Our first dive of the day was Hepp’s pipeline and the second was Spanish Bay reef, names after the dive resort that had been located their before Hurricane Ivan devastated it. On the first dive, the coolest fish I saw was a juvenile drumfish. These fish were small black fish that had white stripes and a triangular shaped body. Their unique feature was their wispy tail at the top and base of their back. On our second dive I was saw three lion fish. All three were about as big as a football and had orange stripes on a white body as well as fan-like spines and fins. They were in crevasse in the rocks and coral. Lion fish are an invasive species in the western Atlantic. They originated in the indo-pacific region and were most likely introduced into the environment by local aquariums. Because they are not native to the region, they are harmful to the environment and other wildlife. They have no natural predator and therefore interfere with the balance of the food chain. These are dangerous fish as their spines are very poisonous. Later in the afternoon we went to stingray city. We dove done about 11 feet and rested on our knees while our dive masters Bernie and Lucy swam around with a bottle of squid and brought the rays to us. The rays we saw were atlantic stingrays. Their bodies were round with a brown color on top and a white color on the bottom. Their top felt like a light grains and paper and their bottom was described to us as a “wet mushroom”, which is what it felt like. After interacting with them and having this experience I believe that stingray city is not unethical as long as people obey the guidelines. For example we only fed them, as a boat, one pound of squid, a rule that restricts over feeding. We were also told to not grab them and be gentle. These two simple rules are important to follow however not everyone does. We did witness a person from a different group grab a ray and pick it up. It’s scenarios like that that make you question if the attraction is ok. I think it’s a great experience and easy to do right but also easy to do wrong, in a way that could hurt the rays.
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