We woke up bright and early and ate a great breakfast before heading out on the dependable Twin Sister to our two dive sites: Hepp’s Pipeline and Spanish Bay. They were roughly half an hour out, and we all got comfortable for the eventful morning ahead of us.
Hepp’s Pipeline got its name not because of a giant pipe down there, but because the rock formation curves downwards. Similar to a surfer riding a cresting wave, a “pipeline,” the rocks arched upward, resembling a wave. Rock formations like those are formed by erosion or natural disasters (earthquakes and hurricanes mainly). They start out as one giant piece of rock, but when a natural disaster occurs, large pieces of the rocks fall off and corrode and eventually dissolve. Also, over time, the passing of tons of gallons of water eventually gets into the cracks of the rocks, forcing it to open wider. Over time, pieces of rock will break off. Thus, those two variants affect the rock, causing the arcing effect. One interesting fish my dive partner and friend since grade school, Robert Luke Austin, saw was a trumpetfish. Trumpetfish have long, sleek, and colorful bodies with a powerful ability to camouflage, to hide from predators and to surprise prey. I’ve seen a couple them before, but I was really happy to see this one because it was hiding very well. We reached a max depth of 65ft, and them we surface for our 45 minute interval and headed to our next location, Spanish Bay.
This site was very interesting because we saw multiple animals that were rare finds. Spanish Bay proved to a very unique dive spot for me, mainly because I saw three different lionfish. They are identifiable by fan-like tentacles and sets of poisonous spines protruding from their bodies. As I stated yesterday, they are very dangerous because they have no natural predators due to their poisonous spines; they can also lay around 20,000 eggs every four days or so (most fish do not like to eat their eggs either). I was happy to what one looked like (a photo does not do the creature justice), but at the same time I wasn’t thrilled that there were three living so close together in a reef. I also saw a scorpionfish laying on a rock, and I could tell it was a scorpionfish because they have a red hue as well as the surrounding silt around their bodies. They stir up the silt to make it harder to see them, a formidable technique in the art of hunting. Luke and I also saw initial spotted drum fish, and this was the very first time I saw those fish. They are very small, and they have two wisp-like tails that make them identifiable. They also have black and white stripes. As we were doing our safety stops, we noticed a great barracuda hovering ten yards away. This fish was massive, and I could easily make out the teeth and scales of the barracuda. Once it noticed us, it swam away with surprising agility and speed. After that, we headed back up and returned to our home away from home, Cobalt Coast.
We had a good gap between our dive and our departure for Stingray City. During this time, we had a very intense game of water volleyball going on; Jake and I took on Nash, Sam, and Doc Gruninger. It was a close match, but there was no clear winner. After our match, we ate a very good lunch, and then we just hung out for the remaining time. After that, we boarded the boats again for a 40 minute boat ride to Stingray City.
Stingray City was very interesting. After our boat ride, we got into the 12ft of water and practically laid down on the sand in a rough circle. Two dive masters each had half a pound of squid, and they attracted maybe five or six Atlantic Stingrays (you can tell by the lack of spots and barbs). For 30 minutes, we were able to touch them as they swam past us and just observe their movements. I never really noticed how a stingray moved, but they move their whole body like a wave to propel themselves forward. Their bodies were sleek, the top half rough and the bottom half smooth. Overall, the experience was very cool and worthwhile.
Tomorrow I’m most excited for the Kittiewake dive tomorrow because of the shipwreck we are going to see. I want to see a shark, but at the same time I don’t want to see a shark. The boat will still be very cool though!
As always, here are some random photos of the day:
~ Aidan Hoofard
