I am not sure what it is about turtles that always fascinates me when I am diving. Sometimes it strikes me that turtles remind me of grumpy old men swimming under water. I guess I can relate to that. Other times I am amazed at just how quickly they can swim and leave me in the dust, even when I am wearing fins.
Some dives are just magical
Over the years, I have seen hawksbill turtles, green sea turtles, Ridley’s turtles and even a leather back turtle. I was amazed when we were sailing to see an enormous leather back turtle surface directly in front of our catamaran. I had no idea that a turtle that probably weighed half a ton could immediately dive down with seemingly very little effort and at a speed that took it out of the center of our catamaran.
I especially like to see sunlight reflected off the shells of green sea turtles because their shells reflect so many colors. So here is to the turtle, I tip my hat so to speak.
The Grenadines are known for having nearly countless small underwater creatures to see under the sea. Arrow crabs, banded shrimp and other small creatures are plentiful to see if you are scuba diving.
A banded shrimp hanging upside down waiting for fish to be cleaned
We had seen a number of small hermit crabs during our trip to the Grenadines. There were quite a few to be seen, but for the most part they were in shells that were not much bigger than a silver dollar. Most species of hermit crab have long, spirally curved abdomens, which are soft, unlike the hard, calcified abdomens seen in related crustaceans. The vulnerable abdomen is protected from predators by a salvaged empty seashell carried by the hermit crab. The shell is ususally large enough so the crabs entire body can retract inside the shell. Hermit crabs often use the shells of sea snails (although the shells of bivalves and scaphopods and even hollow pieces of wood and stone are used by some species). The tip of the hermit crab’s abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. Most hermit crabs are nocturnal.
So I was not expecting to swim around a part of the reef only to come face to face with a hermit crab whose home shell was as big as my head.
The biggest hermit crab I’ve ever seen
Even assuming the crab did not fill the shell entirely, he was enormous, and obviously quite strong because he did not seem to have any problem trying to carry about such a large shell.
For about as long as I can remember I have always liked being in the water. If there was a puddle near where I lived as a kid, I was in it looking to see what might be living in the puddle. I was the swim team kid who was always in the water. I earned some of my early pay checks being a life guard at a local pool. Later I would manage a pool while I was in college.
When I first started diving it was something I hoped I could do with my family. It took a while and a fair amount of convincing, but to a large extent diving has become an adventure we can do together. Diving seemed like a great way to turn off the phone, fax, text, and email stream of communications that had invaded my life. Unfortunately, what I have found is that it only delays the delivery for a while, but even that is a help. To an extent, diving has been a great way to tune out the communication noise that otherwise buries me during the day.
But, diving also allows me to explore parts of the world that I otherwise would not see. Whether it is 12 feet down looking at southern rays at Sting Ray city off the coast of Grand Cayman, or hundred feet down looking at bull sharks off the coast of Playa del Carmen, or some depth in between looking at a hermit crab or other creatures, there is almost always something to see and learn about.
Channel clinging crab
So for me, what keeps me coming back is not just the opportunity to have some peace and quiet, but also to feed my curiosity about what exists in the other 70% of the world.
I have been diving for quite some time and have done hundreds of dives in blue water. And yet, it was only recently that I came across an electric ray. Not an electric eel, but an electric ray. According to my fish book they are uncommon to rare in the northern part of Caribbean such as in the Bahamas and Florida. They are more common in the southern Caribbean. They tend to be unconcerned and won’t move when approached by divers, but if touched can produce a mild electric shock of between 14 and 37 volts.
From doing a little research it appears there are over 60 species of rays world wide, but far fewer are electric. The electric ray I found was what is known as a lesser electric ray. I looked, but the could not find a “greater electric ray”; who says naming protocols are logical?
The better known electric ray is the Torpedo fish. The really odd part is that the ancient Greeks used electric rays to numb the pain of childbirth and operations. In his dialogue Meno, Plato has the character Meno accuse Socrates of “stunning” people with his puzzling questions, in a manner similar to the way the torpedo fish stuns with electricity. Scribonius Largus, a Roman physician, recorded the use of torpedo fish for treatment of headaches and gout in his Compositiones Medicae of 46 AD.
