Carib Dancer Captain's Logs

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report May 11-18, 2013
One-Year Anniversary Charter

Water Temperature: 77-80 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon our guests this week boarded the Carib Dancer for its “One Year Anniversary” of diving the Bahamas”!!! It started May 12, 2012 when the Carib Dancer departed Nassau for the Exuma Islands on its first charter. For this anniversary charter our guests were Steve, Robert, Dan, John, Mary, Cam, Sabine, Jochen, Kerry, Lorri and Todd. After everyone was onboard, I gave our Safety and Information Briefing and we pulled the dock lines then departed our home dock of Elizabeth on Bay for a very smooth cruise out of Nassau and around the Yellow Banks to the Exuma Islands.

Sunday our first dive site for this charter was Pillar Wall. Diving Pillar Wall gives us several options; we can stay shallow, go to the edge of the wall, or hang over a beautiful wall. While diving we swam with a free swimming eel, hawksbill turtle, a pair of Caribbean reef sharks, a school of about 50+ Spanish mackerel, and let’s not forget about the great hammerhead near the edge of the wall! Our guest Kerry said it best, “I can’t believe I saw all that in one dive”. Yes she did, and it was only the first dive site!

After Pillar Wall we made our way north to one of my favorite dive sites, Dog Rocks/Church Wall. We enjoyed lots of swim thru’s and canyons, a very colorful wall that had sharks, schools of chubs and jacks swim right next to us. Hanging out near the wall a pair of eagle rays swam past. But I was very excited when, while doing my safety stop, eight big greater amberjacks swam by and circled me for a few minutes. It was fun shooting video of this and needless to say, it seems to make the time doing my safety stop go by faster. With calm seas, clear warm water and the variety of marine life we swam with today, the one year anniversary dive day could not have been any better!

Monday started on Up Jump The Devil and it started the way Sunday ended - Awesome! Swimming the shallow part of Up Jump the Devil is covered with hard and soft corals, sponges and small creatures. Then we enjoyed deep long swim thru’s as well as a very colorful wall and watching the eagle ray swim near made the dive even better. Next stop was Madison Avenue. Each time I get the chance to dive Madison Avenue I enjoy it more and more. This time I slowed down and saw more small colorful fish then I had in the past few weeks of diving. We had several different types of gobies and wrasses and I enjoyed the stoplight and yellowline goby the most. A few divers saw a school of the large school of Creole wrasse and some were trying to mate. But to top off this site were the decorator crabs all over the reef. Our last dive site of the day was the Wreck of The Austin Smith. If you remember from diving with us, or maybe reading before about the Austin Smith, then you know it’s time for ‘Sharks’! Everyone enjoys diving and seeing all the lobsters, eels, turtles, and rays but when sharks are around everyone get’s excited! Today as we made some bubble on the wreck, we had 8 Caribbean reef sharks swim in and around the group. At one point some of the sharks were swimming within a foot or so from the divers. Everyone was able to get some excellent pictures and video of this unique experience with one of the most feared, but wonderful creatures in the world. It wasn’t on TV or at the movies; it was real divers enjoying swimming with several Caribbean reef sharks. It was a good day for a Monday - no suits, no ties, just wet suits, cameras and lots of creatures.

Tuesday morning we made a pre-breakfast dive on the dive site call Flat Rock Reef. It was a perfect reef to watch come alive for the day. Flat Rock Reef is one of the dive sites that we can only dive during a rising tide. While diving we saw rays, schools of wrasses, snappers and grunts. It was nice watching the purple and yellow fairy basslet look for and eat food in the early morning. We also enjoyed several types of blennies on just about every coral head as we looked around. Flat Rock Reef was an awesome morning dive; maybe we can do this site for a night dive later in the charter. After diving Flat Rock we made our way to Eleuthera.

Eleuthera is an excellent place to be when the winds are from the east. Our first dive site while diving Eleuthera was Hole In The Wall. As we entered the water off the dive platform, the bottom was almost 2000 feet below us. Yes, that is deep and no; we didn’t dive to the bottom. However, it did feel kind of cool to be hanging in water that deep and not see what was under us. After entering the water we swam under the Carib Dancer to the mooring, which is located on top of the reef in about 40 feet of water. We swam with huge Caribbean spiny lobsters, channel clinging crabs, trumpetfish hanging in the soft corals, and octopus. Lets not forget about the small green turtle we saw just over the wall swimming out in the deep blue waters. Our last dive site for the day was Cave Rock. During the afternoon and night dives on Cave Rock we saw southern stingrays, yellow rays and both Caribbean spiny and spotted lobsters. Seeing the common octopus during the day, and then go back to the same place at night and find it’s still there is always good. But once in a while we find something a little different like a very beautiful lettuce sea slug with shades of green mixed with red tints.

Wednesday morning we started at a dive site I haven’t been to in several months, as we made our way north to the Cobia Cage. The local school raises cobia for several projects but the cage was badly damage during ‘Hurricane Sandy’. It was repaired and now we are waiting for them to restock the cage. Even without the cobia, diving this site is wonderful and the cage itself looks like a huge spaceship underwater. It’s located next to a beautiful wall and lots of rays, garden eels and yellowhead jawfish are located in the sandy areas. Today we can add seeing huge black grouper, huge barracuda, and blacktip sharks just off the wall. To top off the morning a big eagle ray swam directly from the wall between the group and putting itself right between the group and the cage. And following right next to the eagle ray on its wing was about a three-foot cobia. Next stop was one of the crew’s favorite wall dives in Eleuthera called Monolith and it is a wonderful wall that is cover with a variety of colorful sponges and corals. Sabine and Jochen saw baby rays in the sandy areas, but Kerry, Lorri, Todd, Mario and a few others saw the find of the day; a beautiful web burrfish. The web burrfish is light to dark brown in color, its iris is yellow-gold and its pupil has iridescent blue-green specks. John said it best, “That is what I call a civilized dive - lots of good stuff “.

We ended the day on Split Coral Head and this is one of the best dive sites in Eleuthera. While diving here we enjoyed a wonderful wall that has lots of marine life, wire shrimp, blennies, eels, and turtles. We also swam out to the huge coral head that has a big split through the center. The top of the coral head is in about 15 feet of water, while the bottom is in about 40 feet. I shot video of channel clinging crabs, lobsters, hundreds of multi-color Christmas tree worms and one giant hermit crab. However Split Coral Head has a lot more to offer with different types of marine life and like the wreck of the Austin Smith, lots of Sharks! In fact, at one point we had 14 Caribbean reef sharks swimming within a few inches of us. These sharks range in size from 3 feet to over 6 feet and all looked very healthy. If you ever get the chance to be in the water with this many sharks and watch them up close you will see the beauty and grace these creatures show us. One guest said, “They were so close, but I was never frightened. Amazing”. When you are ready to see beauty and grace, join us on the Carib Dancer for a couple of dives with the Caribbean reef sharks of the Bahamas J

