Three Day Dive - Day 2

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Today was a great day! Woke up around 5am since the ac in my room automatically turned off and it got about 80 or so degrees and stuffy. Turned it back on and got a good hour of sleep before waking up and taking my time getting ready to meet Joe, Andy, Jim and Mel for breakfast at the Palm Bay Inn. It was a quick breakfast then got my gear out of the room and walked down to Sam's to set up for our dives. While walking around Sam's i noticed a familiar face, it was Jason, our Dive Master and guide from last year! I was so good to see him and we chatted for a bit. I told him he needed to come out with us on a dive with us before we left. He doesn't work at Sam's anymore as he got a nice job on the Aggressor which is a liverboard. He was on his week off so he comes to hang out with the staff at Sam's. Joe and Andy were also excited to see him and as well told him he needed to come for a fun dive with us. We also saw Nick finally. He is the videographer for Sam's and came out with us on a few dives last year and got some great footage.

So the five of us were all on the Hammerhead with Siksei, a Japanese couple who did their first dive separate from us, and Dave, a young guy taking a week break from work in Manila. It was a gorgeous day, a bit of overcast but nice nonetheless. We took a quick tour to the Milkyway which is a beautiful lagoon area where the water runoff creates a calcium carbonate substrate. I have seen pictures of it off Sam's website and had wanted to go so was very excited to find out that was our first stop today! Dave and I coated ourselves with the exfoliating sand and just had fun. Mel and Jim played around and enjoyed a relaxing dip while we coaxed Andy and Joe to just jump in. Finally they did and I got a big chunk of the sand on Andys head and Joe brought up a handfull for me to lather myself with. It was so amazing. After a short bit we were on our way to our first dive site...Blue Holes.

Heading out to Milkway Lagoon

Me, Melanie and Jim at Milkyway

Siksei

Dave

Me and MelanieJim, Melanie and me

me and Andy

another boat

Siksei and meexfoliating

Rock Islands heading to Blue Holes

Blue Holes is a set of holes along the reef wall which you can dive into and once down, as you look up it is an amazing sight to see. I was able to get some decent shots, see Flame Scallops and enjoy the beauty. We swam through a hole to the wall of Blue Corner and drifted along a nice steady current. There was much to see such as Humphead Parrotfish, Clown Triggerfish, Clarkii Clowns, Sharks, Vlamingi Tangs, and the list goes on. I rememberd much of it from last year but it is still a new experience as you see so much you didn't see before. We did a nice long dive of about an hour then surfaced and anchored along Babloomkang Island.

Blue Holes

a Moray Eel in the Blue Holes

Blue Holes

Melanie and Jim heading out through a blue hole

Siksei and a curious Juv. Napoleon Wrasse

a school of Humphead Parrotfish

Siksei pointing out some Clown Fish

a White Tip Shark and Clown Triggerfish

Siksei

Clarkii Clownfish

Niger Triggerfish

Dave in a school of Niger Triggers

our friend Mr. Napoleon Wrasse!

It was the same island Andy had fun with the crabs last year. We did an hour and 45 min surface interval where i had the mix bentobox which is sticky rice, beef, chicken, california rolls and a brownie. The lunch was very tasty and filling. I walked along the shore and checked out the hermits, snails, found some baby flounder, cucumbers and picked up shells while unknowingly getting a bit too much sun. Have to remember to reapply the sunscreen after diving - a lesson learned :). I took in the beauty of the island and waters around me, even saw a small Black Tip Shark close to shore hunting for food. We boarded and drove a short distance to our second dive spot, the German Channel. I decided after the first dive to just wear my boardshorts and a rash guard top as the water temp at 70+ feet is 86 degrees so switched out some weights and backrolled in the water. The German Channel is a cleaning station for many fish, palagics and some nice coral. We were of course hoping to see a Manta Ray again and for more than just a split second. We made our way down the channel and came across a big school of Scud which stayed right above us a short distance away. Almost immediately we saw an Eagle Ray off in the distance, not close enough to get a good picture. The visibility was good except for a bit of sand in the water column from all the fish getting cleaned and another group of divers up ahead of us. Dave and I were buddies on this dive as well as the first and we stayed towards the front of the group following Siksei. All of a sudden Siksei is signaling to us to move ahead quickly, he grabs Dave and sits him low by a rockbed of coral which i follow behind and situate myself only to be taken back by the huge Manta Ray being cleaned right in front of us and the group that was ahead of us. It was incredable! It stayed around for a good 5 minutes which i was able to get some decent pics of. Joe had his video camera with him this dive so i knew he would get some nice video so i focused on the still shots. We hung around the edge of the channel hoping to see more Rays and other palagics but not much came around other than a few sharks. Still amazing to see as i am a big fan of sharks but they are all around so i wanted to see something a bit more rare. Still on the lookout for a whaleshark so cross your fingers that i may end up seeing at least one this time around. It was a nice drift back as we did our safety stop, boarded the boat and headed back to Sam's to do our third dive at Chandalier Caves.

Welcome to Babloomkang Island

Andy searching for crabs

he found a nice large molting of a crabMelanie checking out something in the sand

Andy found a live Shameface Crab

Peppertree leaf, Betel nut and lime

a view of Babloomkang Beach

relaxing in some shade after lunch

Siksei surprised by the crab molt
Andy hid under the trash bag

a Black Tip Shark in search for food at the shore

greeted by a huge school of Scuds at German Channel

a beautiful Manta Ray at the

cleaning station in German Channel

a pair of Raccoon Butterflyfish
a small white Nudibranch

a gorgeous Nudibranch species

Dave getting some snaps of a Table AcroporaBeautiful Maxima Clams

fixin up to try out Betel Nut again

Dave and I with a cheek full of Betel Nut

Jim, Mel and Joe decided to sit that one out but Andy, Dave and I were ready to go. The Japanese couple got off with the others at Sam's and we turned around and headed just a few minutes away and enjoyed the caves. Once back at Sam's we did a fun relaxing dock dive in search for the Mandarins - which were not hard to spot at all. I saw dozens of Mandarins, Pipefish, Damsels, Clams, Filefish, Blennies, Gobies, a Moray Eel, Urchins, Feather Dusters, and some others before my camera batteries finally died. So i climbed back on the boat, rinsed my gear and went to join the others for some dinner and drinks at Sam's Bottom Time Bar & Grill. I had the chicken sandwich with a couple Red Rooster lights. Dave joined us and Jason came over and hung out with us for a bit. It was about 6pm when everyone decided to head back to the hotel, i was not ready to head back so stayed and had another beer with Dave. We went up to the bar and chatted with a crew from a yacht taking a few days off and enjoying some diving.
I had a great time and finally headed back to the hotel around 8pm...yeah, late night huh?! I'll tell you what, diving sure does wear you out! A full days worth of diving ahead of us tomorrow so goodnight!

Chandelier Caves

AndySikseiDave, Andy and me

an Urchin at Sam's Dock

a curious little Blenny

a Mandarin Dragonet

a Pipefish

a Filefish

a Moray Eel

The sunset at Sam's Dock