Barbaretta Dive Day Trip

What a sweet day! It kicked of with the sighting of two pods of Dolphin! The second swam at the bow for a few moments before heading off into the expensive blue. I knew they were here but this was a first for me. I was sitting on the bow when they appeared and got a couple snaps of them. we then continued toward barbaretta island just off the north east end of Roatan. After trying to find the first dive wall and failing we moved to find another spot. The first dive was into the current and could have been planned or at least executed differently. But all in all it was a new part of the reef I had never seen. The biggest expected happening was the sighting of many large Lionfish. We try to slow their spread and reproduction by hunting them but I just can see this being an effective way to stop or control the pending take over of this highly aggressive (towards other fish) and toxic invasive species. Maybe its to soon to accept that this fish will prevail and become a member of this reef system. Can we stop them? I seriously doubt it! But it hunting them has created some excitement and extra fun to the Dive Pros that register with the Marine Park to use a Hawaiian Sling to spear the Lionfish on sight. Larger Lionfish are even being grilled up and sampled. Maybe soon to be added as a delicacy to the menus?
After a special surface interval at one of the Pigeon Cays (pronounced Keys) and a long snorkel we headed for dive two. This would be the wall dive we wanted. As we entered the water we spotted a sand shoot just below us. The tell tail sign of a wall or at least a drop off of some kind put us right on to a magnificent wall! Surprise Surprise at least 4 large lionfish on this dive. But the winner was the Large Eye Toadfish! I was nearly the only one to spot this guy but I spotted Bischoff and called him over with a few blasts of my underwater horn which I only use when truly necessary. It took him about a minute to zero in on the rarely spotted specimen. This was exactly what I was hoping for, a species I have never seen in the wild before added to the many special experiences this day.

Dive 309
Site Somewhere near Barbaretta Island
Max Depth 90ft
B.T. 65mins
Safety Stop Check

Dive 310
Site Reef Wall near Barbaretta Island (Barbaret Wall)
MAx Depth 80ft
B.T. 55min
S.S. Check

Pillar Coral and Canyon Reef

Two excellent dives as usual!
We descended to around 100ft down to circle the giant pillar of coral growing just off the reef wall. It grows up from a depth just below 130ft. The current was slightly blowing north. After a slow circle around the formation our eyes scouring every in we could, we drifted north towards el Aguila Wreck. The second dive was Canyon Reef. We zig zagged back and forth through the channels created by the coral growth. The are perpendicular to the shore letting the tides flow in and out through them. The bottom is usually all sand but with the recent rough water and strong surge a lot of the sand has been swept out exposing more boulders and more of the reef structure underneath.

Dive 307
Site: Pillar Coral
Max Depth 110ft
Bottom Time 55min
Safety Stop 3+min

Dive 308
Site Canyon Reef
Max Depth 70ft
B.T. 55min
S.S. Check

A Day in the Hammock

Got my Hammock set up! Spent a day in the shade swinging side to side. There were two beautiful days no clouds and a cool breeze. I had to get those days in before the rain and wind and wave come back.
After those few days of chillin I got in to do a couple dives this morning. To my surprise we were hitting El Aguila Wreck which I love! There were some rollers coming in when we started and some surge close to the reef. The surge from the storm a few days ago had pushed some sand around the ship exposing some bits I had not seen before. The next dive was trusty old Moonlight. When we got to the part of the reef where all this fish group to feed and get cleaned it was packed! With a nice strong current and surge kicking us around.

Dive# 305
Site: El Aguila Wreck
Roatan Honduras
Time in: 9:15am
Viz: OK
Max Depth: 113ft
Bottom Time: 55min
S.S. Check

Dive 306
Site Moonlight
Time in: 11am
Viz: could be better 30ft
Max Depth 70ft
Bottom Time 50min
S.S. Check

Back on The Rock

Its greta to be back! Although its not hot here its not as cold as north america. I have had five great dives since I've been back. I even got to DiveMaster one of them. I now need to do this on a consistent basis. Im going to attempt to log my dives here and see how that goes.
Dive# 300 Site:Freds Paradise Roatan Honduras
Date: 11/01/10
Time in: 10:08am Time out: 11:04am
Max Depth: 102
Bottom Time 56 Min
Safety Stop: Check
Air Temp 67°F
Water Temp 75°F
Notes:
This dive was colder than we are used to down here. Luckily I had my new wetsuit to keep me warm. Saw on of the best Neck Crabs to photograph but of course I did not bring my camera!

Dive# 301
Site: Connies Dream Roatan Honduras
Date: 11/01/10
Time in: 11:52am
Max Depth 68ft
Bottom Time: 53min
Safety Stop: included
Another great dive on the south side. It was great to be in the water even though the weather top side was cold windy and rainy.

