THE TARPONS ARE BACK!

In case you have not heard, in case you are not aware, the summer here in Playa Del Carmen brings in the Huge, gigantic Tarpons. And they are back in full force....

Is it May, Oops June already...we soooo get lost in our routine. The indicator for us that it is summer is the return of the Tarpons and from what I hear, the divers have been seeing them now for weeks. So in case you did not know, it is summer and we are kicking some ass in the ocean.

So what is a Tarpon. Well, the official description is this..

last ray of dorsal fin extended into long filament; one dorsal fin; back dark blue to green or greenish black, shading into bright silver on the sides; huge scales; mouth large and points upward. slow grower; matures at 7 to 13 years of age; spawning occurs between May and September; female may lay more than 12 million eggs; can tolerate wide range of salinity; juveniles commonly found in fresh water; can breathe air at surface; feeds mainly on fish and large crustaceans.

Our description is this...

Big huge silver fish that move in large schools and hang with the turtles on the Reef called 'Tortuga". Some are biger than you and they will play with you under the water if you are so inclined. They are located on the reef at about 60ft/18m and will be here until winter hits (November)

Roger took a great picture the other day as he inched to the face, the huge face of this fish...he was able to show the size of the Tarpon bu having a diver in the background. Good job Roger! Nice Pic.

Now very few know that there is a portion of the cave system that houses a school of Tarpon. Think how surprised the cave divers were when they thought maybe there were other divers but came across a school of tarpons..oops, there are fish in the caves...(this is the cave system not the caverns so unless you are cave certified we can not share this experience.)

So what else can we say. Book a flight and come and hang out with the fish and the instructors..all have a great experience to offer and all love the water!

THE TARPONS ARE BACK!

In case you have not heard, in case you are not aware, the summer here in Playa Del Carmen brings in the Huge, gigantic Tarpons. And they are back in full force....

Is it May, Oops June already...we soooo get lost in our routine. The indicator for us that it is summer is the return of the Tarpons and from what I hear, the divers have been seeing them now for weeks. So in case you did not know, it is summer and we are kicking some ass in the ocean.

So what is a Tarpon. Well, the official description is this..

last ray of dorsal fin extended into long filament; one dorsal fin; back dark blue to green or greenish black, shading into bright silver on the sides; huge scales; mouth large and points upward. slow grower; matures at 7 to 13 years of age; spawning occurs between May and September; female may lay more than 12 million eggs; can tolerate wide range of salinity; juveniles commonly found in fresh water; can breathe air at surface; feeds mainly on fish and large crustaceans.

Our description is this...

Big huge silver fish that move in large schools and hang with the turtles on the Reef called 'Tortuga". Some are biger than you and they will play with you under the water if you are so inclined. They are located on the reef at about 60ft/18m and will be here until winter hits (November)

Roger took a great picture the other day as he inched to the face, the huge face of this fish...he was able to show the size of the Tarpon bu having a diver in the background. Good job Roger! Nice Pic.

Now very few know that there is a portion of the cave system that houses a school of Tarpon. Think how surprised the cave divers were when they thought maybe there were other divers but came across a school of tarpons..oops, there are fish in the caves...(this is the cave system not the caverns so unless you are cave certified we can not share this experience.)

So what else can we say. Book a flight and come and hang out with the fish and the instructors..all have a great experience to offer and all love the water!

ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST

Well, we have had some time to actually sit and see what is going on in the world of diving, oceans and conservation. Who would have thought. We spend our days making sure our customers are happy, taken care of, and accomplishing the courses and dive adventures they have put on thier vacation list. We do get lost in the day to day, but today, there was a moment where were able to actually sit and surf....yes that means sitting in the dive center, computer in hand and reading about other parts of the world.

To our surprise, we have discovered that ELKHORN AND STAGHORN CORAL have been added to the endangered species list by the National Marine Fisheries Department in the United States. We stopped....we see this species of coral every day in Tulum, in abundance, and had no idea......

Now, lets put this into perspective for you. When we do our dives after a hurricane this is the first coral that we check....in Tulum. We have a ton of elkhorn coral and it is beautiful...from what we remember, this was one of the reasons why we thought it was a good idea to open the Tulum dive center. There is so much, it is so alive and untouched and extremely impressive. We were thrilled to be able to show this to our divers on our dive trips...

