Caribb-LEM Mark III, March 1st-11th of 2017 (or March 4th-11th if you want 7 days)

[HankLloydRight]

I'm bringing my new BCD,reg set, and computer, mask, snorkel, and gloves.

No fins though, too big to pack/travel with.


For T-Mobile, do you mean $0.15/MB? AT&T Passport is 20c or 25c per MB. See: https://www.att.com/offers/internati.../passport.html


And no, I'm not bringing gloves... I just threw that in there for buffo.


-Hank

[telmnstr]

No it said $15/MB, $2.xx per minute to call voice.

I just looked to figure out which T-Mobile plan I actually have, it's via a T-Mobile business re-seller (got a discount through work) and it looks like I get unlimited data and text in Honduras as part of my usual service ($50/mo.) Booya! It's the same as the T-Mobile $65 plan.

[telmnstr]

More questions! What is the local currency? Pay for dives by credit card okay?

Does the place we're staying have coin operated laundry machines? I like my threads fresh daily, and being able to wash my sweet cargo shorts and Pangolin t-shirts means I can pack lighter.

I actually get seasick so I'll bring dramamine just in case. I don't know how far boats go out, and if you can see land from boat, and how big the swells are. But an ounce of prevention...

I wasn't planning to bring any laser projectors, but I will bring my laptop + Pangolin DAC(License) + Etherdream + LSX Dongle. I'm hoping to get some time in with Pangolin3d, and might snatch a ton of models from the open 3d model libraries on the internet and see what I need to convert them. I need to make shows. I've got ideas just not familiar enough with the tool chains to be efficient. I feel that not having a projector might limit some ability to work on stuff. What will people be bringing?

[Bradfo69]

My "carry on bag" was a 12 watt projector last time. I'd really rather not do that again but, I have a feeling I am. Might even have to figure out a way to bring two since these are outdoor shows. I'd almost rather bring my two 3 watt greens and be able to put them in a suitcase or even my new X-Pod system but, I really think we need the RGB. It's just hard because of the over weight, over size fees to really take much stuff.

[buffo]

Local currency is Lempira (Lem for short) which is the National Currency of Honduras. Exchange rate at a bank is about 23 Lem to the Dollar, although on the island they usually only give you 20 or 21 Lem to the dollar - at least in the shops.

At the dive shop Rich can take credit card payments in US dollars. He can also take Paypal, although you will need to cover the fees.

Typically most people will change a few hundred bucks to Lem at the airport. That way you have local cash to spend at the restaurants and bars on the island, although as mentioned above nearly all of them will accept US dollars as well. You just get a slightly worse exchange rate. You can always trade your unspent Lem back for dollars at the airport when you leave. (Also, Rich can usually convert from dollars to Lem and back again at the shop, and he will give you the bank rate, but he doesn't always have a lot of cash on hand.)

The folks who run the resort have a laundry, but I don't know if guests can use it. Need to check with Rich. I'm sure there is a laundry in town, but who wants to go into town just to do the wash? (Not me...) Many more interesting things to do! Remember though - the population of the entire island is only ~2500 in the winter. Downtown is about as rustic as rustic gets... Anyway, I'll defer to Rich on that.

Definitely bring Dramamine. It's usually calm, but if the wind picks up you could be facing 3-5 ft seas, especially on the north side of the island. Our first trip in 2013 was crazy calm - seas like a mirror every day. But 2015 was the opposite; always some wind blowing and we had several days with 3-5 foot seas in the afternoons. Boat is about a 40 footer, but even so she bobs around when it's rough and you're hanging on the hook. We will be going out each morning unless the weather is so shitty that the boat can't safely leave or we can't safely dive. (Once you're down, who cares what it's like topside, right?) So if you think you might get sick, plan ahead just in case.

Regarding projectors - we will have several lower powered units on the island already. A couple venus RGBs, a couple Goldenstar RGBs, and I think one mis-matched unit - maybe from Laserword? Can't remember. Plus a couple green-only units and two blue-only units. But all of these are 2.5 watts or less. (Some are a whole lot less!) Thus we're really looking for higher powered units. I'm hoping to be able to bring a pair of 8 watt RGBs, but I don't know if they'll fit in my bag yet. (Truthfully they haven't even been built yet!) And yeah, we're hoping that Brad can bring his pair of 12 watt RGBs - maybe with Hank's help. That will ensure the outdoor shows will be amazing. But if someone wants to work on a graphics show, I'm sure we can hook up a venus in the dive shop work room so you can see what you are programming....

