Diving Daphne Minor and Mosquera Beach
diving again today :) .... same set up as yesterday, except that there are only 2 other girls: Sandra from Germany, who had recently completed her Open Water Course; and Ringo from Japan who was doing her 130th dive today! fyi: i have only about 25dives in the last 3 winters :(
this is a photo of the boat i've been diving from, .... and Jaime and his daughter Desere' .....
it's been rather cloudy since i started diving on Sunday ... actually it's been rather cloudy and raining a bit in the afternoon ... since the weekend started .... seems to be a pattern :( .... actually, it is so hot, that some cloud-cover is welcome :)
but, the sun was shining today, it was beautiful and we headed for Daphne Minor .... another large volcanic rock, like Kicker Rock in San Cristobal; ... us girls sat up on the front of the boat .... this is us approaching Daphne Minor ...
it was a bit tricky getting started today, or, i was having trouble descending (again) .... Jaime finally took my hand and pulled me down, while i clung onto the rocks of the wall, going lower and lower .... after we got down, there were a couple of Sea Lions that were 'frolicking' around in this little cave that was there..... some video later .....
and, i guess i missed seeing the HammerHead Shark at this point ...
the current was a little strong, but not too bad .. this Streamer HogFish swam right in front of me ...
this is a Chocolate Chip Cushion Sea Star ... appropriately named, i think .....
a nice Azure ParrotFish posed for me ..... with a Juvenile Streamer HogFish investigating what the ParrotFish was eating ...
then we saw several Spotted Eagle Rays ..... but they were not very close, and the visibility wasn't great ..... but i still love them ! ,,..
saw a couple Green Sea Turtles swimming through the deep blue ...
another well camouflaged Stone ScorpionFish .... gosh they have 'buggy' eyes ! ....
there were many very large Cushion Sea Stars draped over the rocks; but not a big field of them like the other day ....
i'm not sure why, but i ran out of air earlier than usual .... my story is that when i got in the water i noticed i only had 2100 on my air gauge ... but Jaime said he checked all the tanks and they were full ... which is at 2800 ..... i'll be sure to check before i get in the water from now on :) ....anyway .... i had to finish my dive early .... i hate missing something :( ... but i had to go up with his daughter and Sandra .....
after our required time out of the water .... we headed for Mosquera Beach for our second dive ..... of course we didn't dive from the beach, but were in that area ....
it's a pretty beach ...
it was a nice dive ..... there were lots of rocks; and it's like 'rock climbing' .... only MUCH easier ..... coz you can't fall :) you 'climb' up a rock ledge and look over the side to see what might be hiding on the other side ....
the fish here are so MUCH larger than i've seen snorkeling .... this BullsEye Puffer fish was really big and fat ....
and so was this Flag Cabrilla .... the ones i've seen before were about 6"....this one was twice that size ....
a Moorish Idol ....i wished i had more time to get a better pic .... but that's the difference between snorkeling and diving ....
Jaime pointed out this GuineaFowl PufferFish .... i can definately see where this name came from!!!!!! ......this is the regular phase of the Bright Yellow Phase we saw yesterday .... again i didn't have time to hang out and take better photos ....
this Stingray came right over the rocks i was climbing on, ... right towards me ....
i didn't know what to do, but i didn't have time to do anything .... he almost ran right into me ..... now you know what the mouth and underside of a StingRay looks like ... that was pretty exciting !!! .....
another photo of a Stone ScorpionFish .......
and this Galapagos PufferFish .... i've seen a couple of these before, but never this large .....
i also have never seen one head-on like this .... he has kind of a big mouth ..... and TEETH ..... Jaime told me that they like to use those 2 front teeth to bite .... :( .... i wanted to take more photos but when i looked, i could barely see the group disappearing into the 'nothing-ness' .... i need to keep up !!
it was really cool. ...i was in my own world taking video, when i thought maybe i should look to see if i was alone, or if Jaime and the group was still with me :( ....they were .... :)
the dive was coming to an end; ... but we kept seeing sharks ... this one laying on the bottom ....
and this one swimming beneath us as we ascended and did our 'safety stop' ....
great second dive ..... !!!!!!!!!!!!
they made great sandwiches that taste so good after all that diving .... we headed back under still-sunny skies .... love that hot sun ....
got cleaned up, and had some wonderful Fish Ceviche from a nice elderly gentleman a few doors from me ..... wish i would have 'discovered' him earlier .... he even had some Tamarind Juice, served with ICE ! .....
we re-grouped again at 6pm to fill out our Dive Logs ... Ringo and i were looking for recruits to dive Floreana tomorrow; but we found out that that wasn't going to happen ..... :( .... so i think it's time for me to go to Isabela .....
Jaime said he thought this was like 'Charlie's Angels'
worked on my blog with a Rum and Coke before going to sleep ....
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