Mi primera experiencia de buceo en Abyss Dive Center en Playa del Carmen

Tengo la oportunidad de trabajar en el Hotel Tropical Casablanca ubicado en el maravilloso Caribe mexicano y por medio de este fue que un día me sorprendieron Dany y Nicola con la noticia de: -Buceas el lunes- La primera reacción fue miedo, no era algo esperado y supongo que es normal en alguien que nunca ha visto mas allá de sus pies dentro del mar.
Llego el tan esperado lunes. Llegue a la tienda de buceo y Dany me entrego una hoja en donde tienes que dar información sobre tu condición de salud, y algunos datos personales; al terminar con el llenado y firma de las hojas correspondientes se presento mi instructor de buceo con una pareja que también haría el Discovery Scuba Diving ese día conmigo.
El instructor nos mostró un video en donde te explican a grandes rasgos y de manera muy didáctica lo que es el buceo, el equipo que se utiliza y te dan algunos tips para que disfrutes más esta actividad sin dañar tu salud ni al ecosistema, al terminar de ver el video fuimos a la piscina del hotel, en donde nos dieron el curso.
Al principio, familiarizarte con el equipo no fue sencillo para mi; como toda primeriza, tengo que confesar que me genero un poco de estrés, particularmente la cuestión de la flotabilidad neutra, así que siendo sincera subía y bajaba sin control alguno, inflaba y desinflaba el chaleco una y otra vez… lo mejor de esto es que el instructor siempre estuvo ahí al pendiente de cada uno de nosotros, ayudándonos y apoyándonos con paciencia y resolviendo cada duda, subíamos a la superficie de la piscina y me explicaba, después de algunos intentos lo logre! Y el estrés fue desapareciendo poco a poco…
Después salimos del hotel rumbo a la playa en donde ya nos esperaba un barco para llevarnos al mar, los marineros ya nos estaban esperando para ayudarnos con el equipo; hicimos un viaje en el barco no muy largo como de unos 10 mins. …. Y así fue, el instructor nos explico como debíamos lanzarnos del barco al mar y una vez sumergida todo cambio… La presencia de peces es impresionante! y en definitiva puedes apreciar una amplia representación de toda la fauna y flora típica de los arrecifes caribeños; lo disfrute tanto; que creo que estando ahí deje todos los miedos dentro de la piscina, porque una vez dentro del mar todo fue impresionantemente hermoso, como si por arte de magia todo mi miedo y nerviosismo se volvió emoción, y todo esto gracias al gran equipo de Abyss que saben hacerte sentir seguro y disfrutar al máximo esta maravillosa actividad.
Por Sare Montero

Exciting New Dive Event in the Riviera Maya

New Scuba Diving Photo Contest in the Riviera Maya
1st Scuba Diving Photo Competition to include Ocean, Cavern and Cave Photography

The Riviera Maya Divers Alliance announced the first free entry recreational and technical Scuba Diving Photo Contest in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico during the week of December 5th to 12, 2009, which includes photos opportunities in the Yucatan Caves, Caverns and on the second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Reef.

“This new scuba photo contest is designed to celebrate the diversity of diving in the Riviera Maya, a diving location that has access to land and ocean diving. There is not another photo contest in the world that offers such a variety of diving and photo opportunities.” Stated the organizers David Tomlinson, Lothar Batt and Andreas W. Matthes ‘Matt’ from the Riviera Maya Divers Alliance.

The Riviera Maya Underwater Photo Contest is an international annual scuba diving event designed to encourage and expand scuba divers underwater photography skills. Divers from around the world are invited to Playa del Carmen to participate in a memorable week-long experience that includes diving, social events and workshops that culminate in the presentation of winning photos and an awards ceremony. Local businesses and Scuba Diver suppliers are supporting this unique event with giveaways, information sessions and presentations as a means to promote this extraordinary opportunity that has never been done anywhere else in the world. International Judges will be selecting the winners of the contest on December 11th at the final ceremony and contest dinner.