Dive# 302
Site: Hole in The Wall Roatan
Buddy: Bischoff
Date: 13/01/10
Time in: 9:25am
Max Depth 130ft
Bottom Time: 57min
S.S. check
Temp: 75°
Sweet Deep dive with Bischoff! We cruised down to the bottom and Bischoff signals to me a telephone and point to his thigh and signals a vibration. So funny! It buzzed at 130ft then was gone. We then made our way back of the parallel shoot to a nice shallow depth and made our way to the Swiss Cheese. The surge was crazy strong so timing and control were everything here. We were pushed back and forth through the swim throughs. It was a wild ride!

Dive 303
Site El Aquario
Buddy: Bischoff
Date: 13/01/10
Time in:11:15am
Max Depth: 67ft
Bottom Time: 54min
SS Check
Temp 75
Another sweet dive. lots of surge but made it all the more fun.

Dive 304
Site Grape Escape
DiveMastering
Group size 4ppl
Date 14/01/10
Time in: 2:40pm
Max Depth 65ft
Bottom Time: 41min
SS Check
Temp 77
Great first pro dive back. Good group.

Spotted Cleaner Shrimp, Roatan

OWSI

Hello all. I am now an Open Water Scuba Instructor! It was a long two
weeks of studying and presentations. Lots of info ! It was like a
college class squeezed into two weeks! The actual exam was the
scariest. Those two weeks would be judged in two days.
The first day would be the orientation and then six exams. Physics,
RDP ( Recreational Dive Planer), Skills and Environment, Physiology,
Equipment, and finally PADI Standards. It took about 3 hours to
complete all the exams. As far as I was concerned the hard part was
over.
Day two would be presentations and in water teaching scenarios.
Although this is the fun part it is still a little nerve racking
having the Examinar floating behind you assining error that will
simulate real life common errors. A strange focus came over me as I
watch for errors. But it's done! All I can do now is wait for my
Instructor Number and then I can start certifying divers!
I plan to get at least 5 instructor specialties done in the next few
weeks. With these I have more opportunity to certify divers and get 25
certifications which will then make me a Master Scuba Diver Trainer.
Life is good here in Roatan.
Largly unaffected by the political problems on the mainland. Life goes
on here. There is a significant drop in tourism which is hurting the
dive industry but the hope is after the November elections stability
will return and people will be more confident in traveling to this
region again.
For now it's time to dive!
Miss u all! Love u all!

Utila So Good

Another great sail to Utila from Roatàn. The Winds filled the sail And
the wave rolled under the hull. Captian Vierne recorded our speed a
little over 7 knots. Huge waves slid forward underneath us and we
seemed to gain speed as it's backside pulled out from below. They
seemed mountianous compaired to the battered catamaran we floated on.
It looked as though the situation could turn nightmarish in one miss
step. We sailed on towards Utila feeling like babies being rocked
gently in their mothers arms.
Still dizzy from the night before the boat put us all to rest. Only
two hours into the sail and Utila was already growing from the size of
a match box to the sillouette of the hill that it is. It grew for
another two hours until we finnaly rounded the point at the West Side
of Utila.
Indecicive of what we were really doing we went with Viernes
suggestion on where to stay. Margarita Ville it is. This would let us
explore the island the next day and talk to a few people about where
and who to dive with. I have stayed with Alton's the last two visits
and really like the accomodations right on the water. You just can't
beat laying in bed being able to see the sea. Even if your sharing the
room with three other people.
We were all deciding on a place together. And we had a night and a day
to figure it out. The night insued into a chilled out sipping contest
until we decided to call it a night. On the long stroll back to our
accomodations we ran into Monty. He rounded us up with a couple smacks
to the face and twist of an arm and we were back on the hunt for a
crazy time. We found it a Cross Creek...

It's Been a While

Hello all! I think its been a few months now. Sorry about the delay I
hope the photos have been interesting. After all this time I am finaly
a Divemaster. It was a fun and educational journey. The Stamina test
was especially memorable and extremly challenging. It consists of a
800 yard swim with fins but no arms , 12 min of tread and the last
two minutes your arms are out of the water, then a 400 yard swim with
nothing, and then a 100 yard tired diver tow. All in a row! No
breathers! Needless to say I though I was a goner. I did get a 18 out
of 20 which I'm pretty satisfied with. Then later that day we had a
surprise rescue senario pulled on us.
Over the radio I heard the crackle of PJ the shop boss yell,
"Emergency in the Bay, looks like two people in distress to the left
of the channel! This is not a drill!"
Boom training kicked in and we all jumped to action. First on scene
was Bob, Kristen and I. Your suposed to pace your self to have enough
energy to preform the rescue but after a 400 yard swim I was beat. We
still had to get them to shore. But at least now we had them and they
were our shop instructors Matt and Rags and fine. But the drill
continued to shore. I started the rescue breaths and was going to
continue them until I drowned but the team came together and Bishoff
came in to support so we switched off he gave breaths while I caught
my breath and we went back and forth while Juan another DMT
(Divemaster Trainee) pushed the unconsious diver. We got close enough
to shore where Lauren was waiting in the water and took over the
rescue breaths as we all helped bring them to shore. We did it! The
victims were now pacients and the drill was cut. Happy in the success
of well preformed drill I was totaly spent from the stamina test to
this drill I'm lucky to not have passed out!