Smmcdonald
Bahamas
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Nº74
Date: 2016-03-31 - 07:54
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Max Depth: 9.6m Duration: 44mins
Dive Location
- Temp: Surf 25°C Bottom 26°C
- Dive type : Reef
- Water: Salt
Specific gear used
- Weights: 5.4 kg
Recent Divers in The Exumas
Recent Pictures in The Exumas
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Dive Profile
- 1. Air
- 10L Aluminium 193 → 70 bar
- Average depth: 6.2m
Data provided by EOL.org
Species Identified
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First dive of our last day, and it was my favorite so far. Very relaxing dive on a shallow reef, some dove Hammerhead Gulch last night. I decided to forego the night dive and instead got up early this morning for a refreshing dip. Glad I did! Beautiful reef with an abundance of marine life and some of the clearest waters I've seen yet. It was like diving in a very large aquarium!
Jen and I paired up with Joseph and Suzanne. We jumped in first and were, for the most part, by ourselves the entire time.
The reef was beautiful. Every color imaginable, and some with luminescence, even visible during daylight. All of the usual suspect reef fish were present: butterfly fish, tangs, parrotfish and grey angels to name a few. Unfortunately, even a couple of large lionfish were present.
I found a large leopard flatworm and spiny lobster, but one of the most unique "creatures" was a bright white, tube-like mass hanging upside-down from a coral branch. It appeared to be a cross between a sea cucumber and a dryer vent! I later identified this to be a whelk egg case. I remember seeing these on the beach when I was little, but they look much different while alive and intact!
The reef gave way to a beautiful, rolling sandy plane. These underwater dunes were sprinkled with their own marine life: a large hermit crab sporting a conch shell and a southern stingray among them. The stingray lay on the edge of a grassy area, and kept a bar jack as a companion. As I approached, he lazily swept sand up, as if he was going to bury himself, but opted not to. This is as close as I've been to a stingray while diving, and one of the largest I've seen. (The one I saw at the beach with the pigs was larger and almost as close.)
There was not one thing about the dive that made it outstanding: just the collective whole of it. I hope that this reef maintains its beautiful color and diversity. I also hope to revisit this place again one day.