Maisa & Guillermo

- "Un Amor Especial" by Guillermo Ferrero

2011-12-08T10:19:00.000-08:00

Find Guillermo's amazing rock song "Un Amor Especial" that wrote, played and sang for Maisa in Itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/un-amor-especial-single/id486635976?ls=1

- "Cook, Eat & Drink" by Maisa

2011-09-27T09:43:00.000-07:00

Follow Maisa's Recipes blog "Cook, Eat & Drink" here:
http://food.baires.ca/

- "Emerald Photography" by Guillermo

2011-09-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Follow Guillermo's Underwater Photography blog here:
http://underwaterphoto.baires.ca/

Nutella Ice Cream

2010-04-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

My friend Sharon is a big fun of Nutella and icecream. We went to visit her and Paul for Easter and I knew I will have the time to make Nutella Ice-cream for her. I researched all over the blogs and found this extreamely easy and yummy recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

750 gr Nutella
2 cans Evaporated Milk

Combine the Nutella and the evaporated milk in a medium freezer-safe mixing bowl, and stir with a whisk until they become one, voluptuous and smooth. Place in the freezer.

Every hour or so, remove the container from the freezer, draw the sides in with a fork (the ice cream will set on the sides first), stir vigorously, and return to the freezer.

Your ice cream will be ready by dinnertime.

Happy Easter!

Hwy 19 towards Port Hardy

2009-11-13T13:30:00.001-08:00

The sun is above us even if we can not see it!

2009-10-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

After rushing with different errands, I left to Las Vegas to meet with Guillermo that left a day before to attend to a conference. The weather in Nanaimo and Vancouver was as always on fall... rainning , cold and foggy - not a surprise- The surprise was to see the sun above the clouds and feel the warm of it. It energized me!

Happy Birthday Guillermo!

2009-10-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

I will start wishing Guillermo a Happy Birthday! We started celebrating last saturday with lots of friends and we will continue in Las Vegas until the weekend... not everyday you turn 40 ;-)

It's been a while since we updated the blogg. As you all know, we have been pretty busy working, diving, sailing and travelling. I know it's a pretty bad excuse for ignoring the updates. I thought to do something... I saw a blogg a while ago that uploaded everyday a photo, so I thought to give it a try. I will upload pictures from my iphone, sometimes I will post comments, sometimes not. It will be like a photo journal. Please feel free to leave comments!

Conclusion thoughts of the Bonaire trip.....

2008-09-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Aggravating

M: To lose a day dealing with Continental Airlines and RBC Insurance on the phone and the slowwwww internet connection in the island

G: The condo safe not working sometimes and waiting for the maintenance guy to come fix it... specially since we had our passports, computers and money inside the safe.

Awesome

M: Dive in warm water with only 10 pounds!

G: Bonaire! What a great diving destination! It is fantastic that you can dive all day long in only a few minutes away by car or just right outside your door.

Beatiful

M: To dive the amazing healthy reefs in Bonaire.

G: Reefs, fish, fish and more fish! Did I mentioned fish?

Challeging

M: Trying to find the names of the streets to match the map of Bonaire ;-)

G: Not too many challenges around the island. Trying to fit a busy diving schedule with your day to day chores.

Craziest

M: Trying to walk in the Houston airport while the golf carts with passengers race from one part of the terminal to the other without paying attention to the people walking

G: Is it diving 4 times a day considered crazy? How about diving in the morning and windsurfing in the afternoon?

Curious

G: Blowfish... hard to find and always intrigue you if it is going to balloon or not?

Exilarating

M: Seeing cleaning shrimp in action!

G: Seeing fish rush hour traffic on busy reefs

Fascinating

M: Just looking how every single space in the reef is a home of a fish, how they protect it and interact with the whole reef.

G: Seeing perfect harmony in the reef... everything single living creature has a purpose! It makes you think about how fragile an ecosystem is and how important it is to respect them.

Funniest

M: The old stories that we told our friends over dinner in the argentinean restaurant, Patagonia.

Happiest

M: Spending two awesome weeks in a tropical paradise with Guillermo and our friends

Important

M: To wake up between 7 and 8 so we can enjoy the diving day!

