It's been a while since I've written about any particular dive or snorkel. This is mainly because it's really difficult to put into writing some of the spectacular things we see here, but also because it can be a little repetitive reading about every Eagle Ray, Shark, or Turtle we see. But today's snorkel at the South End of Long Cay is noteworthy. Unfortunately, it was the first time in a long time that didn't bring our camera!
In the span of about 45 minutes, I saw five Eagle Rays, two Nurse Sharks, a Reef Shark, and four Sea Turtles (one huge Green, two female Hawksbills, and a giant male Hawkbill). At one point the big male Hawksbill was swimming just over and in between two of Eagle Rays and in front of a Reef Shark. Seeing any one of them would have been worth watching, but seeing all four in an area that could have been framed in a single photograph was something else. The bigger of the female Hawksbills had a pretty severe injury - it was missing a back flipper and had a volleyball-sized piece of shell missing. I'm not sure how it survived such a serious injury, but it seemed to be fine. The Eagle Rays were rather unconcerned by us. I swam down towards two of the smaller ones and they didn't really seem to care. I got so close I could have reached out and touched one of them on the tail. I didn't though. This description really does no justice to what it was like to see all these things all together, especially without any pictures!
Showing posts with label male hawksbill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label male hawksbill. Show all posts
09 November 2009
26 October 2009
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.
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)
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)
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.
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)
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)
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