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Scuba Forum / Scuba Locations / February 2005Puerto Rico
I know it's a bit early for planning a trip next year, but my wife, kids and I are going to Puerto Rico next February. I am in the middle of getting certified as an Open Water diver in central NJ, and I have been looking around for info on Diving in PR. I found some websites, but they of course talk about how great their trips are and all that. I was looking for info from a possibly unbiased audience here on r.s.l The little that I have heard about diving there is that there isn't much, and it's a hike to get to the places to do it. Thanks for any info! M@ >I know it's a bit early for planning a trip next year, but my wife, kids >and I are going to Puerto Rico next February. I am in the middle of [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > little that I have heard about diving there is that there isn't much, and > it's a hike to get to the places to do it. Just for you, I'll go and check it out in March and report back here. I've heard that the San Juan area sucks, but that the offshore islets (Vieques & Culebra) and the south and east walls are good. Check back at the end of March for more unbiased and up-to-date information. >>I know it's a bit early for planning a trip next year, but my wife, kids >>and I are going to Puerto Rico next February. I am in the middle of [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Culebra) and the south and east walls are good. Check back at the end of > March for more unbiased and up-to-date information. Wow, talk about dedication! How cool are you, going on vacation just to check things out for me? Where do you stay while youa re there? Why does the San Juan area suck, is it because it's so commercial, or the positioning of the island? Any suggestions on who to dive with? Thx, M@ > Why does the San Juan area suck, is it because it's so commercial, or > the positioning of the island? Its primarily two factors. The first is that the island's location and topology produce rain in the mountains, which becomes a lot of silt en route to the sea. The second factor is the city and San Juan Bay, which is both a source of pollution as well as a "bottle" that tends to concentrates it. The many cruise ships that frequent San Juan don't help here. The net result is pretty turbid and green water. I don't specifically recall what my logbook said, but I'd say that the viz was less than 20ft. -hh > Wow, talk about dedication! How cool are you, going on vacation just to > check things out for me? Where do you stay while youa re there? Very cool, thank you. It's not a problem but you can always buy me a beer if you ever run into me. I'm staying mostly at the Westin, courtesy of 40,000 Starpoints, with a last night in Old San Juan. The Westin is located 25 miles from San Juan, hopefully far enough away from the city to avoid the latter half of Hugh's complaints. The runoff is still a problem, but apparently the trick is to simply take a boat out far enough to escape it. The hotel, according to their website, offers the following: "Two-Tank Dive Trip (For Certified Divers) Our dive excursions to the Spanish Virgin Islands depart the marina each morning for a day of diving adventure. These are two-tank dives on colorful coral reefs teeming with yellowtail snapper, sergeant majors, parrotfish, Nassau grouper, spotted eagle rays, sea turtles, moray eels, spiny lobster, and much more. Depths at these locations range from about 10 to over 70 feet, providing breathtaking sights for everyone, from the casual snorkeler to the most avid diver. We provide a full all-you-can-eat luncheon buffet; unlimited refreshments, tanks, weights, and first-rate service aboard our U.S. Coast Guard certified 38-foot Delta dive excursion boat." I picked up a copy of Lonely Planet's Diving & Snorkeling Puerto Rico at a clearance sale in a bookstore in Bangkok oddly enough. It's the 2000 edition, hopefully recent enough to be relevant. It looks like the diving in that NE region of the island is done out of the Fajardo area, about 5-10 miles further south from the hotel. I quote: "The landscape west of Fajardo is dominated by the mountains of the El Yunque rainforest. Each year millions of gallons of freshwater runoff find their way down to the coast, reducing underwater visibility near shore. Luckily the outer cays are located just outside the greenish band of water near shore, so visibility is improved. The topography underwater is largely fringing reefs, patch reefs and spur-and-groove formations, and there are many good snorkeling sites in this region." So there you have it. The hotel's "Spanish Virgin Islands" are apparently these outer cays just outside the green belt. So that's a start. As a last resort, if I can't find anyone else to take us, we can always go out with the hotel and presumably end up with decent diving, at least as compared with San Juan. You're not certified yet and therefore probably wondering why I don't want to use the services of the very hotel in which I'm staying. The answer isn't cost, though you can bet that the service will be pricier than