Thursday morning, and our last day in Eleuthera, the dive site is Cut Thru City. This site has more swim thru’s and canyons to play in then any other site here. We enjoyed swimming through the inside of the canyons and swim thru’s and seeing several cruising mackerel over the edge of the wall, and swimming with all the colorful tropical fish made our morning. However, the one thing that did make the day was seeing a pair of huge loggerhead turtles mating. Sometimes life on the reef can be very interesting. Our next stop was Crab Mountain East. The eastern part of Crab Mountain is just along the edge of the wall. We swam in some swim thru’s and canyons watching small arrow crabs, large channel clinging crabs, angelfish and several nice lobster. We also saw a few large Spanish mackerels swimming from the shallow part of the reef heading over the wall. One guest was looking at a beautiful tube sponge when the Spanish mackerel swam about two feet from his head and he never even saw the fish! Our next stop was Lobster No Lobster and yes we saw lots of lobster and crabs, along with stingrays, nudibranchs and a variety of small tropical creatures. The last dive site of the day was Flat Rock Reef. We did Flat Rock Reef earlier this week, but during the day so tonight it was our night dive spot. We enjoyed seeing lobsters, basket stars, rays, octopus and a very clean hawksbill turtle, as its shell looked like it had just been polished and was very beautiful to see.

Friday morning started with a pre-breakfast dive on Barracuda Shoals. Not everyone was up early for this pre-breakfast dive, but for those who did, they had a lot to talk about during breakfast. Just some of the marine life encountered were stingrays, lobsters, groupers, angelfish, and a hawksbill turtle that was eating its own breakfast and not worried at all about the divers next to her. Thank you ‘Ms. Turtle’. Our last dive of the week was the Blue Hole and as always we enjoyed this colorful dive. Dropping into it and going inside the small cave is fun, but then swimming next to a few of the coral heads located around the edge is extremely interesting as they are home to lots of small fish and creatures to watch. The best was a 6-foot nurse shark that everyone saw hanging around to wish everyone farewell.

Crew for this charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Mario, Engineer Ernie, Instructor Jason and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report May 18 – 25, 2013

Water Temperature 77-80 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded the Carib Dancer its guests Cindy, Jim, Sam, Kathy, Tim, Harold, Dustin, Donna, Douglas, Robbin, Ronsa, Michael and Fabio enjoyed a smooth cruise to the Exuma Islands.

Sunday, our first day of diving started on Lobster No Lobster. Lobster No Lobster is on of several shallow reefs that make us feel like we are diving inside an aquarium. It has very colorful scatter coral heads with sand between which makes it easy to find yellow stingrays, southern stingrays and yellow headed jawfish. Just under the Carib Dancer to greet us was a 4-foot great barracuda. After enjoying Lobster No Lobster we ventured out into the Exuma Sound and made some bubbles on Jewfish Wall. When diving the walls of the Exuma Islands you do not have to go over the wall to enjoy the marine life. By staying on top at Jewfish Wall we saw beautiful bright yellow and black rock beauty’s, gray angelfish and schools of blue tangs. Near the edge of the wall I had a Caribbean reef shark swim within 3 feet of the back of me and I didn’t even notice it. I saw it later when a guest showed me the picture. Of course everyone favorite to see is a spotted eagle ray. We finished the day off on the small Airplane Wreck near Ship’s Channel. This wreck isn’t big, but it’s covered with marine life. We swam near schools of jack, snappers, angelfish, and wrasses, as well as rays and Caribbean reef squid. We saw all that and more in just 15 feet of water.

Monday we started near Eleuthera Island on the dive site called Cobia Cage. Swimming around the huge cage is always nice and we see a variety of creatures. However, of the last 6 times we did a dive here 4 of the dives we saw a hammerhead shark on the edge of the wall. And today was no exception as we went swimming with a hammerhead, a variety of creatures and yep, another spotted eagle ray. Making our way south we stopped at Monolith. Anyone can enjoy Monolith because from the top of the reef, to the edge of the wall, to swimming down the wall, it is covered with colorful sponges and corals. We swam through lots of swim thru’s and even had a pair of loggerhead turtles swim near us. We ended the day on Tunnel Rock. I think this dive site has more Christmas worms in so many different colors then any other site in the Bahamas or Caribbean. We saw lots of fish and creatures, but also solitary disk coral, the Atlantic mushroom coral and smooth flower coral. It’s very nice when we slow down and see more then the fish.

Tuesday morning’s first dive was on Hole in the Wall. This dive site is know for the beautiful swim thru that starts on top of the reef about 40 feet of water and comes out over the wall into the blue Exuma Sound in 90 feet of water. As we swam along the top part of the wall where we saw several white slimy doris nudibranch and ridgeless cactus coral. We also had a few Caribbean spiny lobsters know it wasn’t lobster season because they were out of their holes. We ended the day on Split Coral Head. Diving Split Coral Head give us a variety of things to do and see. We can play on and over the wall, or swim around and enjoy the colorful coral head that has a huge split down the center. We enjoyed both, plus we had about 14 Caribbean reef sharks swimming around us while we were trying to find other creatures. It was awesome! The sharks range from 3 feet to over 6 feet in size and some of them would swim within a foot of us, which made it very easy for us to get some excellent pictures and video.

Wednesday and we’re back in the Exuma Islands at Barracuda Shoals. I really like diving Barracuda Shoals, because just about every time you jump in to start the dive there’s a 4-foot great barracuda greeting us under the Carib Dancer. This site is a very good colorful shallow dive, that means lots of bottom time and we always see lots of creatures. One of our favorites to see while diving here is the red-tipped sea goddess with its rhinophores and anal gills tipped with red. Next stop for the Carib Dancer was Pillar Wall. I had the chance to video tape a couple of spot fin butterflyfish chasing each other around the coral head looking like they were going to fight or mate. They did neither, just swam off down the reef and started doing the dance again. We ended back at Barracuda Shoals for the night dive. We saw lots of tiger tails, a rough file clam and 6 turtles: 4 green turtles and 2 hawksbills turtles. If that wasn’t enough we saw several Caribbean reef squid swimming through the lights we have under the Carib Dancer.

Thursday morning was we headed to Up Jump The Devil. This dive site covers a lot of area. If we wanted we could swim through swim thru’s during the entire dive, but then we would miss a spectacular wall. The best thing for diving Up Jump The Devil is to do both one dive on the wall and then one dive in the swim thru’s. Next was Madison Avenue. This was Sam’s number 250^th dive and guess what Sam said when he came up from diving Madison Avenue? No not that, but “WOW, there were so many jawfish down there! Along with all those yellowhead jawfish were neck crabs and a few lobsters here and there. It was time to see more sharks, so we headed to the wreck of the Austin Smith. As soon as we pulled up to the site we had several Caribbean reef sharks swim up to the Carib Dancer. During the dive we ended up with about 6 sharks swimming within a foot or so from us. Dive four was on Flat Rock Reef, a site that makes us feel like we were diving in an aquarium. The deepest part of this site is in the sand at a whopping 24 feet. We finished the diving today with the night dive on Lobster No Lobster. Kathy was my dive Buddy tonight and over the course of the dive we spotted slipper lobster, Caribbean spiny lobster and spotted lobster. The nighttime creatures were out playing and just as we headed back to the boat we were treated to a small hawksbill turtle under the vessel looking for a place to sleep.

