama - not the home of the Panama hat !

dannygoesdiving — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 04:02:00 GMT

Completely off track, however, the Panama hat does not originate from Panama, it originated from Ecuador as early as the 17th Century. Straw hats woven in Ecuador like many other 19th and early 20th century South American goods, were shipped first to the isthmus of Panama before sailing to their destinations in Asia, the rest of the Americas and Europe, subsequently acquiring a name that reflected their point of international sale 'Panama Hats', rather than their place of domestic origin. The term was being used by at least 1834. Just thought I would clear that up ! Now as I was saying:

Our first impressions of Panama were how similar it is the US in terms of its customs procedure, the shops and signs at the terminal and the hotel (www.Reandeaeropuertohotelresort.com) which we chose for no other reason than it was close to the airport. Not a critisism, just an opinion, however a stark contrast to our experiences in Central America to date.

Next morning we picked up our hire car and set off for the supposedly 5 hour (250 mile) drive to Santa Catalina, where we had arranged for a 3 day diving safari on the little known island of Coiba (www.coibadivecentre.com). Getting out of Panama was a challenge but we managed, the skyline is impressive with huge numbers of tall, shiny skyscrapers. Passing over the bridge of the Americas you could see all the huge cargo ships waiting their turn to pass through the Panama canal. The ﬁrst 5 hours of driving were pretty uninspiring, our only impressions were how dirty the country is in terms of rubbish strewn everywhere - maybe it seemed worse because of how clean Costa Rica is. The next impression was that the people seemed pretty unfriendly and had a facial expression that could be mistaken for hostility; maybe harsh is a better word. All in all we were not being won over by Panama.

Leaving the highway, the scenery started to improve and the road required more concentration. In addition to its windy route you had to keep eyes peeled for a combination of chickens, dogs, birds of prey, horses and children - all of whom seemed to use the centre of the road as an impromptu sidewalk - sometimes you actually had to come to a complete stop allowing for the animals involved to stir themselves and decide to let you pass.
After 6 hours we had decided that Santa Catalina really was at the arse end of nowhere, seriously no one ends up here by mistake as its literally at the end of the road. Just as despair was setting in we arrived ! The vibe of the place was in stark contrast to what we experienced up to that point. This was clearly a surfers and divers paradise - everything was low key with hand painted signs; dogs lazed, people lazed and time slowed down. We found the dive centre and checked in, then found our hotel, which was a real gem (hotel Iguanito - no website). The owner was a lovely Belgian guy, we grabbed a beer (which came with a tapas) and the decision was made to stay to eat. I had a tapas selection which ended up being the best meal of the whole trip, whilst Jo had a fresh sea bass cerviche. I really wish I had taken a photo of my tapas (and I hate people who photograph their meals !) as it was a work of art, as well as amazingly tasty. I will do my best to describe it - running around the edge of the plate clockwise I had: a poached quails egg; a mini chorizo sausage; marinated chicken, beef skewer; spanish tortilla; cheese; salami (all the aforementioned were on a piece of homemade bread); calamari croquette cooked in squid ink and ﬁnally a chicken croquette. In the centre of the plate was a roasted pepper, stuffed with sea bass in a tomato sauce. The grand cost was $12. Afterwards we walked to the beach, listened to the sound of the waves and admired the stars (no light pollution).

Next morning we went to the dive centre, sorted out our shit and headed to the beach. Wading into the water (and trying not to be knocked over by the waves) we climbed aboard the boat and headed the hours journey out to our ﬁrst dive site.

There were 7 of us diving (only 4 of us were staying on Coiba) and a couple of snorkellers on the boat, along with the captain, a snorkel guide and Kevin, who was guiding the dives for the 3 days.

Dive 1: Coiba - Wahoo Rock. 25.3m, 49 mins.

The dive was around a rock pinnacle, the visibility and topography were similar to Costa Rica. There were a couple of white tips lying on the sand at the beginning of the dive. I was suprised to see crown of thorns (first I had seen outside of Thailand) as there appeared to be very little hard coral around. I later found out that they are indigenous to the area. In general the fish life was again similar to Costa Rica, although less proliﬁc....then half an hour into the dive a humpback whale swam above and next to me, I managed to follow it and keep it in my sights for about 20 seconds before it disappeared from view. WOW. What a start to our diving here.

The surface interval was spent chilling on a sandy beach on one of the islands dotted around the area.

Dive 2: Coiba - Faro. 23.5m, 51 mins

We followed the contours of another island passing a nice group of white tips (5-6) laying on the sand. We had big shoal of barracuda and a couple of old, fully mature turtles (long tails and many barnacles) . In the sand there were numerous banded garden eels, whilst the boulders and rocks were home to lots of morays (a feature of all the dive here). There was also more hard coral on the rocks.

After second dive we arrived at our little piece of paradise - the rangers station on the island of Coiba. The accomodation was a little basic - dormitory with a shared bathroom and only coldwater for the showers. What it lacked in amenities it made up for with its location. We had jungle behind us and a palm tree dotted beach, complete with hammocks in front of us. Had a lunch of pasta and salad then went for a stroll, looking out to sea there were small islands dotted everywhere; and on the island itself there was wildlife every which way. We had black vultures and iguanas on the beach, agouti in the short grass, and capsun monkeys everywhere. I even had one come up and grab my ﬁngers. Oh, and don't forget the salt water crocodile cruising in the shallows - yes, seriously !

Dive 3: Coiba - Iglesia. 24.4m, 46 mins

Our third dive of the day and first introduction to the strong currents that you can get here. We pulled ourselves down the line and went with the ﬂow. A couple more white tips, a beautiful green frog ﬁsh and to top it off a school of 50+ cow nosed rays.

As we approached the rangers station a family of monkeys jumped out of the coconut tree next to our hut and scurried up the beach, meanwhile a couple of tiger herons waded in the shallows. A couple of post dive beers followed then the solar lighting kicked in for a few hours - giving us enough time to eat and get ready to crash. We fell asleep to the sound of waves gently breaking on the beach.

Next morning we had a light breakfast and then we were off for our ﬁrst dive of the day. The sea was flat calm, we even passed a humpback whale on the way to the dive site.

Dive 4: Coiba - Checkpoint. 26.2m, 50 mins

There was a nice rock overhang ﬁlled with whitetip sharks. Lots of big schools of ﬁsh, including spadeﬁsh and barracuda. A couple of eagle rays.

Again the surface interval spent on a small beach.

Dive 5: Coiba - Sombrero del Pelo. 20.1m, 49 mins.

More strong currents, I burned through 50 bar in ﬁrst 9 minutes. We had the usual whitetip suspects and a huge old turtle. There were some nice soft coral formations and tonnes of ﬁsh in the shallows. The highlight for me was without doubt the giant yellow frogﬁsh (biggest I have ever seen).

After the dive we headed back to the rangers station for lunch (panamanian soup-tasty) and chilled in hammocks for a couple of hours.

Dive 6: Coiba - A little piece of gold. 12.6m, 66 mins.

Dived around a beautiful little island with a perfect sandy, palm tree fringed beach. A very shallow dive with good visibility and no current. The whole site was a hard coral garden, in places so prolific that it stretched in every direction As far as the eye could see. Huge volumes of ﬁsh life, a white tip, several turtles, numerous morays and a huge school of big eye jacks. I got enveloped within the school of jacks which was a real experience. Ended up surfacing on the beach, the plan was to have a beer on the beach but rain prevented us.

Back at the rangers station we had a beer or two and sat watching monkeys peeling back the coconuts and drinking the milk, what a unique experience.

Not sure what woke me up the next morning, it was either the call of the howler monkeys, the sound of the sea or the sound of coconuts hitting the sand; to be honest none of them were a bad way to be woken up.

Dive 7: Coiba - Mali, Mali 23.2m, 58 mins.

The most white tips to date with easily 20+ on the dive, more unusually they were also free swimming, at one point I counted 9. We had 2 giant yellow frog ﬁsh next to each other, a couple of octopus and generally a lot of marine life.

We spent the surface interval on 'playa rancherria', quite possibly the most beautiful beach I have ever stepped foot on - white sand, palm trees and thousands of scuttling hermit crabs in various sized and coloured shells.

Dive 8: Coiba - Don Juan. 14.9m, 64 mins.