independent local competitors. The answer is that hotel-affiliated dive ops are going to respect the liability concerns of the hotels they contract with and therefore restrict the independence of the divers they take out. That's great for some divers, particular the new and inexperienced, but at some point many no longer need the training wheels and seek out dive ops that often function as no more than a conveyance for you, your gear, and a couple tanks, and hopefully a cooler full of cold bottled water. > Why does the San Juan area suck, is it because it's so commercial, or the > positioning of the island? Any suggestions on who to dive with? Hugh answered that. As for who to dive with, you'll have to wait for my report and even then it may not have the best answer since I can't try them all. I do plan on getting out of the Fajardo area several days, hopefully over to Vieques and/or Culebra islands if I can find a boat to take us there, and definitely south to the Humacao region in the southeast which looks to be no more than a hour or so drive from the hotel. The deep walls are found off La Parguera, the southwest corner of the island, offshore from the Guanica biosphere reserve. That, according to Yahoo, is exactly a 2.5 hour drive from my hotel which means I can do it in two, and then offgas after the dives by roaming in the jungle looking for monkeys and tigers and watching for parrots trying to crap on my head. I'm going to start the process of figuring out who to dive with in each region, using a combination of Google, the web, old Undercurrent "chapbooks", and some random selection. Hopefully they'll be the right choices. > ...I'm staying mostly at the Westin... located > 25 miles from San Juan, hopefully far enough away from the city to avoid the > latter half of Hugh's complaints. The runoff is still a problem, but > apparently the trick is to simply take a boat out far enough to escape it. I see that the Westin Rio Mar Beach Golf Resort & Spa is around 25 miles to the east. There will be localized river silt run-off from the El Yunque rainforest, but you should be far enough away from San Juan. FWIW, its generally worth a visit up to El Yunque if you've never seen a rainforest before. Good news is that you should be within easy striking distance to the NE part of the island...Vieques, Fajardo, etc. > ...The deep walls > are found off La Parguera, the southwest corner of the island, offshore from > the Guanica biosphere reserve. That, according to Yahoo, is exactly a 2.5 > hour drive from my hotel which means I can do it in two, and then offgas > after the dives by roaming in the jungle looking for monkeys and tigers and > watching for parrots trying to crap on my head. I have coworkers from the Ponce area that I've asked about this kind of idea in the past. The short answer is that the "2.5 hours" drive is generally an optimistic number (apparently, road conditions in the mountains?), and their recommendations have been to plan for a half day to drive from San Juan to Ponce. My personal inclination would be to make diving on the SW area of Puerto Rico a dedicated dive trip instead of a daytrip from the North. Maybe things have changed, but you might want to look further into this. -hh >> ...I'm staying mostly at the Westin... located >> 25 miles from San Juan, hopefully far enough away from the city to avoid [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > FWIW, its generally worth a visit up to El Yunque if you've never seen a > rainforest before. A visit to El Yunque is worth the effort. This is a cleaner part of the island and it is enjoyable to walk through the park just to see the sights, including people. If I remember correctly, a visit to the park and traveling the coastal road around the island takes till late afternoon. That includes one beach stop for swimming, eating lunch at a local restaurant, and walking a few miles in the park. > I have coworkers from the Ponce area that I've asked about this kind of > idea in the past. The short answer is that the "2.5 hours" drive is [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > of a daytrip from the North. Maybe things have changed, but you might > want to look further into this. I'm optimistic about the road conditions. It looks like there are several routes available, a couple through the mountains and a couple closer to the coast. There's a toll road, which I'm guessing will be the fastest option. I don't mind taking the slow roads back home the remainder of the day. Yahoo pegs the toll route as exactly 2.5 hours (from Luquillo to Guanica) and I always drive faster than Yahoo. But I'll find out for sure when I call to make my diving arrangements there. My last "1.5 hour" drive turned into 2.5 hours (from Cabo San Lucas to Cabo Pulmo) and I was flying at about twice the legal speed limit. It all depends on exactly how early I'm willing to rise to make a dive boat many hours away. I'd rather try to squeeze in a day there than set it aside for a future dedicated dive trip because I'm not sure how many future dedicated dive trips I'll ever take in PR. I'll definitely spend at least a couple days trekking around El