Friday started with a pre-breakfast dive on the Blue Hole. Around the rim we saw nurse sharks, angelfish and groupers. Swimming down into the hole we enjoyed a very colorful wall. It was a good pre-breakfast dive. We finished the week at a very shallow reef call Periwinkle. The deepest part of the reef is 20 feet and as soon as we swam near the reef from the Carib Dancer we had sergeant majors swim towards us. The reef here is covered with small Christmas tree worms and feather dusters. Dogging inside the coral area were redtail parrotfish, yellowtail parrotfish and lots of the little juvenile princess parrotfish. Because Periwinkle is a shallow dive it was like having a long safety stop at the end of a wonderful week of diving on the Carib Dancer.

Crew for this charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Mario, Video Pro/Instructor David, Instructor Jason and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report May 25 – June 1, 2013

Water Temperature: 77-80 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

On Saturday, due to flight delays and late arrivals we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and a relaxing evening on the Carib Dancer as we stayed at the dock for the night. We were glad to welcome aboard our guests for this trip once they all safely arrived: Carrie, Kevan, Caelan, Hutch, David, Renate, Andrew, Nicola, Jon, Kelly, Lorne, Brian and Corina.

Sunday, in the early morning hours, the Carib Dancer departed our dock at Elizabeth On Bay and headed to our first dive site Periwinkle Reef. Periwinkle Reef is a shallow reef with a max depth of about 20 feet, which makes it an excellent dive site for a check out dive. We saw hundreds of tropical fish and several stingrays, but what I really enjoyed about this dive site is the variety of marine worms: Christmas tree worms, red-spotted horseshoe worms, brown and yellow fan worms and the magnificent feather dusters. After a long, relaxing dive here we made the short ride to the Blue Hole. As soon as I entered the Blue Hole five “friendly” remoras began swimming around me looking for a ride and because of the way they were swirling around, and up and down, it took about 10 minutes to get some good video of them playing. As we all swam along the inside wall looking at the different colors of sponges and corals, I noticed several rough file clams inside several of the small holes. On top of the wall we encountered several large schools of white, Caesar and Spanish grunts, along with snappers, southern stingrays, and a solitary nurse shark that swam right at the guests. Three Caribbean reef sharks were also spotted swimming around the outside of the hole.

Immediately after this dive we headed back to our home dock as we had two guests who had finally made it to the Bahamas after several flight delays. Our last two guests, Corina and Brian, boarded the Carib Dancer for what we find out later was to be a very personal and a very memorable dive trip. Once they were quickly settled we headed back out towards the Exuma Islands.

Monday morning’s diving started on Closemon Reef. This is a very tidal reef and we can only dive it when the tide is rising. It is a shallow reef that is covered with a variety of soft corals including colorful corky sea fingers, encrusting gorgonians and black sea rods, as well as the many colorful tropical fish surround each coral head. Next we made our way a little south to Barracuda Shoals. The best way to say how everyone enjoyed this site was listening to the guests’ comments. Everyone raved about the colors, the marine life, the schools of fish, and of course the huge four-foot barracuda that was greeting everyone as they entered the water. To finish the day we headed to Flat Rock Reef. Like Closemon Reef, Flat Rock Reef can only be visited when the tide is rising. When diving this site it’s like swimming inside a huge aquarium, surrounded by schools of fish with stingrays swimming beneath you and gorgonians swaying back and forth in the water. At night seeing the details of the smooth flower coral or swimming over tiger tails that extend over three feet in the sand is wonderful. Spending an hour underwater at this site is an excellent way to end a full day of diving on the Carib Dancer.

Tuesday we started by heading towards the Eleuthera Islands, but first we stopped for a nice long dive on Jewfish Wall. The one major thing I enjoy about Jewfish Wall is not the wall. The wall is very nice with a lot of colorful sea whips, sponges and corals and we do see eagle rays, turtles and sharks, however, right under the Carib Dancer (and before and after swimming to the wall) we can enjoy the ledges, swim thru’s and canyons of this wonderful reef. Today, a couple of us watched about 50 yellowhead jawfish go in and out of their holes working and playing, and this was all in a six foot square piece of sand! A French angelfish suddenly swam within a few inches of my mask, and of course I didn’t have my camera this time. Maybe it will happen again and then I will have a camera. Our next stop was in the Eleuthera Islands and Hole in the Wall was first on the list. This site has beautiful swim thru’s and a very colorful wall. A huge loggerhead turtle was spotted and almost swam right over our guest Lorne. But the highlight of this dive today was guest Brian asking his girlfriend Corina (in 63 feet of water) for her hand in marriage and she said Yes!!!! Congratulations to Corina and Brian, and thank you for letting us be a part of this very special occasion.

Wednesday started on the dive site Monolith and today the Carib Dancer was hanging over the wall, so when we entered the water it was only a few thousand feet deep J After jumping in we swam under the vessel and we could see the huge wall appear in front of us. It was an amazing view to see this wall as we swam to the top in order to start the dive as some areas of the wall sloped down, while others areas were a shear drop. We swam down through swim thru’s, then up through gullies while enjoying all the colors of Monolith Wall. But the guest who had the best view was Kelly, as she was the first to spot the Hammerhead, very nice.

After playing in the deep waters of Monolith we headed to a shallow dive site called Tunnel Rock. This are has lots of coral heads scattered amongst one giant coral head that has a couple of tunnels that we all enjoyed swimming inside and around. We finished the day on Split Coral Head where we encountered lots of sharks. During the dive at one point we had nine Caribbean reef sharks swimming in circles around us, with some coming as close as a foot away. Next was the night dive and not only did we see lots of channel clinging crabs, yellowline arrow crabs, and giant hermit crabs, but also we saw spotted moray eels and a couple more Caribbean reef sharks. One of the sharks kept coming within a few inches of me several times, and being at night, it did make my heart skip a beat or two!

Thursday, for our last dive site in Eleuthera, we visited Cut Thru City. This dive site was named because of all the canyons and swim thru’s we swim through to exit out over the wall into the dark blue waters of the Exuma Sound. We saw lots of color today with a multitude of fish and sponges along with seeing a big loggerhead turtle. After crossing the Exuma Sound back to the Exuma Islands we stopped at Barracuda Shoals II. We visited a different area of the site earlier in the week. Today I tried my new camera and love the results as I snapped a few pictures of four-eye butterfly fish, gray and queen angelfish and colorful sponges. We were able to get very close to a rather big southern stingray; close enough to get a nice close-up shot of its eyes. We ended the night on the Plane Wreck off Ship Channel. Once again this small little wreck turned into a wonderful night dive as we saw red-banded coral shrimp, Caribbean reef squid and two quite small frogfish.