Well, now we have an even better reason to continue our observations and the North 22 Mapping project. The elkhorn coral has been one of the most used natural navigation markers for us under the seas in Tulum. Due to its size and recognizability, our maps indicate its location, in abundance. Little did we know that this information can be more valuable on a global scale. Dont get us wrong, our North 22 Project is a very important project to us. This brainchild of Senor David, which we all immediately embraced, has been in our little world now for over a year. We have been enjoying it immensely, really enjoyed the enthusiasm of our clients and have felt really good about doing something a little bit different.

The recent announcement of the addition of the elkhorn and staghorn coral to the endangered species list makes us think that this idea is better than great, it is brilliant. Not only can we effect the immediate area and track critical information about our oceans, but we can add to the global tracking and conservation of our oceans....

Check out the web site for a quick overview of the project and email us at info@abyssdiveshop.com for more information. Join the team of participants and help us understand this area by sea. Just when we thought we knew it all....what a surprise.....there is always more and more to learn.....and who would have thought in Tulum...

SCUBA KIDS

There has been a question posed at the dive center more and more as we see more families traveling to Playa del Carmen on their vacations. What age can my son or daughter get certified? What can I do to enhance the vacation experience for my child other than snorkeling or Mexican theme parks?

Our divers are looking to make scuba a family affair and we have to say SSI and PADI are getting the idea. A child can start their scuba experience at age 10, yes that is correct, age 10. The standards have changed in the last few years from 12 to 10 years. But there are some provisions.

First, the open water diver under the age of 15 years will be categorized as a junior open water diver. This means that they can only dive to maximum depth of 60 feet/18 meters and always need to dive with a certified adult. The components of the Open Water course, Theory, Confined water skills and open water dives apply to the Junior Open Water Course the same as with the Open Water. For a child under 15 to be a junior diver, they need to successfully complete these sections. That said, we have not had to refuse any student under 15 years of age their certification. In fact, we love teaching young children to dive.

The challenge in some cases with children is to make sure they understand the theory. With compliments to all of our instructors, they have thousands of metaphors which assist in the learning curve some kids have when studying the Open water manual. Who would ever think that Coca Cola could be so useful when training young children (it is a great example for explaining Decompression Sickness/Illness) or that a balloon could turn a light on about volume changes in diving. We are amazed at the tricks and truly the fun tricks they have up their sleeves.

But we must get back to the standards for any Junior Open Water Diver. The only contingency for this program and for the junior diver is that they can not dive past 6o feet/18 meters until they change to Open Water diver at age 15. Once your Junior Diver hits the magic age of 15, all they have to do is submit their last dive log page to the diving organization, visit a dive center and do a scuba review to verify their diving knowledge and then submit to their dive organization their change in level from Junior to Open Water Diver. Re-certification is not required unless the dive center who reviews the child’s skills decides that their knowledge is not up to date.

Over three years ago, our PADI instructors certified the first ever Junior Advanced Open Water Diver. This diver’s proud father and his proud instructors were amazed at his skill and his ability to comprehend the theory involved in this certification level. When moving your child from Junior Open Water to Junior Advanced Open Water there are only two barriers to be aware of. One, the Junior Open Water Diver can not complete the Deep Diving to 30 meters or Wreck diving elective portion of course. Other electives need to be chosen as a substitute for these two portions. This truly is not a barrier, it just needs to be on the minds of parents as they assist their diver in choosing their electives for the Advanced Courses.

So there you have it. All the information you need to make diving a family affair. Now, if you have a few children over 10 years of age and one or two under the training age limits, think about getting the snorkeling certification for the children under 10 years of age or the bubblemaker. This provides them with a water and reef experience, a certification card and some time with an instructor as well. There is nothing worse than your older brother or sister doing something you can not, due to an age restriction. We have done this many times and are good at making each student feel important no matter what certification they are going for. It also makes a great Show and Tell story as well, so you wont be searching around the house looking for something for your young one to bring to school.

Contact us if you have any questions regarding family certification classes. The instructors here are great and they are even better with young children who want to see the unique world that lies below sea level.