March 2011 Archives - A Cruising Couple

Isla Palenque Island Internship: We Need YOUR Help!

Mar 292011

We’ve found our dream job. We’ve done our part and submitted a video application. Now it’s up to YOU to help us become one of the ten finalists!

If ultimately chosen, we will become Isla Palenque’s Island Interns. That means we would spend 4-6 weeks living on beautiful Isla Palenque, documenting the experience using blog posts, photography and videos, while also sharing our experiences on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. We would participate in adventure sports and cultural activities, independently explore the island and serve as ambassadors for Isla Palenque as a company.

The ideal Island Interns should be travel-loving, adventurous and have an appreciation for nature. The Island Interns must also be social media savvy with a desire to create awareness of the Island Resort’s environmentally and culturally sustainable initiatives.

Sounds pretty great, right? We think so, and we really, really, really want this opportunity! The Island Resort promotes a lot of things we hold near and dear to our hearts, such as environmental sustainability, Eco-tourism, and true travel that goes beyond tourist traps. Plus, this internship would serve as a great platform for our future career goals. But we’re not going to give everything away here; check out our video application to see for yourself why we would make the perfect Island Interns.

Now that you’ve seen our video, help us out! If you think that we would make awesome Island Interns, than all you have to do is click HERE to vote for us.

Of course, we also appreciate if you:

Like our video on YouTube
Post a comment to support us
Click the ‘Facebook Like‘ icon
Post the link as your Facebook Status
Tweet the following: Spread the news! Vote @acruisingcouple for #islandintern http://bit.ly/hkdHMq
Tell the judges on their facebook and twitter why you want US! Click here to access their profiles.
Pass the link along so that your friends vote for us too!

But again, please VOTE! In the end, the votes are what will make the difference! There is a limit of (1) vote per person, per IP address during the entire user voting period.

If you are interested in learning more about Isla Palenque, the Island Resort or the internship itself, please check out The Resort at Isla Palenque.

Please also ask us any questions you might have, including more information on why we truly believe we would make awesome Island Interns!

Thanks for your support! We can’t do it without you!!

P.S. Think about the awesome wedding present it would be if we actually won the competition

New Zealand Love

Mar 222011

In the aftermath of the New Zealand earthquake and the effects it has had on the county’s tourism, travel bloggers have united to post articles about this beautiful country. It is an effort to show that New Zealand is a beautiful place to visit, and now is a great time! It has taken over twitter with the trend #Blog4NZ, and there is a great article detailing the movement at 100% Pure New Zealand

My road trip across New Zealand was one of the most life changing trips I have ever taken, so I decided to join in the movement and show support for these gorgeous islands. I already blogged about the trip once in a post entitled The Best Way to See New Zealand, but below are a few of my favorite snapshots from the trip. I hope they inspire you to visit one day!

Reflection Lake, Haast, NZ

Mount Cook, NZ

Fox Glacier, NZ

A Cruising Couple, Nevis Bungy Jump, New Zealand

Nevis Bungy Jump, Queenstown, NZ

Walk in the Park near Hokitika, NZ

A Cruising Couple, Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Franz Josef Glacier, NZ

Mountain Biking near Queenstown, New Zealand

Mountain Biking near Queenstown, NZ

So there you have it. New Zealand at its finest. But don’t take my word for it, go ahead and see for yourself. This country was formed for the enjoyment of your eyeballs. The entire island is never ending dramatic seascapes rolling into green and golden hills dwarfed by towering mountains. Grab your cape and walking stick for a Lord of the Rings tour or cater your own trip but however you do it you won’t regret it. If you’ve ever been leave us a comment and let us know how it went! We’d love to hear your story too.

SCUBA Diving: Local Diving At Its Best

Mar 192011

In an effort to combine our last two posts about scuba diving and local travel, we decided it might be beneficial to write a post about local scuba diving. It’s true. You can actually scuba dive in Central North Carolina, and there are quite a few reasons why you should.

1. It’s a lot cheaper. Rates can be as low as $15 a day (not including equipment), and you don’t have to worry about gas and accommodation prices that accompany a weekend trip to the coast.

2. It’s quicker. There are many dive quarries in the Piedmont that allow even the over-committed workaholic a chance to get in the water.

3. It’s a chance to dive in fresh water. That means you can see freshwater aquatic life, and you don’t have those leftover salt particles all over your body. Better yet, you don’t have to worry about lugging around quite so much weight. If you’re not familiar with scuba, every diver must wear extra weight to counterbalance the positive buoyancy from the scuba diver’s body, wetsuit, and equipment. This weight is more in saltwater, and less in freshwater. It can be really nice to make the trek to the water without lugging quite so many extra pounds.

