Posted By admin on December 29, 2011

Taking a break from all the floods and winter weather, the MWMD crew made their annual pilgrimage to blue water.  This time, and for the first time, the crew settled on Curacao…very similar to Bonaire, but yet, so different.  Breezes Resort was base camp providing a very nice place to recharge.  Our rooms were right on the beach allowing us the perfect place for surface intervals.  (A full account of our trip is outlined in the Curacao Tab on the left)

After a long day of traveling you could feel the stress flow from the body (as well as the sinuses clearing) as soon as we stepped off the plane.  The warm humid air meant only one thing, we were finally home and ready for a long week of diving.  We made our way to the bus that was waiting for us to take us to Breezes and quickly got checked into our new paradise home.  First things first, we needed food and quickly made our way to the snack hut on the beach.  After a quick bite, it was time to start work (it’s tough running a Dive Website and having to travel to places like this just so we can report back to all you divers, but we lift our chins and do it for you).  We made our way to the Dive Shop located on the beach that was run by Ocean Encounters.  They must have known who we were (the MWMD Crew) because they treated us like royalty with a laugh and a smile…surely they don’t give this same treatment to everybody.  As much as we wanted to don our gear and jump in, we figured it was best simply relax and take in the atmosphere this first day.  We returned to our rooms and after settling in fell asleep at 6pm.  (Did I mention the long day of traveling)  However, we were all back up at 11pm excited about the week.

The taste of salt water and crystal blue water was just what the doctor ordered.  Throughout the week we managed to finally find a few dive sites, sandy beaches, and sunny weather.  The diving was awesome…..how could it not be compared to the lakes and quarries of true home.  Our favorite dive spot was Porto Marie, but to be honest we only scrapped the surface of the diving in this short week.  Porto Marie was a very nice beach with a double reef system.

As we left the island, one thing kept playing in my head…I have to come back I haven’t done everything I wanted to do. 

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Posted By admin on October 29, 2011

It’s been a tough season of diving in the Midwest with all the early floods of spring and the extreme heat of the summer.  As fall arrives we are cherishing the calmer weather before it’s time to tune-up the snow plows and get the shovels ready.  This October, the MWMD crew headed down to Arkansas to visit our good friends at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock Marina to spend a long weekend on a houseboat…Midwest Live Aboard style. 

I guess the Scuba Gods took pity on us and blessed us with a great weekend of diving with ambient temps in the mid-80’s and water temps hovering in the upper 60’s to low 70’s.  A little chilly in the water, but nothing a good drysuit or layers of neoprene couldn’t handle.  Most of the lakes this year have been terrible for diving with viz ranging less than 10’, but this weekend we found areas at least 15’ and a debatable 20’; although, there were still areas with considerable suspended particles.  You take what you can and just simply enjoy being weightless.  Interestingly, the thermo cline had dropped to about 60 foot.  We found the typical marine life made up of very inquisitive blue gill and timid bass swimming with us with the occasional catfish wishing we would just go away.  We were able to find two more boat anchors to add to our collection.  Not sure what we are going to do with all these anchors we have been accumulating.

The houseboat was a lot of fun and the crew at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock Marina took great care of us as usual.  The boat had 4 bedrooms; two baths with showers, a nice kitchen area, and a great upper deck to hang out on to enjoy the company of others or simply relax and watch the world go by.  We did have a little trouble with the generator on Saturday night.  Apparently, the water pump decided it had enough.  As it was getting dark, we really didn’t want to spend the night without electricity; so, we called the marina.  Shortly after that a rescue crew arrived and in no time had us up and running.  Now, that is great service and much appreciated.  We didn’t know what to expect with regards to the weather; so, we were prepared for chilly nights, but in the end most of the warm weather clothes stayed packed.  If you haven’t woke up on a boat parked in a cove and enjoyed morning coffee while watching the sun come up you are missing out.  A total relaxing experience and one I look forward to yearly.  As always, the weekend went by very quickly and we are left with another dive trip in the books and memories to fill a lifetime.

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