Monday..... A great day of diving!

This morning I got up and had my morning coffee and went to the boat to get it loaded up for the morning dives. We got all of the gear loaded, tanks cleaned, and lockers swept. It was then, I headed off for my breakfast of cereal.

The boat went out and the seas were still rough. While we headed to our first site, we ran into a pod of dolphins! The boat stopped and we watched them frolic all around us. There were probably 15-18 of them.

I was getting a little queasy when the captain said, "change of plans". We stopped and moored at a different site. It was Carib Wall. We dropped in and rounded up all of the divers and headed over the edge of the wall. This is a SLOW dive, as there are many critters to see. In the first ten minutes, we were treated to the sight of a beautiful white seahorse! We continued on the wall and saw three more!

White Sera Horse

Divemaster Ray pointing out Seahorse

Divemaster Ray, Again!

While working the wall, we heard some clicks and squeaks  The dolphins were coming towards us! We looked out towards the open ocean and they swam right by us! It was awesome! Words are hard to describe it!

Working the wall further we ran into, no less than, four free-swimming green moray eels. Could this day get any better? How about turtles?

Hawksbill Sea Turtle

 The rest of the dive was pale in comparison but it was still good. Uneventful, but good.  We did our surface interval at Parrot Bay and then headed towards the drop off.  After splashing all of the divers, we went back to the dock to get ready for lunch.

 After lunch we went to Iron Shore. This was a nice dive sight with lots of soft corals. The view was great. We rounded up the divers and headed back in to get the boat cleaned and ready for the PM.

  was just about to go get a JD rocks, when Patty asked if I would watch the shop for a little while. I obliged  and work for a 1/2 hour and then locked up. Another thing Patty asked of me was to take her advanced open water student out for his night dive. Well, there goes my thoughts of JD!

 I said sure.....and she said she wanted to have us meet at 7:00. Kyle, the student, met me in the lockers at 7 and we got geared up. I was the first one in so I took the strobe and the #1 key into the water. Kyle had to do a little compass wook before we could enjoy the dive. After his required work I led him around for his first night dive.

We went over to the first coral head and what do you know, an octopus!

Octopus!

We watched him for a few minutes and moved slowly down Cocoview wall. A little farther down the wall, we see about four lobsters. There were all kinds of critters out. At one point, I turned out my light to admire all of the bio-luminescence. It looked like a field of fireflies!

We worked our way down the wall, and decided it was time to turn around. On the way back, we found two Flamingo Tongues. A short time later, more lobsters. While  we were working back towards the 15' buoy, we spotted a Sea Wasp with a fish in it! It was way cool.

 It was time to start back to the platform. We picked up our tags and headed back up the chain. About 50' up the chain, I spot another octopus and Kyle and I spend another ten minutes watching him. Farther up the chain, I found another lobster. This guy was huge!

Finally, back at the platform. While we were walking to shore, we found a THIRD octopus! We followed him around for another ten minutes. Alas, it was time to get out of the water.

Cool Octopus

 As we walked back to the locker room, Kyle remarked that this was definitely a memorable dive. I told him it would cost him a drink, however it would have to be tomorrow as I had to get back and do my blog.

 A great day to be diving!