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Category Archives: Did You Know

Cinco de Mayo

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I hope by now you know that Cozumel is in Mexico. If you didn’t, I’m telling you now, Cozumel is in Mexico. You’re welcome. I’m so glad we have that straight now. Whew I feel better about that.

Now that we are all on the same page, let’s discuss Mexico a little bit. First off, why would we be discussing Mexico on a site about SCUBA diving? Well, that would be because we spend a lot of time diving in the pretty blue waters of Cozumel and I thought it would be fun every so often to look at some cultural things of the countries that we’re diving in.

Today is Cinco de Mayo. With that knowledge, first off Feliz Cinco de Mayo. Second off, let’s kick this series off with a look into the Mexican history of Cinco de Mayo.

First off, Cinco is Spanish for 5. Mayo is Spanish for May. So the Fifth of May. Don’t go try to translate Fifth of May though because it gives you a different word for fifth. Keep that in mind J. The United States looks at Cinco de Mayo with a different meaning than the Mexican’s look at this same holiday.

In Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s victory in 1862 over the French army at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). This tends to be a minor holiday in Mexico.

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Hotel Cozumel & Resort, Cozumel Mexico

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Welcome to Hotel Cozumel & Resort in Cozumel Mexico. Prior to May 2016, I had never been to Cozumel. My first trip I really wasn’t sure what to expect, so I’m putting together this post to try and help all newbies to Cozumel not feel so lost!

This is Hotel Cozumel & Resort, the hotel side. The other side of the street is the diving site. But more on that in a bit.

The Hotel

This is the main lobby. The check-in desk is actually right behind me (so not pictured in this picture). There are 3 floors.

This view you’ll see the check in desk to the far right, the bar almost in the middle, down the hallway right by the bar is the dining area for breakfast and dinner, and off to the left of this picture is where you get rental cars, etc.

If you’re interested in renting a car for the island, there is a car rental desk right in the lobby as well as other excursions you can do while on the island.

There are 2 ways to get across the street to the dive site. One is crossing the road, watch out for traffic! The other way is to go through the tunnel entrance. The tunnel takes you under the road. The morning I took most of these pictures it was before 7am and to get access to the dive site, I had to go through the tunnel.

If you’re lost, don’t worry, there are maps that will help you around the complex located in different areas.

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Instagram

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Good Tuesday Morning to you smiley. I see the sun is shining, I’ve heard the birds chirping. That means it will be a wonderful day, right? Oh, and it’ll probably be hot because we are in the middle of summer and that’s the way the weather rolls. So as of late you’ve heard us speaking of having an Instagram account (follow us @ExtremeSportsScubaOfficial). On more than one account I’ve had someone ask me just what is Instagram and how do you sign up for it, so I thought I’d do a special post this morning to help anyone who is having difficulties with Instagram but wants to learn more. Afterall, they say you should learn something new every day!

So first things first… you’ll need to go to iTunes or is it the Google Play store for an Android and download the free Instagram app. I’ll wait while you do that. I do need to mention, I’m an iPhone user (7 years and going strong) so when it comes to Android’s I’m not totally sure the correct wording, but I did set Deb’s account up for her on her Android and the screens all looked the same.

Once the app is downloaded, open the app up. Simple enough, right? wink

Now that you’ve opened the app, you’ll see this screen. Normally you’ll only see this screen the first time or if you log yourself out. There are 2 options here, sign in with Facebook or with an email. I went the email route, so I’m not exactly sure what the Facebook route looks like. Experiment smiley.

Because I went the email route, it asks me to place in my email address. Now it says you can sign up with your phone number also, I sometimes avoid that so that’s your call there.

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Extreme Photography: 5 Tips for Shooting Fireworks

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Happy 4th of July Weekend friends. I hope that you have lots of fun festivities planned to celebrate the awesomeness of this country. Did I just kind of make up my own word… awesomeness? Well either way, Happy 4th of July Weekend. Bear with me today as I share a different sort of post on our blog. I hope you enjoy, and it’s a great way to put into practice some of the photography tips that we’ve been learning these last few weeks… just above water!

