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Published: September 27th 2010
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Relaxing
I'm waiting for the others to finish setting up their campsites before we get ready for our fist dives. The diving this weekend was a mixed bag, but definitely the best experience I've had at Pelorus. My first dive was quite tiring. My dive buddy and I, both experienced rescue divers, started out against the current. We went with a dive master nicknamed "biggles", and we were exploring a new site called "coral gardens". The site is aptly named since it is a relatively shallow expanse of branching coral, anemones, and sponges. It's one of the more diverse sites I've seen invertebrate wise. After about 30 minutes against the current, we changed directions and started going back towards the boat, but the current changed direction on us. So we got stuck paddling against a very strong current back to the boat. After 40 minutes at depth, my buddy and I were tired and low on air. The DM managed to get ahead of us, and I noticed my buddy was lagging behind a bit. I floated back to him (literally stopped kicking and was dragged back by the current) and he signaled that he was low on air, tired, and needed to surface. I grabbed his arm and pointed to the DM - we started slowly swimming towards him when
North Side
This is a view of the northern side of the island relative to our campsite. the DM noticed us and came back. We all surfaced and had to paddle against the current back to the boat - did I mention it was tiring?
The second dive was much better. Since everyone was tired from the first dive, we found a site sheltered from the current and enjoyed a slow leisurely dive. Since my dive buddy was keen on photography, we took our time floating over the coral. I saw several new species of fish, including a huge pufferfish! I also got to witness some new behaviors, such as parrotfish floating upright while several cleanerfish picked parasites off their body - so cool!
As usual, the third dive was my favorite. Diving at dusk gives you an opportunity to see an abundance of fish species. Those fish that are active during the day are still out and about, and those that are active at night are starting to come up from the deep. The fish are also a lot more curious at dusk - I literally had the common Scissortail sergeant,
Abudefduf sexfasciatus, darting into my mask! We also saw the BIGGEST barracuda I have ever seen in my life. Easily 6 feet long,
Diving: Day Two
This photo was taken just before we set off for our final two dives. with a head wider than mine, this barracuda was only 5 meters below me. I hovered watching it until it took off.
The night dive was average. I prefer night diving on the wrecks 25 meters down. There the darkness literally presses in around you and if you turn of your torch you are surrounded by black punctuated by the awesome lights of thousands of bioluminescent organisms. At this depth, with so many people, you don't get the "night dive" experience.
The swim back however, was awesome. I dived into the water, was handed an empty tank to swim in, and started to slowly make my way back to the island. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, so I turned off my torch and soaked in the southern sky. The milkyway was incredibly crisp, and I even saw a couple of shooting stars!
The next days dives were restricted to a site called the "hurt locker". It's named because that's where dive master candidates have to swim their 400m timed race against the currents. By the time they get there, they are "hurting". But it's a beautiful dive site, with a mangrove forest (mangale) lining the beach and a beautiful wall of coral plunging down to 16 meters.
The final dive of the day was an incredibly enjoyable drift dive. Where we didn't have to worry about navigating and towed a buoy along with us to help the boat see where we were going. After the dive we just shot up our safety sausage and got picked up by the boat. The marine life was awesome, I saw eagle rays, puffer fish, brittle stars, nudibranchs, and a host of other organisms.
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