Yunque. The mountain ridge drive into the interior also sounds appealing, but I'm not sure how high I'm willing to drive with my hair still wet. In any case, however the diving turns out, this is our trip to break in the mint-condition TRV-900 I picked up last month along with a barely-used Amphibico housing, before we take a "real" dive trip somewhere more notable. > I'll definitely spend at least a couple days trekking around El Yunque. The > mountain ridge drive into the interior also sounds appealing, but I'm not > sure how high I'm willing to drive with my hair still wet. Take a chance. Realistically, how soon can you make it above 1000' and how high do the roads go? Even if it's a shore dive and you just throw your gear right in the trunk it's still going to take a while to get out of the parking lot, and if it's supposed to be a senic drive even you probably won't be averaging 80 mph, right? Certain people used to post a lot about flying with their hair still wet (and I'm assuming your use of the phrase means you're not completely serious) as if they had magical powers, but if you're flying commercially it's almost impossible to be off the ground less than 2 hours after getting out of the water even if you use a small airport with a shore dive right out front. Even if you've just surfaced from a long saturation dive the first hour or two at 1 ATA is pretty significant relative to an ascent to 8000'. I can't promise that you won't get bent if you drive to 3000' an hour after the dive, but I will offer an unconditional guarantee that the car won't suffer an explosive decompression that exposes you to less than 0.5 ATA. If it was safe to surface it should be safe to drive as high as the roads around El Yunque go, about as soon as you can get there. > In any case, however the diving turns out, this is our trip to break in the > mint-condition TRV-900 I picked up last month along with a barely-used > Amphibico housing, before we take a "real" dive trip somewhere more notable. You don't say anything about a light, but you do have one, right?  SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. > I can't promise that you won't get bent if you drive to 3000' an hour > after the dive, but I will offer an unconditional guarantee that the car > won't suffer an explosive decompression that exposes you to less than 0.5 > ATA. If it was safe to surface it should be safe to drive as high as the > roads around El Yunque go, about as soon as you can get there. I'm not really worried about the 3000-4000' range, though it's notable that most if not all of DAN's reported incidents of DCS from flying after diving do not involve explosive decompression. I once asked Karl Huggins what he thought about driving to altitude after diving. He used the example of a group of firefighters from Big Bear, CA that came to Catalina for a "chamber dive". He had advised them to spend the night at sea level before returning home to an altitude of 7000-8000'. This is the sort of situation where I'd shell out a few extra bucks if nitrox is available even if we don't plan on using it for extra bottom time. > You don't say anything about a light, but you do have one, right? Actually, that's my next question(s). What kind, how many, etc. > I'm not really worried about the 3000-4000' range, though it's notable that > most if not all of DAN's reported incidents of DCS from flying after diving > do not involve explosive decompression. That's only because so few of us are exposed to an explosive decompression. I'm guesing that most people who get hits while flying are just the traveling subset of people with undeserved hits or who pushed the limits a little too hard. > He had advised them to spend the night at sea level before returning > home to an altitude of 7000-8000'. As a crude estimate off the top of my head, if an 8 hour compartment had twice the N2 it would normally have at surface pressure it would lose 8/16ths of the excess in the first 8 hours, 4/16ths in the next 8 hours, then 2/16ths, 1/16th, 0.5/16, etc. Even if the offgasing was linear through the first 8 hour half life you'd lose 1/16th of the excess in the first hour. That 1/16 means you can reduce your ambient pressure by about 2fsw, 1.15psi, or 6%. Atmospheric pressure drops at about 3 to 3.5% per 1000', so after only an hour you should be "safe" at 2000'. OTOH, I don't realy know that much about the intricacies of deco, so maybe I've missed something important. >>You don't say anything about a light, but you do have one, right? > > Actually, that's my next question(s). What kind, how many, etc. I've got no suggestions about what kind, but unless it's really bright and you use a filter, you won't get great results without at least one light. My first trip with a decent UW setup (well, I borrowed a Nikonos for a trip or two in the past, but I'm not counting that) has left me convinced that I *need* a 2nd strobe for the next trip. FWIW IIRC, the photo pro at Sam's was only using 1 light. Maybe the harsh shadows aren't as big a problem with video, but I expect you'd stilll get footage of the bicolor sponges that I have stills of. You know, the ones that are