Wednesday, March 4, 2009
With three dives a day taking their toll on the teenagers the "older folks" had to coax them out of bed with bacon and French toast. Today we headed for the northwest side of the Island where the visibility was great and we had a lovely ledge of soft corals bottoming out at 60 feet. I took the video camera on this dive and was trying to get a shot of a shy yellowtail damsel when there was a furious tank banging from Zab and the senior boys as HUGE green Moray was swimming accross the reef below them. This was a shot that could not be missed so I headed after it as fast as I could without shaking the camera too much. Eventually it turned around to give me a toothy smile - as only a Moray can! As we headed back to the boat the divemaster complimented the students on their buoyancy control as they have all been working very hard not to damage the reef.
On our second dive we dove accross the sand patch which at first sight may seem rather pointless, unless you are diving with Matt and Zab! They found two different types of SeaHorse and a pipe horse, a peacock flounder, crabs, garden eels and a sea cucumber. Rick, Thomas and Jordan found some trash near shore on their dive and did an underwater clean-up, bringing up a bunch of plastic and hopefully preventing the demise of a marine creature from this careless human behaviour. Our third dive after lunch was on a small wreck at Ted's Point. There was not much life on the wreck but it was fun to swim around. We moved accross to the reef where we found several Trumpet Fish and a large spotted drum as well as the usual array of sargent majors, and damsel fish. The staff at the resort had purchased ice cream sundae glasses specially in anticipation of the group of teenagers, and they have been hungrily eating from them every evening!
After dinner Steve Fox, the owner of Deep Blue Resort and an expert on whale sharks, gave a wonderful talk on the huge and elusive creatures and his research work with them. Usually known for an abundance of energy it is now 8:10pm and all the students are in bed already, the staff are about to head that way too! Signing off Columbia - good night.
Tuesday Update
We had an afternoon free and took a boat accross the lagoon to town. The town of Utila is a far cry from Columbia. There are no cars, only a couple of small utility trucks and everyone drives mopeds and quads. There are a few golf carts but as this is the most expensive electricity in the world, few people can afford to re-charge them. We walked through narrow streets lined with an ecclectic array of restaurants, convenience shops, dive centers and billiard halls. Boutiques were small buildings with an array of flip flops and bathing suits pegged up on washing lines in the windows. In front yards there were tables with clothing for sale and home-made eats. Just outside the ferry were tables where locals offered handmade crafts and jewelry. We visited the strange and mystical botanical garden of the Jade Seahorse, a kalidescope of colors in glass and beads adorned walls and bridges as meandering paths led up the hill amongst the trees. We had time to visit the one gift store on the island and grab a soda before catching the boat back the resort for the night dive.
For most of the group this would be their first experience diving at night. Although a little nervous most of them elected to go and were delighted that they did. We entered the water at dusk as the sun was meeting the horizon. The sky grew dark as we descended to the reef. Although we had been diving on this reef the previous day it was transformed at night. Dive lights cut through the water like sabres and everyone quickly became comfortable with the new sensation. Some of the night time creatures found were spotted and spiney lobster, and two octopus. The first was scared of the lights and retreated into the reef but the smaller one kept looking for his supper as we observed him flow accross the coral and balloon out the skirt to suck critters into his beak. A big thrill was turning the dive lights in against the chest and waving our hands to see the tiny sparks of the bioluminescence. The boys particularly liked the trick of feeding red worms to the brain coral, if you see little sqiggles in your light and move it close enough to the brain coral the polyps will grab the worm and devour it. Though some of the students were cautious about making the night dive, it can best be summed up by Katharine who climbed back on the boat exclaiming "Whoa, that was cool"
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
We had a wonderful days diving today. The first dive today was Big Rock, we descended onto a wide sandy flat that gently sloped down to the reef. There was a huge school of parrot fish and another of Bermuda Chub charging over the coral heads, we were not sure where they were going but whaterever it was seemed important! Some of the more experienced divers joined Matt and Zab and cruised down the ledge to around 60 feet, there they found some interesting things in the sand including a yellow headed jaw fish peeping out of his home and Ms Airey was able to snap a picture of the orange Sea Horse. Several of the students were fascinated by the strange orange/ pink flamingo tongues clinging to large purple sea fans. Thomas found some Sea Pearls which look like shiny plastic but are actually single cell organisms. On the second dive Jordan finished up her certification dives in fine form and was treated to a huge snapper ready to congratulate her as we swam up a sand channel back to the boat. "That fish was half as big as me!" she exlaimed as we boarded the boat after our dive at Silver Gardens. Katharine and Ms. Airey got a picture of the Hawksbill Turtle out on the wall which was their most exciting find of the dive.
