Gray reef shark
Barracuda . . .
The crew and food has been outstanding. The diving has been average.
. . . and John
John, my roommate, was also my dive buddy
and we were very well-paired.
Our dives were set due to bottom time more than air consumption.
I did most, but not all of the offered dives.
I skipped the first and last night dives. Also one afternoon dive.
Squid on a night dive
On one of the night dives,
I was offered the opportunity to do a "fluorescence"
(not to be confused with bio-luminescence) dive gratis.
This can cost a couple of hundred dollars at other resorts or boats.
A recent development (the past three to five years),
a "backlight" is used to illuminate & photograph marine organisms
(instead of full-spectrum "white" light).
The diver wears a mask filter or colored filter in order to "see"
the things illuminated under the ultraviolet light.
Brian Vaccaro has experimented with this;
I imagine he'll be interested in hearing about my experiences.
The Ubiquitous Lionfish, scourge of the Caribben reefs
The week was abbreviated because we had to be in port on Thursday
(some guests were not aware of this and were unhappily surprised).
So about 8:30 a.m. Friday we depart for the Dominican Republic.
John and four others are also staying on the boat.
One husband/wife team, one solo woman, John & I.
Have gear to clean first, then will try to work on and send a few pix.
Only in port, with internet, for today.
Queen triggerfish
Oh, about that shark . . . Neal writes:
John & I were very lucky to be first & second in the water
on the first dive Sunday, and that ol' boy just had to come in close for a look.
These sharks feed a night so there was no danger.
They see a lot of divers too. There was more risk on the night dive
as you can't see them coming,
and the night dive became a "shark feeding" dive
in that many of the things you illuminated with a light
the nurse sharks immediately took as a buffet.
There were at least two reef sharks on each site that would make passes
and circle around for another run,
but only at first sight would they come in close.
Later in the week John & I were later in the water,
so we had no opportunities for more shark shots.
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