Friday started at Lobster No Lobster. This was a pre-breakfast dive to watch the reef system come alive and today we encountered a small hawksbill turtle, several spotted moray eels and saw an array of small tropical fish. We ended our diving on Flat Rock Reef and because this is a shallow dive everyone had a chance to get some long bottom time for their last dive. While we enjoyed colorful hard and soft corals, sponges and a variety of marine life, for that little extra something we also saw several spotted moray eels. This was definitely the morning for moray eels.

During this week we experienced a different kind of weather system with higher winds, rain and not much sun, but we still managed to enjoy some outstanding diving with some wonderful underwater sightings. We also had some 1^st time night divers, photographers and Nitrox divers. And we had our guests Corina & Brian share a beautiful experience with us by getting engaged underwater this week. But I personally want to thank the group that was with me on the night dive on Split Rock… That Shark was Awesome!!! My Best Night Dive In Several Years…

Crew for this charter on the Carib Dancer was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Video Pro/Instructor David, Photo Pro/Instructor Jason and Chef Shea

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report June 1-8, 2013

It’s Saturday afternoon and our charter guests have arrived. We welcome Jill, Paul, Peter, Elizabeth, Richard, Scott, Ian, Kathryn, Allen, Jane, George, John and Jeffery on board. The Carib Dancer crew consisting of David, Jason, Jeff and Mike, under the command of Capt Ernie then departs our homeport of Elizabeth on Bay in Nassau, Bahamas. As the sun dips below the western horizon we make way to the Exumas.

With the aroma of bacon and coffee in the air, the guests awake to find themselves moored on their first dive site, Lobster No Lobster. This site is a shallow, 25-30 foot dive with coral heads standing an impressive 15-20 feet tall. The wind is light and the Yellow Bank of the Bahamas is calm. The water temperature is a balmy 78 – 82F. As the divers enter the water this site shows why we love to dive it. With a loggerhead turtle gracefully swimming by, barracuda hovering overhead and reef sharks lurking in the distance, the divers comb the coral looking for small creatures of the Caribbean. Their work pays off with finding of a red tipped sea goddess, a purple crowned sea goddess and a beautiful lettuce sea slug.

We then make way to our next dive site, Crab Mountain. The divers are anxious to see what sea creatures lurk below the waters here and as they enter the water a hawksbill turtle greets them. Searching further on, they find a spotted moray eel peeking out of its den along with some yellowhead jawfish dancing above their holes. The divers return to the Carib Dancer famished to find a chef-prepared dinner presented by Chef David. After dinner it's ‘shopping’ on Madison Avenue. This is a shallow dive with an array of coral heads of all different shapes and sizes. With black groupers, Nassau groupers, a juvenile drum and barracudas watching from a distance, we spot an octopus lying on a coral head. Just as we watch the octopus change colors, we realize its time to return back to the Carib Dancer for the night.

On Monday we travel to Jewfish Wall, as the divers made ready to plunge into the water upon our arrival. Here we spot a southern stingray playfully swimming as it effortlessly passes by us. Schools of schoolmasters also gather to watch as we swim along and we see lionfish hovering over their prey. A fabulous lunch prepared by Chef David is next as we move to our next mooring and dive site, Pillar Wall. We take the plunge and quickly head to the wall. Along the way we pass Nassau groupers, queen triggerfish, and a school of horse-eyed jacks circle us just as we finally reach the wall. As the deep blue color of the ocean engulfs us, we see a great hammerhead shark. The hammerhead sighting just made the day spectacular. We start our return back to the Carib Dancer just when a school of Atlantic spadefish swim by, awesome!!!

The first dive on Tuesday is the Wreck of the Austin Smith. Yes, this is one of our signature shark dives. Today the wreck was loaded with Caribbean reef sharks, as well as channel clinging crabs, arrow crabs and lobsters. Excellent dive.

Afterwards we cross to Eleuthera for a different diving experience. Our first dive here is at Hole in the Wall. We drop down first to see the entrance for the hole. We then travel through the hole and out to the wall. We discover brown tube sponges, barrel sponges and the occasional stovepipe. On top of the wall, ocean triggerfish lazily swim past and there's a Nassau grouper at a cleaning station. We watch as damselfish dart in and out of the coral protecting their area while schoolmasters are watching us from around the numerous coral heads. The night dive on Hole in the Wall was filled with horse-eyed jacks and barracuda.

After a good night’s rest, we head to Split Rock where we are scheduled for two dives. The first dive we gather to watch the sharks, as a dozen Caribbean reef sharks dance between us, over us, and right in front us. Swimming off in the distance we can see a large Nassau grouper and a yellow fin grouper. After a second dive here the decision is made to cross back to the Exumas for our next dive at Flat Rock. This is a shallow dive site in just 25feet of water. With scrawled filefish, trunkfish and honeycomb cowfish swimming about, we continue on the dive. There lying in the sand below us is a large southern stingray. We head back to the Carib Dancer and after dinner is served and enjoyed, off we go to Lobster No Lobster for the night dive. The night produces lobsters and assorted crabs, including hermit crabs crawling about. Yellow stingrays skirt the bottom, while parrotfish sleep in the protection of their den. After everyone is safely aboard, we drop our mooring and head to our next destination.

In the morning our guests awaken and the Blue Hole is beckoning them for an early dive. Looking into the crater of the hole, we see between 25 and 30 reef sharks. You can tell it’s mating season by this behavior. The resident loggerhead turtle is also there to greet us as we swim into the hole to join the sharks. The last dive of the trip is at Periwinkle. This shallow dive, with an array of scattered coral heads, becomes our favorite. Nurse sharks, loggerheads and leatherback turtles are there to entertain us. This experience finishes the week with smiles and stories for our guests to take home.

From the Captain and Crew, thank you for joining us and we hope to see you again.

---------- Post added June 20th, 2013 at 02:38 PM ----------

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report June 8-15, 2013

Carib Dancer welcomes this week’s guests: Richard, Elaine, Rosalie, Nicole, Andrew, Rick, Joshua, Sara, Andrea, Jeannie, Istvan, Jason, Jeffery, and Kevin, to the Bahamas.

Crew this week: David, Jason, Mike, Zachary and Captain Ernie.

We departed our home dock of Elizabeth on Bay and made our way to the Out Islands of the Bahamas. During this week we visited over 20 different dive sites.

In the Exumas we dived at Lobster No Lobster, Aquarium, Barracuda, Closemon, Austin Smith wreck, Pillar Wall, Up Jumped The Devil, Dog Rock, Jewfish, Madison Ave, Blue Hole, and Periwinkle.

In Eleuthera the dive sites were Knucklehead, Hole In The Wall, Monolith, Tunnel Rock, Cobia Cage, Cave Rock, Cut Thru City and Split Coral.

The average water temperature hovered around 80F.
Seas averaged 3ft or less.
With a 3 mil the water was very comfortable.

