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.