Deadline is fast approaching for this trip. I think we have something like 13 people confirmed so far, with a few maybes still on the fence. Going to be a great trip, that's for sure!

Adam

[HankLloydRight]

You can always trade your unspent Lem back for dollars at the airport when you leave.

Another option is to leave your left over Lem as a tip for the cleaning and cooking staff. They really work hard to make your stay great. And after a few days, they get to know your preferences for food and drink, so you don't have to ask, they just "know".

. But 2015 was the opposite; always some wind blowing and we had several days with 3-5 foot seas in the afternoons

Yup... and it was on those days we had to do the final exercises for our Open Water tests.. it was not pretty AT ALL. I had to simulate "out of air", CESA(?) to the surface and manually refill my BCD... but every time I tried to do that, I got a 3-5ft wave right in my face and a mouth full of sea water... all the while treading water since I was negatively buoyant. It took a while, but man oh man, was it hard and very stressful.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm also curious from Rich how the Skyroam worked on the island.

[neutrino]

Hey guys.

Quick update.

Honduras + Skyroam = no bueno. The unit just hung up and failed to connect to the network. I tried it everyday. Kinda sucks as I thought this was the solution. We can get local sims and pay for a data package and then tether to laptops etc. Internet was functional and we ha d a group of 30 at the resort.

I thing we should set a date to have a Google Hang out or similar for all those that have booked. This was I can answerable the questions. I hate typing!!

Thoughts?

[HankLloydRight]

Darn, that sucks about the skyroam!!! Will an unlocked iPhone 5 with a local data SIM allow tethering?

I'll also bring a backup Android phone just in case.

And a wi-fi extender.

[telmnstr]

My "carry on bag" was a 12 watt projector last time. I'd really rather not do that again but, I have a feeling I am. Might even have to figure out a way to bring two since these are outdoor shows. I'd almost rather bring my two 3 watt greens and be able to put them in a suitcase or even my new X-Pod system but, I really think we need the RGB. It's just hard because of the over weight, over size fees to really take much stuff.

How heavy are your 12 watt RGB projectors compared to the Pluto II units? Did you carry on last time?

I'm flying on something that charges like $25 per checked bag. I could maybe bring a pluto II but I would have to carry it out of the case (I have the larger Anvil flightcase for it) through the airport and plop it in the overhead bin, showing my physical weakness in front of an entire plane. So damn heavy though. Maybe make one of those baby carrier type things for it :-) Or one of your projectors if needed?

It *MIGHT* be possible for me to borrow a Pelican/Storm case from MAGFest and foam it out before event and use that to hold a single pluto II? Their cases IIRC look like they could fit a projector but with tight tolerances on the top/bottom of the case. They've got like 30 of the cases. I have a large Storm case (like Pelican) that could probably fit BOTH of my Pluto IIs but if I foamed it out for two pluto IIs I think Delta airlines would hit me hard in fees. The box would be so heavy... But it could do it in one swoop.

What about haze on Island?

[Bradfo69]

They are considerably heavier. I don't have the spec's in front of me but say a Pluto is 25 pounds, the Ascent is at least 40. In the flight case definitely over 50 and would have been something like $100 each way as a checked bag. It just barely meets the space requirements for a carry on, provided you remove the yoke which I did and put it in my suitcase. I basically got a folding luggage carrier with wheels and bungee corded it to that. Fine for walking around the airport although escalators are tricky. A pain to wheel down the aisle of the plane and worse holding people up trying to board as you unfasten it and try to carefully get it into an overhead bin. Pluto would be MUCH easier and might even be fine as a $25 checked bag in a flightcase. I think it's certainly under 50 pounds. For the small flights it actually had to sit in my lap. And 40+ pounds sitting on your lap for an hour in a plane gets weary too. Kind of cuts off circulation.
.
Oh, and leaving for the trip at BWI, I had to plow it through 8" of snow in the long term parking lot at 4 am. Trust me.... dragging $7000 of delicate electronics through snow, jacked on caffeine and after sliding 60 miles down I-95 in a major ice storm on two hours sleep was stressful to say the least. And...really worrying about what security and customs was going to say all the way through this crazy journey on top of it. All was fine once we got there and, that's why I said I'd rather not go through that again but, I kinda have to. Out there on the beach, 12 watts made the difference!