I think I’m glad I can quite happily stop by the local pharmacy and find my choice of aspirin or other pain relievers. Which brings me to my next rumination? Is there such a thing as finding too many interesting creatures under the sea? That is, is there a point where there is too much of a good thing? I think it is kind of like asking can you take too many vacations? Not a chance….
In the Grenadines, the government has created a marine park in and around Tobago Cayes. Although the park is not particularly large, it is well placed. The marine park is bounded by several small islands and the depth of the water in much of the park is relatively shallow. With shallow water and a white sand bottom, this creates some amazingly pretty turquoises water.
Sailing in to Tobago Cayes with just a hint of the turquoises water that we will see
We had barely had time to anchor and we spotted several green sea turtles surfacing for air, only to return to the bottom to feed on turtle grass. We arrived in the afternoon and after lunch we were picked up by a local dive shot to go diving.
I did two dives with a macro set up. The first dive was horseshoe reef. With alot of newby divers we had some challenges, particularly since the current changed twice in about a half an hour. I did manage to get a few interesting critter shots.
This banded shrimp almost reminded me of an old west gun fighter with her guns drawn; I guess you could call her “Two guns”. I say her, because I think if you look closely you can see eggs.
After the second dive I switched the camera to a wide angle set up for the next morning when we would go to the marine park looking for green sea turtles.
If you have to anchor somewhere, Tobago Cayes is pretty spectacular
Unfortunately, no diving was allowed near the island where the turtles were, but on snorkel we were successful in finding sea turtles with which to swim. Below is a video from our swimming with green sea turtles at Tobago Cayes.
As a dive site, Littlehails laird has an abundance of marine life. There were quite few grunts of various species. But while it is know for a variety of grunts we were fortunate to see a turtle swim through the site within minutes of getting to the bottom. Like most hawksbill turtles he reminded me of a grumpy old man. In my mind I could hear him saying: ‘oh bother another diver trying to follow me, quick I will show him I can out swim him in a matter of moments.” And, of course he was right, but not before I shot about a thirty second video climp of him swimming over the reef.
Moments later, a gray reef shark swam by as if to say welcome to the reef. I did not manage to get the video light on before he had disappeared over the reef. It must be nice to go up in down in the water column without worrying if you have exceeded a maximum ascent rate. In something under 10 seconds he had gone up and back down 30 feet in the water column. It must be nice to be able to do that. Divers are limited to 30 feet up in a minute. So there is no way of safely trying to follow a shark, we can just wait for them to make another pass. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but the anticipation is what makes it fun– at least for me. I’m usually thinking, is there a way to position my self so that if the shark or turtle or other wildlife that has just passed me will come back just to see me, at least out of curiousity.
Like many places in the Caribbean there have been at times ships that have on their face appeared to be normal cargo ships, while at the same time also being used to smuggle illegal drugs. One such ship was the Sea Star which was eventually apprehended in Bahamian waters. When the ship was sold through a forfeiture sale, it sold for a dollar and was eventually sunk as a purposefully sunk wreck. It is the second largest wreck in Grand Bahama. The person who purchased the Sea Star died in an automobile accident shortly before the sinking of the Sea Star. If you circumnavigate the wreck a plaque with the owners name is towards the ship’s stern, near an external staircase.
As of 2015 the Sea Star has been down since 2002 or about 13 years. It has a fair amount of coral and sponge growth upon it. Much of the hull is in pretty good condition. However, the stern was twisted at a right angle from the rest of the ship when a hurricane came through the Bahamas a few years ago. Given that the Sea Star is over 30 feet wide and its hull was made of steel it must have taken a tremendous amount of force to twist the stern as the hurricane did.
From the cargo bay looking towards the bot
The Sea Star has become home to a significant number of reef fish. Towards the stern there was a sizeable school of blue striped grunts. In the holds there were a number of arrow crabs. I also found an enormous black grouper who was well ensconced in part of the hold.