You would never guess that we had more white tips, as well as 4 octopus and a big school of big eyes - its almost as of they don't want you to escape there clutches; you swim into them and then they envelope you and move with you. We also had whale song throughout the dive. It was a slightly wierd dive site as it was a mixture of uninspiring barren areas and then sections where there was such an abundance of ﬁsh you don't know what to look at ﬁrst.

We had our ﬁnal lunch on Coiba before loading up our bags and then heading out for the last dive of the trip.

Dive 9: Coiba - Frijoles. 20m, 50 mins.

Surface current was so strong that they pulled us on a rope to the front of the boat and the mooring line, then had to pull yourself down the mooring line. Even at the bottom the current was so strong it was necessary to pull yourself along using the rocks as handholds for the ﬁrst 10 mins. It was well worth the effort though; looking up at the height of the current strength there was a huge school (100's) of barracuda motionless in the current. Turning the corner which started to send us with the current, I looked up to see a large school of swimming whitetips (lost count at 20), mixed amongst them were blue spotted jacks - this was one of my highlight moments of the trips. There was a similar scene a few minutes later, with even more sharks swimming in and out of cave overhangs; I would estimate seeing over 50 sharks on this dive alone. Add into the mix the volume of additional marine life we saw and your talking one of the best dives of the trip.

So the diving was over and it was time to head back to dry land, we had a forgettable meal at a restaurant recommendation we had received, spent another night at Iguanita (we would have eaten there but the restaurant was closed) and the next day headed to Pedasi, where we arranged for an evening tour in the hope of seeing nesting turtles. It was about a 5 hour drive, which passed uneventfully; our B&B (www.bedandbreakfastpedasi.com) was in a beautiful setting just outside Pedasi and from our rear patio windows we had an ocean view. Pedasi itself was a nice little town with a bohemian feel, again it would have been nice to spend more time here (other than lunch in a local bakery) had the opportunity arisen.

At 5PM we set off on a 45 minute drive the the village of Canas for our 'Isle canas turtle tour' (no formal website, we had rebooked ours through the B&B which had advertised it on their website). We simply followed the road until it ended at the waters edge, parking up we looked for the boat that we were told would be waiting to take us to the Isle (only way to get there). All we could see though was a small open topped ﬁshing boat with wooden planks as seats manned by an old weathered man in a panama hat; he rowed to shore and beckoned us in - this was our ride ! A 45 minute boat ride followed through the mangroves, we sawnoone else, there were no lights indicating anyone else existed and it felt the most remote experience of our trip. The boatman spoke no English and anyway seemed too busy bailing the water out of the boat as we travelled to the community where we were to meet our guide. Arriving at the dock we were greeted by Cesar, a young lad who spoke passable English (we got by on a combination of his English and my Spanish) who was to show us around. We started with a meal at a locals house (ﬁsh, rice and salad), then once it was truly dark we headed to the beach were the Olive Ridley turtles nest at this time of year.

Walking along the beach was a leap of faith in itself, it was overcast so no moonlight to guide our way and torch light is not allowed (except for ranger who protect the turtles) so as not to interfere with the turtles making their way up the beach. The beach was flat and there were no obstructions to worry about tripping over, it was very spooking though as at the last minute you glimpsed a person on a pushbike cycle past you on the beach (also with no lights). Cesar told us that you found the turtles by looking for their tracks as they come ashore to lay their eggs - that and the odd light from the rangers who monitor the nesting process to make sure it happens undisturbed (eggs not stolen) and that the turtles safely get back to the waters. After about 15 minutes we came across such a track, even in the dark (eyes having adjusted) it was easy enough to make out the texture difference in the sand, Cesar asked us to wait whilst he checked out the situation, coming back to say that a ranger was monitoring the turtle and we could proceed once the nest had been dug and the egg laying process had commenced - disturbing the turtle prior to this could disrupt the process. Finally we got to approach the turtle, gently scooping sand away from the edge of the nest we got to see the batch of eggs as well as watch them being laid. The eggs themselves looked like ping pong balls and were leathery, yet yielding to the touch. It took the turtle about 10 minutes to lay all her eggs, if this process had been fascinating, then the method of covering the eggs was simply amazing. Firstly she would scoop sand back into the nest with her rear flippers, then using her shell underside she would pound the sand to flatten and compact it. You could audibly hear the shell everytime it impacted on the sand. She kept repeating this process for about 10 minutes until she was content that the process was complete. Then turning her back on the next generation of turtles she headed back to the ocean - I was surprised by how quickly she moved on the land, displaying a much greater dexterity than I was expecting.

Walking back along the beach we could make out other turtles, both approaching to lay eggs and returning to the waters. A magical experience. A return boat journey saw us returned to our car and from there an uneventful journey back to the B&B. All in all a successful and rewarding trip.

We were heading back to Panama City to return the car and spend our final couple of days in the capital itself. An uneventful drive saw us reached the City, this was followed by a slow, gridlocked drive through the centre to get back to the airport, catching a taxi we headed to our hotel (www.hotelcentroamericano.com). Weary after a day of driving we ate in the hotel, the food was unmemorable but sated our hunger and was all the better for being accompanied by a couple of beers.

A quick breakfast and we readied ourselves for our guide who we taking us on a full day tour of the City (www.anconexpeditions.com). It turned out to be a very full, but enjoyable day. First stop was the Miraflores locks visitor centre at the Panama Canal, which could easily be a days activity in itself. We stayed for about 2 hours, during which time we got to view (from the observation balcony) a cargo vessel approaching from the Atlantic and passing through the miraflores lock system on its way to the Pacific. It was well worth viewing the operation, especially when you realise the basic process has been unchanged for 100 years. We also took in a 3D video on the construction of the canal before looking around the impressive on-site museum. Next on the itinerary was the Panama Viejo museum which provides a great background to the history of Panama and the work that has been done on the ruins of what remains of the original city that was sacked by the privateer Henry Morgan in 1671. The museum was followed up by a walk around the ruins themselves, including climbing the still standing Cathedral tower, which provides impressive views over both old and new Panama.

Next on the list was Casco Viejo, the historic district of Panama City which was inhabited in 1673 following on from the destruction of Panama Viejo. Our stomachs were seriously rumbling so first stop was a Panamanian restaurant in the Plaza de la Independencia where we had a tasty 3 course meal. We spent the next hour wandering around the district and taking in the sights of the many restored buildings before heading to our final stop of the day - the biodiversity museum. This again was worthy of so much more time than we had available and is well worth a visit, however it was now 5PM and we were seriously starting to flag, calling it a day we were dropped off at our hotel. A great tour with a knowledgable and friendly guide provided us with a great introduction to Panama City.

We chilled for a couple of hours then took a stroll from our hotel to the waterfront, which is an area known as 'cinta costera'. Its a clean, safe walkway that goes all the way to Casco Viejo, popular with locals and tourists alike. There was a real mix of people here, joggers, cyclists, families, couples and groups of teenagers - the place seemed to appeal to everyone. There was a jogging track, cycle lane, childrens playgrounds, tennis courts, food stands, vedors and more - all this with the water on one side, the old city in one direction and the gleaming skyscrapers in the other. We wandered along with no real purpose eventually arriving at an area full of activity, that turned out to be the fish market. There were dozens of cerviche stands and the place was predominantly packed with locals. Plucking up the courage we approached a stand and ordered a couple of tubs of local sea bass cerviche ($1.25 a tub). The cerviche was amazing and after my tapas meal rated as the next best food of the month long trip. Full of cerviche and with aching legs from a full day of walking we headed back to the hotel, had a couple of beers and called it a night.

It was our final day, both in Panama and Central America; we wandered back along the cinta costera to Casco Viejo, a walk of just over a mile. After the fish market we passed a number of small fishing boats, they somehow seemed a little out of place with the backdrop of modern skyline of Panama.

It was nice to approach Casco Viejo on foot as you got a much better panorama of the old colonial buildings. We probably wandered around the streets for a couple of hours before retracing our steps, stopping off at the fish market once again for some cerviche.

That evening we walked back to Casco Viejo, based on a recommendation from our guide of the previous day we had decided to eat on the rooftop terrace of Hotel Tantalo (www.tantalohotel.com). It was a great recommendation, our final evening was spent eating tapas and drinking wine - from our vantage point we could see the Panama City skyline dotted with lit up skyscrapers in one direction and historic church steeples and roofs in the other. Perfect.