Fish sightings this week on the dive sights: Queen angelfish, gray angelfish, four eye butterflyfish, spot fin butterflyfish, blue tang, yellow jack, horse-eye jack, amberjack, barracuda, cobia, Atlantic spadefish, silversides, blue striped grunts, white grunt, mutton snapper, yellow tail snapper, school master, long fin damsel fish, sergeant major, Nassau groupers, black grouper, yellowfin grouper, fairy basslet, queen parrotfish, princess parrotfish, hogfish, Creole wrasse, squirrelfish, yellow prow goby, jawfish, several types of blennies, trumpetfish, porcupinefish, queen triggerfish, yellow goatfish, remora, spotted moray, nurse shark, silky shark, Caribbean reef shark, skates, rough tail stingray, and spotted eagle ray. We also can't forget the crustaceans we saw including banded coral shrimp, queen conch, channel clinging crab, arrow crabs and Caribbean spiny lobsters.

The diving was spectacular, and the guests and crew all enjoyed this week together.
Captain Ernie

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report June 15 – 22, 2013

Water Temperature 79-82 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded, the Carib Dancer and its guests Rob, Dennis, Wendy, Scott, Everette, Bill, Leah, Samantha (Sam), Mike and Kathy departed our home dock of ‘Elizabeth On Bay’. This was such a fun week of diving. We enjoyed the normal diving, but on every night dive this week we had the chance to dive and see the reef a whole different way. For most of us our normal night dives became ‘Fluorescence Night Dives’ as we were diving with special lights and lenses for our masks that makes the reef colors jump out in an entirely new way.

Sunday morning we started a little different. Normally we dive the Blue Hole on the end of the charter, but this charter we started with the Blue Hole first. During this time of year, for only a few weeks, we find several hundred sharks inside the Blue Hole, mating and doing their shark thing. Our group leader Rob, from Scubaland Adventures Dive Center in Austin TX, has been with us in the past and remembered the sharks. Rob thought it would good to start his group of divers off with something a little special - Sharks, and lots of them! While diving here we saw schools of snapper, grunts, angelfish, rays and about a hundred sharks going in and out of the hole! After this adrenaline dive site start, we headed across the Yellow Banks to our first dive site in the Exuma Islands, Dog Rocks. Because of the diversity of marine life found here, this is one of the crew’s favorites. Lots of swim thru’s and canyons, along with schools of horse-eye jacks, ocean triggerfish, and angelfish entertained us. The wall was also very colorful with sponges and corals, as we watched six graceful eagle rays pass very near us, not once, but twice.

Monday started with a day of diving in Eleuthera. Because of the winds, we had traveled to Eleuthera after the prior night’s dive on Dog Rocks and found ourselves on our first dive site in Eleuthera, Hole In The Wall. When diving this site, we head down the mooring line first and just off the pin on the bottom we see what looks like a small hole in the top of the reef. That small hole is a nice big swim thru, traveling down through the reef out into the Blue Exuma Sound from a ‘hole in the wall’. We saw colorful sea whips, sponges, schools of tropical fish and rays; also a nice hawksbill turtle. Next we headed north to the Cobia Cage. The Cobia Cage is a huge cage where the local school has several different types of fish inside for research. The cage was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, but has since been repaired and now is waiting for its new residents. Even without a full cage of fish, it’s an awesome site to see underwater, looking like a huge spaceship. The cage also sits next to a very nice wall with large coral heads where lots of pictures and video of a variety of fish were taken. Next we headed back south along the coast of Eleuthera where we stop at The Barge, which was sunk just over a year ago to help start a reef structure. Some growth and marine life is starting to live off the barge that sits in about 30-50 feet of water. I took some very nice video of Atlantic oysters, clams and lots of yellowhead jawfish. To end the day we continued south to Split Coral Head where diving here always gets everyone’s blood pumping. I’m not sure why everyone’s heart beats a little faster here, maybe it has something to do with 14 Caribbean reef sharks, from 4 feet to 7 feet in size, swimming within a few inches of you. Each time we do this dive it get more exciting. However, it didn’t stop with the sharks, because we enjoyed a beautiful wall and the site was also covered with lobsters, crabs and eels. To end this wonderful day, as we were pulling up the ladders, we had a small common octopus perched right on one of the ladders. After several pictures were taken, our new little friend was released back in the water. It seems like everyone wants to be on the Carib Dancer, even the marine life.

Tuesday we woke up at the Exuma Land & Sea Park Headquarters. Our wind direction changed on us again so we headed south to inside the Exuma Park. We started the day with a short walk up Boo Boo Hill, which took us along a beautiful beach and through the mangroves, up a small hill to one of the best views in the Bahamas. After enjoying some land time, we headed to Amberjack Reef. Amberjack Reef is a set of high profile coral heads surrounded by colorful sponges mixed with many hard and soft corals. As we pulled up to the dive site several Caribbean reef sharks swam up to the Carib Dancer. During the dive several of these sharks stayed near us while large black groupers and schools of horse eye jack hung out under the vessel so we could enjoy watching them while doing our safety stops. The heart stopper was while I was filming a spotted moray eel a Nassau grouper swam by and touched the tail of the eel. The eel took off towards me, turning just before running into me. But I was brave because today I was diving with my big boy pants on… Well, maybe I did swim backwards a little fast, but it was fun to watch. Next dive site was 3 Peaks, where we swam with more sharks, eels and very large groupers.

Wednesday morning we did something a little different as we had the chance to enjoy Jeep Reef. Jeep Reef is a very colorful shallow reef that is also very tidal. We were able to get on the mooring at just the correct time, so we had an open deck. Guest could get in and out of the water whenever they were ready. Some went in early and had two dives; some waited and had one very long dive. Both groups enjoyed one of the most colorful reefs in the Atlantic and Caribbean. After Jeep Reef we had lunch with an amazing view of the Bahamas, then headed out for a wall dive on Wall City. The wall here sloops until about 100 feet, then falls into a shear drop. Hanging out in the deep blue was an awesome feeling, thinking of what’s below you that you can’t see, because it’s about 1800 feet of water. After swimming out into the blue, we enjoyed swimming around huge coral heads with turtles and eels. We then ended the day on Danger Reef. High profile coral heads make up Danger Reef and it is just like the profile at Amberjack Reef that we dived at yesterday, complete with lots of Caribbean reef sharks.

Thursday morning we made our way north to Blacktip Wall. We started the dive by swimming through a couple of swim thru’s and canyons until we came out over the wall. Once out over the wall, a few of us swam out into the deep blue and hovered in about 80 feet of water with about 1800 feet below us. Near the mooring line was a school of about twenty Atlantic spadefish and about eight horse eye jack hanging out right under the vessel. While going through one of the swim thru’s, I came across a banded coral shrimp hiding under a ledge and a pair of lettuce sea slugs. Next on the list was Barracuda Shoals. We did see barracudas, but today it should have been called ‘Hawksbill Turtle Shoals’ because we saw four different sized hawksbill turtles while diving this beautiful colorful reef. We ended the day on the wreck of the Austin Smith and this is one of those dives that we know we will have a few shark encounters. Today was no exception, with about seven Caribbean reef sharks swimming around us at any given time. But lets not forget several Nassau groupers that were very friendly to the camera and video lens and a huge black grouper that was hanging out. We also saw a couple of big Caribbean spiny lobsters and channel clinging crabs. To top it off, we stopped to play with a yellow stingray while swimming back for the safety stop towards the end of the dive.