pink on the side towards the strobe and blue on the side away from the strobe. If your girlfriend isn't up on UW photo basics, as was the case with my wife, expect questions like "where are the pictures of the pretty blue sponges I pointed at?" SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. > That's only because so few of us are exposed to an explosive > decompression. I'm guesing that most people who get hits while flying are > just the traveling subset of people with undeserved hits or who pushed the > limits a little too hard. Then that would push up the number of undeserved hits if they're truly not deserved, making the ever-so-safe dive tables that much more risky. I'd rather blame the hits on flying too soon after diving. > I've got no suggestions about what kind, but unless it's really bright and > you use a filter, you won't get great results without at least one light. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > expect questions like "where are the pictures of the pretty blue sponges I > pointed at?" With UW photography, I'm happy using one strobe in clear water. I have two DS-125s for cold water use, but on tropical dive trips I only bring both along so I can rotate them between dives allowing the other to charge (and serve as a backup). The TRV-900 is a 3-chip video camera so it shouldn't need so much light. I mainly want video to capture the big animal stuff that doesn't let you get close enough to make the light matter. Still, I'm looking into some sort of light source for deeper close-up work and for night dives. Strapping on a single UK Sunlight with diffuser might serve my purposes. > I'm guesing that most people who get hits while flying are >>just the traveling subset of people with undeserved hits or who pushed the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > deserved, making the ever-so-safe dive tables that much more risky. I'd > rather blame the hits on flying too soon after diving. Some of them are certainly people who didn't wait long enough. When I said "subset of people with undeserved hits", I'm figuring that if x% of dives within the limits result in an undeserved hit, then y% of people who dive within the limits and then fly after waiting 24 hours should be expected to get undeserved hits, too. > The TRV-900 is a 3-chip video camera so it shouldn't > need so much light. I mainly want video to capture the big animal stuff > that doesn't let you get close enough to make the light matter. In that case losing a stop or so to a filter may not pose a big problem. I expect Ampbibico makes a filter for your housing, but if not, perhaps an Ikelite one will fit. Make sure there are no air bubbles trapped behind it or autofocus will result in a lot of footage of blurry scenery beyond the nice sharp bubbles. Learning stuff like that is a one good reason for a shakedown trip before taking it someplace exotic. SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. > Some of them are certainly people who didn't wait long enough. When I said > "subset of people with undeserved hits", I'm figuring that if x% of dives > within the limits result in an undeserved hit, then y% of people who dive > within the limits and then fly after waiting 24 hours should be expected > to get undeserved hits, too. Right. So the x% that we've all viewed as a insignificant risk as far as our own risk-taking preferences is now really x+y%, a much higher figure. Perhaps PADI paid off DAN to report all the y's as flight-related rather than undeserved so they could sell more certifications? Still, I thought we were talking about flying without waiting 24 hours. That's my concern. I have no problem waiting 24 hours and then driving to 3,000'. Problem is, I'm probably not going to wait that long. > In that case losing a stop or so to a filter may not pose a big problem. I > expect Ampbibico makes a filter for your housing, but if not, perhaps an > Ikelite one will fit. Make sure there are no air bubbles trapped behind it > or autofocus will result in a lot of footage of blurry scenery beyond the > nice sharp bubbles. Learning stuff like that is a one good reason for a > shakedown trip before taking it someplace exotic. I hate autofocus. That's one reason why my Ike housing for my Sony still camera is so beat up. Whenever I'm in less than perfect viz conditions, all I get are crisp clear photos of plankton. Unfortunately the macro isn't good enough to resolve the little buggers into more than just dots or I might have something interesting. > Right. So the x% that we've all viewed as a insignificant risk as far as > our own risk-taking preferences is now really x+y%, a much higher figure. Possibly significantly higher as a percentage of X, but still zero as a practical matter. > Still, I thought we were talking about flying without waiting 24 hours. > That's my concern. I have no problem waiting 24 hours and then driving to > 3,000'. Problem is, I'm probably not going to wait that long. Both my old and new computers have always shown me as being clean well before 24 hours are up. And I've usually been close to clean by the morning's first dive even after a night dive the previous