Next morning we were up at 04:00AM for a 07:00 flight to Miami and after a 8 hour layover (shopped at Dolphin Mall) back home to the Turks and Caicos.

Another memorable trip - 30 days, 9 flights, 3 countries; new experiences and great memories. The only question remaining is....where to next ?

Photos: Panama 2014

dannygoesdiving — Fri, 19 Sep 2014 08:32:00 GMT

Costa Rica - frogs, dogs and roosters

dannygoesdiving — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 06:44:00 GMT

First opinion of Costa Rica - it rains alot; second opinion of Costa Rica - it rains alot; third opinion of Cocts Rica - it rains alot ! I'm sure you get the picture, mind you thats what happens when you visit a country during their rainy season :)

We had a pleasant surprise at Guatemala City airport as I had not realised we had business class seats, we took full advantage of the VIP lounge and enjoyed the better side of life on the plane itself. Arriving in San Jose we caught a taxi the mile or so journey to our hotel (www.belor.com), nothing fancy but at $50 it provided a room, WiFi, Cable, free transfers and had an onsite pizzeria which was all we needed for an overnighter. It started raining pretty much as soon as we landed and chucked it down all evening and night.

Another early start as we had a 07:00 AM internal flight to Liberia (flight 6 of 9), once there is was a 40 minute taxi ride and we were at Playas Del Coco. Along the way we crossed a river with crocodiles (none seen) and passed field after field of crops, including corn, sugar and rice - didn't even consider rice would be grown here, but its certainly wet enough ! We checked into Lauras B&B (www.laurashousecr.com), its abit run down but provides a place to lay your head (we later found out theres no hot water due to a power issue !). Our main reason for being here was for the diving, hopefully to get to see the bull sharks that hang out at the Bat Islands.

Wandered the town (one main street), which comprises of a large number of sports bars (happy hours from 11AM), a casino, a few dive centres, lots of awfully tacky souvenir shops and restaurants. I struggle to see what entices people here other than the diving, but it appears to have become a party venue; with direct flights from Miami maybe thats not too suprising though. The beach is nice enough in that its black sand, although the water was muddy brown as a couple of streams flow straight into the sea and with so much rain there was some serious runoff. The bay is protected and full of boats; many were home to the numerous pelicans, it must be bedlum in the high season; the surrounding hills are lush and stunning.

We found a Lebanese food stand (le Coq) that served healthy, tasty and reasonably priced food, so ended up eating there at midday and in the evening (best meals in Playas and we would have eaten there every day if it had been open). The skies had opened up by about 2PM and it rained big time until the early hours, with amazing lightening shows. The rain meant that you tried to sleep with the loud noises of bullfrogs outside the window, then dogs started barking in the early hours, and you guessed it, as dawn approached there was the continuous crowing of a cockeral.

We had hooked up with Summer Salt Divers (www.summer-salt.con) for 3 days of diving and our first dives the next morning were to be the Bat Islands, which meant a 6:30 AM meet at the dive centre due to the long boat ride to get out there (nearly 1.5 hours), there really is no rest for the wicked !

Still half asleep we waded into the water and climbed aboard a small boat which took us out to our dive boat. The sun was shinning and the seas were calm. During the journey out we got up close and personal to a female humpback and her calf, pods of dolphine, pilot whales and a number of olive ridley turtles mating at the surface - and we had'nt even got wet at this point.

Arriving at the Bats we kitted up and jumped in, the water wasn't too cold and the surface surge wasn't too challenging.

Dive 1: Bat Islands - Big Scare (gran susto)

This site is basically a cleaning station, the topography itself is pretty unispiring and there is no coral (typical of all our diving here), basically its a sandy bottom with rock formations. Visibility was about 40ft and there were significant thermoclines at about 70ft. Almost immediately we had a huge pacific manta ray (biggest species of manta ray in the world) and continued to see them throughout the dive - they were awesome; graceful and huge (no joke -20ft wingspan) and were not intimidated by divers, they kept circling in and out of view through the whole dive. Had a single sighting of a bull shark and saw a single bumphead parrotfish. We wanted to see bullsharks and manta rays and thats what was delivered.

Dive 2: Bat Islands - Big Scare (gran susto)

Same, same. More great encounters with the mantas, just can't get your head around the size of them here and a couple of really good encounters with a bull shark - at one point I was swimming alongside a manta ray, whilst a big stocky bullshark was swimming underneath me - awesome.

Dive 3: Bat Islands - Bajo Negro (black rock)

The last 2 dives had been more about hanging and waiting for stuff to come to you, so it was now nice to do a dive, basically we swam around an underwater pinnacle. We had huge schools of fish of various kinds, lots of different coloured puffer fish, morays galore; basically too many and numerous species to list or even identify. The highlight was probably the squadron of 9 eagle rays.

We had had a great day, it rained most the way back and arriving back on dry land at a little after 3PM made for a long but rewardng day.

We elected to do local diving the next day as it meant an 8AM meet which is far more civilized. We headed to a nearby sportsbar where we had a couple of $3 margaritas and mojitos - believe me they must have been 50% alcohol and after 3 apiece we were half cut and decided to stay and have burgers and fries.

Staggered home in the rain (no suprise with the rain) and passed out within a few minutes of getting home.

More frogs croaking and more cockerals crowing, that said we awoke reasonably refreshed and managed a leisurely breakfast before heading back to the dive centre.

This time it was a mere 15 minute boat ride until we reached our first dive site.

Dive 4: Papagayo - Punto Argentino

There was a reasonable swell at the surface and significant surge below, all that movement meant not the best visibility in the world - maybe 20 - 30 ft, however, the marine life certainly didn't disappoint. We had 3 pretty large whitetip sharks resting at about 70ft, and a number of huge stingrays. Eagle rays were a constant sight throughout the dive and the schooling fish were incredible. My main memory is the diversity of moray eels on the dive. Overall a great dive.

Dive 5: Papagayo - Tortuga

By the second dive the surface swells were significant and visibility was even more reduced. We headed to a small wreck (maybe 50ft), there was a white tip shark free swimming around the wreck and a huge school of fish which parted to leave an almost perfect circle as Jo swam through them. Later in the dive we had an old turtle, covered in barnnicles and a juvenille white tip hiding in an overhang.

Once back on dry land we chilled over coffee and paninis, heading out later we first sheltered in a bar from the now familiar rain before having pizza.

Josie decided that 2 days of diving was enough and that a lie in was needed, opting to go to a yoga class later in the morning and another in the afternoon. I decided to head out for another day of diving, this time to the Catalina Islands, these are normally dived later in the year as its manta time, I think the decision to go there was based on a group of 3's request, I made up a 4th person for the trip. It was about a half hour trip to the islands themselves, there was reasonable swells at the surface but nothing too ominous.

Dive 6: Catalina Islands - La Pared. (The Wall)

Visibility was good as we descended to the sea floor at about 65ft, following the wall on our right hand side we drifted with the current. The topography was pretty dull and there was often nothing to see, interspaced with huge shoals of fish. There were a couple of shark sightings but I missed them both. Visibility deteriorated towards the end of the dive. I think this is a typical cleaning station dive, if there is life is mind blowing, if there isn't its a bit dull.

Dive 7: Catalina Islands: La Viuda. (The Widow).

Dropped down to huge shoals of fish, stunning start to the dive. However as we moved around the pinnacle the surge was incredible, it was actually painful to hold onto rocks as you were sucked backwards, again visibility dropped to almost nothing. The marine life we saw though was pretty spectacular.

Dive 8: Catalina Islands

Final dive of Costa Rica, less surge and slightly better visibilty. Lots more fishlife at this sight, we also saw a nurse shark, turtle and a small squadron of cow nosed rays.

We headed back to base and Jo and I caught up back at the hotel. Being lazy we headed back to the sports bar for nachos, cerviche and margaritas.

It rained heavily all evening and night, it becomes a little oppressive after a while, everything has a dampness to it and nothing that gets wet drys - a small grumble :)

Our overall opinion of Playas Del Coco was its all about the diving, that makes it a worthwile visit, your limited on what can be done when you get back though and most of the excursions happen in the morning - distances and because of the afternoon rains. I think we should have stayed a day less and hope this isn't something we regret later.

