Smmcdonald
Saint Lucia
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Nº141
Date: 2019-07-04 - 10:24
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Max Depth: 20.3m Duration: 42mins
Pictures
No pictures for this dive
- Temp: Surf 30°C Bottom 26°C
- Dive type : Recreational, Drift, Reef, Vertical Current
- Visibility: Good Water: Salt
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Dive Shop & Buddies
Dive buddies:
Jennifer McDonald,
Vince Knick
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Dive Profile
- 1. Nitrox 33
- 12L Aluminium 203 → 43 bar
- Average depth: 14.3m
Data provided by EOL.org
Species Identified
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For our next dive, we scooted a little north to reach Malgretoute, which means "Despite Everything". This site offers a steep slope with rocky outcrops encrusted in sponges and corals, not unlike many of the other sites in the general area. And "Despite Everything" being familiar on this dive, she offered something that the others didn't: some rather interesting moments. (More on that in a bit.)
This dive started like the others: a gentle descent to 60' along a sloping wall among large barrel corals, tube corals, etc. We drifted slowly at first, keeping the wall to our left. A few minutes into the dive, the current picked up, and at one point we were zipping along at a good clip. Almost as suddenly as it began, the current slowed to a stop, and then reversed. Dave motioned for everyone to turn around and swim the other way, with the wall to our right. That was the first 'current shift' I have experienced. But we weren't done yet! Shortly after the shift, Dave motioned for us to start swimming up-slope. At first I thought we were finishing the dive early, but soon realized we were in a vertical current pushing down-slope from the wall! The sandy bottom was well within our recreational dive limits, but the drastic change in currents and our efforts to keep us stabilized in the water column was exciting nonetheless! This lasted only for a few minutes: my dive profile shows a very sharp dip in depth and a simultaneous spike in my SAC rate between 24 and 28 minutes into the dive. As we made our way along the wall, we pushed out of the vertical current finding ourselves ascending again to the top of the rubble and to our safety stop. There, I spotted a stoplight parrotfish, not uncommon to these reefs, but this one was two-toned grey except for the bright yellow markings above the gill cover and along the base and edge of the tail. We broke the surface near the wall and in another rain shower. A short swim away and we were back on the boat heading for shore. Our group and Kiniass' came up together, but we were separated from Kirk's group (Kirk had stepped in for Errol today), who stayed with the current and did not turn around. They ended up just a short distance from us on the other side of the point.
Without a doubt, that was one of our most exciting dives of the trip!