Solar charger for Suunto X10

If you are planning to be on the wild with your Suunto X10 for several days or weeks, have you thought about recharging its battery? Suunto X10 is a great tool for your outdoor trips, which besides barometric, compass and altitude features comes along with a powerful GPS. As Suunto X10 battery needs a daily recharging after an intensive GPS usage (about six and a half hours with a satellite lock of 1 second) you need to have a practical and light tool to recharge the battery.

There isn’t a better solution out there than a Solio solar charger. Either the Solio Hybrid or Solio models will do it. They are light, compact, easy to transport and extremely fast solar chargers. I have tested them up to 7000 mts and they work perfect. In fact, the higher you are the faster they charge as sun light becomes more intense.

Don’t hesitate, a Solio charger would become the perfect companion for your Suunto X9, X9i or X10 wristwatches.

Back to the sources

On Friday 19th December, at 14.20 hs I was back to the sources.

Twelve years have passed since I first step in Aconcagua summit. I was there again with a clear blue sky above us. ‘Us’ is me and a group of five wonderful friends with whom I spent twelve days in this mountain.

Aconcagua has been my source of inspiration to start high altitude climbing. As a kid travelling with my family to Chile, I often saw this mountain from the car windows. As a teenager I wondered what it felt to be up there. Shortly after, I climbed it.

Aconcagua is a truly gigantic mountain when compared to those other ones around it. Aconcagua is a truly enigmatic mountain when known that the Incas used it to sacrifice and offer their kids to the Gods. At last, Aconcagua is a truly beautiful mountain that offers breathtaking views.

Thanks to www.aconcagua2008.nl team members for the unforgettable days we spent together. Congratulations for the strength you kept all the way to the summit.

Finally, this summit is dedicated to my friend German Gonzales Mena, cameraman of ‘No Bike’s Land’. As a professional mountain photographer and cameraman, he loved working in Aconcagua. German passed away three days ago, after fighting bravely for a year against leukemia. He was only 43 years old. May his soul rest in peace over a mountain that was a source of inspiration for both of us.

Getting ready for Aconcagua

In a few more days I am off to Aconcagua.

Mt. Plata (5960 mt) and Mt. Rincon (5380mt) offer the perfect training setting. They are placed only within one hour by car from the western city of Mendoza. I was born here, I grew up here, and every time I come back to Argentina I fall in love again with the Andes I shared seven days with Juan in these two mountains. My friend has made it nineteen times to the top of Aconcagua working as a guide. During those days, we both agreed that climbing on our own to the summits was a retrospective experience. Nobody else but foxes, guanacos and condors were hour daily companions.

The only competition going on between Juan and me was to check which Suunto will give us the most accurate reading when we reached the summit. I had the X10, he had the Vector. He got the exact reading, I got to connect the X10 GPS and was only 2 meters below the suggested altitude. The view from the top was so magnificent, that we didn’t dare to discuss who the winner was.

Aconcagua is the next higher step. But I will certainly miss Juan, the solitude and the guanacos.

Safe Sunscreen for Sea Life?

Are we responsible divers? I have found a very interesting article published by www.thegreenguide.com that I ought to share with all those divers who whish to respect and preserve nature.

‘Coral reefs are under increasing threats, not only from global warming but also from us, tourists who want to appreciate their beauty. A study published by Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) revealed that chemicals and preservatives used in a number of sunscreens triggered viral infections in coral, causing them to bleach and die. The study targeted sunscreens that use chemical UV barriers (which absorb UV rays before they damage your skin) as opposed to physical UV barriers (which reflect UV rays before they reach your skin), and found that the sunscreen chemicals benzophenone and cinnamate caused the most harm. The researchers also found that preservatives called parabens, common in sunscreens, promoted coral bleaching.

It’s easy to imagine that one of us slathered with sunscreen wouldn’t cause much harm to ocean life, but the EHP study noted that the 78 million tourists who visit areas with coral reefs leave behind the impressive amount of 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen annually, because roughly 25 percent of what you put on gets washed off.

Since there are no regulations on what is ‘biodegradable’ or ‘reef-friendly’ buy sunscreens buy sunscreens with plant-based ingredients, which break down faster than petroleum-based ingredients do after they washed off. Also, opt for physical UV barriers (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide) rather than chemicals. Fortunately, what’s better for the coral tends to be better for you: The same chemical preservatives and UV blockers that damage reefs may interfere with your hormones.’

The Japanese diver story at Drake Peninsula

I probably couldn’t think of a better way to describe how good diving in Drake Peninsula (Costa Rica) can get by describing the ‘Japanese diver story’ mentioned by Brian Chavez. Brian, born in Denver Colorado, is Jinetes de Osa’s owner. He is one of those buddies who either consciously smile through the entire day or were born with smile drawn on their face.

This friendly biochemist by formation, early in his career traveled to Costa Rica and turned down job offers in Chicago while looking to buy land at Drake Peninsula.

Here’s a summary of our chat together and the distinctive ‘Japanese diver story’.

How did you become Jinetes de Osa’s owner?

