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rfortune · 08-19-2009, 04:21 PM,

Quick summary:

- Stayed in a condo that was across from Dolphinaris. Really nice place (3000 sf, 4br, 4.5 bath). Owner actually stayed and dove with us.

- Dove with Dive Paradise. The condo owner has a relationship with them and we had the same DM for all 10 dives over 3 days which was great, especially for us newbies. Really liked their fast boats which we used for 2 dives.

- Did almost nothing outside of diving on the island. We did make it downtown to wander through the shops one afternoon, and had some meals at Rock'n Java and Los Otates, but my kids were pretty wiped out from diving so we didn't do any touring or other activities.

- Diving was spectacular (especially for newbies). Unbelievable vis, hour+ bottom times, DM was almost too good of a critter finder - seemed like he was constantly tank-banging. I really enjoyed Palancar Horseshoe and Columbia Deep which both had swimthroughs and very cool formations. Paradise Reef was like swimming in an aquarium with all the marine life and was VERY COOL at night. We saw turtles, sharks, rays, crabs, lobsters, morays & spotted eels, toadfish, lionfish (DM's caught two), seahorses and too many other tropical fish for me to list.

- Current ranged from almost non-existent on the night dive to really ripping on one dive, but you could always drop behind a formation to pause and take a closer look.

Overall, it was a GREAT first dive trip and I will be back (hopefully soon).

If anyone has any specific questions, you can PM me or ask them here.