Saturday February 9th -
After taking the red eye flight from SLC to West Palm Beach, getting a rental car to drive to Ft Lauderdale, then flying to the Bahamas, we finally made it to Blackbeards! Amazingly we were energized by the humid, warm, sunny weather. Who needs sleep when you have summer?
We quickly unpacked and boarded The Morning Star, our 65 foot live aboard motor sail boat that would take us all over the Bahamas.
We got acquainted with our Crew:
Captain- Grayson
First Mate- Drew
Engineer- Scott
Dive Instructor- Dennis
Cook- Charlotte aka "Charlie"
We wanted to get one dive in that afternoon so headed out to a site called Tiny T's which was a little tug boat wreck dive. I was amazed at the enormous fish we saw. I saw a puffer that was at least 2 feet long, huge angel fish, and some giant Jack fish.
That night as we were en route to our next dive site Greg and I just sat out on the deck looking at the smiley crescent moon and the billions of stars. We even saw a shooting star. With the warm breezes and the soothing rocking back and forth of the boat and listening to
Jack Johnson's new Listening Through the Static album--- it was something right out of a movie. Looking over the edge of the boat you could see the bioluminescent plankton hitting the side of the boat. It was like being on a magic sail boat.
Sunday February 10th - We decided not to dive and truly just let it be a day of rest. We got the chance to start really getting to know everyone on the boat. By the end of the trip they all seemed like old friends. Chris, Kriby and his friend Kala, and Mark and Bonnie were all from all over Canada. Tim (later known as Uncle Timmy), David, and Ryan were friends from WI. Paul and his son Theo were all the way from London. Jack came from Massachusetts. Aaron from Indianapolis. Jeff from Pittsburgh. Greg and I made 15 passengers total.
That morning Greg asked if they ever saw dolphins while they were sailing. Grayson said they'd seen them the past 2 weeks, and Drew added they'd never seen them a 3rd week in a row-- it's in their contract. Twice that day we saw them! They were awesome! Just swimming and playing around the boat. As soon as we stopped though they left.
For only being a 65 foot sail boat, there was always plenty of room to sit around and relax.
We had amazing sunsets every night.
Monday February 11th -
We started the day off at a site called Tuna Alley on the Victory Reef chain. We found 2 huge beautiful lobsters under a ledge and massive schools of dozens of varieties of fish. Between sites we let up the main sail. Sailing is cool.
Monday was the day of our big shark feed dive. Just driving up the the site called "Bull Run" there were 4 or 5 circling the boat. They're used to the sound of the motor and show up to wait for lunch when they hear it. It goes against every instinct to suit up and jump right in when you see sharks every where. My mantra was "sharks don't eat scuba divers". Once we were in the water you could tell that they really weren't interested in us.
We all went down the line and dove to about 80 feet where we all sat on the sandy bottom and waited for Drew to throw in the giant frozen chum-cicle that he'd made. There were about a dozen sharks and some really huge fish that really went at it. You could hear the sharks clamp on the chains as they tore at the food. It was amazing to watch the pattern they seemed to rotate in as they ate. We saw one shark that had a fishing hook in it's mouth - so sad. As soon as the food was gone they were all out of there. Drew told us it was in their contract to scare the crap out of us when we got back to the latter but we didn't see any.
Later that afternoon we dove the same site. The visibility wasn't as good as it had been but we saw a couple of sharks swimming around as we were descending. We searched for shark teeth along the bottom but didn't have any luck. When we were done and came back to the boat there were tons of sharks swimming around the latter. They got really close and were completely circling us. I kept repeating saying "sharks don't eat scuba divers" but I swear one was giving me an evil shark eye. I was a needlessly a little nervous but it was so awesome!
Tuesday February 12th -
Our first dive of the day was at a site called "Krispy Kreme" again on the Victory Chain. There weren't any donuts but a sweet barracuda hung out with us at our 15 foot safety stop on our way back up. After we did some free diving on South Cat Cay. We took spears and searched for lobster. Greg and I looked forever and didn't find any but 5 total ended up being caught. Later that evening while Greg was fishing off the back of the boat he caught a barracuda. They reek and they're feisty! Drew told Greg if he caught another one he was going to hit him in the head with a hammer. And Greg did.. but luckily it flipped it's way off the hook as he was reeling it in. Our second dive was "Blue Chromis" where I found my first trumpet fish.
After seeing it from a distance all week, we went to the Sapona wreck for an evening dive. I was tired from all of our lobster hunting and just hung out on the boat. The crew turned on some haunted house music as they were getting ready.
Wednesday February 13th -
In an effort to escape severe winds we docked in South Bimini at the Bimini Sands Resort. We toured the
Shark Research Labs. Greg held an endangered Bimini Boa and we pet baby nurse and lemon sharks. We also did a hike through a new nature preserve trail. That evening Greg and I collect tons of shells - they were everywhere - and watched yet another amazing sunset.
Thursday February 14th - Another day of diving. We dove the Bimini Barge wreck, Moray Alley Reef, and the Hesperus wreck. That last dive was freaky because it was only about 15 feet deep. Visibility was really bad and wrecks are always spooky. There were enormous sing rays everywhere that would just come swooping by before they found a place to settle in the sand. We also found 2 lion fish which are slowly taking over the ocean. There were massive schools of jacks, grunts, and snappers. I couldn't believe how many fish were there.
Friday February 15th - It was really hard to pack up and say goodbye. Greg could have hung out in the clubhouse all day.