Intelectual

M: Finish reading the amazing book "The Kite Runner"

Difficult

M: To understand how the locals can afford such an expensive groceries :-S

Relief

M: When we got the flight tickets changed to Sunday after they told us that it might be one week until we might come back home

Saddest

M: To see the destruction that Hurican Ike was doing in his path

Scariest

M: We were doing a boat dive in Klein Bonaire, and I came up the boat first and Guillermo was coming up after me. When I turned to check if he gave the fins to the captain, I didn't see him. He was under the boat, we can see only his bubbles. I was ready to jump back in the water while Ray was checking the bubbles when he came up. He told us that his computer was telling him to do 4 minutes stop before going up....

Unique

M: To look at the manta rays swimming pacefuly and gracefuly through the reef

Diving in Bonaire, Netherland Antilles

2008-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Three months ago, we set up an appointment to take S/V Baires for some warranty work to Lynwood Marina for two weeks. We were going to have two weeks of holidays... but the question was where to go? We had some restrictions, it was hurricane season and it was too expensive to go to the South Pacific. After some research we booked the flights to Bonaire because of the amazing diving and that Bonaire is outside the hurrican belt. Soon after we booked, Sebastian, Carla and Ray also booked the trip with us.

The Island Territory of Bonaire is one of five island areas of the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the main island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire. Together with Aruba and Curaçao it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, north of Venezuela. Bonaire has a land area of 288 km² (111 sq. miles), while Klein Bonaire is a further 6 km² (2.3 sq. miles).

Bonaire is world renowned for its excellent scuba diving and is consistently rated among the best diving and Caribbean diving locations in the world. The island is ringed by a coral reef which is easily accessible from the shore along the Western and Southern sides. Furthermore, the entire coastline of the island has been declared a marine sanctuary, preserving local fish life.

As soon as we came back from Port Hardy, we unpacked and repacked again. Friday morning the five of us and scuba dog casted off the lines of Baires and we sailed across the strait to leave her for repairs for the next two weeks. The sailing was smooth but a little cold for our crew. We were all craving for sun and warmth!

The flight to our Caribbean destination was long,... let's rephrase it....it was VERY, VERY long. It took almost 24 hours from Vancouver to Bonaire changing planes in Houston. We arrived at 5 am Bonaire's time, just in time to pick up our rental truck, check in the apartment, pick up our unlimited shore dive tickets and attended the orientation meeting! By 10 am we were diving!

During the following two weeks we dove, dove and did I mentioned dove more! Guillermo and Maisa dove 40 dives, one site better than the other one in an amazing warm water,with 200+feet vis, using only 10 pounds of weight! Maisa used her new Apex BCD and absolutely felt in love with it.

The main advantage of Bonaire is that almost every dive site is accessible by shore. That gives any diver the freedom to choose and to go whenever he/she wants. We dove different sites on the west and east of the island. Our favorites were Bari Reef, Karpata, Oil Slick Leap, Hilma Hooker, Angel City. We did some boat dives in Klein Bonaire as well. Klein Bonaire is a small inhabitant island across Bonaire.

We saw in the reefs unlimited amount of fish that included different species of angelfish, parrotfish, snapper, trunkfish,scorpionship, barracuda, grouper, turtles, tarpon, ray, moray eel, lobster and buttherfly fish to mention a few.

The weather was great. The trade winds kept the ambient fresh and the humidity low. There were a couple of hurricanes in the Caribbean that sucked out all the wind and clouds from the south Caribbean, leaving us with unbelievable dry weather.

Overall, we had a great holiday with great friends. We relaxed and enjoyed every minute. Our only concerned was to wake up in the morning and decide if we should we go diving North or South.

Diving at Browning Pass, BC

2008-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

We received a call from John offering us to spend a weekend at Browning Pass Hideaway leading dives for a family of four (Ron, Sherryl, Dallas and Trevis). So there we went north....we left thursday Aug 21 at 2:30pm arriving at Port Hardy at 6:30 pm. A water taxi was waiting for us, by 7:00pm we were at Browning Pass Hideaway.

We enjoyed 4 dives on Friday -Hussar Point, Eagle Rock, Seven Tree Island, Franz Rock and 3 dives on Saturday - Browning Wall, Rock of Life, Browning Wall. We head back on Sunday.

The visibility was more than 100 feet.... I am not exagerating! The water was deep blue. We saw dogfish, Orange Peel Nudibranches, Soft Coral, Decorator crabs, cabezon, to name a few. We love the North, the diving is amazing and the views are breathtaking!.

Thanks Ron, Sherryl, Dallas, Travis and John. We will be back soon!.

