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Author Archives: Doug Lord

Just going with flow… Cozumel Trip

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Or as we call in the SCUBA diving world,  drift diving.
If you have ever been to diving in Cozumel you’ve probably been drift diving. A very simple description would be, you jump into the ocean and the boat follows you and then picks you up when you are done.  Sometimes you just slowly move along kicking just a bit to get around. Other times you just fly.
Yesterday we were treated to unusually mild currents here in Cozumel.  We took advantage of this and dived a couple of reefs that are seldom dived due to strong currents. We hit La Franseta (misspelled) reef first. We dropped in on a pair of eagle rays that gave a couple of our divers quite show. We had just enough current to keep us moving.

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Just Another Manic Monday… Cozumel Trip… Day 9

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Just in the middle of a dream. We were diving Santa Rosa. But we got in on Cedral Reef.
There’s my tribute to the Bangles. I hope they don’t hold it against me.
We had a pretty manic Monday here in Cozumel. Manic for a dive trip to Cozumel that is. We had the Manati loaded with about as many divers as is comfortable having aboard. Once we arrived at our first dive site we missed our reef and had to swim across the sand to get on track. Once we were over the reef we saw one of the largest spot-fin porcupine fish I’ve ever seen.

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I Wear My Dive Mask at Night… Cozumel Trip… Day 8

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I wear my mask at night, too. In staying with our recent musical blog posts themes.  I love night diving.  Especially here in Cozumel.  Whether it diving from the shore at Hotel Cozumel & Resort, from the dock at Cozumel Marine World, or from the boat at Paradise reef. I really enjoy night diving. You may ask, why jump into the ocean and go diving when it’s dark?  First of all, we start the dive when it’s still light. This makes for a much easier transition from daylight to dark. Instead of just jumping off a boat into the darkness.

The real reason for a night dive is the critters.   You are going to see different creatures and a lot of the daytime… Continue reading→

Hello from Beautiful Cozumel, Mexico

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Hello from the beautiful island of Cozumel.  I wish that I could tell you that we had a great day of diving, but today is the day that we return home. (Always the worst part of a trip to Cozumel.)  I can tell you that we had great weather and some great diving.

How was the weather in Cozumel in July, you ask?

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Memorial Day Weekend 2019 – The Weekend for Vehicle Problems

Posted on by Posted in Extreme Sports Events

Hello everyone!  Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, it has several meanings for people. It is a federal holiday in the United States, observed on the last Monday in May. It commemorates the U.S. men and women who died while in military service.

For most people is it the official start of the summer season. Here at Extreme Sports SCUBA, this weekend, besides being a time to remember the people that died while in service to our country, it starts the local dive season and the start of Open Water classes open water dives at Beaver Lake. Continue reading→

Goin’ Fishing (Options for the Non-diver)

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Goin’ Fishing, since we can’t spend all of our time underwater while on vacation.  We have to find other activities to fill our time when we can’t be diving.  Like many other four state divers, I grew up fishing, swimming, boating, and canoeing on the lakes, rivers, and creeks in our area.  As a diver, I’ve always tried to go by the take only pictures and leave only bubbles philosophy.  Though I have invited about every lobster I’ve seen while diving to dinner. But alas, none have taken me up on my offer. I get a bit of fishing fever when I see the fishing boats coming and going or the sport fishing tournaments.

Cozumel 2019

My parents went with me on the February 2019 Group Dive trip to Cozumel. My dad said that he would like to go deep sea fishing.  Continue reading→

Uh, I don’t feel so good

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You’ve arrived at your tropical paradise vacation destination, or maybe you’ve been there for a few days then one morning you wake up not feeling so well.  Maybe it was something you ate or drank, that’s not agreeing with you.  Perhaps your head and sinuses are stopped up.  This is not how you wanted to spend your days on vacation.  Nothing is more miserable than being on vacation and getting sick.

Now, let me get in my disclaimer here, I’m not a doctor, nurse or any other type of medical professional, nor do I play one on TV.  I have gotten sick a few times on vacation though.  Everything from sea sickness, to just a common cold, and several things in between I’ve come down with it while on vacation. Continue reading→

But It’s Dark Out There…

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You’ve arrived at your tropical ocean destination and perhaps have even done a day or two of diving already and then somebody asks if you’d like to go on a night dive in the ocean.  Why would you want to go on a nighttime ocean dive?  It’s dark out there.

Ocean night dives are one of my favorite kind of dives to do.  The reef comes alive at night, literally, most of the hard corals that look like a rock during the day come alive with polyps and are actively feeding at night.  These pictures of corals at night with the fluorescent lighting show the polyps really well

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Hydros Pro Review

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Hydros Review

At the November 2015 DEMA show, I saw my first Hydros BCD prototype. I thought that it looked really good and that it should make a great BCD. I didn’t need a new BC at the time, as I had an X-TEK BC that I was perfectly happy with. Two years later I started thinking that I need a new BC for travel and warm water. I signed up for a two-week dive vacation in Cozumel and I really needed to reduce the weight of my luggage. I decided to go ahead and purchase the Hydros.

Fast forward a few weeks and I’m sitting in the lobby of Hotel Cozumel & Resort. More than 40 dives later and I’m getting ready to return home. I think that I gave the Hydros Pro BC a good work out. Overall I’m very happy with the BC.  The fit of the BC is superb, thanks to the way the BC conforms to your body. Even with my 19cf pony tank attached to the tank strap, the BC did not roll around. The BC I purchased was a large and it was more than big enough for my frame.

Features

One of the features of the Hydros BC is that is customizable. You can adjust it to custom fit you.

  • add pockets
  • attachment points
  • change color schemes

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Hello from Cozumel

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Hello from beautiful Cozumel.  We’re sitting in the lobby of Hotel Cozumel.  We hear a rumor that you may have ice back home.  Don’t worry we have ice here too, in our drinks.

Our trip started with a 5 am flight out of Tulsa. After arriving in Cozumel, and getting through the airport and immigration, we took a short bus ride to the hotel.  We checked in, grabbed a bite of lunch, and then headed to the swim beach to do our checkout dive and maybe another dive or two.  Then back to the room to unpack, clean up, and off to dinner.  After a wonderful and exhausting day, it was time to head off to the room to get some much need sleep.

Up early the next morning for a 6:30 am breakfast, then to meet the dive boat at the dock at 7:45 to get loaded and off before 8:00 to Cozumel’s world-famous dive sites.  Continue reading→