Diving with Beth

Beth came down to visit again while she wasn't working.  She had gone diving when she was here in July but I only went with her one day and the visibility wasn't good.  This visit we went diving two days with SCUBA of course and it was fabulous.  Amazing visibility, healthy coral and tons of creatures.  I wore my 3 ml wet suit without the jacket and wore 25 pounds of weight which was just right.  

Wed. November 18, 2015

After dinner at the house with Molly, Ed, Rick and Bret cooked mostly by Beth, we were surprisingly chipper for diving on the north shore the next morning.  On the boat was a student tech diver and his teacher, Richard (a local), and three danish tourists including a couple that were sea sick and a mess in the water.   

Salt River East Wall

Salt river, both east and west, are some of my favorite dives.  It was lovely, very healthy coral, clear visibility, tons of fish.  Huge growths of black coral which kept reminding me of the people that bought my house as they so loved the black coral that had washed up on the beach and which Del hung on my light. 

Turquoise Bay

Turquoise Bay is along Long Reef between Sugar Beach and Cormorant, just off the Nature Conservancy.  The water was very clear, the coral was all very healthy and colorful and we saw tons of turtles swimming around.  Then a 4 foot reef shark came to join us.  At one point I was just slowly spinning around as the shark swam leisurely by, than a huge hawksbill turtle, then the shark again, then the turtle again - round and round.  The two of them hung out with us for a very long time - I don't think I have ever spent this much time with either a shark or a turtle.  They both were so graceful in the water and just accompanying us on our dive.

Thursday November 19, 2015

Ed had thought it would be especially rough on the north shore so suggested we do the west end instead.  I had never  mbeen diving on the west so we said sure.  I loved it!  The boat docks right at the pier on which you can park if there are no cruise ships and the dive sights are all right there.  We decided to do the reefs south of the pier.  The water was like glass even though it was windy and rough on the north.  Beth and I and Richard were the only ones on the boat.  Richard really liked Beth, he kept commenting how graceful she is in the water, which she is - she also likes to hang upside down and never seems to be using her arms or fins. 

Alien Nation

Sort of right off Sand Castles.  Very healthy reef, with sandy spots in between coral groups, crystal clear water and tons of fish.  The highlight of this dive was a huge green moray eel.  I have seen them before but they usually just poke their head up and disappear again in a crevice.  This guy was out and about, slowly swimming along with us.  He was at least 5 feet long and so graceful with his undulating dorsal fine.  He was actually swimming with his body sideways most of the time.  And several times he came swimming straight at me so I was looking right into his eyes (although they say they cannot see well).  I also really liked the peacock flounder that was turning purple and pink but then going sandy color on the sand.  Very pretty.

Aquarium 

Another dive south of the pier but closer to it, similar topography.  We saw a sting ray in the sand, more peacock flounder and our favorite the puffer fish.  They were actually quite large, not puffed up with really boxy heads and giant eyes.  I found two hanging around a coral grouping just slowly swimming around and through it together who I hung with for a while.  Beth found one that was very friendly and let her pet its tail.    

   

March 16, 2014 Shore Dive - Davis Bay

Jeffner and Tom are here visiting and so I agreed to go diving with them with Sweet Bottom Diver Center out of the Carambola Resort at Davis Bay.  They had gone earlier in the week when it was very calm and enjoyed it.  The surf was up this morning and Jeffner decided not to go with Tom and I.  As we were getting suited up to go out a local dive club (CRABBS) and a group of divers from the resort were entering through the heavy surf and several people got really knocked about in the surf and gave up.  Tom had arranged that our dive master would carry my tank into the water so carrying it wouldn't hurt my back.  We got through the surf line ok but we were still in big big swells and it was very difficult to get my flippers, bc/tank on in the swells.  By the time I did and swam out past the swells I was really tired and it was hard to catch my breath.  It was also hard to get everything off and get back in through the surf.  Some guy met me in the surf and kept pulling on my arm even though I didn't have my feet on the bottom, which made things even more difficult.  Of course I appreciated him trying to help because people were really getting tumbled in the large surf.     

I had never done a dive here before and it was very nice location once you got underwater.  A good number of fish (but not as much as snorkeling at Buck Island a few days earlier at the far north buoy in the lagoon), a huge healthy seven foot purple sea fan, huge brain corral, a good portion of healthy corals.  It was not a dramatic straight down portion of the wall but a sloping wall which started at only 60 or 70 feet. 