evening. If the computer says I'm clean I'd be extremely surprised if a flight caused a problem after only 8 or 10 hours, but waiting 24 has never been a hardship. For a drive to 3000' I'd feel completely confident to get in the car an hour after the dive and head for 1000' and get above that after a couple of hours. As a practical matter if you do a morning dive, rinse your gear and change, have lunch, and then start the trip you should have a solid 2 hours of offgassing and be safe for an afternoon in El Yunque. I could be wrong, but I'd do it if that was a conveneint schedule. > I hate autofocus. That's one reason why my Ike housing for my Sony still > camera is so beat up. Whenever I'm in less than perfect viz conditions, all > I get are crisp clear photos of plankton. Unfortunately the macro isn't > good enough to resolve the little buggers into more than just dots or I > might have something interesting. I'll get around to starting a thread on my camera and the results but here's the short version. It's a Nikon Coolpix 5400, which is 5 MP (as near as I can tell the model number of all the name brand non-slr cameras tells you roughly how many MP). It's got full manual capability, but as a 35mm film user I find much of it inconvenient if not downright barbaric, largely complicated by a bunch of stupid automatic bells and whistles. I'm pretty happy with the results, though. I've put some stuff in an Ofoto album, and I'll get around to posting a link. I'm not fond of autofocus, but it is convenient in the housing, at least when it works. Too many of the controls do multiple things because some MBA thinks cameras need to keep getting smaller. Of course the screen is too small, and I now need inserts for my mask more than ever. That said, as long as I pay attention the autofocus does a decent job, but it's slow. I've got some shots where I think the camera focused closer than it should have, but I have to take blame for most of the problems. I still haven't used it in really bad viz, so maybe I'll find that to be a problem. I've got a fondness for small stuff that doesn't run away, so quickly changing focus isn't a problem most of the time. The problem with manual focus is that the only way to confirm that your set distance gives a sharp image is to see it on something a lot bigger than the camera's LCD screen. I'm quite pleased with the closeup capabilities, though I haven't tried for something extremely tiny. I do have some good shots of secretary blennies, and some others have some sharp coral polyps. The 28mm (equivalent) setting focuses to about 1cm, but even without a housing you can't really get that close and get good lighting. About the best I could do with the housing is perhaps 3 inches. Cropping to a 1500 by 1000 pixel image results in closeups of perhaps a 2" by 2" area that's more than good enough for the computer monitor. As soon as you zoaom much beyond 28mm the minimum focus increases to 18", so I have to balance short distnce against a wider field of view. My biggest complaint is that the edges of bright areas tends to have a blue fringe from chromatic aberration, which is most noticable in the closeup work. From what little I know so far about digital, I gather that's a fairly common problem, and I'd guess that the ridiculously short focal lengths make it worse than with a 35mm setup. There's a decent version of Photoshop in my future, and that will at least help that concern. Okay, so that wasn't especially short. SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. > Possibly significantly higher as a percentage of X, but still zero as a > practical matter. Maybe. Maybe not. It's not fair to compare y with the total number of dives or total number of divers. What percentage is y of divers that dove z hours before flying? The risk is still small, but not zero. > Both my old and new computers have always shown me as being clean well > before 24 hours are up. And I've usually been close to clean by the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > a solid 2 hours of offgassing and be safe for an afternoon in El Yunque. I > could be wrong, but I'd do it if that was a conveneint schedule. OK. As long as your computer says it's OK, it must be OK. Too bad I can't set my computer to time-to-drive-to-3000' mode. If I have beer with lunch, does this change your calculations? > I'll get around to starting a thread on my camera and the results but > here's the short version. It's a Nikon Coolpix 5400, which is 5 MP (as [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > pretty happy with the results, though. I've put some stuff in an Ofoto > album, and I'll get around to posting a link. Yeah, post it. Here's mine: http://users.adelphia.net/~gmossman/ These are all shot with a Sony DSC-F717 5 MP camera and single Ikelight DS-125 strobe, using the camera's second-highest resolution so they're not truly 5 MP. I always used the second-highest resolution so I could squeeze in 80 shots per "roll". Practically, I've rarely shot more than 30 or so, so from now on I plan to use the full resolution which limits me to 36 per "roll". Unfortunately my housing is being rebuilt