4. It’s a great way to practice your diving skills. Because of the proximity of quarry diving, it is a great opportunity to get in the water and practice skills such as underwater navigation or neutral buoyancy. The better your skills, the more enjoyable your dive. So the next time you actually do take that trip to the Caribbean, you can be ready to dive without wasting time reviewing basic concepts.

That said, most of the local diving in North Carolina is quarry diving, and there are some valid reasons why people don’t like to dive in quarries. For one thing, they can be pretty cold. During the winter months the water temperature can get down to 50°F. But they do get up to tolerable conditions in the late spring, and in the summer the temperature is often in the 70′s. Another reason why people stay clear of the quarries is because of lack of aquatic life. If you go to a quarry with a picture of the Great Barrier Reef in your mind, then you will be disappointed. However, there is still a lot to see! Some local quarries have compensated for the lack of aquatic life by sinking objects such as school buses and airplane remains, and the Blue Stone quarry has created an underwater cave.

So where exactly are these rock quarries we speak of?

In Wake Forest, you’ll find Fantasy Lake Scuba Park. A day pass is $15, and a night dive can be added on for only $5. It has been called a ‘scuba diving mecca’ by the News and Observer, and hiking and camping is also available on-site. Depths go as deep as 80 feet, and you can explore a sunken school bus and rock crusher.

In Thomasville, you’ll find the Blue Stone Dive Resort. A day pass is $20, and a night dive is $10. There is an abundance of freshwater fish, as well as a simulated underwater cave. Depths go to 80 feet. Blue Stone is closed for the winter but re-opens April 30th.

The Piedmont Diving Rescue Association provides safe and affordable scuba diving inland, and owns the American Quarry (Granite), the James M Robertson Quarry (Blanch), and the Lake Norman Quarry (Mooresville). An annual $45 membership will give you unlimited access to all three dive spots. Members are provided a key to the quarry gates, and facilities stay open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There are underwater ‘attractions’ and plenty of freshwater aquatic life.

Perhaps all this information about local diving really does sound appealing. But there is still one problem–you don’t have anyone to dive with. Luckily there is an easy solution. A quick Google search will provide you with a local dive shop that more than likely has a dive club, and plenty of eager divers who are looking for scuba buddies. If you are in the Durham/Chapel Hill area, I would highly recommend Water World. They put on our awesome dive trip to Florida, and they have plenty of information about local diving.

Of course, despite the plethora of local scuba diving spots and the advantages they offer, the North Carolina coast is an incredible place to dive. Nicknamed the ‘Graveyard of the Atlantic’, the hundreds of wreck sites make the Carolina Coast one of the best places to dive in the Western Hemisphere. Say tuned for more information about diving off the coast, but in the meantime go ahead and get to some quarries!

This blog post is also being used for PADI marketing purposes.

Spring Break SCUBA

Mar 152011

What to do for spring break…. It’s the age-old question that arises each year for all college kids. And since this spring break was technically our last one, we had to make it epic! Unfortunately, being at different schools meant our breaks didn’t line up exactly, but we did we did share a common weekend. It was the weekend that Casey and her fellow PADI interns had been working with Water World (a local dive shop) to set up a scuba diving trip to Florida. We decided to tag along and test our skills at the Advanced Open Water course. My brother, Josh, and Casey’s good friend Alexa (also a PADI intern) joined in the fun. After the 10-hour road trip from Wilmington, NC to Ocala, FL we promptly went to bed before our 7am wake up call Friday Morning.

Our first dive was at a location called Blue Grotto. It is a 90 ft cavern with little aquatic life but super clear water and a great cave-diving feel. To complete the Advanced Open Water Certificate you have to complete five different dives, each surveying different skill sets. We started with our peak performance buoyancy skills: descending without a reference line, hovering motionless for a minute, and using our breath to control our depth. It felt great to be underwater again. Our next dives consisted of underwater navigation (using an underwater compass) and the thrilling deep dive. The deep dive took you to 91 ft and a dive light was required unless you wanted to get lost in the darkness.

