My final open water tests went “swimmingly” on the 13th. I successfully exchanged my regulator and snorkel (a breathing technique for preserving tank air at the surface), removed and replaced my BCD (buoyancy control device) and my weights, and practiced my compass navigation.
The most memorable moment of my dives on the 13th was definitely when I made friends with a turtle. I looked up to see him swimming right above me. He took a breath than started to dive. He let me swim right along side him as he continued further and further down towards the bottom. As I turned away from him to swim back towards the group, I saw three barracuda staring at me! Luke later told me that they had been following me while I swam with the turtle! I love seeing all the creatures of the undersea world!
The dives I went on yesterday were, by far, my best dives yet!!!! We docked in St. Maarten and met up with our boat team at 1p. After preparing our equipment, we drove out to the first dive site. Edwen had kept it a surprise that the first dive was a SHIPWRECK!!!!!!! According to our dive guide for the day, it sunk twenty years ago. As soon as we were in the water and began our descent, we noticed a nurse shark floating along the bottom. I spotted a stingray buried in the sand, just his little eyes poking out. We started exploring the shipwreck, seeing hundreds of fish feeding on the algae. We saw a flounder, which I have now learned does not look like the character Flounder in The Little Mermaid.
We also saw a lobster hiding behind the toilet inside the ship. I was posing beside the ship, waiting for Edwen, to take a picture of me when he started pointing to look behind me. Before I could turn, a male reef shark swam right near my head!!!! He quickly turned left and swam off, I couldn’t believe how close he had come to me. I watched in awe as he swam, impressed by his strength and speed. According to Scuba Edwen, they can be aggressive so I’m considering myself lucky that he wasn’t hungry. Through out the dive, I saw two reef sharks, a nurse shark, lobster, flounder, two stingrays, two turtles, and a pufferfish. The pufferfish has giant eyes, like Puss in Boots from Shrek. So cute!
After ascending and snacking on crackers and lollipops, we drove to the next dive site. I sat on the front of the boat and enjoyed the amazing ocean breeze. When we made it to the site, we dove, feeling excited to get back to the depths. The water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, 60 feet below us!!! I could see several sharks swimming in the depths, and let me tell you how fast my heart was beating!!!! It was the most exhilarating experience, floating down to the sandy bottom, watching the sharks circle your landing arena. We swam along the reef, observing them in their natural habitat. I learned that the brown, flat sharks are the nurse sharks, and the gray larger sharks are the reef. Scuba Edwen also taught me that the males are smaller than the females, and he said the largest shark we saw was a pregnant female! They only eat once or twice every few weeks, instead of everyday like I thought. Joce says they give birth and immediately leave their youth to fend for themselves, not the best parenting skills. It’s interesting that sharks don’t stay with their young to teach them how to survive, the way dolphins and whales do. This desire to remain independent must be why they spend most of their lives solo, not staying with a pod or family.
As we continued swimming around, I found two lionfish amongst the coral. I made sure to keep my eye on the sharks while they followed us, watching how they would swim towards us, then away in another direction, to loop back around us. They move so swiftly thru the water, each flick of its tail precise to push him where he wants to be. Once we made it to the point our guide wanted us to reach, we began our ascent to the surface. We made our safety stop at about 15 ft til the surface break, and floated there. Just as we were about to make our final ascent, a large eagle ray swam beside our group. What an amazing find! I loved seeing its spotted back, watching its pectoral fins as it was gliding thru the water. These dives were so thrilling and I’m excited I got to check some amazing creatures off my bucketlist!!!!!
I still want some extra practice assembling my equipment and feeling sure I am doing everything correctly but that’s the advantage of having a dive instructor on the ship! I’ve been bombarding Scuba Edwen with daily questions, from animal information to personal skills I can work on during each dive to improve my dive abilities. I’ve also signed up for the Advanced Open Water Diving Course, which will challenge me in five different types of dives. Underwater Navigation and Deep Adventure Dives are the two sections required from everyone, and my instructor and I get to choose the others. We agreed on AWARE Fish Identification, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Photography, Underwater Naturalist, and Wreck Diving (which I just accomplished). I can’t wait to continue learning!!!