The dive was a max of 80 feet but I don't think we actually went below 70.  The water temperature was 78 degrees according to the dive shop (brrrr).  I had on my full wet suit, long johns plus jacket and started with 18 lbs.  I got down fine but the dive master gave me an extra weight (1 or 2 lbs?) and I was fine until we started to the shallow part of the dive (30-40 feet).  I was having trouble staying down and the dive master started fussing trying to squeeze air out of the bc and add an extra weight to my pocket and I couldn't really move while he had me and we popped right up to the surface.  I got back down but he had to drag me down.  I have gained more weight and of course the tank was only 1/3 full at that point but I clearly needed more than the 18 lbs I had recorded last dive.  

Because of the heavy surf, we were all so tired that we decided to forgo the 2nd dive.  I am not a big shore dive person but it was not a long swim to the wall and if it was really calm, it would not be a bad dive to do again sometime. (Of course it is Davis Bay so it would be rare for it to be really calm.)  The topography and health of the coral was good.  Sweet Bottom seemed like a good operation and the manager Greg as well as our dive master, Bob, were very nice and accommodating.  I do believe this is the only site they dive though as they don't have a boat.          

  

Two Weeks of Diving in St. Croix 1991

In packing for the move I found a small spiral notebook with what appears to be some of our first dives with Dive Experience after getting certified the trip before in 1990 with VI Divers. Here is what it says:

April 23, 1991
1. The Barge 80ft 30min - boring
2. The West Wall of Salt River Canyon 50ft 40min - Great!

April 25, 1991
1. The East Wall of Salt River Canyon 80ft 30min - Great!
2. Little Cozumel - OK

April 27, 1991
1. Two Anchors 70ft 40 min - Great
2. Wapa Gardens 50ft 30min - OK

April 30, 1991
1. Rust op Twist 80ft 30 min
Schools of black durgen. Followed pipe on top of wall over the side. Quite a change in temp over the wall. Nice fan coral and other soft corals.
2. Little Green Shack 50ft 40min
Mostly hard corals. Funky mushroom shaped corals with lots of neat crevices to poke under. Saw two trumpet fish. Strong current. This was probably my favorite site after Salt River. I think Scott liked Rust Op Twist better but he says "It's hard to tell they are all so good."

May 1, 1991
1. Japanese Gardens or Spotted Ray 80ft 30min
Fun feathery soft corals. We dove along the wall. Saw two spotted rays. They were huge!! They looked like they were flying through the emptiness off of the wall A big turtle was swimming along with them. We saw a ray of some sort in the sand in the shallows. Saw Barbara, a huge barracuda.
2. Scotch Bank 50ft 40min
A mountain ridge which includes Buck Island. The site is close to the harbor. We dove along the wall a little bit. We saw a hawks bill turtle and these two fish that looked like giant angel fish about 1.5 ft long. They followed us as we swam along the wall. We spent alot of time up in the shallow sandy part on top of the ridge. We saw a nurse shark at the end of the dive.

May 3, 1991
1. Gentlewinds 80ft 30min (really 60ft 30 min)
Mediocre. Woman lost weight belt. Clueless people with no buoyancy control at all mowing down coral.
2. Wapa Gardens 50ft 30min - OK

Night Dive off Beach at Cane Bay - 60ft 40 min
Scott - really funky but I wouldn't do it again Nice swim out, warm water, phosphorescence neat, saw 2 octopuses, squid changing color, 6 finger star fish, worm, baby eel, relative of puffer fish, sleeping fish, "hair net" coral, creepy looking out into nothing, jellyfish changing colors, colors more intense.
Linda - I couldn't really see anything. I totally forgot I am night blind until I got down there. The swim out and back was beautiful, zillions of stars, it was as smooth as glass and St. Thomas glowed on the horizon. Down there I couldn't really see a thing and the flashlights were very confusing. I could really only tell where Scott was if I kept the light on his fins. My contacts would help but I don't think with my night blindness night diving will ever really be a real option for me.

