Our last dive day in the Revillagigedos, spent on San Benedicto. It was Manta madness….mantas for all. They stayed and stayed…even snorkeling with us on the surface when our air ran out! This has to be a pictorial blog. Enjoy!
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Well, we all voted to stay another day at Roca simply because there were so many sightings! The dives were great, but getting to know the other divers was also wonderful, we particularly bonded with a young German couple, Chris and Dani. They are both surgeons in Frankfurt, Germany. Chris is a trauma surgeon, and Dani an abdominal surgeon. Now Dani is so tiny, she must be 5/2″ at the very most, and she is very, very slim. I asked her at dinner one night if she had to stand on a stool to do surgery, and giggling, she admitted that she did. They are a great couple, and super divers and photographers. We thoroughly enjoyed their company.
The dives weren’t as exciting as the day before, but that is relative, you know? Any time you are seeing sharks and and all kinds of fish, it is a great dive spot! But there wasn’t much to photograph really, so we decided to pull anchor and head to Socorro Island.
By the next morning Socorro Island, the largest of the islands of the Revillagigadoes Islands, was in sight. The islands aren’t inhabitable, though on Socorro a couple of national park rangers have a building or two there to keep an eye on things. It is a rocky outcropping on a blue, blue sea. We were all excited to jump in and see what was below. We were NOT disappointed! This will make a better pictoral blog, there were so many awesome animals to hang out with. I will say one thing: another couple we enjoyed, Diana and Shannon, had great cameras! Shannon used a GOPRO with two strobe lights, and Diana shot some incredible photos on this trip. I’m not quite up to her standard, but I did my best! I also remind you, some of the coolest things you’ll see underwater are not the biggest! Check out even more photos: http://tamtravels.wpengine.com/cozumel-dive-log/revillagigedos-islands/
<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11136489/?claim=9rugdff7e3e”>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>Roca Partida is part of the Revillagedoes Islands, and is an absolutely amazing dive spot. It is just a rocky little place inhabited with birds. At least, that is what it is on top. Underneath the waves is a lively and diverse ecosystem, teeming with fish and marine life of all kinds.
Roca is amazing. You can see in the photo one of the pangas dropping divers off. The currents are fairly strong here, and the pay off is big adventure. What is here? Oh….dolphins, mantas, sharks …incredible!
The dolphins were so fascinating. They came right up to you, and checked you out. It made me nervous that they wouldn’t like me! Their eyes clearly show their intelligence… is it equal to ours? I wonder. They love showing off, and I think they enjoy the flash of the strobes because they have a game they play. They actually “play dead” and sink 50 feet or so, then dash right back up in front of you for a picture, then they do it again! Clearly this is a game they very much enjoy. If you’ve seen dolphins at Sea World or some other aquarium (these animals should not be held captive in my opinion) you have seen them smooth and beautiful. In the wild, they are scarred and scratched up from life in the ocean, but they are still beautiful.
There were platoons of sharks, mostly White or Silver Tip Sharks. Before I went in, I was a little nervous about diving where there were so many sharks, but once I was down I was thrilled and excited to be among them. They so obviously had no interest in us other than just looking once in a while, but most of the time they didn’t even do that. They have a very busy schedule, you know, and cannot be bothered with visitors!
The sharks were awesome, but the main attraction here? MANTA RAYS. At Roca we saw many Mantas, and they are all breathtaking, just a completely thrilling sight. The highlight of Roca though, was the Black Pacific Manta. The top of the animal is completely black, and looks like velvet. They don’t hesitate to come to you…to look at you with their strange blinking vertical eyes, and to enjoy the air bubbles from the tanks of the divers. Manta Rays have the largest brain of any fish, and you can see that the eye is not a doll’s eye, but an intelligent eye. There is nothing quite like the thrill of being eye to eye with a Manta!
As I said, the current can be strong at Roca, and I did get swept away once. I ended up being swept behind the rock, then out into the “blue”. I was accompanied by a Black Manta, and the wonder of spending that time with this incredible, huge creature was so overwhelming I was not afraid of the current. The Manta stayed with me until I was in the panga, and then stayed around the panga. Of course I had to put on my mask and snorkel and go back into the water with it. The beauty of those spectacular wings flying effortlessly through the water is indescribable. We ended up staying two wonderful days at Roca Partida. None of the divers wanted to leave! Click to Tweet!
