Part I: The Good

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Apologies in advance, but you’re likely about to get an earful (eyeful?) of the good, the bad and the ugly.

I still continue to meet some pretty amazing people every week. It’s great to be able to learn so much about different folks, but Saturdays are getting sadder every week. CCV runs, for the most part, on Saturday-Saturday trips, so from about 8-1 on Saturdays I am stuck saying my goodbyes on the docks. I have made some great friends here, though, and am confident I will have some wonderful dive buddies in the future! Aside from great divers (for the most part), I also managed to meet some incredibly generous people. Since I got here with my mask, snorkel and wetsuit, I accumulated a variety of goodies. Even better, I bought a really nice regulator (the thing you put in your mouth that lets you breathe underwater) and was given a really nice BCD (what lets you control your buoyancy or float on the surface). This is exciting on so many levels, and I am beyond thankful for everything, as I obviously couldn’t afford to buy all that stuff on my grad student salary. Even better is the fact that now I am just one computer short of owning all of my own gear, so I can afford to dive much more often now! And it makes my plan of becoming a divemaster/instructor entirely more feasible. I am so grateful to all of the great people, but more than the material things, I am thankful for constant support and encouragement that I typically receive from the people here.

I’ve also had the chance to dive with some really wonderful folks. I’m finding all sorts of crazy sea creatures now, and noticing the importance a good buddy with a lot of patience. My photography skills are slowly improving, as well as my knack for spotting little critters. It’s amazing how many beautiful life forms are present on a single coral head. Throw in the entire reef wall, and you will realize how easy it is to spend an hour looking at a 5’x5’ section of reef. My latest obsession is nudibranchs; tiny slug-like creatures who inch along the reef, but are truly breathtakingly beautiful. I’m also a huge fan of the smaller eels, many of which I never even noticed before, as they hide in little holes within the coral or grass beds. My favorite fish is by far the trunkfish. I think they are incredibly cute in all of their lifestages. The juvenile is about the size of a pea and looks like a tiny black and white die (dice). They are so small that you can’t really make out fir fins or mouth, but just swim around in a small area.

Another interesting experience was my recent run-in with a 3-4 ft barracuda on the wall at Mary’s Place. I was out searching for turtles on one of my favorite reefs (the wall, not the crack) when I noticed a barracuda approaching me from the deep. I don’t really worry much about barracuda, or any sea creature for that matter, as they don’t tend to come after people, so I just watched to see what he was up to. He slowly got closer to me, swimming right at my face until he was about 3 ft. away and I put up my fin and blew out a burst of air which made him turn off to the side. Weird. Then, he did a circle and did the same thing again. Still weird. He proceeded to sit behind a large sponge, where I figured he found some new prey to stalk, but then quickly swam out and turned toward me again. After the second approach, I started filming it with the intent to keep the camera on the fish the whole time, but wussing out every time it came within about a ft of me. Anyway, after the third time it swam into the deep, which should have made me feel better but I couldn’t help but think it would be back. Sure enough, a couple minutes later it swam back at me and did the same thing again. Finally, the 5th time it swam up, stopped about 5 feet away and stared at me. I could literally see its eye moving around and sizing me up. Then, again, it turned at me and swam within inches of my camera (I’ll post the video so you can see what I mean). Five was enough for me, I gave the fish a “win” and I swam up on top of the reef, hopefully out of its territory, looking over my shoulder about every 10 feet, just in case. I showed the video to the divemasters back at the boat, and they agreed it was agitated about something, I probably just came up at the wrong time. Creepy as it was, it was a nice reminder that I am just a visitor in the deep blue.

Now, I could share countless more stories about the great happenings here, but I’m trying to limit the number of novels I write, so I’ll move along.

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Comments

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Arrow Blenny
great picture!