First night on the boat was a bit rough. I took seasick pills right before getting back on the boat for launch (take off? ??) and during the first little marine bio talk I started feeling sick. Made it all the way through and then after while talking to someone had the "oops, gotta go throw up now feeling" and had to run for the bathroom. Wonderful. Got sick a couple of more times, but eventually got to sleep. Woke at up around 6:30am.
The first dive of the morning was at Pixie's Gardens. I was a little bit nervous before that first dive... did I set up my equipment OK... am I going to make an ass of myself... normal really. But as soon as I got back underwater everything was fine. Well except my mask was a bit loose and kept flooding, but no worries. My dive buddy was a guy named David who lives in Tahoe. His wife Kristen was on the trip too, but she only snorkels. I wasn't totally confident navigating these waters by ourselves, and David was cool with following one of the instructors. We ended up following someone on every dive for the first few days which I think was a really good decision. It's nice not to have to worry about where you are going and if you will find the boat again...
The first dive of the day was at Pixie's Gardens. I don't have any pictures from that dive, but I can tell you that I saw a lionfish and some sand eels. As well as some coral and fish of course ;-)
Dive # 2 was at Lighthouse Bommie. This was a pretty cool dive. Basically a pinnacle with hole through it, hence the name lighthouse. Here I saw a pipefish (like a stretched out seahorse), a green turtle, chevron barracuda, 3 lion fish, and got to hold a pin cushion seastar. Very cool. Here's some pics:
This is me on the descent. Woohoo!
David on the left, me on the right. With a green turtle.
Me again, with a school of big eye trevalli behind me.
David rockin some cool moves
Smiley Adam. He's from Massachusetts.
Lionfish
That's me on the left looking down at my gauge.
Batfish! Idunno why, but I love these guys!
Dive #3 was at Cod Hole. This is a pretty famous site where divers have been feeding potato cod for years. Apparently they are called potato cod because it looks like someone cut a potato in half and used it as a stamp on the fish. We did not feed them but they definitely were lookin for food! And they are HUGE. It's pretty surreal having a fish as big as you right in your face.
Potato cod and boat
This is what it looks like when they come right at you
Looking for food. They are like big puppies!!
I'm in the middle, on the right. This is right about when Mr. Cod decides to get right in my face...
This is me trying not to head butt the cod. It looks alot closer when you are looking through goggles that magnify everything a bit!!
Jap, one of our dive instructors, directing traffic.
Moray eel
This chain hangs from the boat and you can hang onto it, if you want, to do your "safety stop" at 5m. This is where you hang out for a few minutes to ensure you do not get decompression sickness. The tank hanging on the chain is so that if you run out of air, you can still do your safety stop.
Also that night I did my first ever Night dive at Cod Hole. It was a little eerie at first, but it wasn't as dark as I thought it would be! Not pitch black with random beams of flashlight. Just pretty dark. haha. The flashlight beams sometimes light up little fish which makes it easy for the cod to eat them, so they swim under you and follow you around which is kinda funny. Again, like big puppies. Also at night the coral feeds and puts out its polyps and looks all fuzzy. Pretty cool looking. Also saw a moray eel with a little shrimp next to him in a hole on this dive.
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