Oh joy, another early start ! I have never booked a 'package' before through a travel agency or anything similar, however, when investigating Monte Verde and La Fortune I came across a company that could create a custom package, including pickups, hotels, tours etc etc (www.desafiocostarica.com). I requested an itenary, got prompt responses and when comparing prices, reckoned they were only slightly more expensive than if I booked everything myself (12 different bookings required). Anyway I took the plunge, paid the money and hoped I would not live to regret the decision to be lazy ! Jumping ahead, the company turned out to be excellent and I can't rate them highly enough.

At dead on 07:00AM the private shuttle arrived for our pickup, the destination was Monteverde, about 3.5 hours away. It was a good start and only got better when the driver told us there was onboard WiFi (shows what a sheltered life we lead as I didn't even know this was possible). After an hour the scenery started to improve with lush rolling green hills and Volcan Arensal in the background. A short stop for the toilet coincided with trees of sqwarking macaws, which was a nice bonus. The last half hour provided the best scenery to date in Costa Rica, green mountainside and valleys, dotted with coffee plantations and a view of the pacific coast. Arriving at our hotel (www.monteverderusticlodge.com) we were please to find out we were expected (so far so good), checked in and wandered into Monte Verde for a bite to eat. Beware ...... Its an expensive place to eat, well your a real captive market as theres only a few eateries to choose from. We ate at the treehouse cafe (www.treehouse.cr) for the novely factor, it was kind of cute eating in a large treehouse. After eating we wandered back to the hotel to await our first excurion - horse riding, something neither of us have done (and I have a fear of horses having been kicked by one as a child).

We were met promptly, and again I guess because its low season, we were the only 2 on the tour. We were introduced to our horses (whiskey and walker), shown how to mount them and also how to steer them :). Climbing aboard was not too much of an effort and they seemed inclined to follow each other so navigation issues were few and far between. We went along unpaved roads, trying to enjoy the scenery whilst not falling off ! The slow walk was OK, however, cantering left alot to be desired due to a lack of coordination between the horses movement and the bouncing of your body - there was no harmony between the movements which basically meant it was like repeatedly punching yourself in the balls (well for a guy) and Jo was fairing little better. Even trying to compensate by raising yourself slightly out the seat didn't really work too well. After trying to sort out some sort of coordination between horse amd human it was decided a slow walk was more than acceptable. This reduced the pain, removed the grimmace and allowed for a more enjoyable experience, both of being on a horse and the surrounding views. We passed fields of maize, cotton and sugar cane before stopping for a much needed break (and coffee). The skies briefly opened up, however we had been provided with ponchos which I have to say are one of Gods single greatest inventions. We were a little braver on the return journey managing to more than canter, but less than gallop - as it turned out going slightly faster was much less painful, although it did increase the fear of falling off. All in all it was a good experience- the guide was very patient and helpful, the horses were very obviously well looked after and well behaved, and I had finally riden a horse - would I do it again - probably :)

That evening it was Jo's turn to face her fears, with a night bug hike. Arriving at dusk we were divided into groups of 8 people, each group being assigned a guide.... and off we went, wandering the trails in search of bugs and beasties. We had a pretty successful couple of hours, inaddition to the numerous bugs that were pointed out, we also saw a tarantula, a couple of venonous green vipers (one in a tree and one on the ground) and a toucan; best of all though we spent 5 minutes watching a 2 toed sloth climbing down a tree. There were fire flies everywhere, we got a brief glimse of a of kinkajou (monkey/cat type thing that lives in the trees) and some were lucky enough to see an armadillo (not us). The skies opened up towards the end of the tour and even with the protection of the canopy we got pretty wet. The concenus from Jo ...... barely contained terror, not even worth the sighting of the sloth and an experience never to be repeated :)

We had to wander into town to eat and got so drenched in the downpour that I don't think we could have been much wetter if we'd just jumped in a swimming pool fully clothed. Shivering we ate pizza before heading back to the lodge for a much needed hot shower.

Early starts had now become the norm, this time we were off for a guided tour around the cloud forest, we had the luxury of a private pickup followed by our own guide, who was very knowledgable having spent 17 years working in the monteverde cloudforest; he was also well equipped with a very useful laser pointer, binoculars and a powerful telescope on a tripod. We hunted for the quetzal bird (the cloud forest is one of the best places to spot this rare and beautifil bird) but to no avail, we did however see a number of birds, an agouti which crossed the trail infront of us and howler monkeys high in the canopy. The air was very crisp and there was a constant dripping of water, it felt like rain, however, it was simply the mositure from the clouds at this height. We learnt alot about the cloud forest and the flora and fauna that exists only at this location, saw many different orchids and ended the tour with time in the hummingbird gardens which was buzzing with hummingbirds taking advantage of the feeders located there. - one even landed on Josies hand !

A couple of hours of chilling and then we were off to Selvatura Park, for a combination of a self guided walk along canopy walkways (suspended bridges) followed by canopy ziplining. Again visiting in low season paid off as we saw noone else on the walkways and it was just the 2 of us for zip lining.

There were a series of 8 bridges spread over about a 3km walk, the bridges were between 50m - 170m long, and between 12m - 60m high. It was a nice change of perspective to look down on the canopy and the views were unbelievable, we saw little in the way of wildlife, although there were a couple of howler monkeys chilling in the canopy treetops.

From slow and relaxing to fast paced and adrenaline pumping - it was zip line time. There were a total of 15 ziplines, the last one being 1km long; once secured into your harness you were off, zipping above the canopies at breakneck speed, trusting that the automated braking system would work ! What a way to see the forest, providing you kept your eyes open of course, I think the best (and spookiest) were the higher zip lines as you just disappeared into a bank of mist and couldn't see in front or below you. I also took the optional tarzan swing, when you just drop off a platform and then swing into the jungle (I suppose its a sort of cowards bungee but was more than enough for me), Jo declined !

So ended our final day in Monteverde. The next morning we headed to La Fortuna, using a bus-boat-bus combination. Sometimes the journey is better than the destination and that was certainly the case, the first part of the journey took us through a stunning stretch of countryside always with the view of volcan Arenal in the background. The boat journey was smooth, again with the volcano dominating the skyline and then it was just a short journey to our hotel in La Fortuna (www.hotelsanbosco.com). La Fortuna exists solely for tourists, apparantly its the number one destination for visiting tourists. Its set around an attractive square and is the usual mix of hotels and hostels either named for the volcano (volcano lodge, hotel de lava) or the type of tourist that the place attracts (gringo petes/backpackers lodge etc); restaurants and bars; souvenir shops and tour operators.

After wandering the square and a bite to eat we returned to our hotel to chill out before a tour to Volcan Arenal itself. About an hour before the tour the skies simply opened up and the motherload of all rain descended from the heavens. Whilst the tour still proceeded (well it is rainy season we were told), the tour was a total washout - we got drenched to the skin and you could'nt see 40ft infront of you, let alone a volcano. We had arranged that after the tour we would go to one of the many hot springs that are in the area (www.baldihotsprings.cr) and so were duly dropped off - it was then we realised a lack of fore site as we had no dry clothes to change into. Having been to hot natural springs in Ecuador, Peru and Alaska I think we had a preconceived idea of what to expect - wrong - this place was better suited to Vegas than Costa Rica. There were 25 'themed pools' (roman baths theme etc) with loud disco music, flashing lights, bars and TV screens showing sports events. - Oh boy ! We did our best to unwind in the pools (thankfully the place was nearly empty), before eating a lackluster buffet and then heading back to the hotel. Not our most memorable day.

Next morning the weather looked more promising which was great as we were off for a boat trip to Caso Negro. We were picked up at 07:30 AM, met our other 8 fellow adventurers and were off. The journey took about 2.5 hours, which ﬂew by with the help of an informative and engaging guide and beautiful scenery. We passed ﬁelds of rice, sugar, papaya, oranges, coffee etc etc. The driver spotted a 3 toes sloth eating in a tree which was a great photo opportunity, shortly afterwards whilst stopping for a quick leg stretch we were greeted with numerous very large iguanas chilling in the trees. The last 40 minutes of the drive were on non paved roads, there was marshland on either side which was home to far too many species of colourful birds to name, along with quite a number of caiman. Reaching our destination we exited the van to be greeted with a family of noisy howler monkeys in the trees and equally welcoming pancakes and coffee in the restaurant.