Last December Randy and I took a trip to the Revillagigedo’s Islands, better known as the Socorro Islands. Actually, only one of the islands is called Socorro, but anyway. It is a complete amazement that only 9 months later, Randy had to have a double lung transplant. That is a story on its own! http://tamtravels.wpengine.com/category/midlife-journey/transplant-an-unexpected-journey/.
December, 2012
Ah, I continue my search for diving with Manta Rays and Whale Sharks, and really, sharks of any kind. I enjoyed my Volunteer trip to Mozambique, but as I said in my blog, the diving was disappointing. So, a friend who has a non profit called Pelagic Life, recommended the Revillagigedo Islands, an archipielago commonly called the Socorro Islands. Randy and I left Dec 1 for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, so we could relax before boarding the Solmar V, a live aboard dive boat, on December 2nd. We stayed at one of the hotels recommended by the Solmar V, the Playa Grande, a very nice hotel. We only had one mishap….usually it is me falling or doing something else stupid, but this time it was Randy.
Going to dinner he fell up the stairs. Yes, UP the stairs. We sat down for dinner and he iced his head, where he had hit the ground. Oops! Nice bruise and scraped head. He felt as stupid as I do when I fall, I think.
First afternoon on the boat. We left Cabo San Lucas yesterday at 5p, and should arrive San Benedicto (one of the archipelagos) around 4p today, part of the Revelligigado Islands. We will do one check out dive. The dive briefing this morning was about an hour and a half, I know I won’t remember half of it. Leaving Cabo’s Marina, it is beautiful, but I’m anxious to get in the water!
Randy and I are on the Solmar V for the second time, the first trip we took with them was to Guadalupe Island to cage dive with the Great Whites. One of the dive masters and a couple of the crew remembered us…mainly because of a little excitement at Guadalupe, where a big, beautiful Great White kind of ended up half into the cage I was in. Check out THAT story! Anyway, nice to find familiar, friendly faces. One of the dive masters is the guy who pulled me out of the cage after a Great White came for a little visit and chewed on my air hose. Thanks, Erick! Now, that was a trip!
So we just had a look at the animals we expect to see on this trip, whale sharks, manta rays, hammerheads, tiger sharks (holy s&%t, Batman!), silkies, false killer whales, dolphins…..I am so excited!
Randy is taking a Nitrox class, every single diver on this boat is a Nitrox diver. We are truly in the middle of the ocean, water as far as the eye can see, I am getting used to it now, it makes me very sleepy, as though I am being rocked in mother’s arms. The dive will be exciting this afternoon, I am sure!
Dive: Yes, our first dive was incredible! The conditions remind me very much of Africa and Mozambique, the rocky reef structures, the depth, strong current, but the visibility is much better, and the water warmer. Although I saw many new creatures in Africa, the trip (dive wise) was a bit disappointing….a lot of work and challenging diving for no whale sharks, no manta rays, only a couple of white tip sharks. San Benedicto does not disappoint! The first dive was full of white tips and Galapagos sharks as well as a few Hammerheads and manta rays! Some people saw a whale shark….sadly, I was not one of them. Oh, the mantas! So huge, so graceful, so gorgeous! There is nothing quite like them. It is so imperative to keep these animals safe and in the ocean where they belong, not in a Chinese medicine bottle. I’ve seen them, but to be so close to one is such a privilege!
Our dive master is Danny, the hero of the Whale Shark rescue which you may have seen on the news. Here is a link to it in case you missed it! tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLyoIb9fLCI&list=UU1QoU6b96y2r5hWKVML3wpA&index=2&feature=plcp. Go to 5 minutes and you will see the footage. And the great news is that she was seen again not long ago in the Sea of Cortez! So she and her babies did just fine. and the other dive masters are David and Erick. All of them are wonderfully nice and accommodating. Two trips ago, at Roca Partida, the divers ran across a huge female whale shark with a rope constricting her from the pectoral fins around her body. They believed her to be pregnant. The next dive when they saw her, Danny was ready with a knife and he carefully cut the barnacle encrusted rope off of her. The rope had cut into her pectoral fin, and had to be pulled away from her body. What an adventure!
Our first meal aboard was delicious and well served. The Solmar V is not the most beautiful boat, it is older but very comfortable, and the crew is extremely organized and friendly. If you love to dive, this is a trip you do not want to miss. We went to our cabin tired but happy, happy, happy!
FIRST PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 25, 2013, 15 DAYS AFTER MY HUSBAND HAD A DOUBLE LUNG TRANSPLANT.