Friday morning started with a pre-breakfast dive at Lobster No Lobster. I’ve always thought watching the reef wake up first thing in the morning was a great way to start a day of diving. Because Lobster No Lobster is a shallow, colorful reef it is an excellent place to shoot pictures and video of fish and creatures. The final stop of the charter was back on The Blue Hole. We did the Blue Hole as the first dive of the charter because of all the sharks inside and we thought it might be fun to do that dive again. We were correct, and it was even better the second time around. We had the divers make a circle around the top of the Blue Hole, then another crewmember and I swam down the hole and over a Hundred Sharks came swimming up towards the group. It was an awesome sight!!!

Crew for this charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Video Pro David, Photo Pro Jason and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report June 22 – 29, 2013

Water Temperature: 81-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded, the Carib Dancer and its guests Jeff, Jon, Bob, Garner, Riki, Jerry, Becky, Art, Lynda, Eric, Alena and Jim depart our home dock of Elizabeth On Bay. With an awesome sunset and a bright moon later, we enjoyed a wonderful ride to the Exuma Islands.

Sunday morning we started on Lobster No Lobster. We hit the jackpot the first dive of the week. We saw lots of bright corals and sponges, rays, schools of fish, and octopus as well as hawksbill turtles. Next stop was Barracuda Shoals where we enjoyed swimming and spotting both spotted and Caribbean spiny lobsters. Looking close up inside some of the anemone we saw several sun anemone shrimp. The tide was changing and so did our dive site, so we headed next to Flat Rock Reef. I love this dive site; it always feels like I’m diving inside an aquarium and since it is very shallow we get lots of bottom time. Swimming along the reef it was easy to find lots of flamingo tongues with their creamy white mantle covered with orange rectangular spots.

Monday started at our most northern dive site called Dog Rocks. The crew loves diving here with lots of swim thru’s and canyons to swim in and around. We always enjoy a colorful wall, huge sponges and lots of marine life. Today our guest was a nice big Hammerhead Shark that swam within 15 feet of some of the guests. Yes, it was Exciting!!!! After spending the morning at Dog Rocks we headed to Barracuda Shoals West. Barracuda Shoals is a very large dive site with several moorings available for us to use. We chose the west mooring because of the large brightly colored coral heads that sit just under the Carib Dancer. Today we saw lots of lobsters and channel clinging crabs as we watched a shy porcupinefish try and hide from us by swimming round and round the coral. But our guests still managed to get some nice pictures of it. We ended the day on Closemon Reef. This reef is just covered with soft corals and we saw lots of crabs, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the gaudy clown crab. And let’s not forget the free-swimming spotted moray eel that gave us a beautiful sight.

Tuesday morning we woke up in Eleuthera at the Cobia Cage. This cage makes for excellent pictures and looking at the cage underwater reminds me of a UFO. Hanging out by the cage are large black groupers and Nassau groupers. Today we also enjoyed a friendly pass by from a spotted eagle ray. Next we headed south to Hole In The Wall. No matter how many times I swim through the ‘hole in the wall’, coming out into the dark blue waters of the Exuma Sound puts a smile on my face. Along the wall we took pictures of colorful sea whips, sponges and healthy black coral. We finished the day on Cave Rock. This site has a huge high profile coral head that has a nice swim thru right in the middle, and in that swim thru we got to swim through hundreds of silverside and a small school of back jacks. Cave Rock is also surrounded by smaller coral heads, between which are hundreds of yellowhead jawfish darting in and out of their holes. At one point I was lying in the sand and slowly moved close to one of the jawfish. Before long I was only a few inches away and the jawfish swam up and nearly touched my mask. Sometimes you have to go very slow while diving so you can enjoy the fascinating marine life and that was one time I was very glad I did just that.

Wednesday’s first dive was at Cut Thru City. Cut Thru City is a dive site that has lots of swim thru’s and canyons to explore. While we enjoyed lots of fish and a colorful wall, the best was a large southern stingray and an eagle ray that just kept swimming around a couple of guests. Nice Dive!!! After lunch we headed to Tunnel Rock. Here we enjoyed lots of Christmas tree worms, yellow-headed jawfish (males with eggs) and a free -swimming spotted moray eel. We ended the day with sharks at Split Coral Head. This dive site is unique in that we have a beautiful wall and/or a huge colorful coral head, both within 50 feet of the Carib Dancer. But the special part of this dive site is the Caribbean reef sharks that come and swim near us. Today we had a neat dozen swim very close so we could get some excellent pictures and video. Everyone loves this dive site.

Thursday morning we finished our diving in Eleuthera on Monolith. This dive site is one of the prettiest walls in the Bahamas and we also have a few canyons and a big swim thru to enjoy here. The amount and variety of marine life on top of the wall and surrounding reefs is absolutely amazing. Several types of sponges, corals and creatures make for a colorful dive. When I looked up from watching a shrimp inside a tube sponge, nine cero mackerel swam about 6 feet away. Then a spotted eagle ray gave us a swim by. During lunch we traveled back to the Exumas and a dive site called Pillar Wall. Diving this site in the afternoon (and after lunch) was so relaxing. We cruised through several canyons and swim thru’s out to the wall where we passed sea whips and black coral. We saw jawfish, barracuda, snappers, jacks, rays and lots of hard and soft corals. Under one ledge I even saw a 3-foot nurse shark and a spotted moray eel facing each other. As I lay prone on the sand to watch them, the nurse shark backed up into its hole. He must have seen I had my ‘big boy’ pants on and got scared. The moray didn’t move, but everyone knows morays can’t see worth a darn to be scared. J
Pillar Wall was just an awesome dive. We finished the day on a small Plane Wreck just off Ship Channel Cay in about 20 feet of water. We saw slipper lobsters, shrimps, clams, oysters, rays, squid and a HUGE loggerhead turtle. As our guest Eric was on the sand taking a picture of some small shrimp, the loggerhead try to lie down next to him by bumping him to move. Then towards the end of the dive, it swam right under the Carib Dancer to hang out with more of our guests. This little plane wreck, with so much marine life became the best dive of the week… so far, but we still have the Blue Hole and Periwinkle tomorrow.

Friday we started the day with a pre-breakfast dive on the Blue Hole. For only a few weeks out of the year the Blue Hole is home for Lots of Sharks that swim in and around the hole. We did a pre-breakfast dive and the sharks were there, as well as a big loggerhead turtle and plenty more marine life. Our last dive of the week was on Periwinkle Reef. Diving Periwinkle Reef was like doing a long safety stop with hundreds of fish and other creatures around.

