R.J. Archer's Blog

At BajaDIvers.com we make an extra effort to remain impartial and unbiased but I ran across an article on a Baja dive operator's Web site that I just have to share with you. If you travel to Baja much, there are a few publications you're going to want to subscribe to and one of those is BajaInsider.com. They have an extensive Website and publish periodic "updates" which are sent out as emails. Today's Update included the link I mentioned above - an article titled "Best Diving of My Life" - in which the writer shares his experiences diving with The Cortez Club, of La Paz. This article should be required reading for every diver on Earth, especially those who haven't yet experienced the Sea of Cortez. Here are few teasers to encourage you to click the link above and read the entire article:

Sea Lions:
"But where were the sea lions? First a few large females swept past, ignoring us, but then as we approached the reef wall a large pup came shooting down from the surface and twisted and gyrated right in front of us, blowing a stream of bubbles in my face. Now the fun began! Up to four pups at a time came down to investigate us and then play with us before equally suddenly shooting up to the surface again for a gulp of air. They somersaulted and pirouetted all around us, blew bubbles into our faces (they loved to surprise us with this trick!) and gently nibbled at our fins or even our outstretched fingers. They were amazingly gentle as they chewed softly away, seemingly enjoying having their silky smooth bodies stroked and staring into one's face with those huge, dark, liquid and unbelievably appealing eyes. They even barked underwater, sounding rather like a diver's air horn. What a fantastic introduction to the Sea of Cortez!"

Manta Rays:
"I was so distracted by this wealth of new creatures that the manta was almost on top of us by the time I looked up and saw an immense diamond-shaped creature slowly but inexorably approaching out of the murk. Straight towards us came this glory of the sea, and then it slowly turned to swim right alongside me, cephalic fins outstretched and tiny eyes following me calmly as I finned to keep up. As quietly as it had appeared it sailed away into the blue, all too soon for us! Time passed and the dive was nearing its end. We were ascending to our safety stop when a second manta appeared right behind Hilary. I caught her attention and she turned in time to gently stroke its 'wingtip' as it glided right past her."

Whale Sharks:
"When we reached the head of the bay a couple of dive boats were already there, slowly following an immense adult Whale Shark that could be seen as a vast dark shadow below the surface, its dorsal fin occasionally breaking the surface. We waited our turn and then piled in. As the froth of bubbles cleared I was confronted by a huge, seemingly truck-sized snout and yawning mouth going right past me, followed by a wall of whitish spots, a big dorsal fin and a massive tail sweeping from side to side. Underwater the creature seemed so huge that it felt as if it was 30 metres long rather than just 10."

I think you get the picture. Read the complete article and then race to your nearest travel agent and buy tickets to Baja!

In addition to being the Editor of BajaDivers.com, I'm also a novelist and a blogger. I've published a trilogy of adventure novels based on real-life archaeological mysteries and I author a blog about underwater archaeology in the Caribbean.

The first book, titled Tractrix, is land-based and explores the origin of the Mayan knowledge of astronomy and mathematics.

Tsubute, the second novel, takes place on tiny Yonaguni Island in southern Japan. Many of you will recognize the name Yonaguni as the popular dive site and underwater megalithic structure discovered by dive master Kihachiro Aratake in the mid-1980s. Naturally, there's diving and underwater adventure in this one!

Triangle, which completes the trilogy, opens with an investigation of the "lost City of Cuba," the remains of an ancient city that lies 2,100 feet below the surface off the western tip of Cuba. Known as Mega, this site was discovered by a Canadian salvage operation in the summer of 2000 and is only accessible by ROV. Tractrix concludes in the Bahamas, off the southern coast of Bimini, and makes use of submarines, ROVs and exotic rebreather gear.

To learn more about my novels, please visit http://www.SeedsOfCivilization.com.

While researching material for Triangle I got so interested in the real underwater archaeology going on in the Caribbean that I created a blog on the subject and almost didn't finish the novel! The blog can be found at http://www.TheMegaBlog.com

I'm happy to announce that we're back to full strength with the re-introduction of our Forum and Classifieds features. We've also added this blog and a separate MySpace page (MySpace.com/BajaDivers) to further enhance our on-line presence.

Thanks for your patience while we navigated through cyberspace on our way from our old hosting service to GoDaddy.com!

My wife recently got me a very cool birthday present and I’d like to tell you about it. Called the Trackstick II Personal GPS Tracker, this relatively small device is actually a GPS receiver capable of continuously logging its own location, time, date, speed, heading and altitude at preset intervals over long periods of time. Traveled routes can be viewed directly in Google Earth™ and the included software provides a GPX photo stamping feature for adding your favorite photos to your own maps. You simply point the software to a folder of digital photos and it matches each one to the appropriate GPS record based on the time the photo was snapped.   Unfortunately, GPS technology doesn’t work underwater because the satellite signals can’t penetrate far enough below the surface. However, my new Trackstick is going on all my future dive trips. When I get back, I’ll be able to chart the route taken by the dive boat and pin-point dive sites by noting where the boat stopped. The Trackstick II is small and sturdy but not waterproof, so I plan to keep my dry in a Ziploc® bag whenever it’s near the water.   For more information, see http://www.trackstick.com.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of BajaDivers.com or Trackstick, a division of Telespial Systems Inc.

Our friends Mick and Maria at Cortez Explorers were hit hard by Tropical Storm/Hurricane Julio last Monday (Aug 25, 2008) but they hope to be back up and running in time for the arrival of their September bookings.
To read about their experiences, including six feet of water in their home, check out their most recent newsletter at:

http://www.bajadivers.com/Dive-Operators-Loreto-Mulege.html

(Click the Newsletter link to the right of their name)

As you may have noticed, our Web site has gone through some trying times the past couple of weeks as we moved it from one hosting provider to another. Mike, our Webmaster, did an excellent job of getting the core site transfered in record time, but then we had to "reinvent the wheel" with respect to some "extras" - the forum, the classifieds and even this blog. The classifieds will be back soon, but I'm happy to announce that the forum was re-launched this afternoon. Unfortunately, any posts you may have made didn't survive the move, but I invite you to post or repost to your heart's content - we won't be moving again anytime soon!

I'm also happy to say that the Virtual Dive Log feature is now available. PLEASE share your Baja diving experiences with other visitors to BajaDivers.com by posting your dive logs. We'll link them to the appropriate site so others can benefit from your comments.

Welcome to the BajaDivers.com blog. This area will be used to post comments, articles and links that I think might be of interest to divers, especially those who have an interest in teh Baja Peninusla. If you have information that you would like to share, please feel free to send it to me at rja(at)BajaDivers.com [replace (at) with @] or use the form on the main site's Contact Us page.

Regards,
R.J. Archer,
Editor

• Main
• Archives
• Albums
• Links
• Admin

• Jacques Cousteau's "Aquarium of the World"
• Additional Reading
• Website Features Return
• Cool GPS Device
• Mulege Area Hit Hard by T/S Julio
• Website Back Online
• Welcome!

• General [7]

• RSS 0.90
• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom