After a splendid sleep, I woke up to my blaring alarm and rushed for breakfast as a two tank dive was embarking shortly. Although the boat only went a couple hundred yards off the dock, I could still see the bottom in forty feet of water similarly to the six foot deep dock. I also was thankful to have cheated my way into getting my sea legs as I took bonine earlier to avoid chumming the water but fortunately two others chummed for the group. Although I took the sea sickness medicine, I still feel like I’m rocking back and forth on the boat while sitting in my chair as I write this. Anyways, we entered the warm water and felt like I entered another world. Quickly into the first dive, I spotted my favorite fish, the honey comb cow fish, scavenging for food in between little crevices of coral. The aspect of the cow fish that mesmerizes me is the flawless honeycomb pattern layered over the spots on the fish. I am baffled on how nature can be symmetrical as it makes absolutely no sense to me. The next fish that caught my attention on the first dive was a large yellow trumpetfish. Cruising with others small fish, it’s large, yellow, and slim figure was hard to miss although it almost blended in with background of the dark blue ocean. I’m a fan favorite of these as their body looks so odd due to the length v. circumference. After coming back on the boat, we jumped off a platform while waiting for the next dive. We moved spots to an area with more sand and a larger cliff side. This second area yielded a sighting of a fish elusive to me, a lion fish. Our dive master Lucy found it pried in between some ledges on the cliff side. I don’t know if there is a policy and/or procedure for dealing with it but we left it alone. Although this is a invasive fish well known for its devastating impact the area, I have only seen one so hopefully this correlates to the efforts of abolishing them. One of the more interesting things I saw was actually a school of fry. I had no clue what kind as it was black dots swimming in a group of about one hundred but they compiled into a large mass sheltered by rocks and coral. I’m going to research and find any hatching seasons of fish and maybe I can link time up with something to find out if this was a rare sight. After recapping today, I still can’t wait for the other two tank dive and checking out the sea turtle farm tomorrow.