Boarding the boat we set off on a cruise down (and back) along the river. We encountered monkeys galore swinging from tree to tree (spider, howler and capuchin), caiman, turtles, jesus lizards and iguanas, as well as a wide number of birds. A great day trip and one of the best of the holidays.

That evening we had surprisingly good sushi (Kappa sushi) then packed our bags (yet again).

A 3 hour private shuttle took us to the airport, more beautiful scenery and another sloth ended our short but eventful time in Costa Rica.
Next stop......Panama.

Photos: Costa Rica 2014

dannygoesdiving — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 02:01:00 GMT

Guatemala - muggy but not buggy

dannygoesdiving — Tue, 2 Sep 2014 05:49:00 GMT

I have a belief that a holiday doesn't start until you have survived the horrors of Miami International Airport, even with its improvements the whole experience is something that nightmares are made of and I'm surprised it doesn't feature in a horror film....so jumping ahead we spent a uneventful 4 hours in the sterile and almost deserted (more store assistants than travellers) airport in Guatemala City, before boarding a small plane for the short 45 minute flight to Flores in the north of Guatemala, with the aim of visiting some of the most spectacular Mayan ruins dicovered to date - the city of Tikal.

We stayed overnight in Flores and is often the case wished we could have spent a few hours here but that was not to be - arrived at 8PM in the dark and left at 7AM barely awake. An hours shuttle ride and we arrived at the Tikal Inn (www.tikalinnsunrise.com), one of only 2 hotels within walking distance of the ruins. Bags dumped it was time to go ruin spotting, the first thing we noticed was how humid it was, I was dripping with sweat within just a few minutes; both the second and third things we noticed were much more welcoming - no bugs (despite all the dire warnings) and even better virtually no people - at some of the sights we were completely alone and I'm talking the main areas of Tikal, not just the less visited areas.

We decided to leave the Gran Plaza for later in the day and start with the outer temple complexes. The initial structures were quite literally ruins, making it difficult to appreciate how impressive they must once have been, Temple 5 (second highest at 57m) changed that perspective and it was followed by more and more impressive ruins. The great pyramid plaza (or lost world) not only had the oldest building in Tikal, but also provided us with our first opportunity to climb a pyramid. Fighting both the heat and vertigo we reached the summit which provided amazing views of both the other structures in the plaza as well as the tops of the surrounding pyramids that jut above the surrounding jungle. Our final stop for the morning was temple 4 (2-headed snake temple). Its the tallest temple in Tikal at 64.6m and once again you can climb to the top to enjoy a truly magnificent view (wooden steps take you up the side of the temple). The breeze was most welcome and there were only 4 other people to share the views with. As its at the far end of the whole complex you get to capture the classic photo - jungle as far as you can see, with 3 temples (1,2 and 3) jutting above the jungle canopy.

We had now been in Tikal for about 3 hours, a combination of humidity and the heat of the midday sun became too oppresive so we wearily trudged back to the hotel. A treat along the way was a couple of mexican black howler monkeys napping in a tree.

Our room was ready, so we dumped our bags and jumped into the pool to cool down. Food and a brief siesta followed before we hooked up with a guide who took us back into Tikal for a 4 hour 'sunset tour'. We started at the visitor centre to look at a scale map of Tikal, then wandering past a couple of crocodile infested ponds ! and finally re-entered Tikal. The latter part of the day meant even fewer tourists (we saw less than a dozen in the 4 hours) and more wildlife. Some were easy to find, occellated turkeys walked right by us; howler monkeys noisily crashed over our heads and spider monkeys groomed themselves in the treetops. Our guide however was very adept at spotting birds -parakeets, colourful keel billed toucans, lineated woodpeckers and flycatchers to name but a few. The history and archealogical knowledge he imparted bought what we had already seen to life and having asked where we had already been meant he took us on a different path. He eventually bought us up and through a maze of buildings forming the Central Acropolis and WOW we were suddenly looking down on the Gran Plaza. To our right was Temple 1 (the Big Jaguar), to our left was Temple 2 (mascarones temple) and opposite the stunning 8 temples making up the North Acropolis. The plaza really was impressive, by far the most impressive architecture of Tikal. Climbing the North Acropolis we watched the sun start to set before it disappeared behind clouds. Tired and smelly we headed back to the hotel - an early start, heat and exercise, followed by the knowledge of an early start (4AM meet for a sunrise tour) meant an early night and easy sleep.

We were shocked awake by the alarm a 3:15AM and stumbled around in the dark as the power didnt kick in until 8AM each day. Mumbled greetings from other crazy and half asleep people were exchanged then we were off into Tikal, having been warned to stick to the centre of the pathways so as not to disturb the scorpions and snakes which were hunting at that time of the day ! We reached our destination (pyramid 4) and climbed to its summit to await dawn and the unpredicatable sunrise (uncooperative most of the year but almost unheard of in rainy season). The first stirrings of daylight and then the tops of the other pyramids slowly appeared out of the mist. A sunrise we didnt get to see, but the cacophony of jungle noises was a sound to behold, especially the distinctive sounds of the howler monkeys. We left the group at this point and walked back to the central plaza, choosing to climb pyramid 2 we had the place and view to ouselves. Toucans, parakeets and woodpeckers were flying from tree to tree and there was a mutual recognition of how privileged we were to have this moment to ourselves. Slowly we wandered back to the hotel, pausing often to watch the troops of monkeys swinging from tree to tree, then skillfully plucking the berries from the trees. A final treat was seeing a large band of white nosed coati foraging in the grounds near the hotel.

Breakfast, sleep, chill by the pool, beer, lunch then it was time to jump back into the shuttle and head to Flores airport for a return flight to Guatemala City where we were met by a taxi and whisked off to our hotel (www.casa-cristina.com) in the old colonial town of Antigua.

Antigua was the 3rd Capital city of Guatemala (abandoned in 1776 after a number of earthquakes destryed most of the town) - the 1st Capital 'Ciudad de Santiago de los caballeros de Goathemalan' was abandoned in 1527 after a number of kaqchikel uprisings; the 2nd Capital 'Ciudad Vieja' was destroyed by a devastating landslide from Volcan Agua in 1541. Guatemala City has been the Capital since 1776.

Our first day in Antigua and we were going to be hitting the ground running at we were meeting Julia of Los Ninos de Guatemala at the opposite end of town at 8:15AM for an 'experience Guatemala tour', touted as providing a unique opportunity to see both the countries beauty and struggles.(www.ninosdeguatemala.org). Having succesfully found our way to the meeting point we jumped aboard our first chicken bus (3Q for any local trip) travelling for about 15 minutes to the Ciudad Viejo (Guatemala's 2nd capital which was destroyed by a mudslide in 1527). After learning a little about the history of the town and the day-to-day lives of the local population we headed to the first of 2 industries that are predominant in this area (different towns within Guatemala specialise in certain trades or industries), with Ciudada Viejo being known for chicken bus refurbishment and making coffins (is there a link somewhere ?).

Chicken buses start off life as US/Canadian yellow school buses, after being bought at auction they are driven down through Mexico to places such as the one we visited and then the magical transformation begins. The basics involve removing the wood within the floors and fabricating a metal floor, changing the doors from outward opening to inward opening (normally not closed) and changing the stairs from 3 steps to 2 (to do with how the doors open). Sometimes the buses are cut and rewelded if they are too long for the proposed routes ie. need to get around the narrow streets, and are often stamped with the wording'bluebird' as this is deemed the 'must have' bus brand - the workshop we visited had one of these press stamp machines ! Then they are decorated and individualised according to the owners requirements. The driver and conductor often pay a fee to operate the buses and share the profits - this is why they are often full to the brim with people. We learnt that its best not to sit at the back of the bus as thats where the cut and rejoin takes place and not to sit at the front as thats where the action is in the event of a shooting ! Being a bus driver is officially the most dangerous job in Guatemala.

