Tag Archives: diving

Bahamas, Cayman Islands, wide angle

Have you been diving at the chamber?

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It was a bit surprising to find a lion fish hiding in the hyperbaric chamber that was sunk off the coast of Grand Bahama
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.
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.

 

Bahamas, Mexico, swim throughs, Uncategorized

Do you like swim throughs?

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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.

swim through fins-1

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.

swim through

(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
We have just finished swimming through a swim through
wreaks

Have you seen the Papa Doc wreck in Grand Bahamas

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The Papa Doc replacement with fish

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
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
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.

Bahamas, Sharks, wide angle

Have you been to shark Junction?

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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
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
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.

 

 

 

 

Belize, wide angle

Have you been to the Hol chan Marine reserve?

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Black Margot in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve
Black Margot in the Hol Chan Marine Reserve

The Hol Chan Marine reserve in Belize is relatively well known among divers. It is near San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The dive is not deep. Much of the reserve is less than 20 feet deep. The deepest spot I found during our dives was just over 30 feet.

On Abergris Caye the barrier reef is relatively close to the shoreline, in many places it is less than 800 yards from shore. While the reef forms a substantial barrier that protects Ambergris Caye there are “cuts” or divides in the reef where the Caribbean can wash through and boats can get out beyond the reef by sailing through the “cut”. In the Hol Chan marine reserve there is a “cut” which allows the Caribbean to flow through the reef. One of the things that the flow of water does is allow food to move through the cut. As a result of the movement of the water through the cut the amount and variety of marine life in the reserve is substantial. It is common to see large numbers of nurse sharks. It is common to see turtles and large schools of fish.

There is a wide variety of corals including one of my favorite corals, elk horn coral.

Grunts under elk horn coral in the Hol Chan Marine reserve
Grunts under elk horn coral in the Hol Chan Marine reserve

And, if you are lucky, you will find turtles both hawks bill and green sea turtles hanging out and eating turtle grass in the reserve.

 

 

 

Belize, Macro

Do you see the details in the mundane?

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Closed polyps on a sea whip.

 

sea whip

It was not long ago that I was diving in Ambergris Caye in Belize. What struck me was the variety of soft and hard corals.

Nevertheless, on many dives, what got the attention of the divers in my group were the nurse sharks. Now don’t get me wrong, I find large animals, including nurse sharks, to be fascinating to see in the wild. Nurse sharks in the world of sharks are pretty docile and can be approached relatively easily. Keep your fingers to yourself and don’t harrass a nurse shark and you can watch them gracefully swim along the reef. I don’t think I have ever seen as many nurse sharks any where else as I have seen in Ambergris Caye.

Even though the nurse sharks got top billing, the corals were quite intersting.   There were many healthy soft and hard corals which were also worthy of comment.

coral pollups feeding

(Polyps of a sea whip unfurled and gathering plankton).

What is interesting to me is that coral are created by large colonies of very small animals. The texture and shape of corals has substantial variety. And, the means and types of food that they feed on can vary fairly dramatically.  Some of the corals unfold their polyps and feed on plankton that drifts within reach.  The most interesting feeding I have seen corals engage in I observed on a night dive on Grand Cayman.  Blood worms were swarming my dive light during the  night dive.  The dive leader pointed his light at a coral and the blood worms followed the light down to the coral only to be devoured by the coral.  It was not what I was expecting, but it was interesting.  After a while I started to feel a little bit bad for the blood worms because they were being eaten at a rather rapid rate.  But then I got to thinking about how annoying they had been a the beginning of the dive and it occurred to me that it was just part of the circle of life in the ocean.

Star coral was also quite common in Ambergris caye.  For me star coral is interesting because it can become enormous.   I also find the individual shapes to be quite interesting.  Of course, the fact that star coral    glows green under blue light also makes it interesting.

So next time you are diving in the deep blue sea and are templed to swim past the coral in search of other more interesting subjects, take a minute or two and look more closely at the coral, you may be glad you did.

peppermint gobey
perpermint gobey resting on star coral

 

wreaks

Do you: Like big Wrecks?

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The Berwyn wreck Barbados
The Berwyn wreck Barbados

Ever notice when you are diving that certain songs go through your head? Sometimes when I’m diving certain songs go through my head depending on the type of dive. For instance on wreck dives:

I like big wrecks and I can not lie
You other divers can’t deny
That when ship sails in with an itty bitty hold
And a round thing in your face
Goat fish on the York

You get sprung
Wanna pull up tough
’cause you notice that wreck was stuffed
Deep in the sand she wearing
I’m hooked and I can’t stop staring
Willaurie stairs

Oh, baby I wanna get with ya
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that wreck you got
Make Me so happy
Ooh, hull of smooth skin
You say you wanna get in my benz
Well use me use me ’cause you aint that average groupy

tugboat

With apologies to Sir Mixalot

Dominica, wide angle

Oh when can I go back to Dominica?

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Not a bad place to have to moor and go diving.

