 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
Diving Debbie
Forum Expert
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 02:11 am |
|
The travel gods were with us Memorial Day Weekend. We arrived at the Atlanta aiport a little later than we wanted to for our 8:30 am flight. At 7:00 am, the lines were long, even the premium lines for frequent fliers like Lewis, so we hiked around to the lesser-used North terminal, and hopped on the premium line there. It didn't save us any time. The TSA agent watching the scanner on our line was like a guy watching porn -- peering into all our lives with the chance to study each bag that came his way. I got pulled, and unfortunately had to give up two 6-oz. containers of expensive, organic yogurt. What the hell do they think a terrorist could do with yogurt? My fault; I didn't think about the fact that it was liquid, AND I've done it before. By the time we got to the terminal, there was no time to stop in the Crown Room for a Bloody Mary, so we made our way to the gate. We were seated on opposite aisle seats, and have varying perspectives about what happened next a few rows in front of us. I saw a very large man squeeze into the window seat of the 3/3 configured plane, and Lewis immediately said "that seat's broken." The flight attendant comes along and asks everyone in the row to vacate their seats. According to Lewis, the large man heaves himself up by grasping the seat in front of him and it too, comes unbolted. This requires a visit from the mechanics. About the same time a flight attendant comes looking for Lewis, handing him a coveted upgrade coupon. So, are things going poorly, or well? Can't decide; anytime Lewis gets up an upgrade, we are both happier fliers - he because he got it, and I because I don't have to listen to him complain about sitting amongst the commoners (he really is high maintenance when it comes to flying). The mechanics bolt the seats back down, the large man doesn't break them again when he re-enters, and we're off - 20 minutes late. Nice flight, scheduled to arrive at SJU at 11:58, and we touch down at 12:05. Not bad. Now it's time to book it to the taxi stand because our flight from Isla Grande to Culebra is at 1:00 pm - we knew we would be cutting it close, and were counting on all the stars to line up. We get to the taxi stand about 12:15, and not only are there no taxis, there is a police motorcycle motorcade/barricade where the taxis normally pull in. The senorita at the taxi stand tells us that the taxis went on strike about an hour before we got there, and if we could make our way to the information stand, they would help us find private transportation. 12:20 - Lewis says "follow me" and we walked across the lanes to where rental car vans and private cars were dropping off passengers. Lewis knocked on the window of a rental car agency van and asked very politely if he would mind taking us to Isla Grande. He invited us to hop in, and he did not charge us any more than a normal taxi driver would have (even though we offered). He did ask that we not tell anyone that he did it. So, we arrive at Island Grande about 12:35, made our way to the lounge where the familiar face of Orlando was drinking a Heiney, and soon we boarded and were off to Culebra. 1:45pm is the earliest we have EVER arrived on Culebra, and it was SWEET!
After shooting the BS-filled breeze with Jerry, we made our way to the house, opened it up, visited with Lisa O for a little while, then hit the post office and the grocery. We had Monika and Walter over for dinner, then went down the Dinghy Dock with them so that they could meet up with guests arriving to their casita. The guests were quite interesting; one was with the civilian clean-up crew working on Vieques and the other was a Professor of Herpatology in Reno (I didn't ask the school). This is where the whole conversation about kestrels got started, as the little chica kestrel was seen in the eaves as the four of us left the house to go to Dinghy Dock. The casita guests were over to Culebra for the weekend with Brian, the civilian contractor that had worked as a divemaster for Monika and Walter back in March on his off-days and weekends. In any event, these ladies were really interesting, and our visit with them was way too short!
On Saturday and Sunday, we went diving with Taz of Aquatic Adventures http://www.culebradiving.com/. Taz's boat is docked at the boat yard near the Mini Mas gas station, and nothing could be easier than driving up, dropping your gear on the boat, boarding and taking off. We met each day at 9:30, Taz set up our equipment for us, and we were off.
Saturday was flat calm, and we went diving on the northeast side of the island. Our first dive was at Cayo Geniqui, and our second was at the reef on the west side of Culebrita. Ironically, these were the same dive sites we did on our first dives in Culebra in 2000 with Culebra Divers. The dives were awesome; the surge was particularly fun at Geniqui, such that we spent a lot of time finning into it, and then coasting along with it; finning into it, and then coasting along with it. Culebrita Reef was especially nice with sightings of yellow painted tunicates (we see a lot of bluebell tunicates, but the yellows were new to me). Here's a picture of some blue painted tunicates (not the same as bluebell tunicates mentioned above), so that you can see what type of creature it is.
 .
We also saw two yellow giant anemones
and my extra special, favorite find, a lettuce sea slug. This is only the second spotting of this creature for me, and both times were in Culebra. Here's a bad photo of the first one I saw on Culebra in 2000.
 .
Here's a close-up of one taken by a friend of mine, who obviously is an excellent photographer.
http://www.serendipisea.com/gallery/saba2004/lettuceseaslug402.
