Once we get underwater, everything is gestures and clicks, but that just means that the conversation gets stored up for our hour surface interval. I've gotten advice on relationships, cooking, vacations, scuba, health, and raising children. And we're just on our second day!
Stephen had to go to a shareholders meeting, so our merry group of six headed to the northwest part of the atoll by Rendezvous Point. Our first site was The Terrace. Having LeeEllen along means that she knows all the sites and gets excited when they are announced.
It was our checkout dive for Blue Hole tomorrow. I am a slow acclimater - it takes me and my ears five minutes to slowly creep our way down to forty feet, while Alisa and the others could be at eighty in half that. I'd like to see the stalactites at 100+ feet tomorrow, but there's a shelf at forty that everyone needs to be at in order to duck under and continue the dive. I'm prepping myself for the worst - that I get in and am too slow getting down to see the cave - but this dive at least assured me I don't get narcosis.
I eventually got down along the wall with the others, and the nooks and crannies were exactly what was described. Giant Caribbean lobster, at least three moray eels free swimming along with us, then dozens of species of fish and coral and creatures. We worked our way back up the wall, and onto the shelf.
It was far in the distance (so about sixty feet, the end of the visibility), but I caught the last shadow of an eagle ray. Alisa didn't get the memo quite in time - but she saw a flying fish take flight this morning, so we've got some healthy competition.
In general, we are pretty good about pointing out the fun stuff, but it's always a crap shoot on whether we can communicate what it is we're pointing at. John has a slate - cheater (but thank goodness - no idea how he'd mime "white spotted frogfish" from the third dive).
On every dive today, we had sea urchin, parrotfish, squirrelfish (which are becoming my favorite - brilliant red colors and popping eyes... And I got a squirrel card for my birthday from Mark), blue tang, angelfish, butterflyfish, gobies, bar jacks. The diversity is incredible.
I was sticking close to John, which meant that he tried to play connect the dots with my numerous bug bites during our safety stop. Good thing his marker doesn't mark on skin or I'd have constellations.
Our first surface internal involved pineapple, and some great sun on the deck. I missed the outside of my thighs, so those are a little redder than the rest of me.
Our second site was Mandy's Dandy - given the story of how LeeEllen's Melons was named, I'm not sure I want to know what was quite so dandy about it. Nevertheless, it was along the same wall, but with its own set of creatures. Most notably, John pointed out a juvenile drumfish, with a great mohawk fin complementing its zebra wear. I was proud of this dive, because I was the one pointing out the lobster, sea urchin, and the tip of a moray that I found.
Lunch was our next surface interval, so out came the individual tubs of salad (or wraps or sandwiches - we pick each night before dinner). I slathered on more sunscreen (missing my legs, as noted above) then lay back on the front of the boat for some sunny relaxing time. While chatting it up, of course!
The third dive was at Chasbo's Corner. Another group had set up shop on the mooring line, so we got a little over an hour to chill while they headed down. We didn't see them while we were diving, but they might have been the reason for the psycho eel.
We were about fifteen minutes into the dive - had come back onto the ledge after diving along the wall for a bit - when John found a white spotted toadfish, endemic to only this area. I had seen the spots and was clearing the way for Alisa to look when John took my elbow and pushed me upward just as a moray came free swimming toward me.
For the next ten minutes, it was John using the GoPro on a stick to herd the eel toward a lionfish we had spotted as well. The eel was attracted to the light from Denise's camera and the scurrying fins of whatever diver he surprised as he was cruising around. I pushed Haydee out of the way once, then used my fin to guide him away from me as he was coming at me, teeth first.
It was shocking, then fascinating, then just plain nuts how the eel was swimming around. Not sure we even had a spear to get the lionfish that we saw to fed it and placate it, but the attempt to give the invasive lionfish a natural predator is a great one, and morays top the list.
It is time to wean them off the people-hunted lionfish and let them get their own.
Alisa and I proudly found trumpetfish and squirrelfish on our own. She pointed out a snail to me; John beckoned me over to see two of those peacock tony snails "doing the nasty," as he wrote on his slate.
I counted twenty species of fish in less than a minute while hovering above the reef - and DelRoy was giving us grief for not knowing all of them back in the lodge this evening. I have now done two days of diving in the Caribbean. Give me a break!
During our safety stop, Alisa leaned over to check out my dive computer. I look down at it, and a giant green face is in mine! The moray swam up to 15 feet, still looking for his free lunch!
We hopped out of the water after an hour, and headed back in to the resort. Three dives a day is very nice - it gave me time to sit and finish my book by the pool while Alisa drank a coconut (and had them chop it open so she could eat it too).
We washed all the salt off before dinner, then went inside to use some limited internet while studying our fish. I think I'll look for some hamlets tomorrow - I haven't been able to identify any of those.
Dinner was pork tenderloin, with delicious glazed carrots and - for dessert - rum-soaked pineapple topping cheesecake. Yeah... I might have had two pieces since Steve the bartender didn't want his.
Steve had made a drink of the day that was sweet, fruity, and secret; all I wanted was the banana shake I had requested at the beginning of the week, but they were out of bananas! So it was a pineapple shake instead.
Jim went out to see crocodiles with us again, and I saw the eyes of a little one, but not the head like I saw Saturday night.
It was dark, I was done with people, and so lights were out at 9pm - we'll have to stay up a bit later tomorrow for our real croc hunt with Abell at 8pm!
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