by Ike right now because of my poor maintenance skills and I dread the thought of bringing both camera and video on future dive trips. Janna wants to shoot video and I prefer shooting stills, but that means overweight/overpiece charges for sure along with extra headaches. I now bring our dive gear in two separate Samsonite clamshells which gives us each another 'free' suitcase for clothes. Jamming all the gear into one bag put us well over 50 lbs and precariously close to 70 lbs, plus it was a pain repacking. We've tried sharing one suitcase for clothes before but she just packs too damn much. So one case for the camera already puts us over the limit unless we actually can share a bag for clothes. Two camera cases and we're really screwed. > OK. As long as your computer says it's OK, it must be OK. Too bad I can't > set my computer to time-to-drive-to-3000' mode. I heard they were going to offer that feature until their lawyer found out and said no. If I have beer with lunch, > does this change your calculations? Absolutely. Drinking beer will give you extra bubbles right off the bat. > Yeah, post it. Here's mine: I'll be away until late Monday, but I'll try and do some minor editing and then post the URLs by Tuesday evening. > Jamming all the gear into one bag put us well over 50 lbs and > precariously close to 70 lbs, plus it was a pain repacking. We've tried > sharing one suitcase for clothes before but she just packs too damn much. > So one case for the camera already puts us over the limit unless we actually > can share a bag for clothes. Two camera cases and we're really screwed. It's a slippery slope when you buy that first bit of photo gear. I went for the DS-50 with the manual controller. Shooting at ISO 50 and F5.6 to F7.9 I don't think I was ever less than full a stop below full power. The DS-50 is about the size of a soda can, which is nice for traveling. I found a Canon camera bag that's about 11" X 11" X 14", which will fit under the seat even in cattle class. The main compartment is big enough for the housing, camera, strobe and controller, with the sync cord coiled on top. The spare camera battery and charger go in the zippered compartment in the underside of the lid. A charger for AA NiMH batteries goes in a small compartment on one end, and a PC card adapter, 8AA batteries and the camera and new dive computer manuals went in the front compartment. Not exactly compact, perhaps, but not terribly large, either. The wife's "personal item" was a small day pack with the laptop and other important stuff. The strobe arm went in one of the carry on bags with the important dive gear, but the handle for the housing went in a checked bag. I could have shoe-horned it into a carry on bag but I was afraid TSA might think it would make an excellent bludgeon. That's enough photo gear to make me tired just writing about it. Especially on a dive vacation I don't need much in the way of clothes, so we normally get by with two standard size suitcases, and neither of them was over 50 pounds on the last trip. If we were flying Island air to Cayman Brac the camera gear and carry ons would probably have put us 60 or 70 pounds over the combined 110 pound limit, but the last trip was all Continental so we had plenty of extra allowance if we'd wanted. As for camera capacity you need bigger "rolls" or smaller pictures. The info I found online was a bit ambiguous about card compatibility so I called Nikon tech support to check and then bought a 1 gig card. I figured I'd be smart and get the $95 Sandisk ultra instead of the $60 standard card, since it's faster. Once I got the camera the manual said the standard 1 gig card was compatible, but only listed the 256 and 512MB ultra cards. Oops. I spent one of the first evenings after the camera arrived taking pictures of the living room while watching TV and filled the card then downloaded to the laptop with no problem (other than the 20 minute download time). The good news is the card is compatible, but ironically the camera is a lot slower than the card, so it takes a good 30 seconds or more to write the file. If you've only got a 512 MB card check to see if the 1 gig works. Even if it didn't when the camera was new, there may be a firmware upgrade that will fix the limitation. OTOH, if you've got a big card but high res means big tif files, there might be a firmware upgrade that will let you shoot in RAW mode. I had to download the newest firmware upgrade from the tech support site to update mine and add RAW to the options. With the 5400 a tif file is almost 15MB, but RAW is "only" a hair over 8MB. That will let me get about 124 shots on an empty card, and it also reduces the writing time by about 40% (the 30 seconds is for RAW). I'm highly amused that at the lowest res the screen says I have room for 9999 shots, and that's because the screen doesn't have a 5th digit. I think the most I shot was about 65 on a 2 tank dive, and on some the battery went dead a bit before the 2nd dive was over. I'd download the card, swap in the spare camera battery and put a fresh set of NiMH batteries in the strobe before heading out for the afternoon dives. I ran out of