We briefly visited the school to see the children at play - amazing how children can successfully amuse themselves with the most basic of things (making a jumping game out of a piece of rope with a stone filled plastic bottle tied to the end) then continued onto the family owned coffin carpentry workshop where we saw how they put together, paint and decorate the coffins, as well as learn about the industry and the cultural relations related to death in Guatemala.

We walked towards the edge of the town to the neighbourhood where the poorest of the community live and where most of the children who attend the school come from. It was humbling to see the conditions in which they live, as we learnt about the socio-economic situation of the families and the difficulties they face.

Finally we headed back to the school, to see the facilities and learn how the charity helps both the children and the families break the cycle of poverty and how they help the community achieve a better life. A return trip on the chicken bus, complete with being offered various wares (all for 5Q) from vendors jumping on and off the bus saw the ending of a tour that provided a real and unique introduction to Guatemala and one that the majority of tourists never experience.

After a lunch of savoury and sweet tamales, we decided to spend an afternoon exploring Antigua. Antigua is a truly captivating town, as well as one of the best preserved colonial cities, thanks in part by it being abandoned after the earthquake of 1776. Its touristy but not gaudy, with enchanting cobbled streets, brightly painted buildings and a healthy smattering of colonial architecture (mostly preserved as ruins). After our fill of plazas, cathedral, churches and convents we wandered around the main bus station (open air) which is wall to wall brightly coloured chicken buses, before delving into the heady sights, smells and sounds of the local market, finally ending up at the artisans craft market. All in all a full and exhausting day. That evening we enjoyed a beer or two in the central plaza before tucking into some mexican food.

A slightly more respectable start to the day saw us flag down a tuk tuk for a bone jangling 15 minute trip to the plaza of San Miguel Escobar where we had arranged to meet a local small holder coffee farmer and interpretor through an organisation called De La Gente - they offer lots of different tours but this one appealed to us (www.dlgcoffee.org). Wandering to the edge of town we walked up Volcan Agua and through a field of corn (whilst trying not to think about all the horror films involving corn fields that I had seen) until we reached the land of our farmer. Here we learnt about the process of growing coffee and how it is picked when ripe. Retracing our footsteps we went to his house to see the methods for first de-shelling the seeds, then the drying process and finally the very manual sorting process. We were shown the traditional way of both roasting and then grinding the beans before finally having a cup of coffee. We sat down for a meal with the family and left with a better understanding of where our daily cup of coffee comes from and even more importantly a 1LB bag of coffee from our farmer.

A random wander around Antigua and an evening of pasta and gallo de pollo (chicken soup).

No rest for the wicked it would seem, back to ridiculously early starts as today we planned to climb Volcan Pacaya. An hours drive saw us reach the visitor centre, stepping out the car we were nearly bowled over and impalled by children, all trying to sell us walking sticks (for 5Q), financing their enterprise we then bought tickets and a guide (required) and headed up the volcano. There were only a handful of people on the track so it did'nt feel too crowded, along with our guide we were also accompanied by a handful of dogs which apparantly also do the walk each day in the hope of food scraps (and yes Josie did give away over half her food !). The guide was very informative pointing out the flaura and fauna along the way and telling us how it was used locally/ historically for ailments, he even pointed out potential toilet paper which was softer than most brands on the market. The trek was pretty easy despite some of the stories I had read in other travel blogs, maybe it being so overcast helped, although to be honest most of the walk takes place under ample tree cover. Breaking above the treeline we were treated to our first closeup view of the volcano; well partial view as it was shrouded in clouds. We walked down onto the black lava flow, there were 2 distinct colours of lava, one represented this years eruption in March, the other and more extensive was from the eruption of 2010. There was no visible active lava to see, there were however lots of plumes of smoke/steam and potent smell of sulphur. We reached an area where people were roasting marshmallows from the heat emitting from the volcano, I had heard about this and thought it rather gimicky, then suddenly before I knew it I was there marvelling as my marshmallow browned, becoming a gooey mess on the stick ! The ground was so hot that I could feel the heat radiating through my walking boots, many of the rocks were too hot to touch although I found a few to hold and warm my hands.

Exiting the crater we were treated to a brief break in the cloud revealing the volcano in its full glory, complete with smoking crater. We walked for about another hour up the side of the crater. It was a real rugged, barren, smoking wasteland and as the mists descended it felt like we were the only onces on some desolate planet. The skies opened and it was time to make a hasty retreat back down to the car. No lava but a great experience.

Back in Antigua we grabbed empanadas on the go and had another random wander around the cobbled streets of this enchanting town.

Finally a day with no planned activities and so a well deserved lie in - wrong - it was Sunday and being close to a church meant we were subjected to the endless ringing of bells. Grrrrrrrr. Breakfast (eggs and chorizo), followed by chilling on the terrace until the 'collectivo' shuttle arrived for our 3 hour journey ($10) to Panajachel on the shores of Lake Atilan, from where we planned to catch a boat to Santa Cruz, our home for the next 3 nights.

The initial scenery was pretty uninspiring, at least until we started to head down towards Lake Atilan. Here the area was lush with terraces of crops becoming the dominant feature. We entered the town of Solola, a truly non touristic place buzzing with day to day activity and with everyone wearing traditional colourful outﬁts. Panajachel by contrast was the exact opposite, the main road to the public docks was a mix of restaurants, markets selling the normal tourist trinkets, hostels and throngs of tourists. Urgh. Arriving at the dock we got our ﬁrst proper look at Lake Atilan, well we would have but for the rain and the mist - there were meant to be 3 volcanos out there but only time would tell. We jumped on a small boat and travelled for 15 bouncing minutes to Santa Cruz and our hostel (www.laiguanaperdida.com). The place had a whole different vibe about it to the town we had just left. It was very laid back and was the perfect place to chill for a few days. We signed up for the communal evening meal which was initially a little overwhelming with the sudden appearance and bedlam of about 20 people, effectively suffocating the previous calm. However it seems to work well, with one set meal (and veg option) and everyone around the table talking to each other rather than clusters of individuals/couples not interacting or tapping away on their smart phones (no WiFi here). It hammered it down with rain all evening and most of the night.

The rain was gone by the next morning, a quick breakfast then off for a tour of the towns of Santiago and San Juan that surround the lake. The waters were ﬂat calm and the views were breathtaking, travelling directly from one side of the lake to the other made you appreciate that you were in a huge water ﬁlled crater surrounded by volcanoes. Our ﬁrst stop was Santiago (famous for its weaving), We walked through the sidestreets passing the local vendors, the native traditions are ﬁrmly held onto in this area, most of the people dress in their traditional dress (and not for the beneﬁt of photo snapping tourists) and Spanish is a second language and not even spoken by everyone. In fact each side of the lake has a different culture and language, and costumes tend to be town speciﬁc. We stopped to allow an old lady to demonstrate how they put on/wear the traditional headdress (hair belt) which is used on a daily basis still as protection from the sun - the band is 20m long, is wrapped around the head; the length represents the days in a mayan calender month.

Then onto and through a market, with an exotic display of produce as well as ﬁsh and crabs (legs bound in bamboo to step them getting broken) caught locally in the lake. We exited into a square which was almost overﬂowing with both loose and bagged up avacardos, a sight to behold, before going onto the cathedral. It is interesting how as in Peru the Spanish tried to incorporate local religions and beliefs into the catholic faith to make the transition seem more acceptable ? There were 18 steps at the front of the church (months in a mayan year) and the carvings at the head of the altar included both Christ and the mayan folk saint Maximon.

The next stop was to see the shrine of Maximon himself, who moves to a different house each year. His shrine is attended by two people who keep the shrine in order and pass offerings from visitors to the effigy - visitors offer money, spirits, cigars and cigarettes (Maximon even had a lit cigarette in his mouth). He is known as a link between the underworld and the heart of heaven and his expensive taste in spirits and cigarettes indicate that he is a sinful human being. The room was hot (from the candles) and smoky (candles, cigarettes and insense). There was live music and alcohol even at 10 in the morning and a steady stream of locals coming in the hope of wishes being fulﬁlled or ailments treated. An intense but interesting place.

On our way back to our boat we stopped at a weaving cooperative to better understand the process and understand the time, skill and intricacy involved in making both their clothing and the wares that they sell to the tourists.

