Article Author:

Suzette
Advanced Open Water

What better way to end one year and start the next off right than a couple of amazing dives?  There simply is no better way.

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Key Largo- about 77 degrees, sunny and perfect.  New PADI Open Water diver Cindi T and I headed out on the Voyager with the crew of Captain Zach, Josh, and Jardin to do some exploring.  We went to Molasses reef, which never fails to deliver when you’re in the mood to see some really beautiful underwater life.

The first dive we enjoyed seeing a lot of gorgeous, healthy corals along with a huge variety of fish.  The highlight was the beautiful southern stingray that Jardin found for us right at the end.  What a beauty!  He spent a little time with us, then moved on but it was a delightful visit.

The second dive was even nicer, featuring a huge pufferfish (unpuffed, because we left it alone in peace) and toward the end a nurse shark napping under a ledge.  We also saw a few lobster along the way and lots of other marine life including a colorful scorpion fish.  I looked in every eel hole with my new dive light that Santa brought me, but I had no luck looking for eels!  I’ll find one next time, I’ll bet!  Stay tuned!

Article Author:

Suzette
Advanced Open Water

The morning was crisp, a chill was in the air and I seriously considered staying in my warm bed. I got up though, since one of my very good friends, Cindi T, just finished her certification and was anxious to get in the water and get some dives in before heading back to AZ. The ocean is hard to find out there, although they have sand, which is a good start.

We headed out onto the deep boat with DJ at the helm, Molly the awesome mate and Shivering Dale along as the guide/DM. Jeff the awesome instructor was there with a few students and we headed out bright and early to see what we could see.

The group dove the Spiegel Grove first, and from all accounts a great time was had. Good vis, not a lot of current and a relaxing dive. Cindi and I sat that one out, as we were only doing the Benwood yesterday.

When we got to the benwood, we had a fantastic time. Nice visibility, very little current and lots of life out there. We saw schools of yellowtail snapper, some trumpet fish, trunk fish, and most interestingly; a huge midnight parrotfish that was darting in and out of his hiding place. He was kind enough to stop and let me get some photos of him. I think we take parrotfish for granted sometimes in our quest to see bigger, better stuff in the ocean, but they really are a gorgeous fish and can be impressive in size. Have you ever heard a school of them munching away at a piece of coral? It is really a unique experience.

That’s it for yesterday’s dives- if you’re debating getting out there to dive, remember this:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain

I look forward to this afternoon when Captain Zach, Josh and Jardin will take us on an adventure with 2 shallow dives.

Article Author:

dale
Open Water Scuba Instructor

sorry its been a while since i have posted many new and interesting things have been going on in my life at rainbow reef. went to DEMA got some new certifications. been teaching some discover scuba classes. and the most interesting was guiding a group and having a experience that i will not have anytime in the near future.

we were diving on french reef with 90 ft of visibility, no current, and the sun shining down on us. about half way through the dive I saw some fishing line floating in the water and grabbed it so it would not get stuck somewhere and damage the reef. i started to pull in the line when i noticed it was a little heavy. After i pulled in about 50ft of line i saw a very big fish and thought that it might be going after the lure but to my suprise it was attached to it and was very tired i decided to get the lure out of the mouth when i noticed that it was making it unble to open and catch its own food. so Jackie Morrison, another diver, and myself proceeded to get the lure out of the mouth. as we were taking it out, a green moray eel came out of nowhere and and attacked the grouper. we were shocked to see the eel so close and we got it away from the grouper and finished taking the hooks out. after we were done the eel came back and was looking for the fish but no such luck since we set it loose.

here are some of the pictures that we took during the dive.