Diving at Madrona Small Wall, Nanoose Bay, BC

2008-08-19T22:54:00.000-07:00

Scuba Dogs club does it again! over 15 divers showed up this time to enjoy a great dive at Madrona Beach. This time we choose to dive the small wall and we had a fantastic time!

G was trying his new BCD and Regulator set and he loved it! Hey... Maisa is due for a new BCD :)

G finished the PADI MSDT :-)

2008-08-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well... OK I said no more training for a while... but I really wanted to be able to teach specialties! So here I was going back to school again under the wing of Tyler Preston to complete my MSDT training.

After a great long weekend of diving... I can now teach the following specialties:

- Wreck Diver

- Night Diver

- Deep Diver

- Nitrox

- Dry Suit Diver

- Search and Recovery

Interested? Call Sink or Swim Scuba Shop, and ask when is the next scheduled specialty of your interest!

Diving at Tyee Cove, BC

2008-08-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Scuba Dogs Club after work dive attracted 21 divers this time around. The Sink or Swim Scuba diving club was at full force getting people in the water. The visibility at Tyee was great and we had a great relaxing dive with lots of new divers coming this time.

Stay tuned for new after work dives posted in Facebook as well as our mailing list at the shop. If you would like to be included in the list, just call Sink or Swim Scuba and tell them that you would like to be part of the Scuba Dogs Club!

We welcome members of all diving levels and all dives are supervised by professionals! the best part: It's FREE!

1st G OWC

2008-08-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well the moment of truth came for G. His first open water class solo took place this week and after Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the pool... his students were ready for the real thing: Open Water dives 1 and 2 at Finn Beach on Saturday and Open Water 3 and 4 at Tyee on Sunday.

All students mastered the skills and demonstrate them in Open Water. After a great week of diving they are all PADI open Water certified divers!

Congratulations to all!

Diving RivTow Lion Artificial Wreck, Nanaimo, BC

2008-08-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

It was time for a nice dive after work at the RivTow Lion Artificial Reef in Nanaimo. Jerry picked Ian, Maisa and I with his beautiful zodiac and we were off to dive the wreck. As soon as we got there I can tell that the visibility was awesome! Jerry and I buddy up and Maisa and Ian went together.

As soon as we started the descend with Jerry we can see the entire boat from 10 feet down (she sits at 90 feet), so I'll say that visibility was about 80 feet at least! This is the first time that we had such a great viz at the RivTow Lion.

The Rivtow Lion is a 157-foot (47 metre) long North Sea Rescue Tug. Built in 1940 in Selby England, she was originally named the "HMRT (His Majesty's Rescue Tug) Prudent", later named "HMRT Cautious" in 1947 and finally becoming "Rivtow Lion" in 1966. This 561-ton vessel was first stationed in Iceland and the Shetland Islands. Built to tow convoy ships damaged by German U-boats in WWII, throw together crews of these tugs accompanied convoys across the North Atlantic on a three week voyage through winter gales and U-boat attacks, towing damaged ships in all kinds of weather. She was part of a rescue fleet that saved 140 American, 245 allied and neutral ships, 750 British and Commonwealth ships along with 245 allied warships and millions of tons of supplies during the war.

Retried from Navy service, the Rivtow Lion worked from 1966 to 1985 towing log booms on the BC coast from Alaska to Puget Sound. After 17 years of log boom towing she was moved to Mosquito Creek where she was used as a breakwater for the marina for many years until she started spilling oil. Saltaire Marine Service was hired by the Coast Guard to clean the spill site and the vessel. It was towed to Ladysmith Harbor where more than 44,000 litres of oil and waste were removed from the tanks and bilges.

The Nanaimo Dive Association (NDA) acquired the ship in early 2002, and following the remainder of the clean-up operation, have sunk her in Departure Bay, Nanaimo on February 6th, 2005 as a shallow water artificial reef, ideal for novice wreck diver training and sport diving all year round.

Thanks Jerry for picking us up and for pizza that night!

Sailing to Ballet Bay, BC

2008-08-05T08:35:00.001-07:00

After a hectic few weeks of training and classes, we decided to take a relaxing weekend off. Winds were blowing from the north west and we headed over to Ballet Bay (or should I say Al's bay) for the weekend.

We had a great crossing with 15knot winds from the north west that took Baires to destination in only one tack! Well... actually we stopped for propane in Pender Harbour as Maisa discovered that both our tanks were empty while trying to fix some lunch during the trip. Good thing that Pender Harbour has a bit of everything.

