Splak.net

The fish on our reef don't know how to survive with the lionfish in the habitat. While they are indeed beautiful, their lack of natural predators knocks the food chain out of balance. They become one of the top feeders, and aren't fished like other primary predators (grouper, snapper). They are too abundant. It's a pretty big issue.

Couldn't you do the ecosystem a favor and stab them with harpoons every time you see one?

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train killer dolphins mhmm

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We are on a marine reserve, which means no exceptions. However, we do collect them outside of the reserve and bring them to the dock where the locals "take care of them."

***UPDATED***
Day 6
Thursday, June 10
Early start this morning. Had to get to the dock earlier than usual.

Dive 9
Deep Eel Garden
I love wreck dives. This ship was the Aguila. It used to be all in one piece, but during a hurricane, it broke into three pieces. On this dive, we get to see lots of grouper and snapper. Some divemasters have even trained the groupers to stay right along beside us, like dogs. Right when we got down, a moray was lying on the deck of the ship (I didn't get too close). Then RR found a lump on the bottom of the ship that looked sort of like a scorpionfish, so I pushed my fin at it to try to get it to move. It didn't work. Then we made a slow ascention with the groupers nearby, and I saw one with a coloration I'd never seen before. I think it may have feel threatened, because it was countershaded (the top was dark and the bottom was light. It's camoflage for them). Then it turned solid black, then back to it's usual splotchy coloration. Very strange.
Max Depth: 105
Time: 46
Diver in: A
Diver out: F

Dive 10
Overheat Reef
I can't really remember a ton about this dive, but I do remember one thing: I found a long-nosed butterflyfish at only 40 feet. Usually they are down at 80-100 feet. I'd wanted to see one for so long, an there had been one spotted the day before. I was so lucky to have found it, and our instructor got pictures! Yay! Also, we got separated from the group... not good. Oh well, it worked out alright. We are safe divers.
Max Depth: 50
Time: 48
Diver in: B
Diver out: H

That afternoon, I got to hang out with the guys and go kayaking, which is always fun. Unfortunantly, I was kayaking with Cincinnati Country Day's rowing team. AKA: I was screwed. Kyle 2 was in the kayak with me and Steve and Kyle 1 were in single kayaks. We went all the way around the key, and on the way back, Kyle 2 explains that I am rowing incorrectly. After a little practice, I got the strokes down right. I took off and managed to pass Kyle 1 and Steve. I refused to stop. Kyle 2 started shouting that he had a madwoman paddling his kayak :P Then we went to the pool to chill before our...dun dun dun.... NIGHT DIVE.

Dive 11
Overheat Reef
So this is the sixth night dive I've ever been on. They are so awesome. It does make me very nervous though to be in a close group of people while it's so dark. We have flashlights of course, so it isn't pitch black, but our sight is limited. I was lucky to have a good group of a dive instructor I'm very comfortable with. Also, the buddy group we were with were two younger girls who were respectful of the coral and stayed a good distance away. That's really hard to come by. We saw an octopus, squirrelfish, a sleeping grouper, jellies (yuck), lobster, and coral shrimp. Also, there were little bloodworms that would swarm our lights and get very annoying. I'd just go up to pillar coral and hold my light by it. The worms would hit the coral, be grabbed, and externally digested (a little gross, but really cool). The ascent is always nerve-wracking because of the many bubbles and flashing lights, but, relatively, all went well. I had to keep an eye on our instructor, to not lose him, but also had to check for my buddy and the two other girls. I did feel really official though Great dive.
Max Depth: 40
Time: 43
Diver in: D
Diver out: H

Later that night, we had highs and lows, then all sat around for a while. We all also fell asleep on the porch... One by one we woke up and went to bed. Eventually it was me and Kyle 2. I sat up and checked the time. It was around 3 am... I poked him to wake him and tell him I was going to bed and he did the same. Needless to say, we slept well. It turned out that we were the latest out, because the latest anyone else stayed out was 1 am... Whoops.

when you see it... You'll giggle

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^her body would be crushed by the time she got deep enough to see one of those haha

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Day 7
Friday, June 11
Such a great, but sad day. I don't have the morning dive logged, so I can't post the details on it right now, but it was a drift dive. I managed to see a black hamlet. So many, in fact, that I kept a tally of them. Final count was 7 black hamlets, 8 barred hamlets, 3 indigo hamlets, and one hybrid. Afterwards, we got to have a training session with the dolphins. We got in the water and did a few simple behaviors like the hula and kicking. But then came the fun part :3 I got in the water and swam out a little ways, then had a dorsal fin tow back to the platform. Next, I swam out on a boogie board and stuck my legs out. I got a foot push by not only one, but two dolphins. One on each foot. SO AWESOME.

Lunch. Eh.

Then we went into town, which was great, because we really got to hang out with eachother. No matter how much I type, I can't describe how much fun I had with that group. They were all so amazing. Honestly, they were the best group I'd ever gone to this camp with.

Day 8
Saturday, June 12
The week's group left to go to the airport that morning. Lots of down time. New group arrived late. Too sad of a day to comment on further.