Brian: As I was spending my days in Sierpe, I met this guy Santiago who was a Captain. I mean, a real Captain with a cigarette in his mouth all the time. He would roll the cigarette into his mouth to keep it from getting wet if it rains. He was the one who told me that Jinetes de Osa was for sale, I made an offer and two month later I become the owner. At first, our diving center didn’t look that great. I remember a tourist passing by asked me whether this building was a ‘kind of factory’.

So, tell us about the ‘Japanese diver story’ please.

Brian: Five years ago, a young Japanese man turned up to do the PADI Open Waters course. Although he had no previous diving experience, he was well equipped with an underwater camera worth around US 5000. On our first dive, we were lucky enough to see a whale shark.

On our second day, we did two consecutive dives. It turned out that we saw a great hammer head on our first dive that day and even more impressive, an Orca and its calf.

On our third day and final dive we spotted a big sting ray. As my student was getting ready to snap a picture of the ray, which was fairly close to us, a big hammer head grab the ray and scared the heck out of him, dropping the camera and not getting any picture.

Although this might not be exactly what happens in every single dive at Drake, the Japanese experience pictures very well the diversity that can be found while diving at Isla del Caño.

Given the fact that you are surrounded by wonderful nature; does it encourage you to run any green policies at Jinetes de Osa?

Brian: Yes, we have a small program of recycling batteries used by our customers. As Costa Rica doesn’t recycle batteries, we encourage our customers to take them back with them in order to be recycled at their country of origin. We also capture water from the rain, to save water supply.

We would also like to become the first carbon neutral hotel in Costa Rica, by offering our customers air-conditioned rooms if they pay to compensate for the emissions that this produce.

If you are interested in diving at Isla del Caño, take a look at www.costaricadiving.com

Pictures by Yann Feron (www.yannferon.com)

Undisturbed beauty of San Blas

The islands of the San Blas Archipelago are strung out along the Caribbean coast of Panama from the Golfo de San Blas nearly all the way to the Colombian border. San Blas is a series of 378 islands of which only 49 are inhabited by the fiercely independent Kuna Indians. Although only a 30-minute plane ride away from Panama City or four hours by four-wheel track vehicles, a trip to the San Blas islands will transport you 20 centuries into the past.

The Kuna Indians, who run all the islands as an autonomous province, with minimal interference from the national government have maintained their own economic system, language, customs and culture, with distinctive dress, legends, music and dance and thus have avoided traditional tourism development. The economy of the islands is based on coconut sales, fishing and tourism, and they offer travelers good snorkeling and swimming. Facilities are few and very simple, as is the food. The area is surrounded by reefs, some of the oldest in the world, and offer wonderful free-diving and snorkeling opportunities, the best of which are between the months of April and June.

San Blas is famous for one of its arts and crafts, the mola. Kuna women make rainbow colored fabrics, emblazoned with fish, birds, jungle animals and geometric designs that would impress the eyes of the more critical artists. The men still fish from canoes as they did before Columbus came and often carry buckets to get rid of the water that constantly leaks the canoes wooden structure. They still run up to the corner coconut palm trees for something fresh and cool to drink each morning, just as they have for untold centuries.

As long as the Kuna Indians manage to keep traditional and unsustainable tourism from booming in this area, San Blas Archipelago and Kuna’s culture will remain as an undisturbed nature and sociological jewel.

Pictures by Yann Feron (www.yannferon.com)

Diving in Bocas del Toro

Christopher Columbus was the first white man to anchor in Bocas waters in 1502 . Later, English pirates used Bocas as safe haven and in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Bocas became an international commercial center for trade in cacao and bananas. Bocas was populated mainly by immigrants from Jamaica making Bocas an English speaking province in a Spanish speaking nation. Even today, most locals speak English.

At the turn of the century, the town of Bocas del Toro was the first headquarters of the United Fruit Company. Boasting of 25,000 inhabitants, it had six consuls and five newspapers. A banana blight in the l920's put an end to this vibrant commercial center, but historical buildings and a stately park still stand.

Diving and Snorkeling
The best places for diving are Coral Key,

Dark Wood Reef, Hospital Point and Punta Juan Buoy. For snorkeling, the Garden near Cayo Nancy, and Punta Juan buoy are excellent..

When diving in Bocas you will be able to see some of the best preserved hard and soft coral in the world. You will also have the opportunity to see sting rays, lobsters, many species of crabs and a countless variety of tropical reef fish. Besides, it has nice wreck diving, which is hallow and with a good amount of life.

Bocas is also a great place to do night dives. There is a huge amount of amazing bioluminescence. Lots of big crabs and others come out to be seen.

I could concentrate on my dives by using the Suunto D9, which is the world's first dive computer to integrate a digital compass and wireless tank data reception. Suunto D9 combines all dive-critical information in one instrument, conveniently mounted on your wrist. Instead of monitoring a multitude of gauges, I enjoyed my dives and played around with the compass by finding all the critical information in this reliable instrument.

The friendly staff from www.labugapanama.com would help you to discover the magnificent underwater world held in this relaxed corner of Panama.