The day we dove the Sea Star there was a current. Towards the end of the dive we ascended up the stern line up to our boat. The current was quick enough that if you held on to the line the current would hold your body out at a right angle so we all looked like flags blowing in the wind.
For divers who like to dive wrecks the Sea Star is a wreck worth diving. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
It was a bit surprising to find a lion fish hiding in the hyperbaric chamber that was sunk off the coast of Grand Bahama
As I understand it, the chamber which sits on the chamber dive site off of the coast of Grand Bahama was a working chamber until the doctor who used it decided to retire. Rather than just have the chamber rust out on the island, it was sunk at the chamber dive site. The day we dove it, we discovered that a lion fish had taken up residence. She was quite large and had a brood of small lion fish surrounding her. When I thought about it, it just seemed odd to find a fish in a decompression chamber since they don’t have the same issues with pressure differentials that we do.
The vast majority of divers are well aware that by breathing compressed gas underwater they are at risk for getting “bent” or suffering decompression sickness if they do not follow recognized guidelines for safe ascents or bottom time. In most classes I have attended the mantra of not making rapid ascents, that is faster than 30 feet per minute is repeated at least a dozen times. Most divers I know are very careful not to exceed bottom time limits, that is: “go into deco” because for most boat operators, if you go into deco that is the end of your diving for a day. But does staying within guidelines mean that a diver will not suffer decompression sickness; unfortunately it is still possible to dive within generally accepted guidelines and still get “bent”.
Fortunately, only one of my friends, thus far, has had to make a trip to the decompression chamber. From what his computer showed it was not because he had exceeded guidelines. Instead, it was because he had a broken bone from an unrelated accident that his doctor had not diagnosed. He spent 2 partial days in a chamber at a significant cost, most of which was covered by insurance.
This is the only other chamber I have come across at the bottom of the sea. Won’t work as a recompression chamber, but does have historic significance.
(The chamber pictured just above is from the Kittiwake in Grand Cayman. It is at about 60 feet and is interesting to look into).
In my diving I have made it a point to try to be very conservative in my diving and endeavor to stay out of the chamber. Given the relative small interior size of many decompression chambers, I suspect I could get claustrophobic pretty quickly if I had to spend any time in a chamber. But, given a choice between no chamber and claustrophobia, it’s a no brainer. Take the chamber any time. But, first choice is still to avoid a visit to the chamber if at all possible.
A short video clip from a swim through known as the “caves” in the Bahamas:
Swim throughs can occur several different ways. The Caves in Bahamas is an example of coral growing so high that it creates walls that sometimes meet and cover the corridor that otherwise winds through the reef. The swim throughs I have been through have ranged from wide enough for 3 divers to go through side by site down to swim throughs where I have to fold in close to the camera housing the arms holding my camera strobes out to the side of the housing.
The Caves in Freeport Bahamas’ dive site starts out easily wide enough to accommodate a diver so it is a dive in which we follow the leader. If you are not the leader of the dive, you have to hope that the divers in front of you do not kick up the sand too much otherwise the visibility gets real spotty really quickly. Fortunately my dive buddy who went in front of me did not kick up the bottom much at all. The Caves does get pretty narrow at points. There were a couple of places in the canyon where I had to turn sideways just to get the camera in its underwater housing through the narrows. The narrows did feel pretty narrow. It is not too uncommon for swim throughs to have narrow points. If you are not the first through, you have to hope that who ever is in front of you doesn’t balk and then try to turn around, or that someone from behind doesn’t bolt and try to swim over you.
(If you look closely you can see the diver closest to the camera is actually swimming over the diver in front; not a good idea, even if it is close to the exit).
As a dive site, the caves also has a good amount of fish life on the reef. I saw a school of goatfish which was quite large both on an individual basis and based on the number of individuals in the school . Of course the fish life is what keeps me going back to see more creatures underwater. You never know when a plate sized angel fish or a turtle might meet you in a swim through. For me, the potential of a meeting of an interesting creature never gets old.
