Cloudy, with 90 % chances of great creatures in Cayman!

Friday's forecast of rain and cloudiness did not stop us from diving. Seas were calm and clear. We shore dived from Don Foster's Dive location. This time around we headed to the south area of the 50 feet sand patch. Very active there. Hundreds of Garden Eels were out as well as dozens of conchs crawling over the sand. We found another Lizard Fish buried in the sand and an Eagle Ray allowed us to get close while she was feeding. We observed the ray for several minutes and we took a few pictures. Many Jaw Fish were doing their thing, working on their dens. We watched them for a long period of time, curious to see what they do. On the way back, over the shallows, a small turtle was feeding on a sponge and a medium size Trumpet Fish was on a hunting spree. Great dive. 78 minutes of plain fun! Until next one

Dive, Dive, Dive!

Great adventures were had during this last week end. We dove the Turtle Farm Mini Wall again. As soon as we reached the bottom of the mini wall Tracy found a beautiful Scorpion Fish perched on a small coral outcropping. I was getting ready to take a picture when all of the sudden he/ she swallowed a small fish in a fraction of a second. He jumped on the sand patch and then proceeded to "walk" with his pectoral fins along the sand directly to my camera! He came all the way to my lens (making it impossible for me take the pics. I moved a few feet away, he came forward again. This behavior continued for many minutes until we reached a group of rocks on the bottom where finally decided it was his new home. The Scorpion fish walked along the sandy floor for about 35 feet. At that point Tracy signaled again onto the sand. This time there was a Golden Spotted Eel making her runs trying to feed on crabs and shells buried on the sand. We stayed observing the eel's behavior for another 30 minutes. Watching these fish behavior was like watching a National Geo documentary. Awesome dive!
On Saturday we went back to the Pond (Cow Well). We descended to about 68 feet and broke into a crystal clear water layer coming from the actual ground feed. The entrance to the cave could be seen however we stayed on the outside as we wanted to be very cautious on our exploratory dive. To all surprise, Randy found a crocodile skull (upper mandible). We know crocks are supposedly extinct on the island however it was hard to tell for us whether this skull is a fossil or not. I will send some pics to experts to get more information as soon as i can. Until next dive!

Week End of diving!

Last Friday Tracy and I decided to go back to Turtle Farm since it was a while from our last visit. Winds were WNW therefore was a bit bumpy and vis was not the best. However sea life was plentiful. Tube and Barrel sponges are phenomenal along the mini wall and also along the coral heads on the sand flats around 70 feet of depth. We spent time on a couple of cleaning stations including one with a very busy arrow crab taking care of our fingers. On the Hard pan Tracy found a Pipe Fish (another one!).
On Saturday early morning Tom (from Cayman Kayaks) invited me to check out a fresh water pond in East End. I knew several ponds had been dived through the years but I was excited as the pond was new to me. We were shown the pond by Pastor Mark from East End.The place is on private property (therefore permission is required)and it is adjacent to what Mark described as an "old cattle path that the locals used for a couple of hundred years to reach the pastures". The bush there is full of mosquitoes but the beauty of the jungle and the amount of birds was incredible. Tall trees, Palms, Silver Thatch and mango trees by the dozen all over the place. Talk about protecting the environment, what a Cayman treasure. We checked the pond out first and since the access was not difficult, Tom and I made an experimental/ shallow exploratory dive. There are many small fish close to the surface and many water bugs swimming around. We found those bugs as deep as 40 feet. The water is tea color and visibility will go down to almost zero if the walls were disturbed. We noticed a ledge close to the ten foot mark indicating entrance to a closed space.The lime stone shows the remains of coral skeletons from previous geological periods. We ascended and decided that it will be worth more exploring however doing it with better equipment and more logistics including gear and other experienced cave divers. Tom and I felt comfortable diving with that low visibility. Most of my commercial diving years as a salvage diver were done in zero visibility and within enclosed/ overhead environments however in no way I' m recommending diving any of this sites without the proper training, equipment and authorizations. Cave diving is deadly when done wrong!
After the pond we took off toward Babylon area.The sea was flat calm! We swam to the wall descended to about 70 feet and glided amongst the sea fans, sponges and black coral trees. We dived all the way to shore spending quality time over the shallows and thinking on our next adventure.