In 2014 we traveled to Dominica for the first time. We flew to Guadeloupe, got on board a power cat and motored the 20+ miles to Dominica the following morning. A power cat is like a catermoran, but instead of a sail, it just uses a motor to cruise. That way a power cat is not wind dependent and generallys is quite a bit faster in the water.

For the next week, we would dive than cruise to a new dive site pick up a local dive master and then dive some more. We set foot on the island of Dominica once that week, to have dinner and to return some dive gear to a local dive shop. The rest of the time we were either cruising down the coast, diving, sleeping or eating.

One of the songs that kept playing in my head during the trip was a song about Dominica that I had heard when I was a child. Here is a link to a video clip from the Ed Sullivan show in the early 60’s about the nun who wrote and sang the song “Dominica”.

Dominica has an abundance of underwater wildlife. If you like to find small sea creatures there are plenty of them to see. I don’t think I have ever seen so many banded shrimp and small crabs as I saw on this trip. I am relatively certain I have never see so many golden crinoid, a type of feather star as we saw in Dominica.

Sponges corals and crionoids with fish in the background Sponges corals and crionoids with fish in the background

And, if you have lots of small animals, you often have a variety of predators. We saw quite a few trumpet fish. Dominica trumpet-1

And, we saw large animals. For more than a half an hour as we were motoring along the coast of the island, we were escorted by a dolphin. dolphin

Dominica is a volcanic island. On one dive we took a couple of eggs from the galley and took them down to the sand 80 feet below the boat and buried them in the sand. We then went on our dive and by the time we came back the eggs were cooked and were hard-boiled. Dominica as the top of a volcano rises up out of the ocean. As a result, if you go about a mile off shore the depth of the water drops to over 1,000 feet in-depth. That deep trench near the Atlantic ocean makes for excellent habitat for whales. In Dominica, if you go with a local operator who has a permit, you can swim with whales. Swimming with Whales

Swimming with whales is done on snorkel gear but it is with sperm whales, a relatively rare animal. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go snorkeling with the whales. One of my friends visited Dominica a few weeks before we were there, and spent quite a bit of time in the water with several sperm whales, and of course had a great time. I am going to hopefully time my next trip to Dominica to try to swim with the sperm whales.

Uncategorized

What’s as blind as a bat, and will bite where its at? That’s a moray!

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In the Caribbean, there are 15 or so kinds of moray eel. Based on my antidotal observation, the green moray is the most common. Green moral eels tend to grow larger than their cousins so perhaps their ability to grow larger gives them an advantage in the wild. Based on my personal observation around the Caribbean, the spotted moray is the second most common moray eel to see.

green moray

Here is an example of a spotted moray eel. spotted moray eel

Ordinarily, moray eels are relatively unaffected by the presence of divers. Quite often divers can get relatively close to moray eels before the eel will withdraw into the reef to avoid contact with a diver, but not always.

As I approached this moray eel he withdrew into the reef leaving the banded shrimp who had previously been cleaning the eel.
As I approached the eel withdrew into the reef leaving the banded shrimp who had previously been cleaning the eel.

Sometimes during the daytime, eels will only peer out of their hiding holes in the reef and you have to be fairly alert to spot them. Green moray peeking out of the reef

Sometimes if you are very fortunate you will see a moray eel freely swimming about the reef. Generally speaking, you are more likely to see a free swimming moray eel during a night dive when they are hunting for food than you are during the day.

The relationship between divers and eels does change if there is food that is present or the eel believes that there may be food available. When food is present, the moray can become much more interested in the food than anything else. We were diving in Belize on the Turneffe reef when I saw a moray become much more interested in food than anything else. Our dive leader had speared a lion fish and were swimming along a wall when a moray caught the sent of the dead lion fish which was still on the spear. Here is how that interaction played out. Nevertheless some moray eel have no interest in lion fish as food even when dead.

Sometimes even if the feeding by has not occurred by humans for quite a long time, a moray eel will continue to look for a free meal. occasionally, the interaction between divers and an eel can be almost comical. Unfortunately, feeding wild animals can change their behavior. That applies not just to moray eels but to other animals as well.

Nevertheless, getting to see a free swimming moray eel, particularly in the day time, is quite a treat. And, while they are technically fish, moray eels are quite different from most fish that you see in the ocean.

Here is a short clip of some moray eels I have seen recently.

Dominica, Macro

Have you ever explored underneath a pier, jetty or bridge?

