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Published: April 25th 2010
We've had such a fantastic few days diving. Thursday was the start of it, just as we arrived at the first dive site Andrzej saw a pod of dolphins making their way past us. We turned the boat and went after them. We jumped off in to the blue and saw around 60 spinner dolphins pass in front and beneath us. It was awesome.
Friday, we were doing a drift dive in the afternoon. We jumped in and went down only to see a 2m long nurse shark. He was around for a few seconds, but when he saw us he turned and gracefully swam off. It was a breath taking moment, not scary but a small reminder that we're sharing the water with some big fish.
Over the last few weeks we've been keeping an eye out for whale sharks, Utila is famous for sightings. Unfortunately we've always been in the wrong place and when other boats come back full of whoops and screams the jealousy builds. Steve and I had our day off today, we get two fun dives every Saturday, so we went off with a bunch of people from Utila Dive Centre.
After the
first dive we scooted over to what looked like a boil. It's where the fish come to the surface, jumping around and making the water look like it's boiling - a sign that a whale shark (and other sharks) are around for dinner. We all put our masks, snorkels and fins on. On the word of the spotter we slipped in to the water and looked down. Twice we saw the back of the whale shark briefly before she zoomed down in to the blue out of sight.
The last attempt, however, was something different.
We jumped in to the water looking down, initially we couldn't see anything, but when we turned around we came face to face with a 7m whale shark! I was in front of her as she swam towards me. She swam around so we could see the detail on her back, the fish that swim by her side, her spots and the tag on her fin. It was breath taking. Steve carried on following her and managed to get some photos as she came up again.
It's such an overwhelming experience, it leaves you speechless.
Huw and Michelle left this morning
(I wouldn't mention this post to them as it might make them blue). It's back to the two of us again, it's going to be a long time before we see any familiar faces. It was lovely having the last few weeks together. We're now loosely putting a plan together as we need to leave next week!
Weeks like this make you wake up from the dozy, flip-flop, laidback attitude and re open your eyes to just how amazing this trip is.
It's lovely hearing from you through emails and comments on this blog. Keep it up!
Love
S&S
xxx
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Gwen
non-member comment
All your underwater photos are amazing. I love reading all about your dives and seeing all the life in the sea. It's another world down there!