As we look back on the week, we had an Awesome Week on the Carib Dancer diving the Exuma and Eleuthera Islands. Thanks to our guests for joining us, and we hope to see you onboard again.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Video Pro David, Photo Pro Jason and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report June 30 – July 6, 2013
Unique 6 Night Charter – Dolphin Encounters

Water Temperature: 82-84 F
3 mm Wet Suit Recommended

It was an amazing week on the Carib Dancer as we cruised the waters of the Little Bahama Banks on the West End of Grand Bahama. The Carib Dancer spent last week and will spend the next five weeks operating out of the West End of Grand Bahama. Our first three weeks we will be swimming with dolphins, and the last three will be spent exploring new dive sites as we will be diving with dolphins, turtles, eels, along with a wide variety of marine life - and lots of sharks, including a visit to Tiger Beach to interact with the local Tiger Sharks!

Our Dolphin Charters are lead by Gene Flipse of Conscious Breath Adventures. Gene, as well as his good friend Jeff Pantukhoff of The Whaleman Foundation, have spent many years out on the Little Bahama Bank watching and playing with dolphins and now they are helping guests have an experience of a lifetime.

On Sunday afternoon after our guests Lori, Shannon, Susan, Sarah, Ivana, Joshua, Jean, Julie, Angharad and Emily boarded, we departed Old Bahama Bay Marina on the West End of Grand Bahama for a short ride to the Little Bahama Bank. After arriving we dropped anchor and enjoyed a wonderful night under a sky full of stars.

Over the past week we snorkeled, and did a little scuba diving over some shallow reefs and a small wreck, both were covered with marine life. The dolphins we had such wonderful encounters with were Bottlenose and Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. The spotted dolphins, as we all learned to call them, were quite playful.

When we were not watching or swimming with dolphins, we were snorkeling or scuba diving on a shallow wreck called the Sugar Wreck. Sugar Wreck is sitting in about 30 feet of water and is covered with hundreds of fish and a huge variety of other types of marine life. We also explored a reef area called Mini Wall where one side of the reef is about 35 feet and the other goes down to about 90 feet. Turtles and eels were spotted, and we even saw three different types of sharks. Swimming quite close by to get their picture taken were Caribbean reef, lemon and even hammerhead sharks.

Doing these trips is very easy for any of our guests, no matter how much experience you have under your dive belt. We had a few guests that were very beginners on snorkeling and by the end of the week these same new divers were some of the first in the water for our dolphin encounters. This week was an awesome experience, diving, snorkeling and cruising the Little Bahama Banks with the dolphins. If you really want to experience something exciting and new, keep in touch and make sure you get in for our next new adventure on the Carib Dancer.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report July 6 – 13, 2013

Water Temperature: 82-84 F
3mm Wet Suit Recommended

The Carib Dancer continues with its Dolphin Charters out of the West End of Grand Bahama with Gene of ‘Conscious Breath Adventures’ and Jeff of the ‘Whaleman Foundation’. On Saturday afternoon our guests Teresa, Monica, Diane, Valerie, Ranel, Steven, Jill, Robyn, Lynette, Laura, Gwen and Chris departed for the Little Bahama Banks. After a short ride under the stars, we dropped the anchor in the shallow water near Memory Rock.

During this special charter week we had the chance to stop at several dive sites to play. One of those nice stops was the Sugar Wreck. Sugar Wreck is a shallow dive site that is good for both snorkeling and scuba. We swam with lots of fish, corals and sponges, and even a juvenile hawksbill turtle. Not far from the wreck is Hogfish Reef, where we took the plunge with about 10 Caribbean reef sharks.

As we enjoyed the nice weather looking for our dolphin friends, we ended up in the Bimini Islands. It’s been a while since I’ve visited Bimini. These islands have a lot of good dive sites for snorkeling and scuba and lots of dolphins, which is why we are here to start with. Then about mid-morning it started with our first sightings and didn’t stop all day. We had a pod of 20+ bottlenose dolphins come swim near us, and it also gave us the chance to watch them crater feed. When dolphins crater feed they scan the sandy bottom looking for small razor fish and when they find some, they push their rostrum (nose) into the sand, and well - lunchtime. We swam with the dolphins for so long that some of our guests were getting out of the water because they were just too tired and couldn’t go anymore. Valerie, one of our guests, actually spent over 5 hours in the water surrounded by our bubble-making friends.

After several days of shallow coral reefs, filled with an array of marine life including sharks, turtles and dolphins, we slowly made our way back to the West End of Grand Bahama. It was a fantastic week on the Carib Dancer and one I will remember for a long time…

Crew for this charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report July 13 – 20, 2013

Water Temperature: 82-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

The Carib Dancer continues with its special Dolphin Charters out of the West End of Grand Bahama. On Saturday afternoon our guests Marie-Elizabeth, Vera, Francis, Ann, Tim, Cloe, Lucaya, Mary Brooke, Jim, Anne and Tom boarded the Carib Dancer on a rainy afternoon. Due to a very late arrival of some of our guests’ luggage we enjoyed a nice quite evening at the Old Bahama Bay Resort, staying at the dock for the evening.

On Sunday morning we started early for the short ride out to the Little Bahama Banks and a wonderful dive site called the Sugar Wreck. The Sugar Wreck is an old molasses barge that sunk in the late 1890’s in about 20 feet of water. Because the wreck is in shallow water, it’s perfect for snorkeling or scuba diving. The old wreck is covered with hundreds of fish and hard corals. We have also spotted a beautiful little hawksbill turtle that has been sleeping (or hiding) in the same small hole in the wreck for the past three weeks. We have enjoyed watching him swim up between the snorkelers to get some air, then back into his hole to rest. The Sugar Wreck is a very fun wreck to play on and we will do a night dive on the wreck soon.

Now that everyone has gotten their fins wet, it was time to go look for dolphins. Over the next couple of days we follow dolphins, swam with them, and did another dive on a reef called Hogfish. After watching and swimming with some bottlenose dolphins, we decided we wanted to play with some spotted dolphins - and the best place for that is in the Bimini Islands. So, after a couple days on the Little Bahama Banks, we headed to the Bimini Islands. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to these islands and I have to say over the past couple of weeks it’s been nice to get back. The people are very friendly, the water is very warm, and the dolphins are very fun!

Even with some wind and rain this week everyone had fun watching the bottlenose put on a show as we followed the dolphins around. Getting in the water with these very intelligent creatures is an amazing feeling! At one point I was in the water surrounded by 11 bottlenose dolphins. There were times when we would be flowing them and would be jumping out of the water just in front of us. A few times when we were able to get out of the water because they would swim away, they would swim back and play. We had about 25 or so bottlenose and spotted dolphins swimming around the Carib Dancer and our guests were getting ready to get into the water when a pod of about 25 more swim to the vessel; making it a total of about 50 dolphins around the boat.

