.  Home  Newsletter 16 - Winter 2005/6
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 Hurricane Divers News
All-Day Excursions Our All-Day Snorkel and/or Diving Excursions are becoming more and more popular. This is not in the least because of the fabulous picnic lunch Pauline prepares personally for every excursion. If you are looking to combine a tour of the bays with snorkeling and/or diving and a picnic lunch on a secluded beach and you don't like the crowds, our All-Day Excursion is just the thing! Here is one example of the comments we get from people who have been on an All-Day Excursion with us: "My husband and I took their Bay Tour which is a great tour! It was small and intimate- only 7 people and one divemaster and a snorkel guide. And the lunch was to DIE for! We thought at first it was a bit pricey, but it was SO worth it. It was from 10 AM until about 5, and the gourmet and abundant lunch (prepared by Roberto's lovely wife) was well worth the price alone! Great food, great company. We stopped at a couple bays that are hard to get to except by boat and had the places to ourselves virtually. We were so glad we took their tour instead of going on a party barge catamaran where you are one of a hundred people all clogged up together trying to snorkel. Thanks again guys!" For more info on our All-Day Excursions, go to "Excursions" 
 Winter Season
The passed summer season may have been lower than normal, the current winter season is busier than ever! It started already half October and we haven't had a quiet week since. One cause for that is the fact that Hurricane Wilma practically destroyed the Cancun/Cozumel area. About a third to maybe even half of our customers this winter originally planned to go there. Many of those seem to really like Huatulco, hopefully we'll get a lasting effect from it. There are also six charter flights from Canada this year, as opposed to three the last few years. I don't know if that has anything to do with Wilma or not. People book in advance more and more too, and many times we have to disapoint divers or snorkelers who did not book in advance. I would really urge anybody that would like to dive or snorkel with us in the high season to book well in advance. For the Easter week for example, we already have many bookings and few spaces left! .
 Fish ID Cards
We have new Fish ID Cards! They're actually not only for identifying fish, but the set of two cards are also for identifying marine mammals and sea and shore birds you may come across along the Mexican Pacific Coast. They're not the plastic ones (they don't exsist for the Mexican Pacific Coast), but they're laminated and water resistant, not really for actually taking diving with you. .
 HD Apparel
Apart from our "normal" Hurricane Divers T-Shirts we now also have Tank-Tops, (Swim) Shorts and Hats. The cotton shirts are grey with our logo on the back and our name and location on the front. The cotton hats come in Khaki and Navy Blue, both have the logo embroided on the front. The Khkai hats have our website on the back. The shorts are made from a quick-drying Polyester Microfiber and have a mesh lining, as well as two front pockets and a zippered back pocket. They have the logo embroidered on the front, in grey and red, same as the Navy Blue hats. .
 Go Pro!
Kat and Ken from Canada are now proud PADI Instructors! They did their Instructor Examination at PADI Headquarters in California in October and they were told that they were very well prepared. That compliment goes mainly to Natanael, who did most of the Instructor Course with them. They're both back in Canada enjoying the cold weather. We have two new free-lance Instructor couple helping us out, Annie and Gustavo. They came to Huatulco after they found themselves without work in Cancun and Cozumel, another effect of Hurricane Wilma. For those who remember them; Didier is now working as an Instructor in Thailand and the lovely Paola is working in Brasil at the moment. If you are interested in making your hobby your living, check out GoPro! . New in Our Website Following are some examples of recent additions to our website: We now have a separate section with guest comments and testimonials we keep updating with recent ones. You can also go to previous editions of our Newsletter. Every Newsletter always comes with a page with guest comments and photos sent in by our divers and snorkelers. See Guest Comments For the results of the survey we sent out to our customers, see Survey We have added a page with some sample menus of our famous picnic lunch that we serve on our excursions. See Sample Menus After several years of answering the same questions, I decided to make a Frequently Asked Questions page. It has the answers to many questions divided into four categories: our website, our dive shop and services, the diving and snorkeling in Huatulco and questions about Huatulco en general. So, if you have any questions, first check our FAQ There's now a separate page with maps from Huatulco and the area, Oaxaca and Mexico. Of course it has a map as well of Santa Cruz with our location. We've put in a black & white version especially for printing. See Maps ..
 "A Day Like Today": December 2004
Just over two years ago we bought our first boat, the "Dignity". We adapted it for diving by installing tank racks and an oxygen kit, having a ladder made and some other little details. In general our divers and snorkelers seem to be happy with it. The name was chosen by Pauline and comes from a Deacon Blue song: "A ship called Dignity". Shortly after we bought it we introduced the slogan "Dive with Dignity", which often causes puzzled looks until people actually see our dive boat! .
 Diving & Snorkeling Huatulco
We saw a lot of turtles this last winter season, on the surface as well as underwater (see photo). This year we are also seeing more whales and dolphins than the last few years. On one occasion we could actually hear the whales "singing" underwater! Another interesting spectacle are the rays jumping out of the water and playing around, sometimes hundreds of them! As every winter we had a lot of different types of rays around and there seem to be more and more sea horses around. We see them now regularly at several dive sites we didn't see them before and they come in a variety of sizes and colors. .
 
For some more photos of whales, dolphins and jumping rays, click here The water temperature has been going up and down a lot over the winter months. Mostly it has been around 22°C to 25°C (72°F to 77°F), going up to 28°C (82°F) now and then and at one time going down as low as 17°C (62°F) under a thermocline. Luckily we didn't have thermoclines often the last few months! The visibility was generally around 10m to 12m (30 to 40 ft). We had better days with up to 25m (80ft) and of course, also days that it was less then 10m (30ft), generally towards the East. On average, over the winter months, the water seemed a little warmer than usual, but visibility seemd a bit less the the last few winter seasons. We issue a "Weekly Huatulco Weather Report", including diving conditions over the last week, see Weather Report .
 
