7 Mar--Night Dive

Wed, 7 Mar .. at the dock at 7am ready to go over our lesson plan for Peak Performance Buoyancy. that is when you are skilled enough to just hover in one place without moving your hands or feet to help you balance. i read it all, but that doesn't mean i can do it. got in the boat and headed to the Little Bight Dive Site, descended to about 60ft to a nice sandy bottom. this was fun, even though it made me feel rather clumsy! we practiced moving up and down slightly in the water just by using our breathing. when you breath in, you rise ... when you exhale, you sink. Chris had 1/2" PVC pipes put together in a square. we were to go through the hoops/square without touching them; there were 2 squares and the second one was about 3 ft higher than the first. i passed this one with flying colors ! Pammy and Sydney would have been proud! ...i got a good head start in the water and i breezed right through :) Chris also stood some 2x3" weights in the sand. we were supposed to hover over them and knock them over with our mouth piece. .... HA ! that was a funny one .... mostly landing on our face :( he passed both of us on this skill ... knowing that we would eventually improve :) then we got to go for a tour around. we saw these really cool Garden Eels .... they are about as big around as a pencil and stick their heads out of the sand, and sway back and forth, and when you approach, the suck back into the sand ........ there were dozens of them !! wish i had my camera! .... Chris also saw a Flounder on the sand. i don't know how he saw it ... i would have never seen it; .. it blended in perfectly! we cruised around for awhile, did our 3min stop and got in the boat. then we headed for Black Coral Wall Dive Site and descended to about 50ft and began following the Wall. ...and for my next skill dive, i choose the 'Naturalist' ....... :) i had a slate and an underwater pencil, and while i was diving i needed to identify several plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates. i couldn't wait to do this, coz i have always been interested in what something was; i've studied it for years ... i was ready. i completely filled up my slate until there wasn't room to write anymore. i saw the largest TrumpetFish i've ever seen, a big Dog Tooth Snapper, very large Barracuda, a Green Moray Eel, and a 3-Rowed Sea Cucumber, which i'd never seen before and was quite large; ... plus all the 'usual suspects' ..... i passed :) here are a few photos of another fish that we saw the other day .... it's a FrogFish .... interesting fish ... a fish that is almost impossible to find. they lay so still that algae grows on them, furthering their ability to hide and look exactly like whatever it is they are sitting or around. you can't see it in this photos, but it has a 'line and lure' that comes out of it's dorsal fin .... yes, like a fishing line with bait on it .... it dangles in front of it's mouth, and when another fish comes close to investigate the movement ..... he opens his mouth really wide (as in Wide Mouth Frog) .... and gulps in lots of water and his next meal with it. i've read that this guy is a glutton..... even known to cannabalize something its' own size. Chris took this photo with his flash we were so lucky to see it ... this is him swimming away when he finally got tired of us before we got back to the dock, i got a phone call from the office. we had 5 people who wanted to go on a Whale Shark Boat....ugh ..... i had just enough time to get equipment around, grab something to eat, and then walk through town trying to find some fruit that we could serve on the boat. because it has been so windy the last couple of days; the supply boats from the mainland have not been able to cross the sea. so the stores were out of lots of things ... i couldn't even find any bread for the last 2 days :( needless to say, fruits and veggies were scarce. i found some oranges and a sliced green mango; and got some sodas from the Lodge. just as we were about to leave, we got a call to wait for another girl that was joining us. and then we took off. we had to drive out to Utopia again to pick up these 5 people. they were on the dock waiting; they need to sign Release Forms, and do a swim test. no one had let them know either of these 2 things. we quickly learned that one of the girls had never snorkeled before; and then found out that an older woman, hadn't either .... and she wasn't so sure she wanted to do this. she was the 'grandmother' of a 3 generation group from Utah. and to make matters worse, she needed hearing aides, and couldn't get them wet, so after she took them out, she couldn't hear us :( ...but bless her heart, she did it; and so did the other girl. i put her equipment on her and told her to 'look at the horizon, and take a big step into the water' ... off she went! she LOVED it! and so we headed out to the deep blue, ... i got through the briefings easily and all was well. there were huge swells out there this afternoon ....... which is nice coz with the swells, you don't get splashed ... but they are a bit intimidating; but no one got sick and i think everyone enjoyed themselves .... but no Whale Sharks. we did a 25min snorkel in pretty rough water, but Capt Seth briefed me on where to tell them to 'not' go as to not get carried away in the currents. i took a few quick photos .... Black Durgeon, or Black Triggerfish.... the coral reef looking over the Wall in the background we got back to the dock after 5pm ..... and i was already late for my last 'skill' ... a Night Dive ! ... and it looked like we had a Full Moon .... i did a night snorkel in Belize and a short one last year in Roatan with a friend. so i was not apprehensive at all. we had our review of the homework, did a briefing, got our flashlights, and were actually in the water while it was still a little bit light out. but it quickly got dark and we descended into the abyss. we saw a couple of lobsters, and a lot of eyes glowing in the dark ... and then, as we were heading back to the boat, all the dive lights started waving back and forth ... that's a sign that there is something to see. i looked into the distance and i saw this blob floating ... and huh? ... were those flippers out to the side? .... it was a sea turtle !!!!! i'd like to get really excited about it, but i was far away and visibility wasn't that good. but ... hey ... i saw a turtle-like blob with flippers on my night dive :) ...and i'm glad i didn't have my camera because i just would have been frustrated. we got back and cleaned out our gear and called it a day .... what a FULL day ! ...whew !