So this past week was a really interesting week. I was the youngest, and the only one not in college. Needless to say, the camp rules were changed a bit. Also, we didn't log any dives, so I had nothing to report on at the end of the days except random dive info that I could hardly remember... Sorry for letting the journal drop, but it would have been difficult to keep up with. We did, however, have a couple interesting events (ie: A boat exploding due to arson and a guy escaping to West End to a bar with a random girl from New York), but those happened late at night, so I wasn't able to type a journal about them. I will, however, report again this week, because (hopefully) we will be more structured.

Day 16
Sunday, June 20
Got a nice early start today after a good night's sleep. Headed to orientation, which is much more fun when your friends are leading it rather than just sitting there listening to older people talk at you :P It took a while for our boat to come to the dock because all the spaces were filled. Go figure that we'd get the one with one ladder and the name was rubbed off... Oh well. After all of the campers got their rented and weights, we headed out.

Dive 85 [I am now doing dives by the actually number of dives I have done]
Mandy's Eel Garden
Instead of travelling with the group, I was a separate divemaster for one student while she finished her open water certification. It was me, Joey (the dive instructor), and she who were seperate from the group. Not only did I actually get to help her by following her to the surface to unstick her BC inflator, but we also had a great dive. I got to see about 10 or so goatfish in a feeding circle with a couple snappers following behind and picking up scraps. Also, there were a few small flounders and one huge one. Best of all: a midnight and a blue parrotfish. Both are extremely rare to see at all, much less in shallow water (their range is 80ft or so and deeper; we were at 20). Also, they were together. It was crazy. The dive was also great because the water was rediculously clear. And, there were waterscooters..... I almost drowned because I laughed so hard that my mask filled with water and I was only using a snorkel...

Lunch, then headed to the lecture. I was smart enough to bring a huge hoodie so I didn't freeze :P

Dive 86
White Hole
I ended up being the new student's dive buddy, which was really great. She was the fastest learner we've ever had. There was only one incident of new divers going to low. However, they saw a huge king crab, so it was virtually impossible to get them up... Visibility was a little worse (only about 50 feet) but it wasn't too bad. I saw a juvenile rock beauty! Not only are rock beauties fairly rare here, but their juvenile stages are even harder to spot! Also there were grey, french, and queen angels, red-lipped blennies, and a puddingwife. Yes, a puddingwife. No, I didn't realize they existed either. I was so confused when I saw it, because the body was similar to a parrotfishes, but its head/mouth was more like a hogfish, and it was green with 3 white spots on its dorsal fin. Very unusual. I did look it up, and puddingwife it was!

After the dive, we went to the pool for a good two hours or so. I got to play with Curtis and Nathan (our director's two young sons) for a while and hang out with the other members of the camp. It was a very relaxed and fun afternoon. Sadly, though, I am afraid that I am getting a sinus infection, which may mean no diving in the near future.... I really hope not.

ALSO: I found out that green moray eels are actually blue. Who knew?

Day 17
Monday, June 21
So yesterday we got our wakeup call from another counselor, and we also had our alarm set just in case. This morning, we didn't have the alarm set. Guess who didn't give us our usual wakeup call? Yup. We woke up at 7:30. 30 minutes late. Not cool.

At 8 (which we had to rush to make) there was a dolphin anatomy session. Since we are more advanced, we got to do the husbandry behaviors again. Dante and Kenley (the two dolphin trainers) remembered me again, and I got to do a different behavior. This time, the dolphin (Bill) opened his mouth and I sprayed hydrogen peroxide in it to help clean his teeth, then Dante dunked his mouth to rinse it. After the session, I talked to Dante about job opportunities. It turns out I would be a really good candidate for a dolphin trainer. I plan to look into that.

Dive 87
Claire's Spot
Yes, this divesite is named after me. Pretty awesome huh? And unexpected (basically we wanted to dive on the south side of the island, but all the mooring lines were taken. Our captain, Dean, took us out to a calm spot on the wall to do a drift dive. I gave the briefing for the dive, and when I asked our divemaster what to call it, he said Claire's Spot). Also, I ended up leading the dive, as I discovered when we jumped in. Kaya (the divemaster) simply pointed which way to go and didn't jump in. However, I supposidly did a very good job. Nothing went horribly wrong, I got to point out some good fish to the students. Also, there was one point where some students drifted to low in the water column and I had to signal them to come back up. I had to tap my tank, but all I had to use was a huge dive knife. The look of terror in their wide eyes when they realized they were in trouble and saw the knife was priceless. There was a honeycomb cowfish, smooth trunkfish, arrow blennie, trumpetfish, rock beauty, grey angel, french angel, and queen angel. Also, the visibility was great. It was a wonderful dive.
Max Depth: 40
Time: 43 (exactly 43! 40 for bottom, and 3 for safety stop. Not to brag, but I've never been on a dive that precise)
Diver in: A
Diver out: F

We had lunch on Maya Key today. All of the girls got burnt =__= Even though we warned them. I fell asleep on the beach for a while. It was nice and chill.