May 5, 1991
1. Cane Bay - buoy East of dock - 80ft 30min
Gradual wall. Very pretty. Michelle said it was a spot less visited by divers. Beautiful soft coral as well as funky hard coral and lots of fish. This ranks up there with Salt River.
2. Scotch Banks - way out in front of Buccaneer. Sandy top, gradual sloping sides of ridge. OK dive site. We came across a huge ray, at least 5 ft, it was sitting in the sand mostly buried. Michelle poked it and it flew away. Rays are so beautiful and big! I was diving with a smaller tank than the normal compact 80s and it was more comfy. Michelle stuck her finger in a morey eel's mouth and it bit her.

Summary - Dive Experience - Sam, Michelle and Scott

Linda's favorite sites:
1. Salt River East and West
2. Cane Bay East of dock
3. Green Shack

Scott's
1. Cane Bay
2. Salt River
3. Rust op Twist
4. Green Shack
5. Two Anchors

2nd Stanford Dive Club

This was the second Stanford dive club dive that we participated in. The participants were Scott and I, Nancy Rummel, Mark and Melody and we went with Dive Experience. Sam and Gary were the captains/dive masters. I wore my full wet suit and jacket with 14 lbs because the tanks have 4 lbs built in. It was really nice that nobody argued with me about what weight I needed and I was able to get to the bottom without a problem.

Chez Barge - Although this is a regular dive for Dive Experience (with their regular afternoon fish feed), I hadn't been in many years, although Scott had been the last time he and Mark went with Dive Experience. It is not far out of Christiansted harbor and was a fairly shallow dive with the barge and lots of coral gardens and fish. I was surprised that the coral appeared as healthy as it did. Although they were not very big, there were lots of healthy fan coral and overall the coral looked much healthier than I had remembered it. Lots and lots of fun fish and lobster hiding under the coral overhangs. The visibility wasn't bad, the current was pretty strong. When Sam threw in the fish food (fish parts) the current took it away very fast and I only saw a fish head come down. Although it was only a 40 minute dive it felt long to me as I was getting cold, with my full wet suit and jacket on. I enjoyed it, Scott wasn't very impressed,probably because he had done it recently.

Buoy No. 1 - This was a new dive site for both Scott and I right by the first buoy that marks the entrance to the harbor channel. The waves there were really getting to everyone and people were feeling a little green during the surface interval. I began to feel really sea sick and went to the back of the boat. When Skeeter, the dog, left his Kong Wubba out in the water and went diving for the fish head that Sam threw in, I jumped in and retrieved the Kong and felt much better, although I kept getting dunked by the waves (4-6 ft.). When we did the dive the current was fairly strong and it was the worst visibility I have ever dove in. I didn't like it, it felt very claustrophobic to me, almost like the one night dive that we did. You were lucking if you could see the diver in front of you and could not make out the next diver at all. The topography - we went down in a sandy patch then swam over a grassy area with lots of sand dollars and looked for seahorses, then came to a huge concrete block that anchors the channel buoy were Sam pointed out a frog fish, then you swim along the huge anchor chain under the buoy and descend the wall of the harbor channel to about 60 ft. Scott said he enjoyed the dive and liked the different topography. I didn't think it was that interesting, even along the wall not that much healthy coral or fish for that matter. Of course I couldn't see very much with the visibility. Sam almost stepped on this huge turtle that I only saw because I was right behind Sam at the time. I tried to point it out to Scott but it disappeared in the murk within 2 seconds. I was also having trouble with my mask, foggy, water getting in (perhaps some hair was in it it) and I was fussing with it when it totally came off. Only panicked for a second, got it back on and cleared etc but by then I had inadvertently surfaced (from 60 ft, not a good thing to do). I went back down and was starting to panic because in the murk I couldn't see anything, when luckily I came down on top of someone and found the group again. Not a real pleasant experience. Anyway, I may be prejudiced and Scott really liked it so I would be willing to give it another shot.

Stanford Dive Club

This was the first dive of the Stanford Dive Club. We went with Anchor Dive out of Salt River and dove the West Wall and Slippery Fingers.

Salt River Canyon West Wall (also known as the Pinnacles): Mooring in 20 feet of water with a sheer drop off wall at the intersection of the Canyon and the Wall. It was fun to swim through the mini canyons and check out the ledges, overhangs and recesses. The dive master suggested that it might have been a waterfall into the canyon way back when. Excellent dive, almost a good as The Cliffs in Stacia.

Slippery Fingers: Fingers of sand chutes interspersed with coral as it slopes downward. Lots of fish. Nice 2nd dive.