We got to Ballet Bay about 5pm or so and the bay only had 2 other boats anchored. We love this place! It is always empty (specially in winter) and there is lots of room for many boats. We decided to have a relaxing weekend, so guess what? We did not do anything rather than sleep, and relax! The long weekend was great for this as we arrived on Friday, stayed Saturday and headed back in town Sunday at noon.

Ballet Bay, on Nelson Island, is a popular anchorage in Blind bay. It is well protected and very pretty. While Ballet bay can be entered from the North, many rocks obstruct the path and close attentions called for. The easier entry is from the west, between Nelson island and Clio Island. Many rocks in the area around Ballet bay are marked with sticks or small floats, but do not count on all of them being marked. Not all the rocks are charted, either. Go slowly and pay attention. The center of Ballet Bay is good holding mud, but the bottom grows rockier toward shore.

Diving at Tyee Cove, BC

2008-07-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

My first solo student with no less than my own boss Jerry! I had the pleasure to teach Jerry's Open Water dive #1 and #2 at Finn Beach. Of course what better instructor beginner mistake than forgetting your own weights! Good thing my briefings are long and allowed Maisa time to go get them.

The experience was excellent! It is amazing how quickly you can do skills with only one student. Jerry mastered all the skills very quickly and we got to enjoy a very nice relaxing couple of dives.

After this dive we ended up the night at Loongwood Pub for a great dinner! Thanks Jerry for that!

Wednesday, Ray finished Jerry's Open Water Dive #3 and #4 to finish Jerry's certification. Congratulations Jerry! In the meantime Ian, Maisa and I had a great couple of dives at Tyee. We went to right of the wall the first time and to the left the second time. Two awesome dives! This was Ian's first two dives after his Open Water Certification and he had a great time.

We ended up at shop having pizza all together.

Tyee Cove in Nanaimo, BC is a great diving site that has a bit for every level diver. Doing a class, there is a nice sandy flat bottom at about 20 feet and for those who want to venture down, there is a great wall to the right that offers a variety of life to please the most demanding divers. From wolf eels to a great variety of fish, Tyee Cove never disappoints anyone! To the left "the channel" there is also another great wall that shows different life and if you swim a bit further you get to more wolf eels and even more life. Of course if you continue swimming... you can get to Dolphin Beach in one dive!

Weekend in Nanaimo

2008-07-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

My first Open Water Class as an PADI Open Water Instructor happened this week. Ray was the lead instructor on this class, but I demonstrated and evaluated skills with him during all week. It was a great opportunity for me to practice this one last time since the next class I'm going to be teaching solo!

During this class we have the pleasure to have our friends Sebastian and Carla doing the Open Water Certification with us. We are going together to Bonaire soon and who wants to go to Bonaire without being a certified open water diver!

Carla and Sebastian aced the tests and mastered all skills during the entire week and on Sunday after the last open water dive I had the pleasure to have them as my first and second open water certification as a PADI instructor! Very nice! Congratulations Carla and Sebastian for this great accomplishment.

Ray and Shelagh from Sink or Swim Scuba invited me over for the dinner at the Keg in recognition of my new credential as an Instructor. Thanks Ray and Shelagh for the dinner, it was fantastic. Thank you Ray for mentoring my path to instructor level!

Diving at Odger Point Breakwater and 10 Mile Point in Victoria, BC

2008-07-20T20:33:00.001-07:00

On Sunday morning while Guillermo was finishing his IE to became a PADI OW Instructor, Maisa went diving with Alisa Preston at Odgen Point Breakwater. Odgen Point is a fantastic dive site... specially when you get to enjoy it with a good buddy and the 60 feet visibility wasn't too bad either :)

Odgen Point is a very popular and active Victoria dive site for all diver levels. The display of life in this site is fantastic. Although it has a somehow challenging entry the dive is well worth it! Be ready to find plumose anemones, giant pacific octopus, chitons, painted greenling, lingcods, rock fish and lots of crabs to name a few species.

While doing this dive Maisa got to see Guillermo doing his Open Water Presentation to his examiner and it was kind of fun to swim by him underwater while he was doing his skills.

