Hakuna Matata: Hammerhead seen on the North Wall
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Monday 14 April 2008
Hammerhead seen on the North Wall
We saw a HAMMERHEAD..We saw a hammerhead! Not only did we see it, we hung out, for a good 10 mins as she cruised the top of the wall at Black Forest...what a joy. You could hear our hearts beating faster, the oxygen surged through the bronchioles as we witnessed something majestic. A perfect example of evolution, a top predator.
Okay, now we are calm we can also talk about Tarpon Alley, it seems that the Black Tip Caribbean Reef Shark has made this his territory. We (like Peter and Ron on their last dive) pretty much dropped onto him. The vis was good at first and then regressed as the tide rolled in, however the big pelagics seem to favour this, so we should too.
We pottered along to the next dive destination, enjoying a small boat population, and having Jack all to ourselves. Which is to say, that we let Jack do all the work whilst the chics gossipped!
Black Forest was awesome, Sharon and Pippa spotted the Eagle Ray at the wall, Shaz signalled to her buddy, however all she could see was a pair of legs wiggling around in the water column, as he was face down in the coral photographing something random. When Jack did emerge he saw a beautiful Eagle Ray, as did Laura. She left us, and then returned to the top of the wall to forage. It was lobster city down there too, much shaninigans were going on for sure, within the Lobster Community. It was like the election for the next American President, with Lobsters vying for positions, and territory, not to mention the other power plays that were taking part between those of opposite genders....
The shark came along as we all headed up for our safety stop. First a grey ghost and then a manifestation of a pure killer. She hung around a long time (unlike the Black Tip) she came in for a good look too, extremely curious. There was one time where she turned to face us, with her teeth bared..I was not frightened..all I had to do was to stab Jack, take his camera (well, its expensive) and reach for the surface whilst he got eaten!
Jack got some wicked shots of her, at one point we had the hammerhead and an Eagle Ray both in our sites! We were all mega excited at the safety stop, Pippa less so as she had dived with shoals of Hammerheads in the Cococ Is..yawn) but it was a great day. "We do not remember days, we remember moments" this was one of them.
Okay, now we are calm we can also talk about Tarpon Alley, it seems that the Black Tip Caribbean Reef Shark has made this his territory. We (like Peter and Ron on their last dive) pretty much dropped onto him. The vis was good at first and then regressed as the tide rolled in, however the big pelagics seem to favour this, so we should too.
We pottered along to the next dive destination, enjoying a small boat population, and having Jack all to ourselves. Which is to say, that we let Jack do all the work whilst the chics gossipped!
Black Forest was awesome, Sharon and Pippa spotted the Eagle Ray at the wall, Shaz signalled to her buddy, however all she could see was a pair of legs wiggling around in the water column, as he was face down in the coral photographing something random. When Jack did emerge he saw a beautiful Eagle Ray, as did Laura. She left us, and then returned to the top of the wall to forage. It was lobster city down there too, much shaninigans were going on for sure, within the Lobster Community. It was like the election for the next American President, with Lobsters vying for positions, and territory, not to mention the other power plays that were taking part between those of opposite genders....
The shark came along as we all headed up for our safety stop. First a grey ghost and then a manifestation of a pure killer. She hung around a long time (unlike the Black Tip) she came in for a good look too, extremely curious. There was one time where she turned to face us, with her teeth bared..I was not frightened..all I had to do was to stab Jack, take his camera (well, its expensive) and reach for the surface whilst he got eaten!
Jack got some wicked shots of her, at one point we had the hammerhead and an Eagle Ray both in our sites! We were all mega excited at the safety stop, Pippa less so as she had dived with shoals of Hammerheads in the Cococ Is..yawn) but it was a great day. "We do not remember days, we remember moments" this was one of them.
Shore diving Babylon Reef w. Eileen
We did this at about 3.00pm Thursday. The best way to get out is to tow your gear through the surf zone, have a snorkel in and I put training shoes on to get over the rough coral. Its a good 20 minutes swim out, we took back bearings off the car as we lost the bouys in the swell occasionally, it was fun though. There was a little surface current, however I think this is normal for this area.
Having reached the bouy, we had a breather, discussed escape plans and descended into the deep blue. I tied my Nikes onto the bottom of the mooring bouy, hoping that I would be able to find them on the return!
The reef here, every diver knows, is awesome, Eileen and I took our time and dived along the wall some 120ft on Nitrox 32, then emerged at the top with well over 1500psi in our tanks. We were encouraged when we saw the first mooring bouy, and then the seconcd one with a pair of Nikes still tied to it! Such is Reef life that a litle Damselfish had already claimed the shoes as his house and was very upset when I started untying them, attacking my fingers all the while.
We had taken a bearing from the bouy back to the shore, and knowing that Eileen had just fisinished her advanced course, one dive which, was on Navigation, I handed her the compass to lead us back into the shore. Little did I realise that she would attack this challenge with gusto, as she raced off, eyes glued to the compass.....it was all I could do to slow her down :)
The nav was spot on and we just had to negotiate the surf zone. I got mashed up a little on some coral outcrops ( wear a full body wetsuit!) but it was a fantastic dive.
We eneded a great day with red wine, corona, a roast chicken from Hurleys with bread and a greek salad. We stopped off at Durty Reids, then got wrecked playing pool at the Country and Western...awesome!
Having reached the bouy, we had a breather, discussed escape plans and descended into the deep blue. I tied my Nikes onto the bottom of the mooring bouy, hoping that I would be able to find them on the return!
The reef here, every diver knows, is awesome, Eileen and I took our time and dived along the wall some 120ft on Nitrox 32, then emerged at the top with well over 1500psi in our tanks. We were encouraged when we saw the first mooring bouy, and then the seconcd one with a pair of Nikes still tied to it! Such is Reef life that a litle Damselfish had already claimed the shoes as his house and was very upset when I started untying them, attacking my fingers all the while.
We had taken a bearing from the bouy back to the shore, and knowing that Eileen had just fisinished her advanced course, one dive which, was on Navigation, I handed her the compass to lead us back into the shore. Little did I realise that she would attack this challenge with gusto, as she raced off, eyes glued to the compass.....it was all I could do to slow her down :)
The nav was spot on and we just had to negotiate the surf zone. I got mashed up a little on some coral outcrops ( wear a full body wetsuit!) but it was a fantastic dive.
We eneded a great day with red wine, corona, a roast chicken from Hurleys with bread and a greek salad. We stopped off at Durty Reids, then got wrecked playing pool at the Country and Western...awesome!
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