Today we went on our first dives.
Ocean Pointe
This was our first dive site, and it was about a 5 minute boat ride from the pier at the resort. The reef looked amazing. I noticed mostly colorful, soft corals. I did notice some heads that appeared to be bleached. Any coral that had died seemed to have settled on the sandy bottom. However, over all, the reef appeared very healthy with little pollution.
The animal that stuck out to me the most was dive were the garden eels. There were only a couple that were sticking out of the holes when I swam by, and they quickly withdrew when I got close. Normally, when they don’t feel threatened, they let their heads stick up and grab zooplankton, crustaceans, and small eggs.
Sandhole
On our second dive, I noticed that there were more elevation changes. There were big drop-offs and a few rock towers covered in coral. I saw a lot more interesting animals on this dive. There were a few schools of parrotfish. Parrotfish normally have one fish in a school that is in the terminal phase, and a few others that are in their initial phase. I definitely remember seeing stoplight parrotfish in their initial phase. I could tell it was a parrotfish from its distinct beak. The black, white, and gray scales with the red band on their bellies showed that it was a stoplight parrotfish in its initial phase. I looked around for terminal stoplight parrotfish but I couldn’t find it.
The best part of the dive was the sea turtle. I knew it was a Hawksbill when I saw the shape of its shell. It’s rear scutes were very sharp and point, and the entire shell had a distinct teardrop shape. Sea turtles like to frequent this reef because of the abundant sponges. These sponges consist of part of their diet and they make for an easy meal. The hawksbill sea turtle is a critically endangered species. It’s estimated that only 8,000 still exist today, with only 1,000 nesting. I’m very excited to go to the turtle center tomorrow, sea turtles are one of my favorite animals.
After we got back from the dives and had lunch. I went out for a snorkel. I didn’t stay out for too long, but I saw some really interesting creatures. First I saw a dead Caribbean Lobster. It was quite big, probably about a 14 inches, and it looked like some bigger fish had partly separated its tail from its body. The second thing I saw was a Peacock flounder. It was very pretty and covered in light blue rings. Although it sounds like it would be conspicuous, It actually blended in well with the seafloor. Lastly, I saw a few animals and I wasn’t quite sure what they were. There were about ten of them in the water today. They all were about 3 inches long and very translucent. If you put them in front of a dark background, like a black fin, they had a small blue glow in the center. I did a little research and I’m pretty sure they are comb jellies, but I’ll have to ask a dive master tomorrow to know for sure.
Can wait to snorkel at the turtle center tomorrow.