camera battery twice, IIRC, and I ran OOA, but I never ran out of memory during a dive. SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. I drove through the mountains last month and 2.5 hours is about right. There are a couple of tricky turns so get good directions. I am told that going along the coast is prettier, but the roads are not as good. In any case, you have to get out of San Juan and the highways--even the toll road--are two lanes at most and not quite as good as on the mainland. If you don't believe me, look at the condition of the cars around you. >I drove through the mountains last month and 2.5 hours is about right. >There are a couple of tricky turns so get good directions. I am told that >going along the coast is prettier, but the roads are not as good. In any >case, you have to get out of San Juan and the highways--even the toll >road--are two lanes at most and not quite as good as on the mainland. I live in L.A. Our highways are some of the worst-repaired in the mainland. Puerto Rico will be a nice change of pace. >>I drove through the mountains last month and 2.5 hours is about right. >>There are a couple of tricky turns so get good directions. I am told that [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I live in L.A. Our highways are some of the worst-repaired in the mainland. > Puerto Rico will be a nice change of pace. Greg, I will be in San Juan from 2pm until 10pm on a cruise - do I have dive options, or should I just imbibe on the local beverages - be advised I have stopped drinking for another month or so! > Greg, > > I will be in San Juan from 2pm until 10pm on a cruise - do I have dive > options, or should I just imbibe on the local beverages - be advised I > have stopped drinking for another month or so! If you're in San Juan from 2pm until 10pm on 3/25 then you definitely have drinking options. Fortunately that's over a month away. > be advised I > have stopped drinking for another month or so! Have you stopped looking in the mirror, too? You've got some kind of black crap all over your forehead. SignatureSteve The above can be construed as personal opinion in the absence of a reasonable belief that it was intended as a statement of fact. If you want a reply to reach me, remove the SPAMTRAP from the address. >> be advised I have stopped drinking for another month or so! > > Have you stopped looking in the mirror, too? You've got some kind of > black crap all over your forehead. oh my god, what is it? Matt Cushing <matt@cushingonline.com> pounded away at his keyboard resulting in: :I know it's a bit early for planning a trip next year, but my wife, kids :and I are going to Puerto Rico next February. I am in the middle of :getting certified as an Open Water diver in central NJ, and I have been :looking around for info on Diving in PR. I found some websites, but :they of course talk about how great their trips are and all that. This is my trip report for Mona Island on the Nekton Rorqual ==> http://www.pathcom.com/~bracuk/Trips/MonaIsland.htm Follow the link for Nekton Cruises to see if and when they are going back. Dan Bracuk If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure. I just got back from diving in the southwest corner of the island. It was very good. Most of the time the visibility was 60-80 feet. The water temperature was around 82 degrees. Diving was mostly walls at 80-120 feet. Second dives were 60-70 feet. The town is very small. It's about 2:30 driving from San Juan. There is no beach in the area, and little to do outside of diving or driving to other areas to see the sites. Most of the time we did two dives a day. A couple of times we did night dives, but all of this depends on having enough divers to pay for the gas. People say that it is not as good as other areas in the Caribbean, I'd say it is very close to some areas--not as good as some others. I've got to do more research. We saw a couple of nurse sharks, a hawk bill turtle, octopus, ray and many barracuda. Cozumel is better. Some parts of Belize are about the same. The other pluses are that the people are very friendly and travel is very easy. >I just got back from diving in the southwest corner of the island. It was >very good. Most of the time the visibility was 60-80 feet. The water [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > are about the same. The other pluses are that the people are very > friendly and travel is very easy. Thanks for the info. Like I said, I'm heading there next month, but I'm staying at the opposite corner of the island. Since you volunteered, I hope you don't mind a barrage of questions. The 2:30 drive means that I'll probably only get out that way for a single day of diving so I want to make it worthwhile. Can you recommend a dive op? Any special dive sites to request? Did they have nitrox? What kind of ray did you see, eagle or southern sting? Did you do the phosphorescent night snorkel? How was the viz? What makes you say Coz is better? What were the conditions like, i.e. current, surge, and surface swell? Do most people habla ingles on the island? Gracias por su tiempo. |
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