Our morning dive was a wreck dive. Alisa and I have done one other wreck dive, while we were in a harbor in Thailand, and it was silty and green and was crawling with other divers and lionfish. Not a great experience, so I was tentative about this dive.
What is incredible about the Odyssey, the purposeful wreck we visited, is it adds a massive human scale to the unfathomable oceanic scale. The freighter was being rebuilt in the early 2000s when a fire stopped its refurbishment. The owners were connected with the owners of Anthony's Key Resort, who asked for it to be sunk and got the approval required. It was stripped of whatever could be dangerous to divers - electrical wire, insulation, pretty much anything that wasn't the walls - as well as having hatches sealed so the current wouldn't drop them on anyone's head.
The ship was 300 feet long, sunk in 110 feet of water, and the highest parts are at about 40 feet - the bow and stern. The midsection is laying on the sea floor, a little shell compared to the rooms and passages on either end.
The sea life was pretty tiny still - a dozen years isn't a lot for the ocean, but we had lots of fun playing with the ship as a prop to our photos. The clarity of the water wasn't quite enough to see end to end, which only meant that it was a shadow in the distance - so wonderfully long.
I had realized I had a deadline for some APT Charities work, so I went back to the cabin between dives to sort that out. It's a shame I couldn't spend more time in the sun - fifteen minutes on the upper deck of our boat the other day has given me a faint wetsuit tan line on my legs.
Our second dive was to "Barry's reef." Hector pointed out a moray on top of the wall, which started at about 60 feet. It was a boat full of divers, so I bumped into another woman twice; diving you have 3D space you need to be aware of yet limited senses (a mask that constrains peripheral vision, no sound) to do it in. It was easy enough to drop under her, but hard to let someone below you know that they are coming up under you.
My ears, per usual, have been stuffy and slow to equalize. I put in some vinegar drops to help them dry out, but it only added to the aching. I decided to wait until after lunch to see if they'd clear up.
Lunch was super yummy tacos. Post-lunch, even after a bit of relaxing, I wasn't feeling the afternoon dive. Alisa headed out around 2:20, and I feel asleep until she got back around 3:50. Alisa saw a string ray on that one, which I have yet to see around here, but I appreciated my quiet afternoon.
Tuesday - a night dive day! We got on the boat at 5:20 (after I left my key back in the room, so it was a bit tight), motored two minutes to "Mandy's eel garden", and got our briefing by Alson. They had consolidated boats because there were only seven of us interested, so we tried out the Alexandria for the evening.
We stayed on top of the wall, so not more than thirty feet of water, though the jellyfish apparently cluster at the top and are attracted to light. I dropped enough to get underneath them (at least, had no effects from them) then equalized and started searching.
It was a few seconds into the dive when a spiny pufferfish was pointed out and just minutes into the dive when Alson pointed out a small octopus, darting under the rocks between the coral hills. There were more starfish and urchins at this site than others, but I think that's a factor of it being shallow rather than it being at night. The squirrelfish were out, with their big eyes, and some teeny shrimp had their own sets of glowing red dots.
Another octopus was found - this one on a ridge and turning from red to blue and back so effortlessly, I was convinced it hadn't the first few times. As we were examining a isopod - a foot long "rolly polly" shaped underwater bug - Alson pointed his light up at an eagle ray swimming toward the group! I was below Alisa, so I rotate to see it head straight toward her light and pass a few feet from her face!
At :39 into the dive, just as Alson said we would (despite plenty of air and not being too chilly), we headed toward the boat. To continue avoiding the jellyfish, we were to turn off our lights, purge our extra octo into the water above us so the extra bubbles would sweep away the jellies, and get to the ladder by moonlight.
I was much warmer than I expected - the dive was a current dive, so a bit more swimming than normal, plus the air temperature didn't drop like I expected. It was still nice to get back to a shower and dry clothes, but it was much better than I was expecting.
Dinner started a bit later than other nights for us, but there was a delicious curried cauliflower soup to start us off with. We didn't take a table overlooking the palm trees and the ocean past our island full of cabanas this night though; we sat overlooking the tv at the bar to watch election results roll in.
At about 9:30, mosquitoes were starting to get me, so we moved into the room. We were up until nearly midnight watching the results, as odds turned against Hillary Clinton, but decided that sleep was the only thing we could do to prepare for tomorrow.
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