During the afternoon, Alisa planned a celebration dive for the new Instructors and she took us to 10 mile Point for another fantastic dive. 10 mile Point is considered the best shore dive in Victoria, with a wall that extends around the point and it is full of invertebrates and fish. Of course to get that life it got to have current and 10 mile has lots of that! Dive at slack and enjoy a display of color and life anywhere you look.

G is a PADI OW Instructor!

2008-07-20T20:32:00.001-07:00

Guillermo and Scuba Dog (Dive shop mascot) passed the PADI Instructors Examination and they are both PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors!

After over two years of intensive diving and going from an open-water diver, advance open water diver, rescue diver and dive-master... Guillermo and Scuba Dog decided to go pass their knowledge to new students.

The path along the way was great and very enjoyable. Ray and Shelagh from Sink or Swim scuba were Guillermo's mentors and coach him to be the confident diver he is these days. His IDC Course Director Tyler Preston excelled preparing Guillermo for his Instructor Examination!. Guillermo is now looking forward to pass his diving knowledge to new students!

What's next? Well as you know we can't really stay still for too long, so Guillermo is going back to Victoria to train for his PADI MSDT (Master Scuba Diver Trainer) which will allow him to teach five specialties: Nitrox, Deep Diver, Wreck Diver, Night Diver and Search and Rescue Diver.

Diving at Neck Point, Nanaimo, BC

2008-07-17T22:39:00.001-07:00

Sink or Swim Scuba Shop organized a dive to Neck Point and we had 24 divers showing up! We had a great time with them as we lead them to a brand new location.

Neck Point offers a great dive site with lots too see. From abundance of invertebrates to great population or Rock Fish, Neck point has a bit of everything. If you never dove here, call Sink or Swim Scuba Shop and we can take you here anytime you would like.

G Finished PADI IDC

2008-07-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

After a couple of very long intense weekends, Guillermo finished his IDC (Instructor's Development Course) in Victoria. After receiving great instruction from PADI course Director Tyler Preston, Guillermo is all ready for his PADI Instructor's Examination!

After the first weekend Guillermo received his Assistant Instructor certification which he is not planning to use for much.

Sink and Swim's Scuba Dog was also part of this experience and he is working hard to pass next week exam!

In the meantime, here in Nanaimo, Maisa dive-mastered an Open Water Class with Sink or Swim Scuba Shop and enjoyed a relaxing night at Long Lake with Mike, Sue and kids.

Diving in Browning Pass, BC

2008-07-01T08:59:00.000-07:00

For Canada Long Weekend we had another great diving trip to Browning Pass Hideaway. We drove after work to Port Hardy and we met with John and other divers at about 8pm. We headed to the Hideaway looking forward to start another great trip at the most expectacular diving location in Vancouver Island!

We dove, dove and dove some more for four days in a row (5 dives a day!). We enjoyed great hospitality, good friends and off course amanzing diving. We dove Browning Wall, Seven Tree Island, Rock of Life, North Wall, Berry Rock, Eagle pass, Eagle Rock, the Nursery, and many other dive sites that are all expectacular... why dive Browning Pass? Life, life and more life! An amazing display of life that will capture you and make you come back for more.

We are PADI Nitrox Certified!

2008-06-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

After an awesome dinner at Ray and Shellagh we headed home early as we had an early start ahead of us to complete our Nitrox (Enriched Air) certification with Sink or Swim Scuba Shop in Nanaimo. After we went to sleep and about 2am in the morning, we had someone knocking in our boat asking for help! It looks like someone that had a few drinks too many went in the water and could not get out. We managed to get him out of the water and called 911.

The next morning we did our Nitrox course. Mike S. got his certification as well... so now we are all Nitrox Certified divers. We ended up at Mike and Sue for another great dinner!

Sunday we cleaned up the bottom of motor vessel Island Eagle as Maisa and were hired to do that job. After six tanks and a lot of growth removed from that bottom, Island Eagle is ready sail away. After all that work we ended up at the Keg for a well deserved dinner!

Diving 4 Fanthom Reef, Nanaimo, BC

2008-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

After meeting at Sink or Swim Scuba Shop at 5:30 pm we headed to dive 4 Fanthon Reef with Ocean Explorers Diving Ltd. Ian had about 18 divers and got the boat anchored right in the reef.

Going in the water we found a very strong surface current that died down bellow 40 feet. The reef is really incredible, with lots of life and fish. The dive is fairly easy as you can pick your depth and go around the reef. Why dive it... lots of scallops, rock fish, lincood, and most invertebrates common for this area.