2004 & 2005 DIVE & TRAVEL HIGHLIGHTS
2004 marked my return to diving after a long absense - and I did it in style with a trip to the Galapagos Islands - this inspired me to get an underwater camera (although kicking myself for no having one to take with me for that trip)... You can follow this link to the Travel Photos...and this link to the Dive Photos or click on the pics for the Photo Gallery.
Equador and the Galapagos
May 2004 saw a friend of mine, Puneet Gupta, getting married in Equador. Being so close to the Galapagos I decided to extend my visit by a few days and take the short flight over to Baltra.
I did a few days of diving in the Galapagos from a shore based operator (scuba iguana) - although we didn't dive the famous (and more remote) Darwin and Wolf - I still managed to swim with spectacular schooling hammerheads, and large numbers of whitetips and galapagos sharks, along with seals and other interesting things.
Bahamas
I have to make an annual trip over to the Bahamas - 2004 was the first year and so I managed to do a fair bit of diving, including the famous Shark feeding with Stuart Cove. While not a great fan of feeding - it was spectacular. Subsequent trips I have not done the feeding but do dives close by, so I can still see the sharks.
Roatan, Honduras
I spend a week in the Fantasy Island dive resort - an excellent dive loation with 3 boat dives a day and unlimited shore diving. Warm water with excellent reefs and perfect visibility. The food was certainly not gourmet but was plentiful. Great value for money.
Cozumel
I made 2 trips to Cozumel in 2005. Hopefuly it will not take too long before Cozumel recovers from the beating it received from Hurricane Wilma. Diving with BlueXTSea - first class operator owned by Christi - from the USA. Highly recommended.
The paradise we call Florida
I often drive to the "Keys" or East coast of FL for some diving, food and beer. 2004 my parents also visited so we went to the Everglades and had some fun in an airboat. Just before my Xmas trip to the UK, i took a drive about 3 hrs north to see the Manatees in the Crystal River. In 2004 I also completed my Divemaster certification. Also, with hurricane Dennis, the 527ft Speigel Grove was turned from its side to being upright with the strong currents. Other dive related stuff - completed my Advanced Nitrox and Deco procedures class off the coast of Tampa/St Pete with Chad Carney.