We woke up bright and early to warm delicious english muffins with ham and cheese. After eating about four maybe five english muffins, I made my way back to my house, packed up, and loaded into the vans. The vans then took off, heading towards our first exciting stop of the day. Captain Zodiac. Captain Zodiac utilizes the speedy zodiac boats to get around and find rare marine life such as dolphins and pilot whales. For hours we rode around on the zodiac until finally we arrived at the James Cook memorial. Quickly we snorkeled the bay by the memorial. There we saw hundreds of colorful fish along with a couple moray eels. With all good things having to come to an end we made our way back from the amazingly colorful coral to the zodiac boat. After entering the boat safely we rode swiftly back to shore, using the air to dry our clothes off instead of towels.
http://www.captainzodiac.com/tablet/index.html
After saying our goodbyes we departed to go back to the houses to enjoy a much needed lunch. After lunch we had around two hours to get some much needed rest and relaxation. Two hours came and went and back to the vans we walked. This time to a much larger boat to do more then snorkel, to dive. After a short drive we got to the harbor for the second time of the day. Loading the boat we took a short boat ride of thirty minutes to the manta ray dive site. Upon arrival we put on our gear, were briefed, and them jumped in. After my whole group got in our dive master gave the signal and we descended. This was a different dive then any other as lava rocks and open sand spaces severely outnumbered the beautiful coral. This was also the deepest dive I have ever taken part in at seventy five feet deep. For about thirty minutes I swam around taking in all the beautiful lava rocks, eels, pufferfish, and other fish species. Then the dive came to an end. I made my way up and got back on the boat. However something was wrong. My sinuses had tightened up my airways and while trying to equalize underwater with irritated airways I ended up getting a bloody nose and a huge headache. To not get hurt in anyway I decided to just snorkel the next dive.
After waiting an hour to let the sun set we packed up all our gear and got in the water. For me I did all the same except stayed up at the top of the ocean. I still saw manta rays up close and personal even though I wasn’t diving. I had a surfboard with lights that attracted phytoplankton to it. The phytoplankton then gathered significantly under my board and manta rays swam up multiple times to grab the plankton. Getting multiple great looks I understand many things about manta rays I never knew. One thing is that every manta ray has a different underbelly sign. Along with that the first person to photograph a baby manta ray they get to then name that individual ray.
After many good looks at manta rays we headed back to the boat and went home. Getting home around ten or eleven. As soon as I hit the bed I fell asleep. However not before thinking of how fun tomorrow is gonna be. Black water dives. The very thing to push me out of my comfort zone and be a fun once in a lifetime experience. Also at the same time making fun once in a lifetimes moments and memories with close friends.
