Wreck Diving in Nassau, Bahamas Part 2
Bahamas Day 3
I woke up the next day, and the worldwide virus craziness was getting out of hand. My cousin and I decided to head to the airport so I could try to get an earlier flight out. The Bahamian government was talking about shutting the borders and I did not want to be stuck here in the Bahamas. Not the worst place to be stuck, but it is so expensive, and I did not know how long it might last. All my main gear was still in Florida, so I changed my ticket to Thursday instead of Monday. After taking care of that, we ate lunch, and my cousin dropped me off at Stuart's Cove. This famous dive operator has helped with many famous movies such as Jaws, several James Bond films, and BBC documentaries. I had visited this place and done a shark dive with them thirteen years ago when I was first certified. My mom still questions her parenting skills from sending me over the side of a boat into shark infested waters. This time I wanted to do some of the wreck dives. I have a lot of experience diving in the Caribbean, but wrecks offer something different. They are great spots for getting underwater photos with the angles and structures. In the dive shop, I got my gear ready, and we headed out at 1:30 for our first wreck of the day. This wreck is the Ray Ray, and is a one-hundred-sixty-foot boat that was purposely sunk to help create more artificial reefs. On the boat, I was the only one with the dive instructor and captain. Having a small group and more personal attention is always a treat when diving. I got into my gear and those unfamiliar with diving that means getting into your buoyancy compensator (BC) attached to the tank. Attached to the top of the tank is your regulator. This is the breathing apparatus, and then you have a back-up called an octopus for a buddy if necessary. There is always an air gauge on the regulator as well. After getting set up with my mask and fins, I stepped off the boat into the clear, cool Bahamian waters. I oriented myself and started my descent to the bottom. Immediately, I could make out the dark silhouettes of grey reef sharks swimming near us. The bottom was a sixty-foot descent to a sand bed. As the sharks started passing us, we moved closer to the shipwreck, and as the visibility became clearer, I took my GoPro out and started photographing all the life around me.
The instructor and I made our way to the ship's stern as a small nurse shark around a meter long swam underneath me. Again, I found myself amazed at the gorgeous colors of the nurse sharks. This one had high yellows and browns. Going around the stern, we made our way up to the swim-through section of this ship. After doing the swim-through, the instructor and I headed to a sandy area, and a beautiful grey reef shark swam close to me. I was able to get one of my favorite photographs from the trip.
We then swam to the edge of the reef. The terrain is moderately flat until you hit the wall, and then when you get to the edge, you stare into the dark blue abyss and wonder what is out there that you are not able to see.
There was a group of nurse sharks huddled together in the sandy area. I snapped some photos of them while more reef sharks swam by. We were close to the area where they do the shark feeding dive. I had done this when I was a kid. You sit on your knees in a circle while a chainmail-covered diver brings down a bucket of fish and feeds the sharks right in front of you.
A small southern stingray was sitting in a small patch of sand next to the wall, so I snapped a photo of that, and the instructor and I headed back to where the boat was anchored on the mooring line.
We did our three-minute safety stop and got out of the water to do a forty-five-minute interval between dives. This time of year, the water is still very cold for the Caribbean, so it was nice soaking up the sun as you lose a lot of body heat in the water.
We suited back up after our interval and jumped back into the water. The dive site we were visiting next had two wrecks and more swim-throughs. We approached the first ship, and I got a good scale shot of the size of the wreck compared to the instructor I was with. We swam above the top of the wreck and did the swim-throughs.
I came out of the door and a gorgeous queen angelfish was posed there but quickly swam away as they are a very camera-shy. Near the back of the ship was a small school of goatfish, named for the chin whiskers they use to find food.
When doing wrecks, you start at the bottom and circle around and eventually get to the top, so at this point, we are on the side, and there are stunning soft corals attached to the side of the ship ranging from yellow to purple. \
We circle back to the middle of the ship where the mast is, and I spot the unmistakable silhouette of one of the most dangerous fish in the Caribbean. Now when I say dangerous, I mean to other fish. This fish is the lionfish. This invasive species has wreaked havoc on native coral fish populations. An invasive species is an animal brought to an area where they are not native by some form of human action. They are gorgeous fish with dark reds and bright white patterns. They have dorsal spines that are venomous and hurt quite a lot, as I have found out once when spear fishing them in Mexico. I got a gorgeous shot of the lionfish, though, and when you approach them, they fan out their fins in a threat display to ward off any potential predators.
One of the main reasons they do so well in the western Atlantic Ocean is they do not have any predators there. In their native waters, groupers are one of their top predators and they have evolved to have bone plates on the roofs of their mouths to crush the spines. After photographing the lionfish, our air was getting low, so we headed up the mast to do our three-minute safety stop. At the top of the mast, a massive barracuda was floating within the shadow of the mast. This is how they hunt. Blending in with objects and then swimming out with incredible speed to snatch their unsuspecting prey.
After our three-minute safety stop, we climbed back up onto the boat and headed back to the docks. I caught a bus back to the Starbucks near my cousins' house, and she picked me up. I was exhausted after diving, so I just relaxed the rest of the night.
Bahamas Day 4
This was the day I had planned to head back to the Exumas to photograph the pink iguanas from the islands, but the tour operator had closed due to the pandemic. I also was not able to visit one of my cousin's friends who does conservation education with the endemic snakes on the island. I did some local exploring and walked around the beach area in the hotel zone, but things were quiet with everything starting to shut down. I grabbed some lunch from a local spot and dropped into the water for a snorkel. I was able to find a gorgeous red cushion Sea Star. Their bright red and orange colors are stunning against the backdrop of the teal Bahamian waters.
Bahamas Day 5
As much as I did not want to leave, I did not want to get stuck there more. I stared out the window of the plane at the spectacular palette of blue Bahamian waters and headed back to Florida. I will be back.
