Daily Dive Log May 27 - June 2, 2018

We had a great week of diving despite less than ideal conditions early in the week. It seemed to be the week of the seahorse as Ray was spotting them at an unusually high clip this week.It was great to see old friends Nick and family again, make some new dive buddies, and even had some honeymooners with us this week.

Monday, May 28, 2018 AM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Clouds rolled in. Making the best of it.
Water Temperature: 78 degrees – what what?! Cold water from the deep flooding our reefs.

Dive One

Site: Colombia
Max Depth: 100 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: Huge Barracuda, Hawksbill Turtle
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: This time the adventure take us to 100ft. Miss Kim was glad to dive in Colombia reef, it has swim throughs and big coral formations, the seascape is great. Shawn did not waste any time and takes a barracuda picture, Jay opened his arms to calculate how big it was, looks great! Then we found the Spanish anchor and ascend afterwards. The divers can not hide their joy – it was a wonderful dive!

Dive Two

Site: Cedral Wall
Max Depth: 60 feet
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Key Animals: Smooth Trunkfish, French Angelfish
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: We were trying to find turtles and sharks but did not happened. Kim was looking all over the place for them but instead we focused on the tiny things we found. The angel fish in this spot are really big. We spend so much time looking at them, they are just beautiful, the blue line under their eyes, those scales in yellow and black, seems soft like silk. Then the trunk fish swimming together, some bigger than other in this particular part of the reef. They have this translucent fins, hovering, that is amazing! Despite the lack of sharks and turtles Jay said it was a wonderful dive. Small details counted this time. Shawn agreed.

Lactophrys bicaudalis, but more commonly know by the name of Spotted Trunkfish. As interesting as these adult fish may appear, it is the juveniles which are the real show stoppers.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 AM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Still a bit cloudy but not awful.
Water Temperature: 78 degrees – ready for our 80’s to come back

Dive One

Site: Palancar Caves
Max Depth: 100 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: School of Permit, Hawksbill Turtle, Sea Horse
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: Time to go deep! And Palancar Caves is a great spot just that. Shawn is ready, descending slow and checking computers we reached the desired depth, landscape is amazing, pinacles of coral that seems endless, swim throughs, this place is spectacular! We found a turtle eating sponges, then several permit in a sandy bay that was taking us to shallow water to finish the dive and surprise! There is a sea horse, one fabulous way to finish the dive.

Dive Two

Site: Dalilah
Max Depth: 60 feet
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Key Animals: Spotted Morays, Conch spawning
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: This is navigation dive for Shawn so we started at the sand bank and swam for around ten minutes following a 270 degree heading to find the main reef. there we found arrow crabs plus a nice spotted eel were was a pile of shells. Later a conch was walking and we saw the eyes as it was laying eggs. We have pictures and video of this! When we saw the reef all colors and formations showed, drift was slow so we can appreciate the view. There are few spots with blue chromis, colorful and pretty fish and at the end a turtle wave at us to say good bye.

Gymnothorax moringa, but more commonly know by the name of Spotted Moray Eel.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 PM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Still cloudy…
Water Temperature: 78 degrees

Dive One

Site: Santa Rosa Wall
Max Depth: 80 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: Splendid Toadfish, Hawksbill turtle, Rainbow Parrotfish
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: We picked up Katie and Austin for the afternoon trip. I asked what do they want to see, Katie asked for the splendid toad fish. So I know there are two at the end of a swim through in Santa Rosa Wall! We found them again, Katie was really happy to take a picture of it. Later we saw the green and orange rainbow parrot fish – pretty guy – then we end up the dive at the shallow coral head and there was a turtle, nice way to finish the dive.

Dive Two

Site: Punta Tunich
Max Depth: 60 feet
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Key Animals: Hawksbill turtle, Bota, Splendid Toadfish
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: The current was a bit strong this dive. Austin is a surfer so for him was not a problem, katie handle it really well too. Especially to stop in the cave that has a thousand fish inside. As we wave our hand to move the fish away we discover the green moray laying and resting. In the second section of this reef we found a couple of splendid toad fish. Katie was excited for it, once at the safety stop we saw a couple of turtles, cool!

