Today we awoke early to the mini breakfast buffet served at the resort. This was perfect for kick starting us to be ready for our two tank dive this morning. After leaving the serene breakfast our captain and one of the dive masters, Lee, took us up to a diving spot a little north of the resort. Since it was high tide the greener waters of the north sound washed onto our locale and reduced the normally eighty foot visibility by twenty feet, which was still unbelievably clear. Once we were given a rundown of the dive we got in the water with our equipment and dropped down to 35 feet. At the beginning of the dive we went down off a plateau off a 10 foot tall cliff face. On the second dive we were south so the visibility was much higher and the spot where we dove had many more outcroppings on the face of the cliff. During both the dives I was able to spot French grunt, which can be determined from their yellow body and green stripes and because they stay in schools. I also saw two trumpet fish which are brown and are distinct because of their long skinny bodies. I spotted a queen angelfish which are born yellow and slowly turn more blue as they grow older. I spotted multiple pufferfish hanging under some outcrops on the second dive which are unique because of their chubby faces while deflated. Unfortunately there were two lion fish on the dives which are invasive from the Indian Ocean and harm coral by eating large amounts of fish that are responsible for cleaning algae. Lion fish typically float in small holes on the side of cliffs or under coral outcrops. There were many squirrel fish, a species with big buggy eyes and a orange brown color. There was also a hawk nose sea turtle, which are critically endangered and the only species of their genus left. These 3 foot long turtles have a jagged razor looking formation on the edges of their shell and feed on sponges. I also managed to spot a couple black durgon which are a subspecies of triggerfish and swim about 10 feet above the reef. Another interesting species we saw on the first dive was a Atlantic stingray which are distinct because they lay in the sand. All of the amazing fish and coral formations we saw left me excited to dive again tomorrow and to go to the turtle reserve tomorrow.
