Nite Dives Galore!

It is very late. Tracy and I did complete another amazing Night dive. What a week end!

We saw so many incredible creatures but the two Sea Horses getting together during their mating ritual and the Grass Squid were the stars of the night. Here are just a couple of pics!

Until next one!

Sergio

Diving Marathon!

Tracy and I dedicated last week end (that is Friday, Saturday and Sunday) to long dives each day (over two hours per dive). Fish life has been amazing! Each dive, new creatures, more creatures and great fish behavior. We found an octopus that grabbed our torch and pulled it to his den. What a chore to get it back! And how incredible strong this creatures are. Just awesome! Pipe fish is still there and we heard of two sea horses now in the area of Casuarina Point Reef. We can not wait to go again tomorrow!

Sergio

Four Days of Diving!

Mornings, afternoon and twilight dives on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Reef location: Casuarina Point Reef @ Don Foster's Dive. Very active reef with many Tarpons, Turtles, Snappers, Black Groupers amongst many others. Every dive we saw something awesome! Here are three pictures that show some of what we were entertained for almost two hours on each dive. One picture (Tracy's) shows a Connie while eating what it may be a Blue Tang or perhaps a Chromis (not sure). The other picture shows a White Nose Pipe Fish that we found Sunday and then again Monday! Third pic shows the invasive Lion Fish so common now in our waters.

Until next dive!

Silver Sides and big fish!

We spent last Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday diving the reefs from Casuarina Point to Eden Rock. We dove at different times of the day including two dives a day. We carried our cameras and the dives were a Photo Fest. So many fish! Lots of Tarpon all around, over 300 Horse eye Jacks, a couple of the caves and tunnels by Devils Grotto were packed with Silver Sides. We encounter a Goliath Grouper and also several Black and Purple Mouth groupers. One big Black Grouper was even schooling with the Horse Eye Jacks for a while during the late afternoon. Small and big turtles modeled for us to practice our much needed photo skills. Another big size fish was a Dog Snapper and also a beautiful Crevalle Jack cruising along.

We also enjoyed watching a lobster, small blennies and hermit crabs.

Even though we were watching our bottom time as we wanted to be conservative, each dive was over one hour and a half! So much to see and enjoy in only 35 feet of water. I can't wait to go back on Friday!

Until next one.

Turtle Farm Mini Wall

Another great shore dive! Lots of Tarpons in the Tarpon Cave offered great photo ops. We observed a synergy between Sand Gobies and shrimp. The shrimp worked tirelessly digging out debrie from their den. In an area of one square foot we saw two gobies and two shrimp. The gobies seemed to be acting as a "watchman" while the shrimp dig out. Also we saw a flounder during a hunting run and eventually capturing his prey.

A very curious Golden Tail Morey allowed us to interact with her for a few minutes. Also on the way back, over the shallow hard pan but very close to the mini wall, we found a fish from the Durgon family that I believe we seen before in the deep waters of the 12 Mile Bank. Not so common to this area.

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!