The next day was the drift dive and underwater naturalist dive. We woke up at the crack of dawn and moved locations to the crystal clear Rainbow River. The whole river is spring fed, much of it from underwater caves that you can poke around in. This was my personal favorite. As I’ve mentioned before, drift diving is the lazy way to dive. If you get your buoyancy right, the current will do all the work for you. The river was full of eel-grass and served as home to just about every type of freshwater fish, including the intimidating long-nose gar, and soft shell turtles the size of my torso. We even got to see a perched bald-head eagle on the boat ride down the river.

Last but not least, we took a snorkel to Three Sisters, a warm water spring that attracts manatees in the winter. I’m gunna tell you straight up, don’t mess with the manatee! They have more rights in Florida than the people do. You are in no way allowed to harass them, which includes swimming towards them, or there are massive consequences. With this in mind, Casey and I had to have a lot of patience when we found one who had just woken up from a nap. We stayed put and made the classic manatee call with our hands (Alexa taught it to us, and it cannot really be described using words…) After about 5 minutes of looking like idiots, the manatee finally decided it wanted to play and came right up to us. It was a pretty awesome experience. They really are quite friendly—nearly too friendly—and once it came up for air and nearly kissed me. It also rolled over for Casey begging for a belly rub, to which she quickly obliged. After our fair share of playing with “Mandy” the manatee, we went back to the boat and prepared for our long journey back home as newly certified Advanced Open Water SCUBA divers. Next step: rescue divers.

I also want to give a quick shout out to Alexa’s blog, which talks all about her Chapel Hill experiences. She is a fantastic writer and always entertaining, so give it a look! I’m sure she’ll also be talking about the trip if you want a different perspective!

By Dan

Discovering Pittsboro

Mar 072011

Every year around this time I get the same feeling. It’s that nagging, obsessive case of wander lust where I just need to get out of the country. Unfortunately, being a poor college kid makes jumping on a plane and jetting off somewhere in the middle of the semester a little difficult. Sometimes I try to curb the urge by reading travel blogs or diving into the plans for my summer travels, but often that just makes the urge to go even worse. So, in an attempt to calm the travel bug, Dan and I decided to embrace some local travel. Our destination: Pittsboro.

Pittsboro is right outside of Chapel Hill, and I had been hearing from a few of my friends that I absolutely had to go before I graduated. Now at first glance there really isn’t a lot to the town of Pittsoboro, and the downtown district is one short street of antique shops and restaurants. But the ambiance is that of a quiet and quaint little town where everyone knows everyone else and is proud of it.

Dan and I were starving by the time we parked, so our first destination was lunch. With only a few options, we quickly decided on S&T Soda Shop. We had heard from everyone that this was the place to go in Pittsboro, and we immediately understood why upon entering. The restaurant is designed to take you back in time, and it really succeeds in doing so. There is intricate wood work, old-school decorations, and a large ice cream bar. The menu is your typical soda shop cuisine of hamburgers and club sandwiches, and since Dan and I are vegetarians we quickly found the only options that really catered to us (grilled cheese and veggie wraps). The food was pretty good, but we had really only come for one thing: a banana split.

We knew that S&T was known for their extra-large and extra-tasty banana splits, so we came ready to down some ice cream. But no one warned us that it would be the largest banana split we have ever seen. The breakdown included two bananas, 12 scoops of icecream, five inches of whipped cream, strawberries, pineapple, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and cherries. No need to say we didn’t even come close to making a dent in it. And all that for the small price tag of $7. It was absolutely delicious (although how could anything like that not be incredible?!) and if you are ever passing through Pittsboro I would highly recommend stopping just for this legendary banana split.

With stomachs filled passed their capacity, we spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the thrift stores and antique shops. All the shops are definitely great go-to places if you are looking for an eclectic or interesting find, and just some of the choices include toys, local art, and furniture. After debating about the purchase of a four-foot tall birdcage we really had absolutely no need for, we ended up leaving empty handed.

There are two things we found particularly interesting about the town of Pittsboro that really set it apart from other similar towns. Number One: Pittsboro has its own currency called the Plenty. The Plenty was actually created in Carrboro (Chapel Hill’s neighbor) but it has really taken off in Pittsboro. The point of the Plenty is to keep local commerce flowing, which we think is awesome. Number Two: The Chatham County Courthouse, built in 1881, tragically caught fire last March while undergoing renovations. A symbol of the city, Pittsboro is working on restoring it again.

Dan and I really did have a great time in Pittsboro, and while it may not have been an exotic country in Asia, it was a great supplement for foreign travel. We also really, really, really would encourage others to embrace local travel and get to know their own neck of the woods a little better. You may discover something extra-ordinary or just eat the best banana split of your life, but it will be worth it.