Operator | Site | Dive | Depth | Bottom Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aqua Adventures | Barco C55 | 57 | 72.0 | 9 minutes |
Grampin | 58 | 52.0 | 39 minutes | |
Manchones-2 | 59 | 28.4 | 50 minutes | |
MUSA | 60 | 28.7 | 40 minutes | |
Manchones-1 | 61 | 31.1 | 45 minutes |
28 days prior to the travel date, I realized that I needed to use my timeshare by 31st March, and also that Josh needed to get back into the water, and start his advanced cert work, or our planned Thailand trip wasn’t going to work. So with no notice, I booked a room, flights, and asked him to join me if he could.
Reddit recommended Aqua Adventures for a dive shop, so I communicated with them for a couple weeks, and arranged a refresher course on Saturday, and AOW on Sunday and Monday, with a possible day off or fourth day of diving on Tuesday.
Weekend Winds – A Failure to Launch
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday winds were 20+ MPH, with gusts up to 40. While the ferry may be able to cross with that wind, the docks close for smaller boats. So all our plans went down the drain. One day of diving wasn’t going to get Josh his AOW, and it felt a waste to do the refresher as our only dive, so instead, Josh did a “recertification” course on Monday, with a small shore dive for skills refreshes. It got us in the water, and while it only went as far as swimming around under the docks, it also got us practiced at skills neither of us had used for a decade-plus.
Barco C-55 – My First Panic, My First Called Dive
Backrolling off the boat, we did a very quick descent, followed by a moderately hard swim into the current to reach the wreck. Josh and Danny then started their skills and I… well, I started freaking out. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, couldn’t pull in air, couldn’t successfully breathe. I wanted to pull out my reg, but I held my hand in front of it, because I knew that was stupid.
Was it nitrogen narcossis? Probably not. We were only at 75ft, and I’ve never had anything like that before. Was it just a pure panic attack? Again, probably not, I’ve never had one of those before either. In retrospect, my “best guess” — and that’s all I’ll ever have — is it was a mixture of bad GI issues the two days prior, low calorie intake because of that, a swim that shouldn’t have been hard (but was, due to caloric deficit), and some amount of narc induced panic.
I notified Danny that I wasn’t doing well. We called the dive right away, and fortunately Josh had already had a chance to do the skills, and safety ascended. I tried to signal at 40ft that I’d calmed down, and could try a slow descent, but Danny had already scrapped the dive, and that was fine. Hopefully, it’ll never happen again, but there are worse “bad endings” to a dive than a safe early-exit.
Grampin
No drama for the second dive of the day. This drift dive was along a large area of coral, at about 25 feet, with a pretty typical subtropical mix of small and medium life. Stingrays, nudibranchs, crabs and lobsters, and schools of tropical fish. I didn’t photograph much, given my previous freak-out, I primarily wanted to focus on calm, and my breathing. I was the first out of air, but I also started about 400psi below Josh and Danny, so it wasn’t horrible, even though my breathing wasn’t great.
Good Night Moon, Good Night Stars
After a short break, we finished our day of diving with a night dive. This was a less comfortable dive for Josh, as using the flashlight means you’re a bit more centrally focused. For me, this dive was the best of the three. The Leton floods did great for illuminating a wide area as I went to photograph, and seeing the big puffers, lobsters, and other more secluded aquatic life out and about made for a very different view than the previous dive.
The “basket star” was a new thing for me, having never done a reef dive at night. And seeing a moray out and about was neat, though photographing it was tough as it retreated quickly from my lights.
This little guy swam in circles with me, following my light for over a minute, till I left it be to continue its evening undisturbed.
Slug Bug!
MUSA, or the Museo Subacuatico de Arte, is a set of statues, and other art pieces, located underwater, slowly forming an underwater reef at about 20 feet, enough to see by snorkeling (if the viz is a bit better) and definitely designed for diving. The artist has installations all across the world, which would make an amazing to-do list for diving!

Groups of tens of statues, bugs, individual pieces of art, and more are all throughout the area. The artist is Jason deCaires Taylor, his portfolio is definitely worth a visit at https://underwatersculpture.com/
Josh had to return home too early to make these dives, so I had booked it to allow the lone diver scheduled for that day not to be cancelled. Instead, when I got there, two snorkelers were waiting in the shop. By the time we were about to go, six snorkelers were there, and two other divers, a dad and his daughter (discover scuba student). Unfortunately for the snorkelers, the visibility meant there wasn’t a lot for them to see.
This wasn’t the most vibrant area for life, but there is no doubt that that will change in time. Already, there is growth on the art pieces, just about fifteen years in, and coral and life takes decades to grow. While the dive had to be called a tad early due to the discover student getting too cold, it was a great, easy, shallow dive that I’d recommend for anyone. And perfect for a discover student.
Return to Manchones
One of the most unique, and beautiful fish I saw was the flying gurnard. Danny said it reminds him of the Dilophosaurus (well, he said the one in Jurassic park that has the… then gestured with his hands the neck frilling out), and I totally agree.
A beautiful two foot needlefish, great schools of porkfish, more giant puffers hiding under rocks, and a great view of a stingray swimming were just some of the highlights of this dive. While, like the others, I’d say this wasn’t anything unique, or spectacular, it was definitely a healthier reef than we saw in the keys, and a perfect example of why I love to dive.