The Riviera Maya, located south of Cancun and includes the Caribbean cities of Puerto Morelos, Playa Del Carmen and Tulum, is fortunate to have land dive sites in the underwater caves and caverns and ocean sites along the second largest barrier reef in the world, the Mesoamerican Reef, that stretches over 700 kms from Cancun to Honduras.

The Riviera Maya Divers Alliance is a network of dive centers that promote quality diving in the Riviera Maya through events and diving promotions in order to foster the Diving community. Abyss Dive Center, Tank Ha Dive Center and Protect Dive Center joined forces in May 2009 to execute this vision to divers internationally who are interested in recreational and technical diving.

http://www.divingphotocontest.com/
contestrivieramaya@gmail.com

10 Ways to Conduct Eco Diving in the Riviera Maya

Eco Diving is not a new principle, it is a principle we hope held by most scuba divers who choose this as a sport. Being conscious of the fact that you are privileged to view and experience the world beneath the sea is one fact why most divers become divers. It is our personal responsibility to conserve the ocean if it is that we want to continue to see the wonderful ‘cities’ down there. Coral, fish and plants interact in the ocean like we interact on land. They have patterns, places to live, things that they eat and have a cycle of life and death. As guests, we need to respect their natural laws and make sure that we do not interfere in this delicate balance.
As divers we have an environmental responsibility to do the following when going into the depths of the ocean or any water body for that matter:
1. Practice good buoyancy. This is probably one of the most important items in eco diving. Good buoyancy and buoyancy control means that you are not touching, intentionally or by accident, any of the coral, plants or the natural bottom of your dive site. If you can maintain control then you can hover over and around things without having to touch or accidently disturb something. Touching is what creates the damage and this we do not want to do. It is like learning to drive a car, if you have good driving skills you will not hit a tree, you will roll the car into the forest or a flower bed or into people for that matter. Buoyancy provides the same safety principal for divers.
2. Practice good fining techniques. Most divers forget about their fining, and because their feet are behind them they do not realize the trail of upset they can leave. Kicking up sand due to poor fining technique can create as much damage to the coral and the fish as touching. When sand lands on the coral, it actually suffocates it, with the result being a slow death over time. Coral needs to filter the water for food, and sand clogs the filters that complete this task.
3. Ensure equipment is secure. Dangling hoses, dangling anything off of your scuba equipment not only is dangerous to the diver but it can drag and break plants, corals while stirring up the bottom.
4. Feeding of marine life is prohibited. Feeding of marine life can upset the balance of the underwater world. What else can be said but don’t do it!
5. Use of dive gloves in the ocean is not necessary. Having dive gloves on while in the ocean or the caverns and caves for that matter, leaves you, the diver, in a vulnerable position. For ocean divers it gives you a sense of false security where if you are tempted to touch, the gloves will be a barrier to the reaction of sealife and corals that have natural protective and stinging devices to ward off touching. In the caverns and caves, gloves put the diver in a dangerous position as they need their fingers to feel for the cave line in case of an emergency or light failure.
6. Take all garbage out of the ocean. The reality is some people do not get it and there is land garbage in the ocean, bottles, bags, string, metal etc. It is our responsibility as divers to remove this from the ocean floor and get it into the proper recycling post or land garbage site. But this is not a license to remove anything which naturally belongs in the ocean. After hurricanes we see ocean garbage, naturally created garbage from coral, plants etc. though it does not look nice, it is important to let nature do it job and recycle these broken plants and coral bits. It has been doing this for thousands of years and it is not our job to remove anything unless humans put it there.
7. Avoid all contact with the bottom. This point leads back to other diving points on fining, buoyancy and control. Disturbing the bottom is as damaging as disturbing a nest. It can ruin the natural balance of the underwater environment.
8. Look for diving areas that promote and have boat drift diving. Drift diving is one of the best diving practices as the boat does not anchor. Drift diving has the boat following you and your group or buddy so there is little contact and no need to through an anchor out to secure the boat. If you do have to anchor, it is best to have a permanent mooring line so that anchors are not on the ocean bottom each time you have to secure your boat.
9. Use dive operators that have a no touch policy. Nothing more needs to be said….learn and live by example.
10. Share your knowledge with other divers. As with any eco policy or information, many people are aware that actions have impact on our environment. Teaching others about eco friendly dive techniques can save the oceans that we love so much. Being the eco nazi, or dive nazi is not at useful as being an educator. If you see someone with poor buoyancy offer to help if you are dive professional, or offer information about buoyancy classes if you are their buddy….
Eco diving for us is natural. But we do understand that for some it is new, and a reminder that we are visitors is always a good thing. If we damage our diving environments we are hurting not only our sport and the underwater environment but 73% of the world. Everything is connected and everything relies on one another. So think next time when you are diving, are you being the best diver you can be and are you diving without an impact on the reef.

