“Jelly fish”
All of the dives were beautiful; we explored dive spots such as, WHITE HOLE, which is called that because of the round patch of white sand that you see first at 35ft of water. But then you swim to the wall where it drops off and down to the sand slope at 100ft and beyond. It was this dive that the waves were making the boat rock up and down and I lost my motion sickness patch. Needless to say I jumped into the water really quick so I wouldn’t get sick. It was on this dive that I went to a depth of 74ft.
MELISSA’S REEF was another dive where there were walls, reefs and some canyons in the shallows. I spotted a rockfish and a trumpet fish. It was an amazing place to see all kinds of sea life. I dove to a depth of 50ft.
WEST END WALL, where I dove to a depth of 98ft was truly awe inspiring, it has a shear wall, beautiful coral with a lot of fish making their home there and the dive instructor let us know that we might get a chance to see Eagle Rays, but while there, I didn’t see any of them. Bummer!
When I reached 50ft I was able to travel a beautiful tunnel swim-through, opening out into the blue, and then down and along a wall. It is where a Sheet Coral outcrop provides homes to many fish. It was then that I made an ascent to the top of the wall and found an entrance to a huge beautiful cavern, BEAR’S DEN, in only 25ft.
If you looked close at the rocks when approaching the entrance you can spot tiny Lettuce Leaf Sea Slugs and even a Spotted Drum. When I swam over forty feet into Bear’s Den, the sun poured through and shafts of light seemed to dance on the sandy bottom. I looked really hard to spot Seahorses, but they proved to be very elusive.
This dive proved to be tough for me to keep my buoyancy because there were times when I kept trying to shoot to the surface. I was very worried, because while training they constantly reminded us that you must always have a safety stop to bleed out the nitrogen. So I was extremely worried. A fellow diver recognized that I was having a problem and pulled me down. I remember looking down and seeing another diver swimming right below me. I reached out to catch hold of her and held on for dear life. It was then that someone looked down onto the ocean floor and spotted an extra weight that someone had lost or dumped, it was quickly put into my BC and it helped me maintain the weight I needed to complete the safety stop.
THE WRECK was really cool; this was a 287ft long beached cargo vessel that was sunk to create an artificial reef. Being true to the environment, the ship was thoroughly cleaned before it was sunk so that it would have no negative impact on the reef. This was also my deepest dive yet at 100ft. I spotted a green moral eel coming out of its hole, when a fellow diver had just come up and around that hole; I have never seen anyone move so fast. I literally started laughing underwater.
There were a lot of big Groupers swimming around the wreck. Since I had learned from my last dive in Belize, I knew that I was not trained to enter the shipwreck, so I stayed outside and enjoyed the sea life. There were even Blue Parrot fish that were eating the algae that had grown on the bow of the ship.
I also went to a dive spot called OVERHEAT REEF/JELLYFISH VALLEY. Because the water was so warm I wore a sleeveless dive suit but it was here that I wished I had my arms covered up. As we were swimming I kept getting stung by something I couldn’t see. After about 15 minutes into the dive, my instructor gave us the signal to start heading up to the surface. Once we were back onto the boat she explained what was happening. We were all getting stung by tiny jellyfish. Every one of us had to take vinegar and wipe any exposed skin with it to draw out the poison of the jellyfish.
At another dive sight, FOUR SPONGES is where I spotted my first Junior Drummer Fish. We all had a rubber band on our tanks to communicate with others. I was frantically snapping the band to get my instructors attention (she was no more than 15ft from me) so I could show her my discovery, but because of the way sound travels underwater, she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.
In getting a chance to not only explore underwater, it was truly an experience in getting to know the island life as well. I was able to really relax and let the troubles of everyday life hibernate (so to speak) until I returned to the states. I would want to encourage you to do something relaxing while leaving your troubles and cares behind even for a little while.
In the next coming weeks, we will explore the last place I was able to dive, Cozumel.
I look forward to seeing you there.