I volunteered in Tofo, Mozambique in May 2012 and met many of the scientists of the Marine Megafauna Foundation. I admire these people so much for their dedication to saving important animals in our oceans, animals threatened by ignorant beliefs, shortsightedness, and unsubstantiated medical claims. I signed up to go to Komodo in January, on a 2 week research trip, looking for mantas and encouraging young women, through Ocean Gems, to go into marine science. I also thought about going with them to Ecuador, but decided to wait. In Ecuador right now, they are seeing some of the largest Manta Rays ever discovered, and they also saw a huge, pregnant whale shark. I just watched the video on this trip, you can find it at Project Mantas Ecuador. Amazing.
I must confess to a few tears….do not get me wrong: Randy’s health comes first, absolutely. I canceled trips because I had to, and because we have to get Randy back to health before we do anything else. But still….there is a little part of me feeling sad because I am missing out on trips that I had planned and dreamed about doing. I realize it doesn’t mean I won’t be able to do them, it just means I cannot do it NOW. I have always had an awareness of the fragility of life…and I have wanted to travel and take part in the bigger world as a consequence of it. I know I must do what I want to do while I can still do it. This is just a setback, I will be back under the water.
Randy may or may not dive again, it is certainly not advisable for at least a couple of years, so he can see how well he does with all of the medication. For all I know, maybe he will be diving again in a year, 5 years, or never again. It doesn’t really matter as long as he is healthy and strong. I am perfectly capable of going off on my own.
And yet, I feel the loss of my dive buddy, my dive partner. Of course, there are other possibilities now, like mountains, hiking, and more adventures in the USA. Maybe Alaska! I will enjoy any of these activities. I will enjoy sitting in our backyard, playing with our dogs. My passion and focus remains under the seas….but as I said, I will get back to my ocean and its creatures. If Randy is doing great in six months, perhaps I will take a live aboard trip. We’ll see.
The journey of the lung transplant doesn’t only have a major effect on Randy, but on his family and loved ones as well. I think it is important to be honest about our feelings as we continue down this path. We all have fears and hopes, and while Randy is at the center of them, we each have our own lives to live. We just have to go with the flow, there is no way to force the river into any particular path.
One of my favorite authors, John Steinbeck, gives what is sage advice: “A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.”
June 2
Ah, I now have to time to catch up on my blog as I fly over Mozambique, headed to Joburg. On Monday I came down with a stomach bug. It must have been the stomach bug of all time, because I have never felt so sick in my life. I was sick enough to call upstairs for a doctor, and the owner of Peri Peri was at the guesthouse with his wife. I think I have already blogged about how he tested me for malaria, and no, I don’t have it. My CPAP was out, and most people here seem to think it is some kind of oxygen or ventilator, I guess people in the rest of the world don’t have CPAPs or sleep apnea, mine gives me a solid night of sleep but isn’t a big deal. Where did I get the bug? Who knows, but for a month I shared regulators, fins, wetsuits, shower and bath facilities, water, and various other things. I also spent several hours with little children. It would be easy to pick something up. Either that, or I ate something. I slept the next day, and then Randy arrived. By Thursday I felt 110%, better than I have felt for years. However, the owner of Peri Peri saw me ill, and even though I feel great, I was not allowed to dive on my last day. I was quite upset, but I have put it in perspective. As I have already written here, the diving was extremely challenging, and the first two dives were very poorly done on my part. I did adjust, and dove for the rest of the 3 weeks without issues. My last dive would have been no problem at all and a wonderful finish to my trip, but I didn’t argue although I was deeply upset. I did everything on the trip I was scheduled or asked to do and more.
The dive conditions varied tremendously, from the worst current and visibility I have ever been in to maybe 30 ft visibility with surge. Not easy. The diving turned out to be a great disappointment as I did not see any mantas while diving, no whale sharks, leopard sharks, bowmouth guitar sharks, leatherback turtles…. I came on this trip for many reasons, but one of them was to see these animals. I have seen documentaries and read that Tofo is the epicenter of mantas and year round whale sharks. Perhaps it used to be, but I was there for one month, and the only one of these creatures I saw was a manta while snorkeling. I saw more dead sharks and rays than live ones, sadly enough.
In summary, I am quite pleased with my trip in most ways, and I really enjoyed being there, the scientific community is terrific, but I doubt I will return to Tofo. My son Wes would love it and do great there, and his girlfriend Carisa (who is an organic farmer) could teach or start farming in Mozambique. As for me, I’m thinking Thailand or Egypt or Indonesia…..on a luxury live aboard, haha.
