News
Zombie Wear or Dive Gear? 5 Spooktacular Dives for Halloween
A blog by Pro Dive International
What do divers do on Halloween? Dress like a zombie, trick-or-treat through the neighborhood to scare little kids, watch a horror movie on Netflix, or attend a party at a friend’s haunted house? How about swapping your traditions for some spooktacular dives?
Our favorite 5 Spooky Dives for Halloween counting down…
5. Underwater Museum MUSA
What could be more surreal and eerie than diving amongst 100s of life size human figures sat on the seafloor, slowly being claimed by nature.
This underwater museum in Cancun was created by a non-profit organization devoted to the art of conservation. MUSA features over 500 sculptures, most of which created by the British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, as well as five Mexican sculptors. There are three different galleries submerged between 10-20 ft/ 3-6 m deep.
The museum was created with the objective of saving the nearby coral reefs by providing an alternative destination for divers, and officially opened in November 2010. The statues provide a new type of artificial reef allowing art to save the ocean. The statues are made of pH-neutral cement and have many holes in them allowing marine wildlife to colonize easily. After only a short time under the water, the statues have begun to be transformed by nature.
4. Mama Viña Wreck
As you drift along the sandy seabed a huge dark shape starts to appear, the Mama Viña – an old shrimp boat guarded by a large fierce looking barracuda and a giant green moray eel.
This wreck was intentionally sunk in 1995 by Xcaret Park and has since developed an artificial reef. Today it belongs to one of the top dive sites on the Riviera Maya.
Sitting at 30 meters, Mama Viña is covered in colorful sponges and corals, and is home to a large array of marine life. Peer through the windows to see the resident glassy sweepers shimmering inside and try to spot the lobsters and eels hiding in the propeller. Spend the dive circling up the boat to join the large barracuda at the mast.
3. Night Diving in Cozumel
As darkness falls across the reef, creatures crawl in search of food, and bioluminescence starts to shimmer.
What creeps out onto the reef after the sun goes down? Join the vibrant party under the sea as huge basket stars unfurl their arms into the night, parrotfish create their mucus bubble beds, giant lobsters, king crabs and octopus prepare for hunt, and bioluminescence sparkles up the scene.
Check out our Top 5 party guests with Pro Dive’s recent blog…
2. Wreck C-53 Felipe Xicotencatl
Witness the great prow of this decaying World War II battleship looming out of the depths. Explore its empty hallways now taken over by sponges and marine life. Visit her final resting place and experience a piece of history becoming part of nature.
This 184 ft/ 56 m long ship was built as a US Navy minesweeper in Tampa in 1944 during World War II and awarded a Presidential Unit Citation and five battle stars for her service at sea. After the war, in 1962 she was sold to the Mexican Navy.
Originally named USS Scuffle, the ship was renamed ARM DM-05, and again in 1994 after Felipe Santiago Xicoténcatl, who served as a General in the Mexican Army. Converted into an Admiral Class Gunboat she guarded the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea in Search and Rescue operations. In addition to providing surveillance of illegal arms and drug trafficking.
In 1999 after providing 37 years of service to the Mexican Navy patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean for illegal arms and drugs, she was finally retired and sank, as an artificial reef and dive site. Sitting at 21m meters and rising up to 12m with many large openings for easy penetration.
1. Cenote Angelita
A cenote unlike any other! Descend into the deep green waters onto an underwater island, surrounded by misty clouds from which dead tree limbs protrude.
Enter another world on this dive, a deep circular pit surrounded by trees in the jungle, which is famous for its hydrogen sulfide cloud at 88 ft/ 27 m. This 10 ft/ 3 m thick cloud encircles the debris and trees that have fallen in over the years, creating the effect of an island rising up through the clouds.
As you sink deep into the dark waters of cenote Angelita you can start to make out massive trees looming out of the mist below, swim over the island and amongst the huge trees and branches rising out of the mist making this an unforgettable site!
Contact us to join!
reservations@prodiveinternational.com
www.prodiveinternational.com/contact-us
Header image: Mama Viña – copyright Manuela Kirschner
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 2
Day three of my trip to Somabay and we were spending the day on the Lady Christina and diving on the wreck of the Salem Express.
Diving wrecks for me is always one of mixed emotions. The excitement of diving a wreck is more than often tempered by the thought of loss of life when she sank. The Salem Express was a passenger ship and a roll-on/roll-off ferry travelling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt. Most passengers were of poor class travelling home from their holidays while around 150 people were returning home from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The ship struck a reef and sank within 20 minutes. Passengers were trapped below deck and the ship was filled with fear and panic.
The wreck area is strewn with personal belongings from the crew and passengers such as a transistor radio and a flat iron for clothes. A diver at sometime has put them in a prominent place to be seen.
Tragically only one life boat was launched while the others went down with the ship. More than 600 men, women and children lost their lives here.
It’s a stark reminder that the sea can be unforgiving and so when we dive on such wrecks we should do so with humble regard.
Returning to the surface, shoals of fish are gathered under our boat and seem to be welcoming us back into the light.
Back at the Breakers I sat in the dining area with a beer and a very good meal while my thoughts still remained with the day’s dive on the Salem Express.
Check in for part 3 tomorrow for Jeff’s last day of diving with Somabay on the off-shore reefs looking for turtles.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 1
For a week at the end of February I was invited to sample the diving with Orca Dive Club based at the Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge by courtesy of SOMABAY.
Somabay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds. Somabay caters for scuba diving as well as many other sports, including windsurfing, golf, sailing, go-carting, horse riding and many other activities.
All the activities are of a world-class standard and any or all of these can be booked directly from The Breakers.
I took Easyjet from Bristol (UK) to Hurghada. Easyjet are not by any means my favourite airline but the flight was cheap and direct (except for the surprise extra £48 I was charged at the gate for my carry-on bag).
I was met at Hurghada airport by a driver and car and taken to the Breakers 28 miles (45Kilomaters) south along the coast. Once at the hotel I was too late for an evening meal and so a basic meal was delivered to my room. That and a beer from the fridge and I was fast asleep.
Early the next morning after breakfast I arrived for my rep meeting at the Orca Dive Center for 8.00am. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and after brief introductions I got some dive gear from the store, had a chat with my dive guide Mohamed and got ready to try the house reef situated at the end of a very long wooded pier where all diving gear and divers are taken out by buggies.
Once at the end of the pier, a helping hand from staff makes sure your gear is set and then it’s a short walk to the very end where you can either climb down a ladder of simply jump in the water next to the reef. The house reef extends both north and south giving a very easy and safe dive with plenty to see. At this time of the year the water temperature was a constant 22 degrees Centigrade and there was little or no current, so there were no issues in swimming back to the pier.
Quite a few divers were in dry or semi-dry suits, but being from the UK and used to the cold I found a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm neoprene vest quite comfortable. Even after 50 years of diving I still find that first dive of a trip slightly nerving until I am actually underwater and then all becomes relaxed and I ease into auto diving mode. There was plenty to see with many of the Red Sea favourites along the way.
After the dive and a buggy ride back to the hotel for a very good buffet lunch I was back in the water, once again on the house reef for an afternoon dive.
Check in for part 2 tomorrow when Jeff gets on a day boat and dives a few of the off-shore reefs.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
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