Sunday, August 16

Surprise Dive!

I woke up and began a rather lazy day, sleeping in, enjoying the sounds of rain coming and going. I love the sounds of thunderstorms and rainstorms. I checked the bay through my living room windows and saw one of the dive boats was still out. I'd like to swing by the shop sometime today and grab my gear from the boat so I can rinse it off (I bet it's really crusty by now...it's been on the boat since Wednesday and without any freshwater rinse so far). I ate some breakfast and checked the window again. Both boats were in the water by the shop. I decided to descend the trail and go see about getting my gear rinsed.

I made it down to the shop just in time to be asked if I wanted to diving. Diving? I'm glad I packed my swimsuit, just in case. Like I said before, never go anywhere on the islands without your suit handy. I checked that my suit was in fact in my bag and confirmed I was totally up for an afternoon dive trip! The Low Key was the boat of the day, which just so happened to be the very same boat that I had left all of my gear on, last time I was on the water. We headed off and did some diving at Mingo Cay and Stephens Cay. The trio of guys from the Westin were awesome divers. We enjoyed both dives to the max, seeing flounder, Arrow Crab, conch, sea cucumber, flamingo tongues, sea feathers, Christmas tree worms, lots of neat ledges (at stephens), striped drum, trunk fish, cleaner shrimp, anemones, neat little fish that pop out of their hole in the sand like a finger (I forget their name right now), hard and soft corals, sponges, many corkscrew anemones, sand dollars, a few bits of fiberglass wreckage, and even a HUGE spotted eagle ray! Woo-hoo! I even pumped my fists underwater in sheer celebration after the ray sighting! I haven't seen a spotted eagle ray in the Caribbean until today! They are beautiful creatures. While trying to point out a fish, I clumsily burned some of my shin on either fire coral or something else that stings. Ouch and oops.

While on the boat, I was the only crew besides the captain, for the first time, with Low Key. I learned all the lines on the boat, the way the captain likes to tie into the mooring buoys and anchors, and for the most part, tied in all on my own! Sweet! At the end of the dive, hard work at spotting quite the array of awesome sights was rewarded with excellent gratuities, which were greatly appreciated!!

After all this diving, I have realized my dive log is slightly out of date. I'm going to need to sit down soon and enter all the dives from down here, soon!

At the shop after diving, I prepared to head home with my salty gear, up the long steep trail. Rain poured from the sky. I had my laptop with me (I didn't know I'd be diving, so I'd planned on doing some writing at the bar all afternoon), so walking in the rain wasn't going to work. I hung around the shop for a bit and grabbed a beer from the Beach Bar while I waited for the rain to pass. Back in the shop, I spotted the perfect size Pelican dry box for my iPhone and knowing the storms are coming, figured it might be a good idea to get a dry box for my iPhone, cash, passport and other essentials, should I need to grab it and go in a hurry. It is also the perfect accessory for my next trip to the Soggy Dollar or for the next time I'm on a sailboat and worried about capsizing or just general sea spray. The rain continued and after the beer, I had dessert at I-Scream, which included a tasty “Tropical Storm” of chocolate ice cream and reese pieces (think: blizzard from dairy queen). The rain subsided eventually and I walked up the hill with my SCUBA Gear and laptop in tow.

After rinsing off my gear in the last slivers of light for the day, I set it all in the tub to dry. Normally I'd leave it outside, but with the impending doom of a tropical depression/storm, I figured inside was a bit safer.

Food note of the day: Papaya juice is interesting. I've not had papaya juice before. I got some while on an evening trip to the Starfish Market to pick up a few first aid supplies for my varied scrapes and abrasions. I saw the juice on my way to the checkout and thought I'd give it a try. I don't think I'll try papaya juice again. It's kind of like a funky melon with a bite. Ick. I've had real sliced papaya before and I thought it was quite tasty. I wonder if this juice tasted bad because it has so many other juices mixed in, like pineapple, pear, apple, and who knows what.

I can't believe it, mom will be here in about 20 days. Then, we fly home together. It is unreal that my time here is coming to an end. I am still interested in finding a way to return here as soon as possible.

Tropical Storm Ana is now Tropical Depression Ana, and is getting disorganized and weaker. Tropical Storm Bill is nearly a hurricane and could pass over us and save us from a direct hit. I've heard all kinds of crazy rumors, one includes Bill becoming a Cat 2 by the time it makes landfall near the U.S. Virgin Islands. I'll believe it when I read it or see something about it on NOAA's National Hurricane Center website....for now, that's my source for information. I see there's a big storm in the gulf hitting Florida. Hopefully everyone there does alright.

Corrections to previous posts:
Mentions of arrowhead crab and/or arrowhead shrimp, really are Yellowline Arrow Crab
The albino sea urchin I may have mentioned is really the West Indian Sea Egg
The jellies that I've seen while snorkeling at night, swarming me as I approached shore were sea wasps, which are highly toxic. Thank goodness I exited the water very quickly after seeing them swarming around me at Hawksnest the other night.
I've seen massess of jellies aggregating near the surface at the end of my dives. While they do appear to be quite alarming, given the sheer number that can be found near the ladder of the boat, the sea walnuts are quite harmless.
Anything I've called a cuttle fish is really a Caribbean reef squid
The Octopus I've found along the reefs are Caribbean Reef Octopus
I've seen many sea Cucumbers, most of which are the Donkey Dung Sea Cucumber

Other creatures I've encountered and identified using the reef creature book include the Sponge Brittle Star, Blue bell tunicate, and corkscrew anemone.