I’m an early riser, so I find the decaf pot, at least I thought it was decaf, only to find out the decaf is in the green pot not the orange pot. I’m not used to caffeine, and now on my second cup before I discover the err. WIRED. There are 3 waterspouts brewing off of Bimini, got one good photo. The ocean is like glass, so no chance of finding out if this boat is as stable as they say. First am briefing is the general dive rules. No pink towels or wetsuits allowed in the salon or rooms. This means I can’t use the wetsuit shampoo I always use after each day of diving. BOO HOO. (And not because of …. You know that other thread. I guess I would be put in the ‘liar’ category, but I’m not lying). They split the group in half to go set up gear. Down one set of stairs to the room to get gear, down another set of stairs to dive deck. If the dive deck has been lowered to water level it is another set of stairs. Did I mention anything about stairs. The second day I was doing calf stretches because my shins and calves were in pain. I ate stuff I don’t normally eat like cookies freshly baked after the first dive and dessert after dinner and lots of food. Yes, the food was incredible. Didn’t gain any weight so I guess I should keep quite about those stairs.
Dive briefings included great sketches of the site with what to look for, but there are some unwelcome words – Current mod to strong. Pools open and everyone rushes to the dive deck – can you say crowded. Most days it was using the granny line to the mooring. Sometimes with you hand in front of your reg to keep from free flowing in the current. I’m not one to wear gloves, but boy am I glad I brought them. The gloves have more use in week thatn in 13 years. The two things I was most disappointed in were the vis and the current, which the Nekton didn’t have any control over. Every night they did an educational program, with the exception of the video night, which was very funny and the photo contest the final night.
The diving got better as we went south. We stopped at a site called the Playground, wonderful swallow dive and great night dive (best safety stop I’ve had). On that night dive I got to watch a conch walk, the biggest gray angel I’ve every seen (and they grow large in FL), hermit crabs galore, and my first peppermint shrimp, and lots of lobster. My roomie and dive buddy really got into feeding worms to the coral, she became a maniac. We arrived in Cay Sal Bank at the ‘Big Hole’, where the feeding was to take place the next day. The sharks didn’t realize we arrived a day early. There were at least 6 circling below the boat when we jumped in. And plentiful on both our morning dives. Finally got a photo of a yellowheaded jawfish. We moved to afternoon and evening site called ‘Sistine Chapel’ another hole, which you could circumnavigate twice on one tank. We thought for sure we would be finding an octypus that night. Didn’t happen, but did find a measled cowrie and a 3 ft beaded sea cucumber. Also had my most hair raising encounter on the night dive. My petite buddy and myself are on the opposite side of the hole of the boat and two reef sharks start circling quickly and in and out around us. I discovered sharks eyes glow in the dark and looking them in the eye does not make them go away. There were no other diver’s lights or boat lights to be seen. We moved further away from the hole, and they finally left. Neither one of us realized the other was intimated until we got back on the boat. Shark feeding was the next day. The water was so murky by the time we got down could hardly see the feeding. The best shots I got were over my head and turning behind. We were able to dive to an island with a swim thru to a lagoon, take off our gear and walk around the island. Ahhh land. Got some good photos of chiton.
Some one had put a soccer ball on the end of a fishing pole (Wilson). On the way back there were hundreds of juvenile doctor fish, oh were they cute.
Overall we saw lots of schooling fish, up to 4 lobsters in a hole, lots of shark, rays, one ssight filled with tunicates in every color, and tons of different tropicals. I was using a digital camera for the very first time. It or I was out of focus most of the time, but I did learn a lot. Will post photos after Photoshop arrives.
Edited by nextariel, 17 June 2004 - 06:18 PM.