This trip was a challenge I set for myself. Never in my life had I travelled so far, alone, never have I volunteered on such a project. I wasn’t trying to prove anything, not even to myself, but I was challenging myself and my lifestyle, and the fact that I have hit midlife. My youngest is a senior in college, and I am done raising my family (well, as finished as a mother can ever be). I enjoy my career immensely as I care about, and like, my students. I do not want to just “age gracefully” now and wait for grandchildren so I can bake cookies (hardly my style), this is the time of life for me and my interests.
Many of us do not really know who we are until we are older, and in some respects it is true of me. I have never really fit anywhere. When I was a child and a teen I tried to fit in. In my twenties I appeared to blend in, and by my 30s I was comfortable. All of my life I have admired those people who seem to have it all together, who seem to fit into groups with ease: everything is in its right place, it is all organized and planned ahead, things are not left behind, forgotten, or broken, they don’t forget their weight belt or to put the jacket on the tank before hooking up the regulator. Shit, I just remembered I forgot my prescription mask at the dive center. Sometimes I make myself crazy! I’ll ask Ben to bring it back to the US and mail it to me. Anyway, I do so admire those got-it-all-together people, but I have come to full acceptance that I will never be one of them, no matter what I do or how hard I try. I leave things, forget items, drop and break things. I trip on flat surfaces and go flying, I fall down on boats and buses as well as off of boats and buses. I am accident prone, ever since I can remember I have had cuts and bruises with no concept of how I got them. I am the true version of the absent minded professor of the old Walt Disney movie (it is an old one, I really cannot remember it except for the professor who barely knew where he was most of the time). We are who we are. All of those things about me anger me, embarrass me, and frustrate me, but really, I need to just accept it. I’m better when I take my Focalin for ADHD, but I didn’t know if it would be okay while diving so I didn’t take it. I do have many redeeming qualities. One of those is a commitment to service, to giving back, to helping others. My volunteer mission in Mozambique served 3 purposes: to challenge myself physically and test my endurance, to give my time and energy to a worthwhile project, and to learn even more about my passion for marine animals (any animals, really). So how did I do?
I was successful meeting physical challenges I thought were beyond me. After the 10 year debacle of my back surgery, MRSA infection, and other various health nuisances (nothing serious or fatal, thanks be) which included this awful weight gain, I doubted my physical endurance and capability. I have just spent a month walking miles a day, climbing up steep hills or stairs, pushing a zodiac into the water, diving in tough conditions, snorkeling in a sometimes choppy sea, and here is what I have to say: bring it on, I am ready to do anything. I have lost weight, gained strength, and found more confidence in myself than I have ever known. I’m ready to go anywhere, and I am really looking forward to my girl’s trip to Lake Tahoe in August, because I have no qualms now about climbing, hiking, or rafting. Of course, I’ll probably fall on my face doing it, but that’s ok, situation normal. I have always wanted to go sky diving….I wonder if it is as fun as jumping off a cliff to handglide or cage dive with Great Whites? I think I’ll put it on my to-do list.
I wish I could have contributed more to the whale shark project. I actually do more surveys and logging for REEF on my own than I did at this project. I enjoyed learning about the databases for whale sharks and other animals, and I always have confidence in my mental ability to do those kinds of things well and in a very thorough manner. Once you learn the old Scientific Method in grad school, you never lose it. I did learn some new information, but really, not a whole lot, and that was a bit disappointing too. I had hoped for more real research activity.
So, the success of my trip was personal success, and I am happy with that. I didn’t complain about anything, though a few times I wanted to. I kept my mouth shut, another amazing feat for me since my foot is usually stuck in my mouth (or as my dad used to say, “don’t let your mouth get your ass in trouble”.) The other major success of this trip is due to my housemates and fellow volunteers. They were wonderful to me, and I enjoyed my time with them very much. It is amazing how quickly bonding takes place! I am old enough to be the parent of some of them, but I will consider them as friends for the rest of my life. I hope they all come and visit me in Cozumel or Dallas! I’d love to dive with them in a relaxed holiday environment. Of course, I am always planning a trip to Europe, and now I have even more reason: Daniela in Munich, Leslie in Basel, Marcel in Zurich, Felix in London…..) Age is really just a number, it does not define who you are or what you can do. Besides, 50 is the new 40!
SO. I am on my way to Joburg with Randy, who had a bit of trouble with the walking and hills in Tofo, and tomorrow we will set out for Arusha, Tanzania and a new adventure! BRING IT ON.
