Back in the Water

Like Jessee mentioned, the stormy weather has passed. Going two days without getting into the water whatsoever is quite a long time here. But I think I made up for it today. I went out on two fish ID snorkel sessions and a dive just before dinner. Jessee joined me on one of the snorkels too.

The students go out on regular species identification trips and this week their focus is on fish. Fish are much more interesting to me than the various algae and even corals. I went along with the group for some of it, but mostly I was attempting to ID fish on my own using a waterproof guide book. We snorkeled at two locations - Admiral's Aquarium and Shark Alley - and I dove at "The Bell."

Queen Triggerfish

It's been a while since we've been able to go to Shark Alley, which is my preferred snorkel spot. The current can be strong there, and since the center had been using the wrong tide chart, we kept going there at the wrong time. Every time, we had to leave and go to Admiral's Aquarium. I did some searching and was able to find a tide chart that (so far) seems to be giving us better information.

Four-eyed Butterflyfish

Admiral's Aquarium is a "patch reef," which is exactly what it sounds like, patches of reef instead of a contiguous reef system. It's considerably more shallow and farther from the open ocean (which means calmer waters). It's a really nice place. The water is super clear and there's an incredible number of fishes.* The afternoon snorkel, at Shark Alley (which is proper reef), was eventful and a lot of fun (even if we didn't see any large animals besides a Nurse Shark). Shark Alley is quite a bit deeper and closer to the open ocean. The waves are still pretty big, and you can tell that everything has been churned up in the last few days. When you cross over the reef to the deeper parts there was a noticeable drop in water temperature. It was quite refreshing to be in the cooler water as it is probably around 88°F (or higher) elsewhere.

Black Durgon

Jessee and I were able to ID loads of fish. Here's the list of all the ones we can recall (be sure to check our updated Species List on the sidebar for more information on these fish):

• Peacock Flounder
  
• Banded Butterflyfish
  
• Four-eyed Butterflyfish
  
• Queen Angelfish
  
• French Angelfish
  
• Blue Tang
  
• Bar Jack
  
• Great Barracuda
  
• Yellowtail Damselfish
  
• Nassau Grouper
  
• Tiger Grouper
  
• Stoplight Parrotfish
  
• Spanish Hogfish
  
• Hogfish
  
• Bluehead
  
• Trumpetfish
  
• Honeycomb Cowfish
  
• Black Durgon
  
• Queen Triggerfish
  
• Nurse Shark
  

At Admiral's this morning I watched a Hogfish shift colors before my eyes. It is one of many fish that can vary the intensity of its colors. The one I saw today was fluctuating from light to dark every 10 or 15 seconds. When its spines were extended, it had darkly colored spots that were highly contrasted from the lighter body, and when its spines were lowered, it quickly changed to low contrast - almost completely white. It didn't seem alarmed and didn't seem bothered by me, so I'm not sure what the purpose was.

Juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish

The dive this evening was just before dinner. I went out with a couple of the staff, and I'm surprised they even wanted to. They had been in the water twice as long as I had been (they took two groups each to Admiral's and Shark Alley), and I had already been in the water for at least two and half hours. The dive site is named for the "bell" that is resting on the seafloor. It's probably not a bell at all, but nobody is really sure what it is. It's a large conical metal object that could fit at least a couple people inside. I guessed it might be an old "diving bell" that people used to use before SCUBA, but I was just pulling that out of nowhere. It certainly doesn't resemble a bell that might have gone on a ship. We didn't see any large animals on this dive, but it's really an entirely different experience to see fish from an angle other than above and to not have to return to the surface for air every few seconds.

Queen Angelfish

This evening we're planning to meet up with some of the staff in town to celebrate one of the interns' birthday. We're going to "Rooster" which is a place that has a pool table. The table is quite lopsided and the balls often roll towards one corner, but if you play with that in mind, it can still be fun.


* I learned several days ago in a lecture that the plural word "fish" refers to several individuals of one species of fish and the word "fishes" is used to indicate that there are several fish of multiple species.