Heading to the next town we passed ﬁsherman in traditional wooden boats ﬁshing and pulling up crab pots. San Juan had an even less touristy feel to it, this area is well known for the cooperatives that the people have chosen to form as an alternative to selling their land for foreigners to build restaurants and hotels. We visited another weaving cooperative, this time learning more about the process and learning how they create the colours (dyes from insects, fruits, vegetables, ﬂowers and tree barks) and how they make them fade resistant (sap from the banana tree). Next we visited a medicinal cooperative and learnt what plants they use for both medicinal and hygiene purposes. We grabbed a meal in one of the local eateries (comidas), probably the tastiest I have eaten so far in Guatemala - galdo de rie (beef soup), with a piece of beef, half an avocado, a piece of corn, various cooked veg, rice, tortillas and a local rice derived drink, all for 40Q (about $6). By now the skies were darkening and the water was looking far less inviting and so it was time to head back to the hotel.

Chilled for a few hours, reading my book on the balcony whilst watching hummingbirds buzzing around. That evening we had another tasty home cooked meal, although somewhat noisy as there were a group who were leaving the next day and so having somewhat of an impromptu party - shots at 5PM meant noise until late in the evening !

Our luck seemed to be holding out when it came to the weather with the sun shinning again the following morning; today we were going to the town of Solola to see the indigenous market, the plan was to take a 3 hour hike out of the crater before ﬂagging down a bus to take us the last few miles into town. We followed the road up to Santa Cruz before joining a single track trail used on a daily basis by those who farm corn on the hillside aswell as those traveling to the market. The walk was seriously hard going, with us effectively climbing at elevation for 2 hours before rejoining a road. That said, what a walk it was. Firstly the scenery was stunning, stopping to catch your breath and allow your heart to stop pounding like it was trying to escape, you were continually blown away by the view - looking down on the town of Santa Cruz, hillsides of corn being tended by the locals, coffee plants and even the occasional avocado tree. Looking beyond all this was Lake Atilan and then the 2 impressive volcanoes. It was also quite humbling to be passed by a couple of locals laden down with ﬁrewood. Reaching the road we could see Solola in the distance, perched on a hilltop, with crop terraces running down the hillside. We walked for another hour, crop terraces on either side comprising of a wide variety of produce - corn, beans, carrots, onions, cabbages and more. The crops were all being weeded by hand and everyone we saw was in traditional dress.

The bus journey into Solola was another adventure in itself, what could be better than hurtling down a steep, twisty, turny road. Fear aside, the area is like a breadbasket, with terraced crops all around. First stop in Solola was another local comida where I had local ﬁsh from the lake, with rice and vegetables and a couple of glasses of fresh pineapple juice - total cost for the 3 of us with drinks was a mere 80Q (about $11). Sated, we headed to the indigenous market that takes place in the town twice a week, where we wandered through a bewildering maze of colours, sights and smells; fruit and veg, ﬁsh, meats and live poultry, corn being ground, tortillas being made, traditional clothing and everything inbetween. I didn't see another tourist and 90% of the people were dressed in traditional clothing. We bought a couple of tasty looking avocados, it was certainly worth the effort of getting there. We caught a chicken bus down into Panajachel where we wandered for a while - what a contrast to the last town, it was at the opposite end of the spectrum, being the most touristy town around the lake - the Kho San road of Guatemala. Catching a boat back to Santa Cruz, we chilled until the evening meal, that night we barely had the energy left to head to bed.

The company we used for both tours can be found on www.kayakguatemala.com and I can highly recommend them.

Checkout day, Jo joined a yoga class whilst I chilled. Then we had our avocados on home baked bread for breakfast, took a leisurely stroll along the lakeside and generally chilled. Boat to Panajachel , shuttle to Antigua and a last night in Guatemala. Next morning it was off to the airport...adios Guatemala y hola Costa Rica.

Photos: Guatemala 2014

dannygoesdiving — Mon, 1 Sep 2014 09:47:00 GMT

Dominica...from seahorses to sperm whales

dannygoesdiving — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 05:46:00 GMT

During our time in the Turks and Caicos, one destination kept cropping up by new found friends and visiting guests alike - Dominica.

Initially it was the macro diving that attracted my attentions (mainly my nemesis...the frogfish), then there was talk of how lush it was with a reputed river for every day of the year, rumours of sperm whales, natural thermal springs, boiling lakes....the list just went on and on. Sadly, its not the easiest destination to reach from our home, involving a journey to Miami (yuck), then flights to St Martin and onto Dominica - prices for the flights were well over a $1000 so it was kept on the backburner. Then we could suddenly fly direct to Puerto Rico and from there the whole of the Caribbean was available to us......Dominica here we come !

It was about a 90 minute flight from Puerto Rico to Dominica, approaching the island we were greeted with sheer cliffs and lush green vegetation, descending between the mountains was a little daunting but the landing was thankfully uneventful.

Customs was easy, friendly and welcoming (Oh Turks and Caicos how you could learn lessons from these guys); exiting the airport we were greeted with a charming, quietly spoken taxi driver who whisked us off to our accomodation at Castle Comfort Dive lodge (www.castlecomfortdivelodge.com) located just outside the capital of Roseau at the other end of the island. When I say 'whisked us off', it should be taken with a pinch of salt ! The journey takes about another 90 minutes, stunning minutes mind you, but be prepared for both the time it takes and inevitably the cost of the journey (it cost us $80 for 2 people). The road goes from newly laid tarmac to potholes and back again, travelling up into the lush green mountains and then back down to the coast.

Again we were warmly greeted at the Dive Lodge, enjoyed the complementary rum punch and were shown to our room. Bags dumped we headed to the bar, ordered another round of drinks and a couple of very tasty fish burgers (fresh catch of the day - maui maui).

Next day for breakfast we were treated to coffee, fresh juice (mango), fruit and the legendary banana pancakes (which lived up to their reputation); all this while looking out over the bay. Breakfast finished we wandered the few feet to the onsite dive centre (www.divedominica.com) only to find we were the only 2 signed up for the days dive - private boat, captain and guide - well if you insist !

A short 25 minute boat ride and we had reached our dive destination, briefing completed and it was time to kit up and jump in.

Dive 1: Danglebens Pinnacles. Max Depth: 76ft. Dive Time: 62 mins. Temp: 81F

The dive site comprised of a series of 5 pinnacles that were easily circumnavigated in a single dive. Almost immediatly we were blown away by the sheer volume of huge barrel sponges as well as the variety of other colourful sponges, whip corals and vivid crinoids. The health and vitality of the reef was stunning and was complemented with abundant fish life. There were schools of smaller reef fish, numerous smooth trunk fish and moray eels galore. Every nook and cranny seemed to reveal huge arrow crabs and banded coral shrimp.

The dive time passed in the blink of an eye and set a high bar for our future dives.

Dive 2: L'Abym (the abyss). Max Depth: 57ft. Dive Time: 60 mins. Temp: 81F

The dive (as the name suggests) started off as a sheer wall dive, not as impressive as our first dive, but impressive none the less. Our guide continued to delight with his ability to hunt out macro life, an early highlight being a juvenile 'pea' trunk fish. Then the main reason that Dominica hit my radar - frogfish, not one, not two but three of them :). The remaining 15 minutes were spent cruising the top of the reef whilst incorporating our safety stop (bonus).

A great first day of diving and back on the dock at 12:30 !

We decided to walk into Roseau centre (with hindsight not the best thing to do in the mid day sun). The lodge is on the edge of town and the walk takes you through a poor neighbourhood which can initially feel a little intimidating. Alot of the buildings are ramshackle in nature with metal corrugated roofs, homes are interspaced with businesses and small stores and bars, stalls selling locally grown fruits and vegetables line the roadside and traffic whizzes by as you step on and off the roadside. There is evidently alot of poverty and we encountered a number of beggars. All that said the locals are friendly, engage them with a 'hello' and they break into a genuine smile, greet you in return and often welcome you to their country. The area is poor but there is an obvious pride here, little rubbish lines the streets, there was an absense of stray dogs and animals I saw were not ill treated. The shacks give way to more substantial buildings before finally reaching the town itself.

