Cortez Explorers - A PADI 5 Star IDC Center » PADI

WWII Wreck Dive with Whale Shark Sightings…

Mick Chapman — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:50:17 +0000

Yesterday, Thursday May 20th, I was in my office, and I was conducting two wreck dives on a pre WWII US Warship that was sold to the Mexican Government (name unknown) not far from here.

This warship was sunk as an artificial reef by the Mexican authorities about eight to ten years ago. Sadly they removed the guns, but opened up the ship to divers by cutting penetration holes all around the ship. Magic!! Whatever she is called, she looks glorious in her new colours of black coral, encrusting sponges of all colours, that literally festoon the ship.

She is twin screwed, and twin ruddered, all of which are still in position, and offer so much in the way of photography. She is about 11m/36ft to the upper decking, and sits upright on the sand at a depth of 23m/76ft. So this beautiful wreck is for every diver, including juniors of a young age.

The viz was about 18-20m/60-66ft, the water warm, with so much in the way of marine life. Huge File Fish, Cortez Angels, free swimming and hidden Morays, fair sized to large Grouper. The list is too long to mention. Between dives we went off to a nearby island, and had our lunch/surface interval. There, there is a bay that comes straight ouf a Jamaican travel brochure. Just beautiful!!

Then it was back to the wreck for the second dive, which was equally glorious to say the least. On the return to shore, and after off loading the dive gear, tanks, BCD’s etc, just as I was about to wave the boat off, there it was, some kilometer (3/4 mile) offshore, a large black roundish fin. I did a double take, got …

We all scrambled back into the boat, mask, snorkel and fins in hand and were snorkeling with a 4m/13ft baby whale shark some minutes later. No one, including myself had a underwater camera with them, and so I managed only to get one shot off of this spotted youngster before gently sliding into the water with her.

We had I suppose some 35 to 40 minutes, but it was worth it and the workout that went with it for sure. She represents the first whale shark of the season here, but she is about the 15th or 16th that I have had the sheer utter pleasure of being in the water with over the last six months. Just another day in my office!!

I think that will be the last good dive for myself for about two weeks as I am starting an Instructor Development Course starting this coming Wednesday, May 26th. Then it is out and out teaching for eight days, plus then two days of exams for my Candidates. I wish them all well for their IDC and afterwards in their diving careers!!

Offering PADI IDC course.

Mick Chapman — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:15:09 +0000

We are offering PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC) this season. We need to gather 4 candidates to make it possible to run an Instructor Exam afterwards.

Due to our size we are able to be extremely flexible! So if you are looking to complete your IDC this year, then contact use for our current schedule and we will do our upmost to work around yours!

For dive centers looking to upgrade their divemasters, we are offering incentive programs. For more information use our “contact us” link.

Thanks

Mick.

A Bubblemaker @ Playa Burro, Baja

Mick Chapman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:38:48 +0000

We had left the dive center early that morning, there was a slight chance of a southerly wind in the afternoon and we wanted to get the intro dive out of the way prior to that. In the explorer with me was a family from Minnesotta who, along with their 9 year old boy, had traveled down by car. It had taken them 3 days to get to the boarder at Tecate and another 2 days to get to us.

Their aim was to strike while the proverbial iron was hot – their son had learned to swim and had expressed an interest in diving. As they were taking the road trip down to La Paz anyway, they had decided to see if he would like to stop in Mulege and try the PADI bubblemaker™ course. They had contacted us a few months back and they were very keen to have him try in the clam confines of Bahia Concepcion.

Playa Burro is an excellent location to try SCUBA for the first time, the bottom is mostly sand and the depth goes from 1′ to 30′ over about 300 yards, so it is nice and flat. The edges of the bay on either side have a multitude of sea life, small nudibranchs, reef fish and crustaceans. However, what really makes Playa Burro so good is how warm the water is. Starting from early May the water tem never drops below 80 degrees, while mid August it is over 90 degrees. Perfect water to learn to dive in.

Tom was very clam and confortable in the water, we observed him swimming and free snorkeling for about an hour, while we ran through the course with his parents (who were both PADI divers). Finally it was time to get Tom acquainted with the equipment and let him take a few, above water, breaths from the regulator. It is always amazing to us how much more comfortable and trusting children are (they also have a better grasp of listening when things are important)! So after running through the basic rules; don’t hold your breath, don’t take the regulator out of your mouth, hold my hand and don’t touch things unless we say it is okay, we were ready for the dive.

Usually these dives last about 20 minutes with 3 of 4 surfaces to clear their mask etc. However Tom was excellent in the water, we stayed under for over 40 minutes and we can truly say we went on a full dive. The maximum depth was 5′, but he could have been at 20 for how good he was. Now a bubblemaker is just an introduction, and he will have to wait till he is 10 before he can take the PADI Junior Open Water™ course, but they had a blast and we have already planned their return dates when they will begin diving together as a family.

All in all it was a great day at Burro, and one that Tom and his family will not forget for sometime.