Since it is 4th of July weekend, I thought I would share a few tips and tricks on how to take Fireworks Photos. Are you ready?

1. Drop your ISO down.

2.     That brings us to number 2. Drop your Shutter Speed down!

  • For action shots, you typically want your shutter speed to be set at 60 or better, but really more like 125 or higher. While Fireworks are action shots, dropping your shutter speed down allows for that lower ISO so less noise (graininess) but also it allows you to catch that firework as it goes off as well as the trailing effect as it dissipates.
  • I can’t tell you what to put your shutter speed at, this is one of those you have to take a few test shots and see what works best for the end result.

3.     Get a Tripod!

  • This time of year, Tripods are your friend! Why? Well, you’re going to drop that Shutter speed way down and if you breathe, you release your finger from the shutter release button, the wind blows just right, you’ll get camera shake. And trust me, that is so frustrating! Just when you think you got that perfect shot, you look on your screen (computer, back of the camera, phone, whatever) and BAM! It is blurry. That tripod will allow for more stabilization on the part of camera shake!

4.     A remote

  • Another helpful tip when trying to avoid camera shake is to get a remote. That remote allows you to push the shutter release (you know, that button that makes the camera take it’s picture) and you never touch the camera.
  • Don’t have a remote or the option for a remote? No problemo, I have another option/idea. Set your shutter release to a 2 second timer. That allows you to hit the button and move your finger off fast before the shutter actually goes off.
  • Still not an option. No biggie, just keep your finger on the shutter release until that picture is done. It might try to take a second photo, no problem, just delete the second one that has blurry movements.

5.     Have fun!

  • The main thing is you have fun with it. People will say you need a dSLR to be able to take quality fireworks pictures and I say balony! I’ve taken them with my dSLR, my point and shoot, and even my iPhone. Just play around, have fun, and do what you think looks best! The beauty is in the eye of the beer holder… I mean bee holder… no no no I mean Beholder cheeky.

Happy Fourth of July America! From your friends at Extreme Sports Scuba!

Extreme Instagram

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Good morning! How are you on this beautiful Thursday morning? So we’ve been mentioning lately that we’re on Instagram, because guess what… We’re on Instagram! Have you liked us yet? @extremesportsscubaofficial. When you hit that Follow button, you’ll see all the shenanigans that we’ve been up too, and better yet you might be Instagram famous… Just saying!

The other thing we’d like for you to do is if you’re out SCUBA diving or if you’re at an Extreme Sports sponsored event, use the #extremesportsscuba so that we can quickly see the photos you’re posting as well. We’d love to see the world from your point of view!!

Happy Thursday!

Did you know…Vacations

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Okay, fess up, who woke up to a sight like this one this morning, raise your hand… (btw, I stole this picture from Shirley Mann. Sometimes it’s better to do now and ask for permission later, so Shirley, can I steal your photo please blush)

Don’t worry, neither did I. If you aren’t on the trip to Cozumel that left on Saturday, your morning probably started out looking more like this… (raise your hand if this was more your view):

This may or may not be the reason this post is a little later in the day because I may or may not have been sulking that I had to go to school today… Oh well.

So a couple weeks ago Jared Weston gave me a suggestion for a blog post and today is the perfect day for it… He asked me if I knew that a person could book a trip through the Extreme Sports Scuba website. I have to admit, for as much time as I spend on the website I didn’t realize this, which got me to wondering how many other people didn’t know you could do this?

So it’s through Extreme Sports Scuba but it isn’t one of the big Cozumel trips, this is more of a personal diving trip that you plan.

So you log on to the website, scroll down (please be nice to my pieced together photo!) to the bottom (follow the green arrows) and there is a link.

And the link takes you to a site that looks like this…

And bam, you’re ready to start planning your trip. Now who wants to send me to a nice warm location because I’m not a winter person. I was born in the middle of summer, almost in a hayfield, only reason I wasn’t is because it was raining that day and my parents decided since they couldn’t go to the hayfield, why not have a kid instead.. or something like that. Anyway enough about me, get to booking your trip out of this “lovely” weather! wink. You’ll be glad you did!