- REBREATHERS - SPORT DIVERS ... - Stingray Divers

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The SOLMAR V When you hear others tell you about their experiences on this grand Mexican lady, be it the The Isla Revillagigedo’s (Socorro Islands), Southern Sea of Cortez or Great White Sharks off Guadalupe, the green eyes of envy will turn as dark as her hull. Review by Bonnie J. Cardone Measuring 112 feet in length, the Solmar V is queen of the live-aboards operating in the Eastern Pacific. The onboard ambiance is several steps aboard the average dive boat, as the interior is resplendent with gleaming mahogany woodwork, polished brass and decorative, lighted glass panels etched with marine motifs. The main salon offers four U-shaped booths with granite-topped tables and upholstered seats, as well as four, two person tables with bar stools. The boat can accommodate 22 divers in six standard staterooms (bow) and six superior staterooms (amidships). The staterooms are finished as beautifully as the salon, with pillow-top mattresses and down pillows in all staterooms, but stateroom floor and storage space is fairly tight. Toilets and in some cases the sink are housed the stateroom’s shower compartment. Each stateroom is fitted with individually controlled air-conditioning and an entertainment system, should you want to watch movie of your choice from the ships video library. The stern dive deck is well organized, with benches along each side with a huge, twotiered camera table as the centerpiece. Tanks are secured behind the benches; personal gear goes in boxes under them. Suits can be hung to dry on racks outside the salon. The Solmar has 3 watermakers capable of making 1,600 gallons of fresh water per day. This allows water in the four 45-gallon freshwater rinse buckets - two for cameras/ regulators with the other two for wetsuits and equipment – to be changed daily. There are also two freshwater showers (and a stack of towels) for diver rinses on the stern each dive. Dives are conducted in one of two ways, based on the site’s location and physical dynamics. When possible, at sites like the boiler, diving is carried out directly from the vessel. On the stern, the swim platform features an impressive, super-wide, rock solid www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Left: For underwater photographers, camera tables are a must, and the Solmar V’s is certainly more than adequate. Right: Solmar V’s new computer alcove and library. Below: While diving from pangas is most often the rule, some sites are accessible enough to dive from the Solmar V’s stern ladder and swim step. in-water staircase. Due to the wild nature station with a laptop for digital editing, a of the region, the Solmar V also utilizes a Seawave Satellite Communications system pair of 22-foot Achilles inflatables with 60hp for hassle free e-mails and sat phone calls outboards for both dropping and retrieving by guests. In place of the two small TVs and divers at specific sites like Roca Partida and antiquated VCR, the main salon now has Cabo Pierce. large screen HDTV and DVD/stereo system, When the Solmar V began operation in and all the old tapes have been replaced Mexico in 1993, Jose Luis Sanchez, owner of with DVDs? Amigos Del Mar diving services, was tasked In addition brining the Solmar V up to date, with setting up the Solmar V’s initial dive with all safety equipment in accordance with operations and overseeing exploration in the U.S. Coast Guard Safety Requirements, Jose Socorro Islands for its cache of dive sites, as Luis ordered a complete overhaul of vessel’s well as doubling as boat’s marketing director. main engines and auxiliaries. Anything that But with the operation split between two the parent company, Solmar Resorts. With needed tweaking got tweaked, right down entities, there were some inconsistencies boat in hand, Jose hit the ground running, to the propellers, which were re-tuned for such as the quality of food and onboard and soon installed a state-of-the-art Nitrox maximum fuel efficiency. diving services. By 2005, when just about Membrane System providing 32 to 34 percent Powered by a pair of turbo charged Detroit everybody and their sister had nitrox, the nitrox fills. 12V-71’s, and boasting a 10,000 gallon fuel Solmar V was still without it! Additional improvements included a face capacity, the Solmar V has a range of 2,300 Call it frustration in not seeing the boat lift to the salon’s library alcove, which had nautical miles, making trips to and from reach its full potential, in February 2006, once housed only had a tattered collection of the Socorro’s an easy jaunt. Most crossings Jose Luis and his wife Leslie purchased the marine I.D. books, novels and VHS tapes. It from its homeport in Cabo San Lucas take Solmar V and the attendant business from now sports a designated onboard computer approximately 23 hours to complete. Factor 7 www.underwaterjournal.com June/July 2007
Page 1 and 2: Issue 3 June/July 2007 - RebReatheR
Page 3 and 4: An Uncertain Future During my trave
Page 5 and 6: By Douglas Ebersole ClOSEd-CirCuiT
Page 7 and 8: About Time The other reason is time
Page 9 and 10: Dive Computers for the Recreational
Page 11 and 12: Adventure Diving It’s four thirty
Page 13 and 14: make maintaining a specific depth i
Page 15: pangas, the Solmar V positions its
Page 19 and 20: The comfortable main salon features
Page 21 and 22: Stepping off the Republic IV, I beg
Page 23 and 24: In the waters of Florida’s east c
Page 25 and 26: Back in the Day When I hear some di
Page 27 and 28: 27 NEW Freeport, Grand Bahama Depar
Page 29 and 30: “It’s not a just a fishing prob
Page 31 and 32: What Are You Doing This Summer? You
Page 33 and 34: • Bahamas • Saba/St. Kitts •
Page 35 and 36: For rinsing the inside of your BC,
Page 37 and 38: the simple solution Left: The man b
Page 39 and 40: Dive Florida America’s Underwater
Page 41 and 42: Hooked on Many a diver has a favori
Page 43 and 44: Like all polycheates, marine worms

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