. Underwater Proposal In February our good friend Mike, from Idaho, proposed to his girlfriend Annie underwater. The photo on the left shows Mike with an underwater slate with the proposal and a plastic rose he offered Annie. On the right the happy couple, after Annie said yes! They're getting married in July this year. Congratulations both!
 
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HD News | Huatulco | Miscellaneous | Guest Comments & Photos | Previous Editions
 Huatulco News
As quiet as it was over the summer of last year, this winter season is really busy! There are lots more tourists around this high season, many of them from Canada. To my knowledge there are six charter flights from Canada this year as opposed to three last year. Although it was getting a bit busier every winter anyway, many of the tourists are here because of the situation in Cancun and Cozumel (see Hurricane Wilma, below). Obviously it's a good thing for our local economy, business is booming, people are constructing, investing and opening new businesses and everybody seems to do well for the first time after the dismal years after 9/11. Could this be the turnaround for Huatulco? Let's hope so. For now Huatulco should build on this and provide the people with a positive holiday experience so they'll come back next year! .
 Construction
There is a lot of construction going on in Huatulco lately. The condo complex here in Santa Cruz, next to the open air theater, is practically finished and so is the new beach club in Chahue. The owner of the beach club plans for three different style restaurants and in the very near future will start building a few hundred condominiums, also in Chahue. There are new projects starting near the light house and on the hill behind the Santa Cruz Marina, appearantly all condominiums. For those who know Miguel, the guy of the restaurant nextdoor to our dive center, he sold his restaurant (it was called Gitan). The guy who bought it owns the restaurant next to it as well and is currently rebuilding to make one restaurant out of the two buildings (see photo). Lots of noise and dust coming from nextdoor lately! .
Hurricane Wilma In October 2005 Hurricane Wilma hit the Cancun and Cozumel area (see photo). It was a category 5 hurricane before it made landfall and remained at category 4 level all the time it hovered over the area, which was about two full days! You can imagen that it caused much damage, on land as well as underwater. In itself that's not Huatulco news, but the effects for Huatulco are huge. Many, many people who would have gone to Cancun or Cozumel on their holidays, now come to Huatulco. I would say that about a third of the people visiting Huatulco this year, originally planned to go to the other side. In the previous Newsletter I said I would let you know how the end of our hurricane and rainy season worked out. Well, it wasn't that bad. For a full report on the weather, diving conditions and hurricane activity of the 2005 hurricane and rainy season, go to Report 2005 For the official reports and statistics of the 2005 Pacific Hurricane Season by NOAA, go to National Hurricane Center .
HD News | Huatulco | Miscellaneous | Guest Comments & Photos | Previous Editions
 Miscellaneous
PADI 40 Years! The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) celebrates 40 years of professionalism in 2006. Founded in 1966 by Ralph Erickson and John Cronin, the PADI organization has grown from it's humble beginnings in Cronin’s garage in Chicago to become the leading diver education, certification and membership organization
Today PADI offers more than 35 courses ranging from entry-level to professional, supported by superb educational materials translated in at least 26 languages. PADI’s Membership has grown to include more than 130,000 PADI Professionals and approximately 5,300 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts operating in 180 countries and territories. PADI Professionals are among the most respected in the dive industry, delivering consistent, quality education and training to nearly 1,000,000 divers annually. Source: www.divenewswire.com and www.padi.com .
 DAN 25 Years!
It was actually last year that DAN celebrated it's 25th anniversary. Founded in 1980, DAN has served as a lifeline for the scuba industry by operating diving's only 24-hour emergency hotline, a lifesaving service for injured divers. Additionally, DAN operates a diving medical information line, conducts vital diving medical research, and develops and provides a number of educational programs for everyone from beginning divers and Instructors to medical professionals. Source: www.diversalertnetwork.org
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Less Shark Attacks In 2005 there were 58 shark attacks registered worldwide, with 4 of the attacks being fatal. In 2004 for those numbers were 65 attacks with 7 fatalities, according to the International Shark Attack File in Florida. The numbers have been going down since the year 2000, which saw a record high of 78 shark attacks with 11 of them fatal. Of this year’s 4 fatalities, two were in Australia, one in the Indo-Pacific island of Vanuatu and one in the United States. The U.S. attack occurred June 25 along Florida’s Gulf Coast, when 14-year-old Jamie Daigle was attacked by a bull shark while swimming off Sandestin. Divers accounted for only 4 attacks. Surfers were the most frequent victims, accounting for 29 incidents, followed by swimmers and waders, with 20 attacks. Source: www.divenews.com .
"Artificial Gills" Alon Bodner, an Israeli inventor and scuba diver has developed an underwater breathing system that literally squeezes oxygen directly from seawater, doing away with the need for compressed air tanks. Called "LikeAFish", the battery-powered artificial gill system aims to extract the small amounts of dissolved air that already exists in water to supply breathable oxygen to scuba divers, submarines and underwater habitats. It utilises a high-speed centrifuge to lower the pressure of seawater in a small sealed chamber. This allows the dissolved air to escape back into a gaseous state, much like the way carbon dioxide is liberated from a soft drink when you reduce the pressure on it by popping the bottle cap. The air thus liberated is then transferred to an airbag for the diver to use. Right now, the system exists as a laboratory model. Alon eventually plans to reduce the size of the apparatus, taking it down to a small, lightweight vest for divers; and estimates that a fully functional prototype is about two years away. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk .
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