Dive 88
Herbie's Fantasy
The water was unusually green when I jumped in, and there seemed to be too much algae for a healthy reef. There were also a lot of urchins, though, which hopefully means that they will clear out the oversupply of algae and regain a healthy equilibrium. I saw a baby lionfish, though, which made me unhappy. One thing though that I did enjoy was that I got to see two sharpnosed puffers play red-light, green-light. I lol'd. We lost the boat, but that was okay, because my friend was doing the dive and having trouble navigating. I would have too. It was still really nice though, and not to cold. I got stung again on my face though... One mark I have hasn't gone away yet, and I've had it for a week. I hope it isn't permanent :/
Max Depth: 39
Time: 51
Diver in: C
Diver out: H

Day 18
Tuesday, June 22
Still keep waking up late.. argh. We went to RIMS for the dolphin lecture this morning. It's always freezing in there, but I brought a hoodie, cuz I'm smart.

Dive 89
Canyon Reef
I lead this dive, also. Before I jumped in, I asked our divemaster, Kaya, which way I should go because of the current. He told me there was no current and to just pick a path. We jumped in, and I told the group to start heading to the right. There was a four foot barracuda at the beginning, but it swam off quickly. I already wasnt very positive about the dive because there was only about 50 feet of visibility and a lot of algae. Well, when we hit the wall, the current was so strong, I wasn't able to hold myself still. It was going the same way I had planned to go, so I had to turn the group around and head the other way. Once we reached halfway, we turned around and headed back. I kept looking for a marker as to where the boat is (a huge area of lobed star coral) but couldn't find it. One of the other divemasters that was to the side signalled that he found the boat. It turns out that it had drifted just a little ways, so when it drifted back to where we had started, I found the coral. I wasn't wrong, I just wasn't right at the time. Damn. Because the current was so strong, I wasn't able to see much. All I saw that were special were some secretary blennies, trumpetfish, and a jewelfish.
Max Depth: 42
Time: 49
Diver in: A
Diver out: H

After lunch, we had a dolphin dive scheduled. Before the dive, we have a platform session with a dolphin to get aquainted with the animals. We had Ronnie, who is one of the most vocal dolphin's I've ever known. He squeaks and chirps when he does something right, and sometimes sounds like he is imitating his trainer (who is a woman, so she cheers him on in a really high pitch voice).

Dive 90
Front Porch
Finally the dolphins showed up. We had Paya and Richie with us on the dive. They stayed aloof for the first part (as usual) but then showed up for some rub downs towards the end of the dive. It was also really murky for some reason, so I couldn't see them very well. Paya came up to me and put his rostrum right in my hand. I got to rub his rostrum (chin/mouth area) and under his head. He seemed very calm, and most people don't have a dolphin react like that. It was great.
Max Depth: 65
Time: 40
Diver in: D
Diver out: I

Day 19
Wednesday, June 21
We had a dolphin talk early this morning again. These morning lectures really get to me...ugh.

Dive 91
Blue Channel
This was, by far, one of the best dives I have gone on in a while. The only problem was that our profile was 40 feet for 40 minutes, and the majority of the coral was down at about fifty feet, so we couldn't really be on top of it. That ended up being ok, though, because there was a lot to see that was on top of the coral. My divemaster trainee partner and I came up with dive themes, called creature features, for our dives. This dive's was Fairy Tale. We looked for damselfish, surgeon fish (because they have a modified scale that they can [sorta] use like a sword), pillar coral (because it's like the tower that the princess is locked away in), queen angelfish, and a green moray (DRAGON!!). Also on this dive, we saw all 4 angelfish species, along with a few juveniles. It was really great. On the way back to the boat, my partner got a little turned around and headed in the wrong direction at first, but as soon as we showed her the right way, she made it back just fine.
Max Depth: 43
Time: 46
Diver in: A
Diver out: H

Dive 92
Melissa's Reef
I lead this dive, and also made it back to the boat just fine. It was an interesting dive, because we never really reached the wall, but were kinda going up and down among ridges in the reef. There was a turtle on this dive! I believe that it was a green sea turtle. I wanted to take the group closer to it, but there was a random group near it and I didn't want my group to get confused and merge with them. Our theme for this dive was Lion King. We looked for lionfish, indigo hamlets (because their markings kinda look like how Rafiki paints), star coral (because Simba would look to the constellations), hogfish (Pumba!), and a school of any fish (for the waterbuffalo stampede). When we made it back to the boat, I started to head towards the ladder of the boat, but the native divemaster tapped his tank to get me to go straight. I was really confused and thought that I may had found the wrong boat. It turns out that he had only seen the buoy and thought the boat was straight ahead instead of out to the side. I was right :P
Max Depth: 32
Time: 47
Diver in: C
Diver out: H

FIESTA NIGHT. I came in second in the limbo contest, and only God knows how (I blame the vodka margarita. I forgot that I was in a dress... Well, second is second! And the first place winner had an even shorter dress :P). Also the firedancer's music was broken. It was disappointing Other than that, it was a fun night. Plus my one margarita lasted over two hours. I still don't know why O.o