We are coming to the end of the trip and only have one more day of diving which is pretty disappointing. The trip has seemed to fly by and I have lost count of the days. Today was my favorite day of diving because we dove at shipwrecks called the Kittiwake and the Doc Poulson. The Kittiwake, a shunken US submarine rescue ship, stretched 130 feet in length and was completely stripped in the interior to make diving it more accessible. The Caymans worked with the Navy to get an artificial reef and after 6 years of paperwork and then towing it out here they finally had one. We met up with Lee and one by one followed him through the dark narrow halls of the ship which gave off an eerie vibe. It was very difficult to navigate and keep my bouyancy without hitting the walls or scraping my arm but I was able to do it. After exiting the ship from the back hull, we approached the front and took photos holding the captains wheel right above the bow of the ship. It took us about 20 minutes to explore the ship and the rest was spent observing fish and coral within sight. One fish stood out to me with it’s long white skinny body, squeezing under a pile of dead coral like a nest it had built. I didn’t know the name of the fish but I observed it’s behaviors and characteristics so I could research it later. When I got back I flipped through tons of Caribbean fish till I identified it as a sand tilefish. We ended the dive here after I studied this fish and moved on to the next shipwreck, the Doc Poulson. The Doc Poulson was a 60 foot cable laying ship that was placed as an artificial reef over 30 years ago. We anchored right above it so when we jumped in it was right below us. However, we began the dive exploring the reefs adjacent to the ship before we doubled back to swim through the small ship. The reefs at this site were full of life everywhere and I swam tons of new fish like the Horse-Eye Jack Juvenile, a silver fish with a bright yellow tail and extremely big eyes. It was a very easy fish to identify because it was so different from other fish I saw like the Blue Tang, a small bright blue fish that was often found in small groups. We then headed to the Doc Poulson and I swam through it’s small opening Eerie flashbacks of the Kittiwake popped into my mind because of the small hallways I had to navigate. It was a short hallway and a cool ship to explore but the Kittiwake was still my favorite we saw. We ended our dive close to 3 minutes accompanied by Michael Patton, our new dive buddy since Michael Curry can’t dive anymore. It was a sort of compliment to be given the extra buddy because it showed Jack and my responsibility when we dive, which I constantly mess with Ms. Matthews about since a grading catagory is responsibility. After our dives we all swam, ate, and prepared to go clean up a beach just down from the resort. The beach was pretty messy since we came back with so many trashbags but I actually enjoyed cleaning up since it gave me a sense of satisfaction from helping marine life. I came back extremely sweaty but Jack and I collected the most trash in my opinion. This basically ended our day and I have noticied that the simplest days I have the most fun and today was one of those days. Again I look forward to my dives tomorrow as usual but I plan to appreciate them even more since they will be my last here in the Caymans.
