DAY 3 - TUESDAY, 3/20 THE MYSTERIES OF THE DEEP DIVE SITES: PARADISE GARDENS, CHUN CHACAAB REEF & FELIPE XICOTENCATL WRECK
On the second dive, I saw a creature from the depths (850'+) that somehow got swept up into "shallow" water.
At first I thought someone was playing a joke. This Mylar-looking thing, 10'or 12' long, was floating upright in the current behind a coral pinnacle. Was it a float or flag? A lure?? As I got closer it moved! It was some sort of eel.
As I closed with it, it wedged itself up into the reef so only the body & tail stuck out. It's about the thickness of a man's thigh.
The silver/translucent color makes me think it's from deep, because when I rode the two-person sub to 850' in Grand Cayman, everything past 300' was called Glass . . . Glass Sponges, Glass Sea Fans, Glass Corals.
The current was not as strong today, for the most part. There were places on the reef and on the wreck where you could not swim against the current; you had to find something solid and pull yourself forward. A member of TEAM MANTA, Phil Hardin, was in Cozumel with another dive group the week before this trip. He writes: The dive masters said they don't remember the currents being this crazy. On three dives, the direction of the current did a 180-degree change. Attached is my favorite picture from the night dive there. I was lucky. Timing is everything. Photo Courtesy Phil Hardin

DIVE THE FELIPE XICOTENCATL HERE
(Probably easier to dive than to pronounce.)