Disclaimer, it’s actually a lot.
You may wish to skip parts depending upon your interests. Some of the review stuff may not be interesting to some, I want to let you know though about things that work and don’t work. Things you may want to consider for your trips or maybe things you haven’t thought about. Some of the information may evolve as familiarity and experience changes. Hopefully I am not bashing or giving the impression that things are bad, overall things are good and everything will have pluses and minuses. If you adapt and make things work and not stress about things too much you will have a good experience traveling.
A little more about the GoPro Hero 7 Black, it doesn’t like the Super Suit when not being used in water. It gets hot in the case and it locked up on me. The batteries also get warm when they get a lot of use.
I didn’t bring another mount or case for the camera because my cheap one never had any issues like that. The other reason is that since you have to take the lens off to fit in the Super Suit, it was a pain to do to the point that I used a pair of pliers to get it done. The instructions say it’s tight the first time you do it. I had gotten it off before and was tight I didn’t think it should be worse the second time. I was wrong, I didn’t want to bring pliers so I just have the Super Suits lens. I don’t think that it has been overly hot here, nothing like Cartagena or an Iowa cornfield when it’s time to detassel. It’s actually been fairly nice most of the time, there has been a couple of times where it’s felt a little humid. Being this close to the ocean I would expect more breeze though.
The camera does take good pictures and video. I’m hoping after I get back that I can get the lens issue figured out. There is an open back that can go on the Super Suit so I can access the touchscreen which I need for zooming in for photos, that wouldn’t solve the heat issue though. Future adventures will tell more as I get more used to the way it works and what can and cannot be done with it. So far the app for it works well for previewing the videos and I can get decent screenshots from them easily. I’m looking forward to seeing how it works in good snorkeling water and with the filters.
The hotel, it is actually nice but there are some things you should consider when traveling to the areas that we have been. There is a lot of single pane glass, they don’t worry about the cold, and the locals don’t always use A/C. This also means no weather stripping around doors that are basically interior doors in the United States. Besides insulation against the weather there’s the added benefit of sound buffering. I will add smell buffering to that list as there was a skunk that was close and sprayed something during the night. It’s not a bad thing but you should be aware of it when you think about where you want to stay, the bigger more corporate places will be constructed a little different and with less charm. You do feel more a part of the community. It’s not quite as much here at the hotel as it was in our apartment in Cartagena where we shopped for and cooked a lot of our own food. It was more typical of the local construction.
Before coming to this particular hotel we had very quick responses from Hilda the owner. She is around most days up in the restaurant/reception area on her laptop. Since we’ve been here Emily sent an email about the tours they set up and that response still hasn’t come though at this point we took it down the road and it’s a done deal. We asked this morning about laundry, which I recommend you should plan on doing while on your trips, you don’t have to bring as much stuff and if you use the right bag there’s no checking and waiting for luggage at the airports. I would say it’s a service worth paying for. If you have your laundry done before you leave you also don’t have a huge pile of dirty laundry to do upon your return home. She was also going to set up our Covid test so that we may return to the United States. This is a pain but a necessary evil of traveling abroad these days. I’m ready for that to end along with masks in airport and planes. It is inconvenient but you shouldn’t let that stop you from traveling.
I do want to still say how great the Nextcare waterproof bandages are. As long as you can get your skin dry before applying them they will stay on for days.
I forgot to add pictures of our new gear, so they should be with this post.
We were just taking it easy this morning so a bonus post. We’re going to see about snorkeling after an early lunch.
Traveling with Emily! 