Monday, March 2, 2009
We were all up early for breakfast today with a full day of diving ahead. Our dive masters Matt and Isabel organized buddy teams with Lucy and helped everyone with equipment and weighting so we would all be neutrally buoyant and not damage the reef. We headed out for our first two dives, as we leave the resort we go across the lagoon to reach the sea and try to spot iguanas in the mangroves. The first dive was on a ledge Jack\Neal beach (Jack lives at one end, Neal lives at the other hence the name) We went down to a shallow sand patch and turned left along a coral ledge large coral heads housed blue tang and lots of stoplight parrot fish, wrasse and trumpet fish. Sweet little Garden Eels popped up out of the sand at the bottom of the ledge. Back on the boat hungry divers devoured fresh tropical fruit as our busy dive masters switched gear on to our second tank. Dive two was on Black Coral Wall, one of the shallowest sites in the world to se e black coral at 35 feet. Very clear water and amazing color made this a wonderful dive the vivid Queen Angel fish, Rock Beauty and damsel fish were in abundance. Back to the resort for lunch and then our third dive at Ron’s Wreck. We descended across the top of the coral reef, where channels like miniature canyons made their way down to the top of the wall. At the shallows there were a vast numbers of parrot fish feasting on the coral algae, as you moved down the wall schools of Bermuda Chub cruised through as we peered into the reef to find three different types of Moray Eels and lobsters. The find of the day was Katherine’s as she looked out across the sandy area to see a beautiful Spotted Eagle Ray. A group of tired but happy divers returned to the resort.
Students perspectives of the day.
Jordan: I saw Dora (blue tang) butterfly fish, angel fish and parrot fish.
Katharine: I saw the Eagle Ray
Mr Morris: We are SCUBA Diving in Utila..... and you're not!
Ms. Airey: Still hoping to see a Whale Shark but today has been a great lead up, you must come to Utila.
Elliot: I found a viper Moray and Garden Eels in the sand. Amazing dives and the food is great too!
Chris: I enjoyed learning about new species.
John: I had a great time looking at the reefs
Thomas: I enjoyed the shallow dives and saw a trumpet fish, fairy basslet and porcupine fish.
Harper: Today was fun and I peed in my wetsuit!
Mr. Krug: It was fun herding cats today.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
The first dive today was on a beautiful reef on the Southwest side of the island as it has still been too windy to head north. The visibility here was very clear and a garden of soft corals and sea fans gently swayed in the surge. Clouds of tiny moon jellies danced in the water as we jumped in. There were a pair of gray angels and a rock beauty cruising around seen by Ms Airey and Katharine. Rick and Jordan had a great dive too seeing a Nassau Grouper and lots of stop light parrot fish displaying their clown like colors, this was a deeper dive for Jordan who made it to 60 feet. Thomas did a great job with his buoyancy on this dive, practicing good reef diving protocol.
The second dive was on a ledge that sloped down to a sand patch which reflected the bright sunlight and the magnificent colors of the reef. Right before the dive Mrs. Airey talked Zab into teaching her the whale shark dance. The video of her dance will soon debut on YouTube. This was a great place to search for Nudibranchs which are Zab’s favorite creatures. We spotted a honeycomb trunkfish and its relative the smooth trunk fish. Soon after that we gawked at another spotted Moray eel displaying his many teeth before returning to the boat.
We had a well earned rest this afternoon with most of the group finding a shady tree or hammock and a book (there are plenty on hand at the resort about reef fish, sharks and coral reefs). Refreshed from a nap we met in the dining room before our night dive. On the boat we were split into two groups and did our buddy check and light check before jumping in for the adventure. Harper elected to do this as the night adventure dive towards his advanced certification and did his night navigation skills with great precision. The thrill of the dive was a huge green moray which was free swimming across the reef looking for dinner and came right underneath us, several lobsters were seen hiding up in the reef, and parrot fish had settled in for the night amongst the nooks and crannies. We think we saved one from an untimely demise by shining a light on it, which made the large eel lurking nearby go the other way! Smaller creatures a fun to spot at night and we were fascinated by a basket star reigning supreme from the top of a sea fan. As usual the favorite game at the end of the dive was to douse lights under the boat and wave arms to crate a firework display with green flecks of bioluminescence. Harper put on quite a show by using is fins for a more theatrical effect.
A group of excited divers eagerly shared their experiences on the boat as we headed back to the resort for dinner and another round of ice cream sundaes.