We have just finished swimming through a swim through
Not far off shore from Grand Bahama lie the remnants of an old transport vessel that some would be militia thought they would sail over to Haiti to lend support to the rebels in the Hatian revolution of 1968. Well to say they did not get very far would be an understatement. Now they left port in a storm, but they only made it less than a few miles before the ship foundered and sank. For a while the Papa Doc wreck was a site that divers could easily visit since it sat in about 50 feet of water. Years underwater were not kind to the Papa Doc which dissintegrated over time. All that remains today of the Papa Doc are a couple of engines and other small remnants that are largely buried under the sand. Occassionally the sea gives back a rare find such as a bayonnet, but that is infrequent. The engines, however, remain and are worth inspecting. On our dives we found small pederson shrimp and even a flamingos tongue on the engines. Both the shrimp and the flamigos tongue were relatively well hidden in the engines so it took some time to spot them.
Eventually a local dive shop Unexso, sank a tug boat on the site where the Papa Doc had previously sunk. (A word about Unexso, they are an awesome shop. They have an experienced and knowledgeable staff that is very concerned that the divers who dive with them, have a safe and enjoyable trip. As an older diver, I always want to dive nitrox, oxygen enriched air, because on repetitive dive days over the course of a week I always feel better on nitrox than I do on just good old air. No there is no scientific proof that nitrox will make you feel better on repetitive dives, but my antidotal experience is that it is a huge help for me. Regardless, when I asked for nitrox at Unexso, it was available and we tested it and the volume of gas in the tanks to make sure each tank was exactly what I wanted.)
Eventually in the place of the Papa Doc, Unexso sank the Badger tugboat on the site of the Papa Doc. The Badger tugboat is largely still intact. The wheelhouse is in relatively good shape and has become a haven for snappers and black margot. Coral and some sea fans are starting to grow on the wreck. Fish such as squirrel fish hide in the recesses in the wreck. I played “peak a boo” with couple of squirrel fish for bettter part of 3 minutes just trying to coax them out to take their picture.
It took a while to get both squirrel fish to venture into the image
Around the tugboat there are some patch reefs and some large expanses of sand and broken coral. Spend sometime looking at the sponges on the patch reef because there often are spinny sea stars and a few golden crinoids are present. Often times near the sponges there are arrow crabs which are also interesting to watch. Underneath some of the coral heads are fairey bassetts which are a beautiful purple and gold fish.
In the sand you may find a significant number of blennies and some jaw fish who have dug holds in the sand and quickly retreat into the sand.
This blenny was one of several hundred that make their home near the Papa Doc
I looked for quite some time for a jawfish with eggs in its mouth, but did not find a single one. I guess I will have to go back again and re-explore the site.
Some dives are just awesome. The captain had just handed down my camera and I was continuing to clip the camera to my BC when I looked down. Fifty feet below I could see gray reef sharks swimming over the reef. Waiting the couple of minutes for my buddy to roll into the water and be ready to drop down to the reef seemed like an eternity. Since my buddy had had some issues equalizing her ears on the first dive I paused before dropping down, just to make sure I didn’t pass her on the way down.
On the way down, I was turning on the strobes, the camera and the focus light and my video light. I was still 25 feet from the bottom when I turned on the video light and started the video running. For the next 11 minutes all I did was breath, refocus the camera and try to keep up with the action. I lost count of the number of sharks that swam through the site. We weren’t feeding the sharks so I didn’t have to huddle up and kneel in the sand, yeh. Instead I was free to swim slowly and try to keep up with the action.
There were some small male sharks who swam through at various times. the big females were amazing, easily 6 to 8 feet in length. They were such graceful swimmers words do not do them justice.
One of the many sharks at Shark Junction
Mid way through filming, there was a large black grouper who was easily 200 pounds who swam through. He was quite a contrast to the sharks. Large bodied sharks could turn on a dime and still give you 9 cents back. The black grouper turned more like an old Cadillac– slow and steady.
A 200 plus pound Black Grouper at Shark Junction
We also saw a school of horse-eyed jacks. They are so graceful and their silver bodies glimmer in the water. Here is a short video with the sharks and the horse-eyed jacks.
So would I go back to Shark Junction in the Bahamas, absolutely.
