Had a great day with some first-ever wildlife. The day started with sightings of humpbacks far off the coastline but within sight of our dining table. About 7AM, sipping coffee I notice plumbs of water shooting up. It was so odd that it didn't hit me immediately. Then... whales!! AHHHHH.... get the camera, run outside, zoom to 12X and see if I can catch 'em. Success. Far in the distance the humps and plumbs are visible.
We loaded gear and people onto the dive boat and headed for the location of the humpbacks with hopes of catching them. Success! Staying beyond the legal distance from the whale and her pup we saw them surface numerous times. Amazing and the day was just getting started.
The early dive at Turning Point found many rays including the stunning black and white spotted, Eagle ray. The second dive took us to Monkey Island. Strong currents and lots of rocks brought in the wildlife and added challenge to air management and bouyancy controls. Managed to run acrosss many well-hidden stone fish of all sizes, a big green eel at a cleaning station and even found a small white tip sleeping in a crack at 25 feet.
The highlight for me was a 3 minute swim with a Hawksbill turtle. About 3 feet in diameter, he and I drifted along the current and I was able to capture some good shots and video. A very exciting day with several first sightings for me.
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| Humpback whale |
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| Hawksbill Turtle |
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| Spotted Eel |
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| Small Whitetip |
1 comment:
Awesome!! Awesome shot of the little orange seahorse and the big ol' turtle...I'll be watching to see what Bat Island treasures you found...humpbacks must give you an incredible sense of....something greater than us humans...
xo
c
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