We woke up early and ate a nutritious breakfast before our two dive sites this morning: Big Dipper and Chain Reef. Both of the sites were really cool, and I saw a ton of fish at both.
The Big Dipper dive site is now the deepest I’ve dove, a max of 103ft, and it was a more tightly packed set up. There were rock spires and cliff edges, and even, at 60ft, a large field of sand where garden eels burrow and eat the nutrients passing through in currents. The currents carry nutrients throughout the ocean, and fish tend to live right near the current so that they can have an easy way to eat food. Amongst other things, we say a giant tarpon. The photo below was taken at the Turtle Sanctuary, but it still shows the size and likeness of the tarpon pretty well.
Also, I did not see it, but a group of us spotted a lionfish laying in a coral. That was a very dangerous find because those fish are invasive species. They adapt to new environments and eat everything. They can wreck an ecosystem very easily, and lionfish are the most famous invasive species. We told the instructors where it was though, and I think they will take care of it.
Our next dive site, Chain Reef, is named for a very large chain that lays on the sea floor across the site. This site was much more shallow, with a max depth of maybe 40ft or 50ft, and it consisted of spaced out rock formations with miniature coral reefs living on them. This was a very cool dive. We saw all sorts of fish, ranging from small sergeant fish to large groupers. Unfortunately though, I saw a swimming lounge chair as well as pieces of plastic. Once I noticed that, I glanced down and saw pieces of bleached coral, effects of pollution. None of the animals seemed concerned about the trash, and the chair had algae growing on it, but it would still disrupt the natural course of the ecosystem. After that, however, we started to ascend and come back for a rest.
We ate a pretty good lunch and had an hour or two before we had to go to the Turtle Sanctuary. Once we got there, the first thing we saw were giant green sea turtles all around the edge of the enclosure. I even got to see a hawksbill sea turtle, and those were massive and identifiable by the beak-like structure they have. We also checked out the aviary, and I got a cool picture with a bird (below).
After our time at the Sanctuary, we had a good bit of time where we could relax. I bought a lot of stuff, hung out in a hot tub, and played pool volleyball with some friends. After all of that and dinner, we went out on a night snorkel with flashlights, and it was cool. We saw two lobsters as we were snorkeling, and it was the first time I’ve ever seen one in real life (alive), which totally blew my mind how big they were. After our snorkel, we returned back and relaxed and got ready for bed.
As always, here are some random pictures I took throughout the day, hope you enjoy them:
~ Aidan Hoofard
