This morning we woke up for a 7 o’clock breakfast. After voraciously devouring my breakfast, we proceeded to get ready for our two morning dives. The two sites at which we dove were called ‘Big Dipper’ and ‘Anchor Chain’. At Big Dipper we went to 100 feet and at Anchor Chain we went to only 35 feet. These were two of my favorite dives of the trip so far because of the terrain that we saw and went through. Both of these dives included both sand bottoms and coral reefs, providing the opportunity to see an even wider variety of marine life. At the Big Dipper, while swimming over a sandy area towards the reef, we spotted a lion fish. Lion fish are invasive species and present a major threat to the reefs and there marine life. They have no natural predators because they are extremely venomous and their red and white color along with their flowing appendages allow them to blend in with the coral. They are predators that eat almost anything, depleting the food source of the native fish. In the Caymans, if you see one you are supposed to tell a dive master so they can shoot it with a spear because they pose a major threat to reefs. We also saw lots of garden eels on both dives. Garden eels can be found in large groups in the sand. They are small and skinny and they live in holes that they have made in the sand hey like to stick they’re bodies out of the hole to allow nutrients to drift towards them so they have easy access to meals. They are preyed upon by eagle rays, stingrays, hogfish, and other large predators. After the dives, we returned for lunch, a quick rest, and then we went to the turtle center. Here we got to experience first hand sea turtles, nurse sharks, birds, a crocodile, and other fish and marine life. I was able to recognize the Green Sea turtle by their to matching prefrontal scales and the smooth scoots on there sides. We also saw nurse sharks, tarpon and barracuda in the predator tank. After this, we came back to the house for dinner and we went on a night snorkel around 8. Using flashlights, we scanned for unique marine life in the ink black water. on the snorkel we saw two lobsters. They were both longer than a foot, which is very big for Cayman lobsters. They’re antenna stuck out very far to help them sense their surroundings better. Tomorrow we will have one of our coolest dives yet at Stingray City.
