Ziray Studio Labs

Time in: 14:34
Time out: 15:16

Max depth: 51 feet
Avg. depth: 37 feet

This was the second dive on Bushnell. Our dive boat was so tiny that it only held one tank per diver, so a support boat had to follow us out to Bushnell to exchange tanks so we could do a second dive there. It was 50 minutes away, so there was no way we could have gone back to the resort like with the other dives. We had a 36 minute surface interval, which barely gave us enough time to do a 45 minute no decompression dive. By the time we got into the water however, we had enough time to do a ~50 minute dive to 60 feet, but since we only went to a max of 51 feet, we were well within the limits of no decompression diving.

The Labyrinth  was full of canyons in the reef, most of which were big enough for one person to swim through. The reefs were high and filled with some beautiful fish. Three barracudas swam by to check us out.

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Time in: 15:09
Time out: 15:57

Max Depth: 36 feet
Average Depth: 23 feet

We spent the night at Moñitos, on the coast of Colombia, before  taking a ferry from Paso Nuevo with Just Elena, Juanca and Ana. The morning water was too choppy for diving so we waited until the afternoon. We made sure everyone was ready and equipment was setup properly since everyone except me hadn’t dived since Florida, which was about 6 months prior.

The dive boat we dived from was small and only held about 10 tanks. We entered the water with mask, snorkel and fins and were handed our scuba tanks. We then descended along the anchor line to the wreck which was a former lumber transport that sank off the coast of Isla Fuerte. It was 150 meters long, 10 meters wide and the deck was 8 meters high.

We saw squirrelfish, French angelfish, rainbow parrotfish, a lionfish and two creole wrasse trying to mate.

Even though I had 9 lbs of weight, I, as well as everyone else, was under weight.

Isla Fuerte Dive One

Ana

First dive we encountered a sunken ship, used to carry cargo.

Juanca and Elena

On top of the cargo ship

Lion fish are relatively new to this area of the Caribbean and started showing up after a hurricane swept through.

The top of the ship has rotted away

 

 

A latter to go down into the ship

 

Squirrel fish swimming on top of some brain coral

Top corner of the ship

 

Juanca

On Christmas day, we woke up early, packed the car and drove 9 hours to the coast of Colombia. Colombia is the only country in South America that has a coast line on both the Pacific ocean and the Caribbean sea. Next time, we’ll try to make it to the Pacific coast for some diving.

When we got there, we had to park our car in a poor little town with muddy dirt roads and garbage all over the place. It wasn’t my car, so I wasn’t worried, but we also parked in a fenced off area where other divers had parked theirs, so we weren’t too worried.

We then took a 30 minute boat ride to get to the island in a tiny little boat that would later become our dive boat. No one spoke English so I pretty much was on my own to figure out what was going on, which is a really good way to learn a language, but not a good way when it comes to important things like how not to die on the ride over.

When we got to the island, our cabin had no hot water and no electricity; the water they did have was undrinkable, but they put a 2 gallon bottle of drinking water in our room. Electricity ran from a generator from 6PM to 6AM so that you could use the lights, charge any devices, but most importantly to have the fans on in the room.

Every meal was something that was locally grown or caught, so we ate a ton of fruit (new fruit I’ve never even seen before but terrifically delicious), fish and vegetables. It was an amazing experience and a real eye opener to how you can have really delicious food, electricity and water and still be sustainable on a tiny island like that.

Luckily for us, it only rained a little bit and was well after our scuba dives. Otherwise the temperature was perfect, as it is year round. Enjoy the photos below!

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That night we spent Christmas with Ana’s other side of the family. It was a very relaxed atmosphere while Ana’s grandmother handed out gifts. Ana’s family got me some 12 year old rum made in Medellín and one of Ana’s uncles gave me a bottle of wine. I’m not sure what kind of impression I made on everyone, but apparently they think I like alcohol. It’s true, but still.

Ana and I had gotten everyone a basic gift of candy from the US. It wasn’t much, but I had never met anyone and she has a bunch of little cousins. Besides, the suitcases were full of gifts for everyone, even my suitcases, so mostly we just said things were from both of us.

Later that night we set off more balloons with candles in them. The sky over Medellin was filled with at least 4 or 5 other balloons that had be set off nearby. Some were obvious what they were while others looked like large stars twinkling in the night.

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Colombia is a Catholic country, and as every Catholic country I’ve been to, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th. Also, the gifts are delivered by baby Jesus, not Santa Claus. Hungarian Christmas is similar that way, but in Medellin, Colombia, the temperature is a perfect 75 degrees and sunny, so it really doesn’t feel like Christmas to me as a Hungarian Christmas would.

In Ana’s family, its a tradition to set off solar balloons and balloons with little candles in them to set them off at night. This side of the family had a big penguin that looked like Tux. Enjoy the photos below! Continue reading