The Daily Routine

As Jessee mentioned, we're trying to keep in the habit of running. I don't really like doing it, but I do like having done it. It makes a world of difference in how you feel. For the last two days we've taken advantage of the fact that the water has been dead calm and, instead of just floating around at the dock to cool down, we went for a couple of long snorkels. Yesterday we swam around Dove Cay, and today we crossed the entire bay to Shark Alley. According to Google Maps, each route is about a mile.

View Snorkel Routes in a larger map

The water has gotten much warmer since the winter and it's really nice to be out there. The surface water was especially warm because there were no waves to churn things up, and the thermocline was especially distinct. The top 12 inches was probably 8° or 10° warmer than the water below that. It's just a shame it wasn't this flat when Jessee's family was here.

Dove Cay

We attached our shoes to the signal float. Yes, that is ocean water not pool water, by the way.

Jessee always pulls the float because she's the better swimmer.

There's some new Elk Horn Coral growth on the far side of Dove Cay.

A Massive Lobster

That's a nice leaf.

We saw this same "buddy pair" both days - a Sting Ray and a Bar Jack.

The swim across to Long Cay today was especially eventful. Well, actually, Shark Alley (the area at the tip of Long Cay) was. It never disappoints. We saw three turtles (two large Hawksbills and fairly large Green), 7 Eagle Rays, and a Reef Shark. The two Hawksbills had tags, and when they saw us they took off without looking back. I guess they recognized us. The Green turtle came swimming by while I was photographing the shark. I actually got both of them in a single frame. Shark Alley is really one of a kind. If you saw any single one of these animals in the Dominican Republic, it would be something to talk about. Here you're not even finished looking at one when another comes swimming by. This is really a special place.

We started at the dock for a more direct line across the bay.

Barracudas spend most of their time lurking.

It's a bit grainy, but the turtle is just behind the shark in the lower left.

Queen Triggerfish

There was an abandoned fish trap at Shark Alley with a Coney trapped inside. I decided I'd free him. Sometimes in rough weather traps get lost. Until all the bait is used up, they'll continue trapping fish, which simply die of starvation. It took about 10 breath-hold dives to get the gate open. I had to untie several knots and bend some wires, but eventually I did it.

The fish is in the top right corner.

Gate's Open

And the fish is free. You can see him swimming away to the left.

Yesterday afternoon we went for a dive too. Right off the boat we saw the biggest Snapper (a Dog Snapper, I think). It was probably 3.5 or 4 feet long, absolutely enormous for a commercially valuable species! I can't imagine what it weighed. It was a beast. Again, there aren't many places in the world where fish like this still exist.

Monster Snapper

This Cero Mackerel swam curiously around us for several minutes.

Jessee looking at her favorite fish, the Sharpnose Puffer.

Captain Ahab

Given the recent goings-on here on South Caicos, I thought it suiting to begin reading Moby Dick. (Actually, I'm cheating a little by listening to the audiobook, but that's neither here nor there). The idea came after others started poking fun at me, saying I was obsessed with finding the whales. The book is about Captain Ahab's crazed search for the elusive White Whale (actually an albino Sperm Whale). He becomes completely consumed by the hunt and is left unable to focus on or take pleasure in anything else. While my recent obsession with whale watching certainly hasn't reached this degree, the parallel they've drawn to Ahab is might not be that far off base for many other things in my life.


We spent much of the day yesterday in search of the whales. But we were not lucky enough to find them. The season is coming to a close soon. Most of the whales should be gone by the middle of March, though some stragglers can supposedly still be seen well into April.

On one of the dives yesterday, I could hear them. The male humpbacks are known for deep their whale-songs. The sound can travel for miles and miles, but I kept hoping they'd just come swimming by. It's really hard to swim with them let alone dive with them. They move so quickly that you can't really plan that sort of thing. You just need to be lucky.

I went out to the very tip of the East Bay Spur (a coral formation that juts out into "the blue") hoping they'd come by.

An Exciting Discovery

It's a flat calm day, so a few of us decided we'd go for a dive at a non-established site. Flat water is necessary to do that because without a permanent buoy you have to use the anchor. If the water is rough then the anchor won't hold.

Flat Water

We returned (approximately) to a spot that I had been to once before, which we've been calling the "East Bay Spur." We threw the anchor and went for the dive. When we got back to the boat we were surprised to find that our anchor had landed no more than 50 feet from an established permanent mooring! The East Bay Spur is actually an established site that was lost years back. It's really exciting to have found it because the area is really nice. Fortunately we had brought the GPS unit along and were able to record the coordinates.

East Bay Spur

(21.48376°N, 71.51434°W)

We're planning to replace the buoy. Once it's back, we'll be able to dive there more regularly, even when it's not that flat. Once we got back to the center, I told the people that have been here for a while about our discovery. It's turns out they knew the mooring was there and it was, in fact, called the East Bay Spur (it's funny how the name got passed along but not the fact that there was, at one time, a permanent buoy). They also told me there's one more site that is missing called "The Cone." I'm excited to go looking for it.

Fall Break

Today is the last day of the students' Fall Break. In fact, Jessee's just gone to the airport to pick up the first returning group. They're required to vacate the SFS center when not in session, which meant that it's been very quiet for the last several days - a welcomed change.

Since "dive buddies" are easier to come by when nobody has work to be doing, I started off the break with a lot of diving. We took this opportunity to do a little exploratory diving in areas less frequented, including the East Bay Spur (a large prow that juts out into "the blue," dropping off to 1000s of feet deep in all directions), the area between the moorings for Spanish Chain and the Grotto (a relatively unremarkable area, it turns out), and The Catacombs (a series of exciting underwater caves). I also went to a few of our regular spots and saw, most notably, a massive male Hawksbill turtle. Sightings of male turtles are very rare, as they spend most of their time in the open sea, only returning to coastal waters in search of mates. Also on that same dive we found two (possibly three) female Hawksbills, which made me wonder if they had been drawn there by the male.

Male Hawksbill at "The Maze"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Chf-TZe80)

Exiting a cave at "The Catacombs"
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9S43EFsLrE)



Sharpnose Puffer, one of Jessee's favorite fishes because of its odd appearance.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d4Rjtmaeds)

Female Hawksbill Turtle
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmojSs9qqZo)

Curious Black Jack
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C_XgU-DS6M)

We also broke out the Scrabble board, and started training to be able to beat my mom (she's really good). Of our three completed games, our standings are Jessee-1, Brett-2. I only wish I had taken a picture of the completed board (for two of the games, anyway). I led off our second game with a 72-point blowout. Jessee regained ground throughout, but couldn't pull ahead before the game ended. Look out mom!

We also did a little knee boarding:

Brett on the Knee Board
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUwaGqLaGg)