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Newsletter 12 - Summer 2004
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Hurricane Divers News
New Dive Boat!
We finally have our own dive boat! We bought her last December, used, but less than a year old. Her name is "Dignity", after the boat in the Deacon Blue song, for those who know it. She has a sun roof, a sturdy ladder, two 60 HP outboard engines and is the perfect dive boat for us! As you know, safety comes first at Hurricane Divers, so we have a 12 liter (80cft) oxygen kit permanently on board, as well as a first aid kit, a radio, a fire extinguisher, life jackets, etc.
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More Space
As you can see on the photo on the right, she has a lot more space than the "pangas" we used to have to rent to take you out diving. To use the space even better we will install a tank rack and move the steering console back a bit. As normal we provide drinks and now we also provide clean towels for our divers. We have come up with a new slogan as well: "Dive with Dignity"!
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Divers coming back
You will most probably not recognize these divers, but they are two of the six people we took out on the very day we opened our dive center back in 1999. In other words they were the very first customers diving with Hurricane Divers and guess what, they came all the way from Indonesia to dive with us again!
We must be doing something right because we definitely see a trend of more and more divers coming back to Huatulco and our dive center on a regular basis from all over the globe. You may say that those "regulars" have actually kept us going. As everywhere else in the tourist industry we (still) feel the effects of 9/11 and lately the war with Iraq, as well as the economic situation in the world from the last few years. The first two years after 9/11 have been very quiet in Huatulco and everybody was basically struggling to survive. Luckily, this last winter season people seem to be travelling again and we were pretty busy, hopefully a good sign that things are slowly getting back to normal!
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Hurricane Divers Photo CD
We finally got an underwater camera! Sorry, itīs an expensive digital camera, so no, we donīt rent it out. The good news is that we can now record your diving experience with us and weīll provide it to you on CD. We also sell a standard photo CD with a bunch of underwater photos and some photos of above the water, all taken here in Huatulco. An ideal souvenir for all our divers!
Staff News
For those who know Paola, she went on a family visit in Argentina for a few months, at the moment she is working for a dive center in Zihuatanejo. She wanted to get some experience in another dive center, but donīt worry, sheīll be back. If you were diving with us in the first six months of this year, you probably met some of our latest temporary staff members: Randy, an Instructor from Canada helped us out now and then over the winter months. He used to have his own dive center on Grenada, but is now more or less retired. And Darren and Katie, both from England, who came to do their Divemaster Internships with us. Darren finished his internship and left, heīll come back to do his Instructor course with us. At the time of writing this, Katie is still here, sheīll finish her internship the end of June. In the photo you see (from left to right) Randy, Darren, Natanael our IDC-Staff Instructor, Mike (one of those divers who keep coming back and has become a good friend) and Ursula, Divemaster and girlfriend of Darren. The photo was taken after finishing Darrenīs Rescue Diver Course in February 2004.
If you are interested in becoming a PADI Professional and/or in doing an internship program with us, check out the page GoPro! 
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Kids
A group of kids that is doing the PADI Open Water Course with us, helped us when we did our latest Beach Clean Up. In the photo you see the result of their underwater clean up from La Entrega Beach, which they all enjoyed very much. This is just a part of our ongoing efforts to educate the youth and make them aware of the beauty of the aquatic realm and the need to respect and protect it.
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"A Day Like Today": June 2000
In June 2000 we did our first ever PADI Instructor Development Course and PADI IDC-Staff Instructor Course in Huatulco and in fact, in the whole state of Oaxaca. The photo shows the happy candidates after succesfully completing their courses. They are (from left to right): Natanael, still working for us as an IDC Staff Instructor; Charlie, still running his dive operation in hotel Barcelo; Jorge, still running his dive shop in Puerto Escondido; Gerardo, teaching diving in his spare time in Oaxaca and Marlon, who did hid Divemaster Internship with us, working as an Instructor on the other side of Mexico.
At the time of writing this newsletter Charlie was still running his dive operation in the hotel Barcelo. Recently he left the hotel and he joined forces with Hurricane Divers! We are very proud to have him on the team and for those who know him; you will still be able to enjoy his personal service and attention. I think this is a very positive development for the diving in Huatulco and particularly for the service to all our divers. For information or reservations you can still contact him personally or you can do it through Hurricane Divers. Charlieīs e-mail is: charlie_diver@hotmail.com
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Diving Huatulco
As usual thereīs simply to much to tell you about the diving in Huatulco. One thing that everybody really enjoyed was "Jimmy" the seahorse (see photo), one of several sea horses that seemed to have taken up residence in the bay of Maguey. We saw his partner a few times as well but didnīt manage to get a picture of her yet. A while after taking this photo, Jimmy seemed to have left Maguey, but last week Natanael said he was back and pregnant again!