The town is a whole seperate experience, a heady mix of sights, sounds and smells; a hive of activity and daily life. We wandered into a local eatery to get out the sun, had a fresh juice and fresh tuna and salad to fill a gap. Whilst I was using the ATM someone queried another persons place in the queue. His response was 'behind the white guy'. I thought this was a very sensible way of identifying who he was behind (as I was the only white person there) and took no offense. With all our out of control political correctness can you imagine the outcry if the roles had been reverse back home ? Wandering completed we headed for home and chilled on the balcony with a rum punch or three.

The heat and rum punches conspired to leave us with no energy to walk back into town for food, so stayed at the lodge, and enjoyed a tasty carrot and ginger soup, followed by catch of the day (red snapper).

Our second full day started off with another hearty breakfast, todays juice was tamarind which had a real tart/sweet taste (Juice became one of the highlights of our trip, so will be mentioned daily !).

It was time to dive again, shock, horror, we had to share the boat with one other diver !

Dive 3: Witches Point (La Sorciere). Max Depth: 66ft. Dive Time: 57 mins. Temp: 81F

Another beautiful wall dive with the same volumes of sponges. The highlight of the dive was a beautiful yellow frogfish, then the icing on the cake was when I spotted a small black seahorse. What a bonus.

Dive 4: Champagne Reef. Max Depth: 58ft. Dive Time: 62 mins. Temp: 81F.

The dive site gets its name from the bubbles within the shallows which are produced from underwater hot springs. A relaxing shallow dive. A nice shallow reef, the highlight though was the sea grass under the boat and subsequent sandpatch in which we found a huge mantis shrimp, several gold spotted eels and Josies best find of the trip a partially buried snake eel.

Back on land and after a quick snack (creole fish wrap) we jumped aboard one of Anchorage dive centre boats for an afternoon of whale watching (www.anchoragehotel.dm). Dominica is well known for its resident sperm whales (largest toothed whale on the planet) with year round tours taking place, so we crossed our fingers. The trip was 3 hours in total, they have a rough idea of where the whales are and once at that location they lower a hydrophone into the water to assist in the locating and listening to the whales. They listen for a 'clicking' sound (imagine clicking your fingers and thats the sound), the direction and loudness then allows for better pinpointing where the whales are. The sound of the whales sends a shiver down your spine (and was actually the highlight of the trip for me). Then its a case of looking for 'spouts' or 'whales breath' ( its actually a stream of warm air being forced out the whales lungs), at which point the Captain or crew theatrically shout 'there she blows' and head in the direction of the spout in the hope of catching a glimpse of the whale before in descends into the deep.

After a couple of spouts that were too far away to reach we came upon a mother and calf which we watched for a few minutes - sadly the boat was poorly positioned so the sun glare was directly in our eyes. Another couple of whales were briefly seen, but that was our lot. Having been spoilt by spending quality time with humpback whales both in the Turks and Caicos and Alaska we both came away a little dissappointed, having barely glimpsed there, I do appreciate that for some people its a real experience, for us its was a little boring (and expensive).

We ate the evil, villainous, invasive lion fish that evening and felt very sanctimonious about it !

It was already day 3; juice of the day was soursop. Today was a land based day with a guide who went by the name of 'Pepper' (www.sweetdominica.com). He had an impressive rating on tripadvisor, was very prompt with correspondance, even meeting up with us on the previous evening to introduce himself and talk about our plans and arrived dead on time !

We had agreed upon an introduction to the island day, with a mixture of sightseeing and walking - and we were off ! We drove through Roseau; a good place to get freshly made juices and local cuisines were duly pointed out, and then onto the Botanical gardens. The gardens are the largest green space within Roseau, covering 40 acres and to a degree reminded me of an English Park (well apart from the weather and more exotic flora and fauna !); it was beautifully laid out and maintained, complete with cricket pitch and a place of real serenity. The oddity of the gardens was a reminder of the catastrophic hurricane that hit the islands in 1979 - a yellow school bus that was crushed beneath a falling giant Baobab. The bus was brand new, had never been used and was totally flattened. It, along with the tree remained as a bizarre testimony to the destructiveness that was Hurricane David.

We continued up into the mountains towards 'freshwater lake', which is high in the rainforest and the basis for Dominicas hydro electric scheme. The higher we drove (eventually reaching the highest driveable point on the island) the cooler it became, and the mists started rolling in shrouding the views. Arriving at the lake we stretched our legs and took the hour long trail around the lake, enjoying both the sounds of the birdlife and the breathtaking views (as and when the mist cleared). We were grateful for the mist and cooler airs as there was no real protection during the walk and I am sure it would be hell on a cloudless/mist free day.

Back in the van and we were off to Middleham Falls, an hours roundtrip walk through pristine rainforest ending at a beautiful 200ft waterfall. Once again Pepper was a font of knowledge and information, pointing out every plant and tree along the way, talking about the history of the island and the Caribs, who originally (and still) inhabit the island. It was infact a little too much talking as everytime you started to enjoy the solitude of the rainforest (we met no other people during any of our walks) Peppers booming voice would interrupt, that and his constant answering of his phone - now I know why he was so prompt with his responses. It wasn't too bad and I know some people would love his approach, but it slightly took the edge off the day :(

Final stop for the day was Trafalgar Falls, an easy 10 minute paved walk (cruise ship suitable !) ending in twin waterfalls. Leading us off the trail we were taken to some natural hot springs where we jumped in and relaxed over a coconut rum punch (nice touch).

That evening we were feeling a little livelier and so headed back into town, eating a tasty (and cheap) ital stew (authentic rastafarian dish) at the Reggae Lounge.

The juice of the day - passionfruit ! The plan of the day - well that was meant to have been canyoning (rappelling down and jumping off waterfalls), but a fuck up at their end meant that was not going to happen. Whilst disappointed as we love to try out new stuff, it meant we could do an extra days diving and guess what - we were again the onlt two divers :)

Dive 5: Scotts Head Drop-off. Max Depth: 66ft. Dive Time: 63 mins. Temp: 81F

A one way drift dive along a stunning wall, adorned with soft sponges and gorgonian fans. huge numbers of small fish, a beautiful orange frogfish and a turtle to round off the dive. The last 15 mins or so were spend cruising in the shallows on top of the wall. Stuff you canyoning people !

Dive 6: Point Guignard. Max Depth: 52ft. Dive Time: 67 mins. Temp: 81F

A relaxing final dive, again a one way dive ending at Champagne. A gentle sloping reef with a swim through and cave (turtle resting inside) and our final seahorse of the trip. A great way to end our diving in Dominica.

Back on the dock we headed into town, stopping off for a juice at the 'juiceman' - a local guy with boxes of fruit, a cooler of ice and a blender ! For the equivalent of $2 we had a juice comprising of carrot, banana, pineapple, mango and papaya. Truly tasty. With our thirst quenched we headed to a local eatery that Pepper had pointed out the previous day, where I tucked into a chicken roti, its essentially a flatbread stuffed with a curried mix of potato and chicken. Cheap, tasty and it seems to be the equivalent of fast food in this part of the world.

Another tough afternoon of chilling, then we went to a mexican restaurant called ZamZam which was just down the road from us, the food was suprisingly good !

It was already our final full day in Dominica and the final breakfast juice was a local cherry. We had planned on Pepper taking us on the 7 hour hike to the boiling lake (Considered to be a must do hike provided you have the necessary fitness), unfortunately Josie had twisted her knee and so a long hike was out of the question. Instead Pepper put together a backup tour of the island, combined with a few easier walks. Our day included some of the lesser visited waterfalls - Emerald Pool, Jacko falls and Spanny falls; a trip to mero black sand volcanic beach and a stop off at Scottshead (a strip of land with the Atlantic on one side and Caribbean sea on the other). The sights were all enjoyable, the highlight of the day though was the journey around the island; spectacular scenery and so much roadside produce - mangos were literaly falling off the trees and onto the roadside - a real reminder of natures abundance.

The evening was spent watching England once again fail to perform in the World Cup, losing to Italy.

The following morning saw us heading back to the airport where we encountered a 2 hour delay, arriving in Puerto Rico with little time to spare it was onto the Dominican Republic and then onto the Turks and Caicos.

The trip has given us a small taste of what now lies on our doorstep, the question is not whether we will head back, but which of the 28 Caribbean countries (comprising of more than 700 islands) to visit next.

Photos: Dominica - below and above

dannygoesdiving — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 08:19:00 GMT