Drift Dive Ditchers...

(Flame File Clam shining away.)

Day 3 on Spirit we skipped first brekky as usual.  We were our usual cheerful selves as we mumbled something that sounded close to ‘good morning.’  This A.M. we dove Pixie Pinnacle (our favorite on Ribbon Reef).  Dermot must have really ticked off Andy because he was assigned as our guide once again.  This dive was a treat as we saw tons of amazing creatures!  Risa continued her obsession with Nemos and as she was snapping some macro photos, I peered into some nooks and crannies and almost lost my regulator as I looked into the eyes of an Ornate Wobbegong Shark!  I squealed underwater to try and get Risa’s attention but had to swim over to her, grab her fin and drag her to my finding.  We did our sign for “mind blowing” and took some photos of this fascinating creature.

(The underwater sign for "mindblowing.")

(Mindblowing!)

We moved on to find humungous Flatworms, and while Risa was snapping a photo of one,  she was suddenly bit on the hand!  The brute was nothing more than a little yellow Damsel, but man, was he mean!  I even boxed with him for a bit and had to swim away in defeat.  

Dermot then pointed out the coolest clam we’ve ever seen, called a Flame File Clam.  These clams display a lazer like light throughout it when light from a torch, or flashlight, is shone on it.  Very cool.  Next Dermot pointed out something in a hole but Risa and I could not make out was he was showing us.  He ended up taking out his regulator and yelling underwater, “Stonefish’  Ooooooo, ok!  Got it!  We then saw Pipefish, tons of different colorful Reef Fish, and a Manta Shrimp.  Pretty amazing stuff.   Our depth on this one was 27.4m and a dive time of 69 minutes, with, of course, about 70bar left of air..  Not bad for our first dive of the day!

Our next dive at Cod Hole was quite rewarding!  Andy, who I believe this dive made us his favorite guests of all time, guided us and asked if we wanted to help him find his Holy Grail, the Pygmy Seahorse.  We were warned we would be reverse profiling once again, but were ok with it since our guide was ok with it.  We dove down and followed Andy down to 32.3m and fanned out, seeking the tiny creature on different fans.  That’s when we heard Andy banging against his tank that he’d spotted one!  Now I don’t know how long he’s been looking, but Lozza came down with us to try and witness, and she said he’s been trying a while.  This is why Risa and I are loved by him, because we were his good luck charms J  He was so happy, he cheered underwater (photos to prove it). And wrote on his slate “I’m so happy.”

(The infamous Pygmy Seahorse.  Seriously, SO tiny!)

(Andy and his "I'm so happy" slate.)

Afterward, we cruised around a bit and I am not sure what it was that I saw as I followed Risa and Andy, but I snapped a quick photo of it.  While I was taking the shot, a White Tip Reefie swam into my picture and I caught a pretty sweet snapshot.  When we surfaced, it had been a 71 minute dive, finishing up with 60+bar.  Sweet as.

(Prepped for the Cod Feed.)

Next was the Cod Feed.  Now these gigantic Potato Cod rival the size of a Volkswagon Bug, no joke.  We followed Andy down and he was immediately greeted by a giant Cod.  The Cod proceeded to follow him all the way down to the feeding site.  Risa and I just giggled the whole time for we had never seen a fish this big!  We all kneeled on the sand in a big oval encircling Andy and the food.  With Risa on my left, Andy began the feed in front of his favorites.  As the feed continued, one man decided he was more comfortable standing and stepping on Risa.  I don’t know why he thought it was a good idea since the rest of us were quite content kneeling like we were told, but I had to try and shuffle over so Risa could have some room too.  (Your team, Maty!)  What an amazing experience.  It was quite entertaining as the alpha male chased away the rest of the Cod.

After Andy gave us the ‘straight edge’ sign, we were allowed to take pictures in the middle of the scene since the Cod sit there in front of the container of food waiting for something to magically appear.  Risa snapped some great shots as our skipper, Cameron, encouraged the Cod to come closer.  One even made me scream and jump underwater as he showed his face right next to mine while I was watching another.  It was a blast!

After the Kodak opportunities, we were guided by Demi, another Japanese import (who with the aid of Akira, tried to convince me they were form Korea as I showed off my 5 words/phrases of Japanese dealing with turtle food and Sea Life Park).  In the end, we saw plenty of fish, Cod, a White Tip Reefie, etc. and ended at 73 minutes.  It was remarkable!

The last dive of the day was at Dynamite Pass.  Andy decided he liked spending time with us and guided us on this one, along with a 70-something year old lady (guessing the age) and a man named Camilo from Florida.  Risa and I learned quickly that it was better for us to enter the water last and give these people plenty of space in the water.  I cannot tell you how many times we got kicked in the head, ran into from behind and barreled into..  Since this was the case, we hung back a little, even though it was a Drift Dive.  This is the dive we saw gargantuan Trigger Fish.  These things were SO huge, we couldn’t stop laughing.  We saw a couple more White Tips, which you would think we would be over by now, but no, we were still excited to see them; and some Parrotfish.  We ended this dive at 59 minutes and some words from Andy about how we ditched him.

It was a fantastic day, but to end it all we had a little chat with our Kiwi friend on the crew, Maty about the mixture of our wetsuits and the green apple/fresh water dip that stunk up the deck of the boat. That was the embarrassing ending to the “Stinky Girls Club.”  Apparently, the crew was sniffing around trying to figure out what the stench was…    Let’s just reiterate that there are 2 types of divers: Those that pee in their wetsuits, and those that lie about it.  Well, Risa and I are not liars…  We were cold and decided that was the best way to warm up.  So, it was either freeze, or stink, and we do not like to be cold.