The next day there were relatively few divers on the boat, it was essentially just us and Lilian 
(who was finishing the rescue diver course), plus all the DMTs and Divemasters. We asked Captain Louis and he told us we would be heading to the north side of the island, which is supposedly even richer in marine life. So after breakfast, we collected our equipment into neat little bundles, took everything on the deck, got it set up and then placed on the boat. It is a bit of a longer boat ride to the north, but it was so worth it! At the first site, Duppy Waters, we got to see another turtle, first far away and then a lot closer to us - I was amazed how fast they can move underwater when they are so slow on the ground. We also got to see not one but two porcupine fish (a type of 
puffer fish, pretty big actually), a scorpion fish, a creole wrasse, and right at the beginning of the dive, Black Durgeon eating a chicken sandwich. Now you may wonder about that last one, but it was Louis who threw the food in the water, and an entire school feasted on it right as we got in the water. As we were swimming around, we had to go over the edge of a coral hill, and then right below us was a huge southern stingray, laying there burried in the sand. Lilian had taken out the digital camera, so we managed to get some really nice pictures, too.
We got back to the boat, and right as we pulled
the anchor to move to the next site, we saw another turtle (or maybe it was the same one) right on the surface near the boat. We then headed to Paradiso, and spent the surface time chatting or swimming close by. For the second dive we saw all the usual suspects again, including really huge French Angelfish and Gray Angelfish. Returning to the hotel after the dives, we decided to order pizza for dinner, but on the cays you don´t pick up the phone to place your order, we just walked over to the house of the lady who made them and ordered in person. Not only that, but most of the communication is via radio, as there are no landlines on the cays, or cell phones
for those who have them. We wanted to have enchiladas for lunch, but she was fresh out, so we had a cheeseburger with rice and beans at Suzan´s Fishburger. After our food settled, we took an afternoon snorkel around the dock, and we saw a lot of huge needlefish, which may look threatning at first, but are actually harmless. We dried off on the deck, which was not difficult considering the strong afternoon wind; in fact during some evenings you would not be able to stand on the upper level without holding on to a handrail or something else steady since the wind could have blown you right over the edge. That evening, after having pizza, we spent a few hours on the deck enjoying a show co-produced by nature and man; we were following two separate thunderstorms, one to the south and the other from the west, while in the east we could see the fireworks from the carnival in Utila. All this around us and yet we didn´t experience a single drop of rain, not a bad place to be in.
(who was finishing the rescue diver course), plus all the DMTs and Divemasters. We asked Captain Louis and he told us we would be heading to the north side of the island, which is supposedly even richer in marine life. So after breakfast, we collected our equipment into neat little bundles, took everything on the deck, got it set up and then placed on the boat. It is a bit of a longer boat ride to the north, but it was so worth it! At the first site, Duppy Waters, we got to see another turtle, first far away and then a lot closer to us - I was amazed how fast they can move underwater when they are so slow on the ground. We also got to see not one but two porcupine fish (a type of 
puffer fish, pretty big actually), a scorpion fish, a creole wrasse, and right at the beginning of the dive, Black Durgeon eating a chicken sandwich. Now you may wonder about that last one, but it was Louis who threw the food in the water, and an entire school feasted on it right as we got in the water. As we were swimming around, we had to go over the edge of a coral hill, and then right below us was a huge southern stingray, laying there burried in the sand. Lilian had taken out the digital camera, so we managed to get some really nice pictures, too.We got back to the boat, and right as we pulled
the anchor to move to the next site, we saw another turtle (or maybe it was the same one) right on the surface near the boat. We then headed to Paradiso, and spent the surface time chatting or swimming close by. For the second dive we saw all the usual suspects again, including really huge French Angelfish and Gray Angelfish. Returning to the hotel after the dives, we decided to order pizza for dinner, but on the cays you don´t pick up the phone to place your order, we just walked over to the house of the lady who made them and ordered in person. Not only that, but most of the communication is via radio, as there are no landlines on the cays, or cell phones
for those who have them. We wanted to have enchiladas for lunch, but she was fresh out, so we had a cheeseburger with rice and beans at Suzan´s Fishburger. After our food settled, we took an afternoon snorkel around the dock, and we saw a lot of huge needlefish, which may look threatning at first, but are actually harmless. We dried off on the deck, which was not difficult considering the strong afternoon wind; in fact during some evenings you would not be able to stand on the upper level without holding on to a handrail or something else steady since the wind could have blown you right over the edge. That evening, after having pizza, we spent a few hours on the deck enjoying a show co-produced by nature and man; we were following two separate thunderstorms, one to the south and the other from the west, while in the east we could see the fireworks from the carnival in Utila. All this around us and yet we didn´t experience a single drop of rain, not a bad place to be in. 
1 comment:
Thinking its time for a book....
your pictures are awesome
very much appreciated....
Post a Comment