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Photographer under the pier
There are a lot of dives that I have done where the boat ride to the dive site can be quite long. Have long boat rides guaranteed a great dive experience, unfortunately no. Curiously, sometimes the shortest boat rides have yielded some great dives, particularly if there if there is some man-made structure in the area. Curiously, sometimes the local pier, jetty or bridge provide opportunities for divers to explore the underwater world and find some interesting sea creatures. Arrow crab

Not long ago we did a dive near a pier in Dominica. It started out late in the afternoon so the light was very low. When I reached the bottom at about 35 feet the first thing I found was an old paint bucket with sponges growing out of it. It was a little surreal, but it is not the first time I have seen what might seem like trash being re-purposed. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating for trash in the oceans. Nevertheless, I am less surprised now than in the past that sometimes sea creatures are able to re-purpose what someone intended to throw away. Similarly, the posts that were set into the sea floor also create structure in which sea creatures may make a home. Upside down shrimp
Even larger animals seem to find hiding holes for themselves. dominica blog-1
cataloguing the creature we saw in a one hour dive was hard. In part because I kept switching back and forth between still shots and video, but in part because the sheer number of creatures and their variety. We saw a variety of shrimp and crabs. We saw several species of puffer fish. We saw a slipper lobster. And we saw several seahorses.
dominica blog 3-1

So the next time you are driving by a pier, jetty or bridge, maybe you should ask yourself: “I wonder if I ought to go explore it and see if there are any interesting sea creatures?”

Here is a short video from the dive.

Cayman Islands, wide angle

Is Stingray City the best 12 foot dive?

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Coming at you
Coming at you

Often times I hear divers talking about the deepest dive they have done or the fastest current or describing some other feature that made a dive unusual. Sometimes divers look down their noses at dives that are less than 60 feet. After all any certified diver can go to 60 feet, you are supposed to be an advanced certified diver to go deeper.

Nevertheless, stingray city in Grand Cayman which is 12 foot in-depth to the sand is pretty spectacular. Feeding a southern ray
The fishermen used to clean their catchs just outside the mouth of the harbor and throw the remains overboard. Rays oftentimes would feed on the remains and would gather for a meal when they heard the fisherman’s boats heading back to the harbor. Bottle baby

I dove Stingray City with Divetech, which is an excellent shop in Grand Cayman. Before the dive the briefing advised that we would want to be over-weighted by 4 to 5 pounds. (I added 4 pounts to my usual 12 pounds). We would drop to the sand and stay in one place while the ray wrangler would feed the rays. The rays would be southern rays which would range in size from about a foot across the widest part of their body to well over three feet across their body. We would all dive air as opposed to nitrox (oxygen enriched air) because nitrox would not change our bottom times because the dive was so shallow. Once we were down we would get into more or less a circle around the ray wrangler.
Diving with rays

Once we were all on the bottom, and even before the wrangle arrived, the rays started to approach our group. The rays seemed a bit shy at first but slowly became more willing to swim near our group. When the wrangler decended with the chopped-up squid in a water bottle more rays came to see us. For about forty minutes the wrangler would move around and the rays would follow her in hopes that a small bit of squid would be squirted out of the feed bottle and they would get a snack. Along with the rays we also were jointed by yellow tail snappers and other fish. During the dive we saw at least a dozen rays who would swim around and put on a show for us. After the wrangler went back up to the boat we were allowed to swim around several large coral heads to see the local fish life. Within a few moments I had found lobsters and other creatures to observe and film. In order to get close to the lobster I dropped to the sand and crawled up close to the coral head to film the lobster. When I backed out from the coral head a weight pocket fell out of my bcd. I was so enthralled with looking for creatures, I didn’t miss it and only knew it was missing when one of the divers handed it back to me when we were on the boat. I guess I didnt’ need that extra four pounds after all.

Most of the tourists head to the sand bars with chest-high water to interact with the stingrays. The boats’ proprietors bring along with them pails of chunked-up squid meat, which they dispense by hand to the animals, thus attracting dozens of the creatures to the feeding spot. But for me the more interesting opportunity is to dive to 12 feet and hang out until the southern rays arrive and watch the action. To me what really makes the dive unique is the interaction with so many southern rays. On most dives, if I find one ray during the dive that usually means it has been a good dive; To see dozens of rays during a single dive is a special treat.

The grace and ease with which rays move through the water is best seen in video. It reminds me that they live there, and we are just guests.

Antigua

Diving in Antigua, what is it like?

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Picturesque Deep Bay is actually very shallow
Picturesque Deep Bay is actually very shallow

Antigua is a very beautiful island. It is a volcanic island. There are mountains and there are many awesome places to hike and look out over the surrounding Caribbean water. As a pure diving trip Antigua is not in the same league as the Cayman islands or Cozumel. However, as an island to sail around and explore both land and sea it has may endearing features.

As a volcanic island the sand is very heavy and when it is stirred up it is like concrete. When the sand is stirred up, it is slow to settle and visibility can be quite challenging. Goatfish hiding under an overhang

We traveled around the island on a live aboard for a week and dove at various spots along the way. We saw a variety of animals including an octopus feeding on a conch. Octopus feeding on Conch We also saw a variety of land features such as the “Devil”s Bridge” and the Pillars of Hercules.

Some of the dive sites are quite shallow. For less experienced divers there are quite a few shallow water sites to explore.
Exploring the Pillars of Hercules

Antigua is a beautiful island and one worth exploring, particularly from a live aboard.