November 25, 2024
This morning we’ve signed up for a two tank morning dive with Tank’d. We arranged for Chover to pick us up at 7:15, so Nathan set his alarm for 6 am. By 5:50 he’d gotten up and rudely turned the light on over the sink and woke me up. It’s all good. For some reason, my Fitbit woke me up at 12:42 am, but thankfully I was able to fall back asleep.
We had coffee, yogurt, granola and local honey for breakfast. Easy to make and easy to clean up. We were ready for Chover by 7 am, which was good because that’s precisely when he came to pick us up.
A few minutes in the tuk tuk and we’re at Tank’d. We’re one of three groups. Captain George is taking another Nathan out and working on Rescue Diver, Magda has three divemasters-in-training, and Nathan and I are going out with Mariam.
The first dive site is Big Bight, and we saw quite a few Black Durgons. Quite possibly my new favorite fish. They swim using their dorsal and anal fins, as opposed to most fish that have pectoral fins. They have blue and gold blush near their eyes and mouth, and the remainder of their body is black, save for the diamond white spots ‘bejeweled’ between their body and fins. They are all dressed up waiting for a fishy cocktail party!
After the first dive, we got back on board, and drove one of the divemasters-in-training back to the shop. Owen wasn’t feeling well and wanted to sit the second dive out.
Our second dive site was Airport Caves, and we saw a lizard fish, more garden eels, a brittle star, a lionfish, a spotted drum, a few groupers, cleaner shrimp, and Nathan saw a gigantic crab. We also got to swim through a coral canyon, with walls of coral and an open top.
Once the dive was over, Mariam walked us through the steps of deploying a surface marker buoy, which we both tried. Seems easy when we’re watching her do it, but it does take skill! On the surface, Mariam gave us pointers and told us how to improve for next time.
Getting into the boat was easier said than done. There was another dive boat in the same general area as where we surfaced, and they were tied to a buoy. There was quite a bit of current, so we were drifting closer and closer to the other boat. Our boat captain was trying to pick us up, but the two boats and buoy were practically touching, with me as an Anika Oreo sandwich in the middle! Trying to avoid a calamity, our captain motored a little further away and we had to swim to him.
Not wanting to be smooshed, I swam as best I could to get out of the fray, and we all hopped on the boat without any other trouble.
Back at the dive shop, we cleaned our gear, packed up our bags, and walked home after a quick trip to the grocery store for more bread, milk and juice.
Once we got to Purple Jawfish, we made lunch and hung up our wet gear to dry. We finished out the day by snorkeling right out from our beach, snacking on our own beach coconuts, which Nathan opened, and having burgers in town for dinner.
