Posted by Jim Haack on January 16, 19107 at 09:49:55:
Posted by Jim Haack on Mon Jan 15 14:59:49 2007:
Hey guys (and gals),
Thanks for the many responses to the spring break e-mail. After going through all the responses and options, it appears the overwhelming preference of the group is – both! We will be taking a spring break trip to the Florida Springs, and also an early summer trip (June?) to either Cozumel or the Bahamas.
Spring Break
The Florida Springs trip will run from Saturday, March 10th through Sunday, March 18th. We will leave the Iowa City area on the 10th and drive to Crystal River, Florida, arriving on the morning of the 11th. We will spend a couple of days in Crystal River, doing training dives at King Springs and playing with the manatees each day. Tuesday morning we will leave Crystal River for High Springs, Florida, stopping along the way to dive at one of Alexander Springs, Blue Grotto or Devils Den. During the course of the week we will dive all of those locations plus Ginnie Springs, one of the prettiest open water safe caverns in the United States. We will leave Florida L on Saturday the 17th, arriving back in Iowa City on the morning of the 18th.
The cost of the trip will be $900 per person, double occupancy. This includes your transportation down and back, lodging and diving for the week. It also includes your open water certifications. For those of you who would also like to do your Advanced Open Water certifications while we are there, the only additional cost will be another $37.44 for the text. That’s a savings of $125 over taking the class here in Iowa! For any of you who would like to come along and already have your Open Water and Advanced Open Water certifications, other options are available (Underwater Photography, Underwater Digital Photography, Boat Diver, Nitrox, etc).
We will need 6 people to make the trip happen and there will be a maximum of 10. Please let me know as soon as you can if you are planning to join us. A check for $100 will hold your spot with the balance due on the trip.
Summer
Plans are less firm for this trip, but initial indications are that you would like to go someplace warm, tropical and inexpensive. Both Cozumel and the Bahamas are likely options. The final choice will be dependent on airfare and diving packages available. More details will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, if you are planning to come along on this one and do not already have a passport, you should be looking at getting one soon. The US Government takes some time to process passport applications, and there is a considerable fee to expedite the process if you wait too long.
I hope to be able to dive with many of you this year. These two trips are a good start.
May 2007 bring you lots of new experiences and wonderful dives. Above all, may your 2007 diving be safe.
Jim
p.s. My mailing address (for a check) is
Jim Haack
2313 University Dr #9
Muscatine, IA 52761