Whaleshark tour at the Riviera Maya.

We had just dropped in to the beautiful blue, Gail, a new friend from Salt Lake City, myself and our guide, Roberto. At first, the view was a cluster of splashing limbs and fins as we swam close together, eager to see our first Whale Shark! I had been waiting eight years for this.
So far, all I could see was the back of our guide, his lifejacket and Gail flailing along side. Then, Roberto swam slightly ahead, revealing this massive open mouth, attached to about 8 metres of Whale Shark, coming directly at us! I could feel Gail’s body go into fright and flight, she later told me it was the most terrifying and exciting moment of her life. If I didn’t have a snorkel in my mouth, I may have uttered something clever, like “Holy Cow!”
Of course, we look nothing like plankton, so this graceful creature simply dove under us, its enormous tail fin moving from side to side as it descended. It was easy to keep pace above, until it disappeared from view. Roberto and I gave huge thumbs up under water. I finally saw a Whale Shark! My day was made and it had only just begun. I could have gone home right then and been thrilled with my first experience with a whaleshark.
Like I said, it was just the beginning. Our group of nine, including Gail’s friends from L.A., an engineer from Guadalajara, a lovely Mexican family from Guanajuato and an American couple from Washington State, had now all had a swim with the king of fishes. The first three Whale Sharks we saw dove deep soon after we got in the water, but everyone had, at least, their first glimpse. Like me, everyone was beaming in wonder at their beauty, size and gentleness.
So, there we are, cruising in the open water for as far as you can see, then, for just a second, a dorsal fin! Then another! Then we see that giant mouth again, of yet another, scooping up to the surface. We had apparently arrived at the Whale Shark restaurant, we couldn’t believe it! There were too many to count. Everyone was smiling and scrambling to geared up and ready for our turn in the water.

Honestly, I don’t know how Roberto did it, he was in and out of the water with each pair of snorkelers for at least two hours straight! Our Captain, was a master at keeping the boat a safe distance from the Whale Sharks, but getting us close enough to swim with them.
Though Gail said she continued to be nervous, there was no stopping her from getting back in the water with them. She said she just couldn’t get over how something so big, could be so gentle.
We all had at least five turns in the sea, buddying up with these colossal creatures. It is indeed sensory overload. First you are thinking, I am swimming with a Whale Shark!!!! Then the brain kicks in and says, ‘well take a look, what do you see, what can you learn, how is each one different, how do they feed, can you help with conservation efforts by taking photos of tags or distinguishing marks.’ But then the excited child in you comes back...I AM SWIMMING WITH WHALESHARKS!!!
I thought Abraham, from Guadalajara, was going to swim all the way to Honduras with them, he just kept going and going. He did say it was on his “Bucket List”. Well, he can put a huge check mark in that box.
I am not sure what all of our expectations were. I do know we would have been quite happy to see just seen one. There were more Whale Sharks than there was time to see them and we had already been indulged by a crew that allowed us numerous opportunities to get close, to experience the fish in the water and appreciate these beautiful creatures. I was also very happy to see only two or three other boats in the area. I do feel while it is important to be able to observe and learn about Whale Sharks, it is even more important to allow them to be as undisturbed as possible in their habitat and never risk their safety or security. It was an unforgettable experience. We all felt incredibly lucky.
By Denelle Balfour