Travels to Playa del Coco
Today, after completing five specialty adventure dives with Summer Salt Dive Center in Playa del Coco, I proudly earned my PADI Advanced Certification. Yesterday we had experimented with shipwrecks and buoyancy, photography and night diving. There were only two dives left for today: deep and navigational.
The purpose of the deep dive is to demonstrate that the farther a person descends below the surface, the more likely they are to feel buzzed or high. This temporary lightheaded sensation is called nitrogen narcosis, also known as the ‘martini effect.’ It is a completely reversible symptom that can …
Location: North Pacific, Playa del Coco »
Activities: Scuba Diving and Snorkeling »
“I don’t know my ass from my elbow” is a phrase I often use to describe my feelings when thrown into generally strange and intimidating circumstances. I have never before muttered it with such heart-felt conviction as on my first and only night dive. For me, the saying is now exclusively reserved for scared night divers fumbling around the depths in pitch black darkness.
We set out for Playa Ocotal at about 5:00 p.m., after completing various textbook assignments. Less than ten minutes away from the dive shop, this dark stretch of shore is more isolated …
Location: North Pacific, Playa del Coco »
Activities: Scuba Diving and Snorkeling »
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of diving is maintaining enough self control as to not become ridiculously excited when seeing something extraordinary. Not permitting your heart rate to rise or your breath to quicken is a challenge, to say the least.
With this end in mind, I hovered just above the sea bottom in Playa del Coco, daydreaming about the Advanced Diver Certification that I was here to earn. I glanced to my right and saw camouflaged in the rocks the oddest green and yellow sea turtle imaginable. It was about the size of my torso, …
Location: North Pacific, Playa del Coco »
Activities: Pacific Beaches, Scuba Diving and Snorkeling »
