Andros island part 3

*photos above are done by Alex Shure   copyright

A bird boarding client of mine (who has a blue fronted pionus) told me she and her husband had sailed and anchored at Small Hope bay a few years ago. She remembered the beautiful harbor and the unique batik fabric that is sold here at the island.
And I remember the sharks. (chuckle!)
Lots of them.
Just about every dive we did there were sharks present.
Mostly Caribbean reef sharks.
On our last wall dive the dive master spotted a large hammer head shark at the ledge. I didn't see it but I wished I had.
Midweek Alex, Patrick and I did the shark feeding dive. Robo and a young kid name Ethan (who reminded me of my nephew Joey) snorkled at the surface.
If you want one sure way to get sharks in the area throw a couple snorklers in the water-never mind the chumsicle.
The sharks were very VERY  interested in those two snorklers.
All of us divers positioned ourselves in a semi circle at 60 feet..and watched.
As you can see in the first photo *above, that is yours truly watching the sharks above circling the snorklers above.
I've got to say that Robo and Ethan had major cojones.
 I counted thirteen sharks circling the surface and every once in awhile one brave shark would get all" jerky" and dash out and grab their fins.
Holy crap!
Once the chumsicle was lowered down the sharks lost interest in them and began chewing up the block-o-fish. * as you can see in the second photo.
My husband did not do this dive. It's not his 'thing".  I,on the other hand, love stuff like this. I thought it was "wicked pissah!"
The dive master collected a few teeth that the sharks lost in the frenzy and gave me one.
Not only were there sharks present but giant groupers! I hadn't seen big groupers like this in over a decade.Wow!
I didn't want this dive trip to end.
On our last evening a pod of dolphins entered the bay. I ran out with the kids to check it out. I wanted to jump in the water and follow them but sensibility told me not to just in case they had babies with them.
It was such a gift to see them.
It was as if they were saying, "goodbye! Come back and see us again!"
hmmmmmm....

Andros island part 2

 Our adventure started at Fort Lauderdale entering our private charter. It accommodated only 8 passengers which was our entire team! However it turned out we were 100 pounds over loaded. This meant a good amount of luggage couldn't go with us. OMG! I ditched my tool kit, snorkle gear and my husband's entire scuba gear and books. Just about everyone else had to ditch what ever they could so we could get off the ground.
Oh boy!
We were off on an adventure. I've got to say, it was a little scary on this plane. It was little like being on a scary carnival ride  especially when the pilot turned sideways so Alex could get an aerial shot. I almost pooped my pants.
The island of Andros is the largest island in the Bahamas. However, most of the island is inhabitable. It is one big mangrove jungle with "blue holes" (sink holes). I think the lodging we stayed at (Small Hope Bay) is the island's only guest house.
The lodgings were simple but comfortable. I believe if you asked for air conditioning it was provided but only per request. Electricity is at a premium. The Cayman island and Bonaire were both like this 20 years ago as well. We  did have nice big fans blowing on us (which I prefer) at night. The rooms were supplied with  giant jugs of drinking water in our room as well. Since it is a mangrove  jungle island you can expect bugs. The lodge provided skin-so-soft spray to keep the no-see-ums at bay. My husband gets eaten alive. For some reason the bugs love to munch on him. They must like Thai food. So as a precaution I brought "bug off" wipes for him. The bugs pretty much left me alone except this one spot behind my knee.
 Speaking of munching, the food at the lodge was tasty and plentiful. They had vegetarian dishes on the side that worked A OK for me! Some of the guests that stayed at the lodge as well enjoyed the" adult beverages". There were a few "bar flies" that never seemed to move from the bar no matter what time of day. I can not imagine why anyone would want to spend the time getting drunk on vacation. I can understand having "a cocktail" like you would have an ice cream sundae for a "treat". Some people are odd.
The blue holes are one of the interesting features of this island. One afternoon we had a cab take us to a Blue hole that had a cliff. This was "Robos" idea.
I was glad she suggested it. We all jumped off this ledge that was pretty high up into a what looked like a quarry. It was a blast! I jumped off three times. I could've done it all day. I felt like I was 13 years old again swinging off the rope swing at the Mystics (that was illegal)
Another fun thing we did was the shark feeding dive (which I will continue on in the next post)