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Winter & Diving
Like last year, the water temperature on average has been pretty high over the winter months. I donīt know if itīs the "El Niņo" effect but it simply didnīt get as cold as the years before. We still had the thousands of rays staying with us, as they do every winter when the water cools of. We saw quiet a few of the gigantic Manta Rays this year. We didnīt see as many whales and dolphins this winter, maybe it has to do with the water not getting as cold as normal. We had some weeks with poor visibility, but on the whole it was a nice season for diving!
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Huatulco News
Since the cruise ship pier was opened over a year ago, weīve had a steady flow of cruise ships coming to Huatulco. They generally only stay a few hours to half a day so the people donīt tend to do many activities. We only get the occasional diver or snorkeler from them. Although there are still discussions on whether economic side outweighs the environmental side, one good thing is that we now actually get people coming on holiday to Huatulco who got to know it by stopping here on their cruise. Appearantly for the next season many more cruise ships will dock in Huatulco.
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Chahué Marina
The Chahué Marina is now fully operational and as you can see in the photo, itīs mainly used by bigger yachts, many of which use it for a stop on their journey. We actually get a bit of business out of filling tanks or cleaning the bottoms of yachts stopping by. There are still no shops or restaurants in th area, but further development is planned.
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Events
Apart from the yearly and succesfull events like the Half Iron Man, el Festival del Mar, Musica por la Tierra and the fishing tournaments, we had a new event organized by Nauticopa, the national power boat racing league. The boats were Formula T-1's with 150hp Mercury outboards and they raced in two classes, experienced and rookies. In the rookie class we had a local competitor, Monte, a first time driver (and a scuba diver by the way), who did very well and managed to win the race on Sunday! He drove one of the boats of the Corona Team and you see him leading the race, right in the middle of the photo above. The participants and organizers seemed very impressed with the venue here in Huatulco and it may become a permanent event in the future.
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HD News Huatulco Miscellaneous Guest Comments & Photos Previous Editions
Miscellaneous
Mandy-Rae Cruickshank and Martin Stepanek from the Performance Freediving Team set world records in the sport of freediving last March in the Cayman Islands. Mandy achieved a depth of 78m (256ft) in constant ballast, a discipline where athletes swim down and up with fins under your own power. She broke the long standing depth of 70m (230ft) by world record holder Tanya Streeter. Martin achieved a depth of 102m / 335' in the discipline of free immersion, surpassing fellow competitor Carlos Coste of Venezuela's record of 101m. Both Mandy and Martin are working with coach and trainer Kirk Krack, founder of Performance Freediving. Kirk is also organizing the 4th AIDA Freediving World Championships in Vancouver, Canada this August 4th - 12th where 132 of the worlds best freediving athletes will be competing.
Mandy and Kirk were in Huatulco in 2002 to record an ESPN program about freediving and to attempt to break the world record in static breathholding. Mandy didnīt break that record then, but did it a few months later in Canada.
The members of Performance Freediving teach educational clinics around the world and are involved in both team and athlete development. For more info, go to: www.performancefreediving.com
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Illegal Aliens?
Outfitted in scuba gear, three men attempted to cross the Mexican/USA border underwater via a drainage tunnel that funnels rain waters from El Paso into the Rio Grande. It is believed that the men entered the Mexican end of the drainage tunnel. Two of the men were clad in scuba gear complete with wetsuits, masks and air tanks according to authorities. The third man is suspected as having acted as a scout so that the divers knew when they had crossed the border. The men surfaced at a Springfield, Texas pumping station and apparently cut through the drainage tunnel exit grate using hacksaws. Although they were not carrying drugs, authorities are convinced of this motive and arrested the men on other charges.
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Website about Sea Horses for Kids
This summer let on-line learning take you to new depths and oceans of imagination, where you can aspire to learn more about the mystical world of sea creatures! Learn also how you can get involved in the preservation of these beautiful creatures. Never before has a toy line fused such creative imagination and play activities with real facts and information on the lives of beautiful seahorses. The swim behind toy company, Wild Heart Ranch's new site, is to take kids to a whole new level of engaging, interactive fun, encouraging them to not only think of the beauty and fun of these creatures, but also creates an interest in their aquatic lives and marine biology! Go to: www.iseahorses.com
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Succesful Rescue
Earlier this year a group of cave explorers from the UK became trapped in a cave system in central Mexico after part of the system flooded. Richard Stanton and Jason Mallinson of the UK were flown in to rescue the group. They are two of the worlds finest cave divers, specializing in difficult dives in flooded portions of otherwise dry caves, also known as sumps. The expert duo searched for 45 minutes for the stranded group. Once located, the divers gave them scuba gear one by one and led them out of the cave system to safety. The process took the two men six hours. Jason Mallison told the British press that the rescue was somewhat difficult because the water was murky and it was getting stirred up by the swimmers. The whole thing stirred up a bit of a political row and the Mexican government later expelled the cavers because some members of the group were with the British military and they had refused help from Mexican rescue teams.
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