Cayman Islands 2011, Day 4

Another day, and yet another greeting at 6:30am by my beloved Spartans. We got the call at 7:00am from James, with the splendid news that we were again going to dive the north wall. A glug of coffee, a tasty egg sandwich, and moments later I was off heading to the yacht club to get my dive day started.

Our dive group changed a slightly from the previous day. The wife of the couple from Toledo took the day off - presumably to spend time with her grandchildren who flew in the day before - and was replaced with the husband's son in law. A nice chap - State grad - who was a joy to dive with. With the troop boarded on the boat, we cast off and headed through the north sound to the dive sites.

The first dive site was Black Coral Forrest, with parameters of 120 feet for 15 minutes. I rolled off the side after donning my gear, and immediately descended to 60 feet of water. Since I was one of the first ones down, I chilled at the bottom until finally James was there. With the group assembled, the fun began. James led us through a narrow, vertical shaft in the coral; roughly 30 feet long and wide enough to fit a single diver. All along the walls were corals, and even a few lobsters. It was the tightest fit I have ever dove into, and brought back memories of spelunking in the caves of Budapest!

At the end of the first tunnel, which emptied out into the wall's edge, I find those in front of me watching James as he whacks a lion fish with his special lion fish killing implement (essentially a fishing rod, shortened, with a huge hook attached to the end). For those of you not aware of the lion fish, they are native to the Pacific, but were believed to have been introduced into the Caribbean when hurricane Andrew destroyed parts of southern Florida (and let the contents of aquariums into the sea). Their dorsal spines are laden with venom, and they are very territorial - meaning they take over parts of the reef from the other fish. They also reproduce like bunnies, making them a definite threat to the native reef ecology. Needless to say, dive masters are instructed to kill on sight.

With the dead lion fish slowly sinking down the wall, a mutton snapper comes in and swallows it whole. So cool! I should also note that, while the scene of James killing the lion fish was cool, it couldn't compare with the beauty of swimming through the end of the tunnel to see the vast emptiness of open water. Then looking down to see the wall slowly start to disappear into the murky deep. It's just so ethereal.

This is what it looks like to peer down the wall!

From coming out of the tunnel, we swam along the wall at about 100 to 120 feet of water. About 20 yards, along the wall, grew many different varieties of black coral - which are uncommon due to Hurricane Ivan. We were then led through an arch in the coral, where I found another large Caribbean lobster, and then up another tunnel (of about the same dimensions) back to around 60 feet. That pretty much ended the first dive, and after a 3 minute safety stop at 15 feet, I was back in bored the boat.

For the second dive, we traveled about 20 minutes from the first dive site to Paradise Reef. Similar to yesterday's second dive, parameters for the second were 50 feet for 30 minutes. In the water, I found 2 lion fish (one was quite large), a small torpedo ray, as well as the usual assortment of reef fish. Not an incredible dive as far as fish sightings are concerned, but still enjoyable.

After diving, I spend most of the day either relaxing, or napping. I finished my book: Clive Cussler's Mediterranean Caper; ran some errands with Bill, including picking up a few more Cubans. And I took a nice 3 hour nap. Nitrogen has really taken its toll on me!

For dinner, our group met up with the Minneapolis dive contingent at Al Fresco, just a few hundred yards from the condo. The 8 of us shared 3 bottles of wine, as well as orders of cracked and marinated conch. I then had potato encrusted grouper with a curry sauce. Along with some vegetables and red beans & rice, it was simply outstanding. I just wish they had more curry sauce for the rice to soak up. It was just a fun meal, full of good conversation and even a few laughs. I am so lucky to be able to dive with such wonderful people; enjoying good food and wine with them is just an added bonus!

After dinner I walked home, fixed myself a Cuba libre (Havana Club and Coke - in my case, Coke Zero), and started blogging. As I finished around 10:30pm, it looks like I am just going to enjoy my mixed drink and watch some lame TV. Such a rough life I live :). Ciao!