Our last day of dolphin encounters was great. We started the day with a trip out to the Wreck of the Hesperes. This is a small wreck in shallow water that is surrounded by scores of tropical fish, large southern stingrays, nurse sharks and more conch then we could count. Some of the guests snorkeled, and some did a little scuba, but everyone had an awesome time taking pictures and video of the variety of marine life we found on this wonderful little wreck. After some playtime on the Hesperes we ended the day again watching and swimming with more dolphins as both spotted and bottlenose were swimming around the Carib Dancer. We had many guests look up and see a dolphin within a few inches of their face. It was quite amusing to watch their reaction, both the guests and the dolphins.

These last three weeks working with Gene Flipse of Conscious Breath Adventures, along with his special guest helper Jeff Pantukhoff of The Whaleman Foundation, was both educational and enjoyable. Having them teach everyone about these intelligent creatures and then be in the water with a face-to-face encounter was nothing short of amazing! Guests on all of these special dolphin charters had a wonderful time and some are already planning to come back next year. We will see you then…

Best Fishes,
Crew for the Carib Dancer was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Instructor Jason, our new crewmember Julia, and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report July 20 – 27, 2013
Tiger Beach Itinerary

Water Temperature:82-84 F
3 mm Wet Suit or Skin Recommended

The Carib Dancer starts the second part of its adventure out of the west end of Grand Bahama. Grand Bahama measures 80 miles x 16 miles at its widest point, a total of about 530 sq. miles. Over the next three weeks the Carib Dancer and guests will explore the beautiful reefs off the west end of the island of Grand Bahama.

Saturdays on the Carib Dancer are always long days with guests departing us after a wonderful vacation and new guests arriving to start their underwater adventure. Today was just a little longer, because our guests this week are from Spain and England. Leaving home, crossing that big pond called the Atlantic Ocean, customs, immigration, then a taxi ride, our guests eventually arrived at our dock in Old Bahama Bay around 10:45pm.

After a good night rest, the Carib Dancer and its guests, Maria, Carlos, Enrique R., David, Carmen, Monica, Enrique L., Jose, Alex, Pedro S., Jorge, Juan, Purificacion and Pedro H., enjoyed a wonderful breakfast while we travel the short distance to our first dive site called the Sugar Wreck. This is an old barge that sank somewhere around the late 1890’s. Because the barge was carrying molasses at the time of its sinking, it became known as the Sugar Wreck. The wreck is scatted over about a 50-yard area, located in about 25 feet of clear, warm water and because the barge is in shallow water, we were able to get lots of bottom time, taking pictures and video of hundreds of fish, nurse shark and a small hawksbill turtle that has been in the same place for the last three weeks. He must like visitors, because he always comes up for air right in the middle of the guests. He hangs around a bit, then back to his hole on the wreck for a nap. After our playtime here we headed off for something a little deeper. Our next dive site was Hogfish Reef. Hogfish Reef ‘s depth range is from 30-65 feet and is the size of an American football field. The low to middle profile coral head is simply covered with hard and soft corals that are everywhere. While diving Hogfish Reef we actually did see several hogfish, but also lots of snappers, grunts, wrasses, groupers and jacks. Also there was a hawksbill turtle, huge southern stingrays, spotted morays, one of the biggest green morays I have ever seen, and several Caribbean reef sharks that came ‘up close and personal’ for some pictures and video.

Monday morning and time for work, unless you are with us on the Carib Dancer exploring dive sites off the west end of Grand Bahama because then it’s time for the dive site called El Dorado. This is a low to medium profile reef where the depth will range from 30-65 feet surrounded by sand. As we swam over the large coral head it was easy to see a huge variety of marine life, as well as hard and soft corals including colorful sponges, and schools of snappers, grunts, and beautiful angelfish all over the reef. Also joining in on the fun was a small spotted moray eel, a rather large nurse shark, 7 Caribbean reef sharks and 6 spotted eagle rays, all swimming close by for a little video appearance. During the day we also visited a very special dive site called Classic Tiger Beach. This site was always known for the tiger sharks you could sometimes find in the sandy area near all the rubble. There is only one way in and one way out with a boat, but once in and anchored the show began. We didn’t see any tiger sharks on this dive, however we did have 9 lemon sharks, with the smallest being just over 4 feet, around us while diving in only 15 feet of water. These beautiful creatures came so close a few times they had to move their fin in order not to touch someone. Everyone in the water was able to experience something very special and get some excellent pictures and video.

Tuesday started on Fishtail Reef, which is a low to medium profile coral head that is about 600 feet long and 100 feet wide covered with underwater life. As I entered the water to enjoy a wonderful dive site full of marine life, 15 Caribbean reef sharks and one big nurse shark soon surrounded me. My 65 minutes underwater passed way too fast so we will have to come back and enjoy this site again.

Next we set our course for Tiger Beach in hopes of seeing tiger sharks. We set the anchor and started our wait for sharks, but instead we got spotted dolphins off our stern. The dolphins play just far enough away for us not to have an in water encounter, but it was still wonderful to watch from the deck. The dolphins departed and after a couple of hours so did we as we headed for out next adventure at a dive site call Shark Paradise. I enjoy swimming with all type of marine life and on Shark Paradise we had the chance to do just that. While underwater, we swam with several Caribbean reef sharks, nurse sharks and even a couple of really big lemon sharks. This site has it all: sharks, loggerhead turtles, huge black and Nassau groupers, and the reef itself is covered with hard and soft corals. For the night dive we headed back to the Sugar Wreck. This was an excellent night dive as this shallow wreck was cover with underwater life. We shot pictures and video of juvenile spotted drum, a couple of hawksbill turtles, nurse sharks, squid and an array of marine creatures.

Wednesday we started the day with a dive on a site called Mini Wall, which is a large reef about 300 yards long. The east side is only about 35 feet deep while the west side sloops to about 65 feet looking like a mini-wall. Mini Wall has more soft corals than hard corals, and more juvenile creatures than adult. For those taking pictures, this is the place for macro, unless you want pictures of the several Caribbean reef sharks swimming around us during the dive. The rest of the day was spent on Classic Tiger Beach. We had visited this site a couple of days ago, and took the opportunity to return to hopefully swim with the big lemon sharks again and maybe see tiger sharks. At one point during this afternoon of diving we were diving with 16 lemon sharks and one tiger shark did come in for a short time. Of all the places to have an amazing experience with 16 Big Lemon Sharks, it was in just 15 feet of water!

Thursday morning was spent on Classic Tiger Beach swimming with all the lemon sharks again. After swimming within a few inches of 17 Big Lemon Sharks (another one dropped in), the smallest being 5 feet we headed to Hogfish Reef where not only did we see more lemon sharks, but also Caribbean reef sharks, turtles and a reef full of marine life.

Friday morning we finished the week with an open dive deck. Guest could go in and out of the water as much as possible on Shark Paradise. The reef system here has it all, with abundant marine life and more sharks. Though we only saw one tiger shark this week, we did enjoy some excellent diving on some beautiful reefs and a wreck. Plus, to experience being in the water with that many lemon sharks at one time was Amazing! I can’t wait to pull away from the dock and do it again.

Best Fishes,
Crew for the Carib Dancer was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Photo Pro Jason, Assist ant Engineer Julia and Chef Shea.