Lactophrys bicaudalis, but more commonly know by the name of Spotted Trunkfish. As interesting as these adult fish may appear, it is the juveniles which are the real show stoppers.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 NT Shore Dive

Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Dark
Water Temperature: 78 degrees

Dive One

Site: Playa las Casitas
Max Depth: 30 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: Squid, Octopus, Stingrays
Visibility: Torch light
Notes: From the shore the night navigation class is great. Shawn found the way to go to the concrete blocks and back, and along the way we saw many yellow spotted sting rays. Then an octopus that kept us busy watching him, with different shapes and colors it is one of my favorite animals as well as the squid we saw close to the shore at the end of the dive. Shallow place, but definitely worth the swim.

Always the highlight of a night dive is finding an octopus.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018 AM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Great day for diving!
Water Temperature: 78 degrees

Dive One

Site: Colombia Reef
Max Depth: 60 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Southern Stingray
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: Above this massive reef is a wonderful dive. We found many turtles to take pictures with, also the anchor, and a huge sting ray. Nick and Nash were the ones taking pictures and as a second team Austin and Katie were behind to make sure they all have a picture with the turtles and that big anchor. Jace opened his arms to measure the anchor, that was a nice picture. 45 minutes feels a bit too short for that much fun!

Dive Two

Site: Palancar Gardens
Max Depth: 50 feet
Dive Time: 55 minutes
Key Animals: Spotted Drumfish, Barracuda, Horse-eyed Jack
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: For the pictures we picked this spot Palancar Gardens. It is a wonderful second dive since the reef is only 20 feet below the surface and it drops down to the abyss. We stayed at only 50 to find the swim throughs and that many fish like the horse eye jacks and barracudas. In a shallow coral head we found a baby drum fish – really cute! The dive was longer than the first and we enjoyed as much.

You can always count on all the divers stopping to watch a juvenile drum swim in figure eights.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018 PM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Afternoon clouds rolling in.
Water Temperature: 78 degrees – ready for our 80’s to come back

Dive One

Dive Two

Thursday, May 31, 2018 AM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Ray
Weather: Mostly sunny morning – looking good!
Water Temperature: 78 degrees

Dive One

Site: Colombia Bricks
Max Depth: 50 feet
Dive Time: 45 minutes
Key Animals: Seahorse, Hawksbill Turtle, Permit
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: Another great spot to find turtles and as we descend Nash pointed to a hawskbill turtle, it was cleaning her shell by rubbing her shell against a sponge. It was so fun to watch this we spent almost ten minutes with it. After a few swim throughs we found a sea horse, a tiny beautiful thing. Nick was happy and at the safety stop we saw a big permit – a silver shiny guy.

Dive Two

Site: Paso del Cedral
Max Depth: 50 feet
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Key Animals: Seahorse, Nurse shark, porgy
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: Luz, a student diver that was on board with Alex, was afraid of sharks. In this spot is almost guaranteed that we find them. Oops! And so I found one under a shelf and she did not want to look underneath hahaha. Jim, her husband, Nick and Nash were glad to find it, and only a few minutes later we saw a bigger one swimming free. She could not avoid seeing it and she liked it at the end. Then the seahorse we found and the porgys under the coral gave her the dive of her life. It was just awesome for everybody!

Anisotremus virginicus, but more commonly know by the name of Porkfish or perhaps Porgy. Usually they are found in small schools near overhangs.

Saturday, June 2, 2018 AM Boat Trip

Captain: Domingo
Divemaster / Instructor: Henry
Weather: Beautiful Day
Water Temperature: 79 degrees

Dive One

Site: Palancar Caves
Max Depth: 50 feet
Dive Time: 55 minutes
Key Animals: Lobster, Hawksbill Turtle, Deep Sea Gorgonians
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: I gave Ray the weekend off so I had to set down my camera and don the Divemaster hat today. No problem! It was the last day of diving for Nick and Nash and I wasn’t willing to miss it regardless. Nash choose his mother’s favorite dive for our first submerged exploration. The caves makes for a fantastic dive of swimming through constant tunnels that open to sunlight and coral pinnacles. In the shadows lurk lobster but the sun-drenched pinnacles are covered with schools of fish. Good choice, Nash!

Dive Two

Site: Dahlilah
Max Depth: 50 feet
Dive Time: 50 minutes
Key Animals: Yellowhead Jawfish, Pistol Shrimp
Visibility: 100+ feet
Notes: Last dive of the trip for Nick and Nash so we choose the shallow, easy drift of Dahlilah. Nash is showing off his buoyancy in the swim through, and I spot a field of pistol shrimp to show the guys. The gentle current is the perfect speed giving us a chance to look for stuff but also constantly moving the scenery. The fish also love the current as they are out in big numbers today feeding up off the reef.