On Sunday, we dived at Cayo Agua Rock (too hard to explain where it is, but it's a UPS-package car-sized rock about 40 feet below the surface near Cayo Agua). This was our best dive of the trip. We saw several lobsters, a green moray and a channel clinging crab in the same crack on the big rock, a curled up basket star, a spotted moray; large schools of snapper, grunts, tangs and amberjacks, a couple of barraduca and the find of my diving career - a whitemouth pipefish (okay Lewis found it). It was very cool - about 4 inches long and kind of looked like a baby eel except its mouth was a clear pointed snout like a seahorse. Taz had never seen one before either (in Culebra or anywhere). Again, a picture from my friend Jamie's website, this one of a slightly different species shot in Bonaire.
http://www.serendipisea.com/albums/bonairemay2007underwater/pipefishharlequin0130.jpg
Our second dive was off of Luis Pena; also a very nice dive, with a grand finale of a colony of seven jawfish. I once again direct you to Jamie's picture, because I could never hope to capture one like she does. These little ladies hold their eggs in their jaws, and live in holes in the sand. They pop up like prairie dogs, and dance around in the current, much to my delight and glee. They are one of my favorite species of fish.
http://www.serendipisea.com/albums/bonairemay2007underwater/jawfishyellowhead9337.jpg
On Saturday afternoon, just about the time we were falling asleep in the hammocks on the porch, Walt P. called to see if we'd like to go sailing. Walt has a little fiberglass catamaran with a cockpit for the sailor, a cockpit for a visitor or two, and trampoline seating for two. Lewis and I cozied on into the forward cockpit, and we were off. It was not very windy, but as this was my third and final attempt at sailing, having had two previous really bad experiences, I preferred the calmness of the ride. Yes, I'll do it again, and my mind about sailing has been changed, much to Lewis' delight. Walt joined us for dinner, and he and Lewis played me to sleep with their guitars.
Sunday afternoon, we cleaned our scuba gear and hung it out to dry. I always feel like passersby must think we are having a fire sale; there is so much gear hanging in the eaves of our carpark. Of course, we had to be careful not to hang stuff in Ms. Kestrel's way, lest she get irritated and decide to decorate it for us. We waited for the mass exodus from Flamenco, and hit the beach around 4:30 or 5:00. We had a nice swim, followed by our usual "we should move here" beach conversation. Of course, it never seems to come to fruition - we get back to Atlanta, we get busy, we fly out on business within 24 hours, and all thoughts are abandoned until next time.
Monday we spent visiting MJ, Walter and Monika and our beloved hammocks. I must say, the hammocks got some quality time with us this trip. We discovered that this was the first time since January 2006 that we have been alone in the house with no visitors. We quite enjoyed it.
Tuesday - close up, shutter up, clean up, wheels up. The travel gods were with us again. We left Culebra 5-10 minutes early; had lunch in the San Juan airport, a drink in the Crown Room, and boarded our plane for Atlanta. No coveted upgrade this time, but we both had aisle seats on a 3/3 configuration and neither of our seat mates ever left their seats. I must have a small bladder, or I'm restless. I can't sit there for 3 1/2 hours. We arrived in Atlanta 10 minutes early, the shuttle bus was parked right outside ready to whisk us and only one other passenger to our car. Home in time for dinner.
The first few days back from Culebra, I always wake up with the sun, or is it the silence that disturbs me out of my sleep? Work hasn't been too bad, although Lewis did have to go to California almost immediately. That gives me time to pay bills, do laundry and all that household stuff that gets neglected leading up to a trip.
Back to reality, and dreaming of the next trip. . .Last edited on Sat Jun 2nd, 2007 02:04 am by Diving Debbie
____________________
Click here for Adventures of Deb and Lew
|
Island Woman MJ
Island Expert
| Joined: | Mon Dec 25th, 2006 |
| Location: | Culebra |
| Posts: | 2163 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 11:27 am |
|
Impressive report, Debbie!! Thanks for sharing what so many of us don't get to see from above.
____________________
Salva lo que queda! Save What's Left!
|
admin
Administrator
| Joined: | Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2302 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 11:29 am |
|
LOL.....great report, as usual with fantastic pictures!!!!! (thanks to your friend for sharing as well)!!! Yogurt is bacteria afterall....highly dangerous (don't you people in Atlanta send your TB patients to the airport?????)
so glad you got the quick trip in and some great dives....and next time you'll have to do Melones -- ask Taz -- he'll tell you about the snorkel he and I and some friends enjoyed there that was out of National Geographic.
____________________
Life is short. Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile!
|
Doug
Charter Member
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 09:28 pm |
|
Lewis,
You obviously told the flight attendant to send Debbie up to first class, right?
[hijack]
Anyhow, this jogs a memory of a trip to Culebra with Scuba and another friend of Orlando's and mine, John. Scuba was an AA flight attendant and the three of us were traveling together to Culebra via JFK. John is on disability and can't afford things like Caribbean vacations, so we scrounged some Buddy Passes and were flying standby. At JFK, during boarding, Scuba uses his credentials to go aboard and sweet talk the FAs on duty into letting us sit in 1st class. He returned to the gate area to await the standby boarding call. By that time, everyone had boarded except we three and one other standby passenger, Brenda Robles, who just happened to be Miss Puerto Rico from a couple years prior. Long story short, she sat in 1st class with us and showed off her modeling portfolio, including some "tasteful" nudes while we drank bubbly. We observed that Scuba attracted sport catches like chum bait, which gave rise to his trip moniker, "Chumbaito" <shoom-by-EE-toe>. We called him nothing else for months.
True story. Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. [/hijack]
Doug
____________________
"Let him who has a free hand cast the first stone."
Dennis Miller, on the Pee Wee Herman public outcry.
|
admin
Administrator
| Joined: | Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2302 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 09:32 pm |
|
whatever happened to Scuba????? we get a little teaser of him kite flying and never heard from him again.....we want more Scuba!!!
____________________
Life is short. Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile!
|
Doug
Charter Member
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 10:22 pm |
|
| You mean Chumbaito? He's got a touch of ADD, I fear. Next time I see him, I'll suggest he check in.
____________________
"Let him who has a free hand cast the first stone."
Dennis Miller, on the Pee Wee Herman public outcry.
|
admin
Administrator
| Joined: | Sat Dec 23rd, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2302 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Fri Jun 1st, 2007 10:27 pm |
|
| yes, tell kite flying champion Chumbiato we miss him....and I think it only fair that he share some Doug stories....
____________________
Life is short. Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile!
|
Current time is 08:03 am | |
|
|
|
|