dive #952-964 Andros island adventure

I don't know how to begin to tell my story of our adventures in Andros Island (Small hope bay) in the Bahamas. There is so much to tell.
Fred and Chris so generously invited both my husband and I to join the team in the filming of the 185 foot wall dive. It was on Fred's "bucket list" to recapture the original dive descent/ascent filming that won him an award at a film festival many years ago.
 And to go on this trip was also on my "bucket list"
And so this trip turned out to be one nonstop BLAST!
I would have to say this was the best trip I've been on..and I've been on some really good ones!
I think, mostly because of the company I was with. We worked well as a team and ALWAYS had funny stories to share in our spare time. I never had time to even look at any of the magazine I brought. If I wasn't diving then I was swimming if I wasn't swimming I was hanging out with our group talking, laughing, making jokes and checking out film footage or we were off to another exciting adventure. We did more adventurous stuff in one week than 99.9% of the general population does in a lifetime.
The main purpose of the this trip was to dive and film the wall. Fred was pretty specific in how he wanted this done all the way to what equipment we would (or would not) be using. I will admit I was a little nervous about going down that deep but we, as a group, talked about so I felt pretty confident after that.
I used a 60cc tank, wore just a backpack (no BCD), one regulator, air/depth guage, six pounds of weight on a weight belt, force fins and a simple one piece black "Ester Williams type of bathing suit.
Chris filmed and directed how and where she wanted us positioned. Alex filmed hovering the wall. My ears for the most part behaved. I "exercised them" prior to the descents. As long as I went down on a easy descent I was OK. I did feel at about (about 135 feet although I refused to look at my depth guage in fear of freaking out) some pressure on the back of my neck and head. I also got a "little loopy" once I reached the ledge. I believe this was what you would called being'narked". I understood what it was so I dealt with it.
The filming for the most part went smoothly. We had only one "three stooges"  incident that all of a sudden we bolted down. I had a hard time clearing my ears at this rate of descent and when I finally did get down to the ledge I got completely narked. The holes on the walls turned into "Clutch cargo' mouths talking to me. Patrick knew something was off with me and kept an eye out.
That was one odd sensation.
We did these deep dives at the crack of dawn. I would study the dive tables to make sure we could dive later in the day. The 2:00 dives seem to work out fine. All these dives had curious reef sharks. That was a bonus (at least for me).
(I will continue on to another post)*

dive #950 & 951 August 2 2015

dive #950 August 2 2015
Perfect summer day. Hot and sunny. Aboard Easy Diver with Fred and Chris in charge.The boat was chock-o-block full of divers.
 Thank God we had Andy to help,especially with the anchor! That can be a "challenge'.
We also had onboard Pete,Kate, Jackie, Sandy, Pat S and his new dive buddy Maria. It was busy onboard but everyone worked well together taking turns to go in.
On our way over to Foley cove the ocean was pretty flat calm. Andy spotted a mola mola! This mola mola was a little guy. I remember seeing some pretty large ones in the past.
We anchored by the "restaurant". Water temp was mid 60sF on the surface with a chilly thermocline at 20 feet. The viz was remarkably clear at about 20 or so feet. I just followed the lobster lines and headed up to the wall. Kate showed me a method of "pre-clearing" your ears by jutting your lower jaw out to pop your ears. It worked pretty well!
Fred got in the water as well and was mighty pleased with himself. He had no problems"donning and doffing". When we got back onboard we had a feast sharing sandwiches, crackers and fruit.
dive #951
I was glad I had my spare tank onboard. It was such a perfect day to be in the water. We moved the boat over to the mouth of Foley. It was deeper to about 50feet and downright COLD. I had a little problem this time clearing my ears. I think,perhaps, the cold temp might have been the problem. I swam over to the caves where it was shallow and warm with cunners swimming around. I only saw a few small lobsters.
Yup, it was another great day. It doesn't get any better than this. When I got home my dear husband took care of the birds (cleaned their cages and fed them dinner) and provided yummy take-out vegetarian Indian for dinner.
Seriously, how lucky am I!