Okay you have all been waiting for it, so here is the dive report for my trip to St. Thomas.
I did a total of 8 dives while I was there, and dives 5 & 6 were beach dives at Coki Beach and not much to mention there. So here goes.
Dive 1 - This dive was at a place called stragglers. We went out on Chris Sawyers boat. This was the first dive of my AOW certification. We saw 2 stingrays and a medium sized turtle as well as lots of reef fish. Some of the noteworthy fish were a rainbow parrotfish that was about 2 feet long. It was the largest one we have seen in all of our dives. A wide variety of parrotfish were hanging out in the coral. We also saw 10-12 trunkfish and several large balloonfish. We also saw tons of the usual sargeants, tangs and a few surgeons.
Dive 2 - This was a place called little St. John. Here I had to do my navigation dive. It was easier than I thought it was going to be. We saw several smaller purplemouth moray eels. Several medium sized flounders and more trunkfish. The coral here was really nice and lots of outcroppings with fish loaded in them,
Dive 3 - This was a place called Cow Rock. This was a neat dive, we swam all the way around the rock and saw several smaller nurse sharks, with the biggest being about 3 1/2 feet long. The fish were everywhere on this dive, every type was present but we had several weak divers and the currents were causing them problem, one guy even got thrown into a wall of coral, luckily only a couple of dozen small cuts and scrapes. But he should have been paying better attention and not been where he was, now the coral has to pay for his lack of control. Then really bad news happened. I had my Sea & Sea MX 5 on my wrist and in the course of fighting currents and surge it must've slipped off. We were unable to find the camera and it had my pictures of me underwater and the nurse sharks. We looked for it before going to the next site, to no avail. It is probably on it's way to Puerto Rico. So if anyone finds it, keep the camera and send me the film.
Dive 4 - This was a place called calf. It was okay, there were quite a few fish and a wide variety of coral to look at. Saw many groupers and lots of angels etc. All in all this was just an okay place to dive.
Dive 5 & 6. This was off of Cokie beack. My final dive of my AOW and 2 of my wifes dives for her OW. Nothing to really note here, coki beach is okay but nothing spectacular in the area we saw. We also when to Coral World after diving. It was pretty decent, but a little bit pricey for what you get to see. Good place if you have kids, but if you dive you have or will see better in your gear!
Dive 7 - This was at Andres Reef off of Buck Island. Lenny & I went to look for Lobster in 75 feet of water while my wife worked on the last two dives of her OW with Michelle. As I stated below, this was awesome diving aboard the yacht opus. Although we did not see any lobsters we saw a few eels and 2 stingrays and another turtle. We also saw an anemone(sp) This is the first one we had seen, it was neet to see that after seeing so many coral and sponges. We have some of this dive on VHS which I am going to have converted to AVI or MPEG so I can put it on my site. I also got pictures thanks to my loving wife buying me an early christmas present. After losing my MX 5 she bought me the camera I would rather have gotten anyway, a sea & sea MX10 with strobe.
I am having the pictures developed today and should have some of them to post on my site by tomorrow night I hope!
Dive 8 - This was at the wreck alled the Cartanzer. Here we saw almost every kind of fish. Angels, Surgeons, Seargeants, Balloonfish, Tangs, Triggers and everything in between. My wife saw an Octopus (though we suspect maybe she had one of those brownies with green leaves in them hehehe). Michelle also got a lot of this on video which I will share including some real closeups of a barracuda that was about 4 feet long. She got right in his face, he made threatening gestures and she finally convinced him that if he wasn't going to attack she was going to keep filming and he finally went away. Also she got footage of the wreck and a stingray. I cannot wait to get this VHS tape converted over to share with you all. I have to say that being aboard yacht opus was the highlight of the trip! I give Michelle and Lenny 5 stars!
I also enjoyed the people from Chris Sawyer whose boat we went out on they were very friendly and outgoing and helpfull. I would recommend them for dives if you are there!
Then for the negative. My wife and I got certified with Dive In on sapphire Beach. They absolutely SUCK! I will post more on that under "dive instructor from hell"
If you are in St. Thomas I highly recommend you avoid them entirely as they are very unsafe and not overly professional.
Once again my compliments to the owners of yacht opus for 2 very memorable dives!
I did a total of 8 dives while I was there, and dives 5 & 6 were beach dives at Coki Beach and not much to mention there. So here goes.
Dive 1 - This dive was at a place called stragglers. We went out on Chris Sawyers boat. This was the first dive of my AOW certification. We saw 2 stingrays and a medium sized turtle as well as lots of reef fish. Some of the noteworthy fish were a rainbow parrotfish that was about 2 feet long. It was the largest one we have seen in all of our dives. A wide variety of parrotfish were hanging out in the coral. We also saw 10-12 trunkfish and several large balloonfish. We also saw tons of the usual sargeants, tangs and a few surgeons.
Dive 2 - This was a place called little St. John. Here I had to do my navigation dive. It was easier than I thought it was going to be. We saw several smaller purplemouth moray eels. Several medium sized flounders and more trunkfish. The coral here was really nice and lots of outcroppings with fish loaded in them,
Dive 3 - This was a place called Cow Rock. This was a neat dive, we swam all the way around the rock and saw several smaller nurse sharks, with the biggest being about 3 1/2 feet long. The fish were everywhere on this dive, every type was present but we had several weak divers and the currents were causing them problem, one guy even got thrown into a wall of coral, luckily only a couple of dozen small cuts and scrapes. But he should have been paying better attention and not been where he was, now the coral has to pay for his lack of control. Then really bad news happened. I had my Sea & Sea MX 5 on my wrist and in the course of fighting currents and surge it must've slipped off. We were unable to find the camera and it had my pictures of me underwater and the nurse sharks. We looked for it before going to the next site, to no avail. It is probably on it's way to Puerto Rico. So if anyone finds it, keep the camera and send me the film.
Dive 4 - This was a place called calf. It was okay, there were quite a few fish and a wide variety of coral to look at. Saw many groupers and lots of angels etc. All in all this was just an okay place to dive.
Dive 5 & 6. This was off of Cokie beack. My final dive of my AOW and 2 of my wifes dives for her OW. Nothing to really note here, coki beach is okay but nothing spectacular in the area we saw. We also when to Coral World after diving. It was pretty decent, but a little bit pricey for what you get to see. Good place if you have kids, but if you dive you have or will see better in your gear!
Dive 7 - This was at Andres Reef off of Buck Island. Lenny & I went to look for Lobster in 75 feet of water while my wife worked on the last two dives of her OW with Michelle. As I stated below, this was awesome diving aboard the yacht opus. Although we did not see any lobsters we saw a few eels and 2 stingrays and another turtle. We also saw an anemone(sp) This is the first one we had seen, it was neet to see that after seeing so many coral and sponges. We have some of this dive on VHS which I am going to have converted to AVI or MPEG so I can put it on my site. I also got pictures thanks to my loving wife buying me an early christmas present. After losing my MX 5 she bought me the camera I would rather have gotten anyway, a sea & sea MX10 with strobe.
I am having the pictures developed today and should have some of them to post on my site by tomorrow night I hope!Dive 8 - This was at the wreck alled the Cartanzer. Here we saw almost every kind of fish. Angels, Surgeons, Seargeants, Balloonfish, Tangs, Triggers and everything in between. My wife saw an Octopus (though we suspect maybe she had one of those brownies with green leaves in them hehehe). Michelle also got a lot of this on video which I will share including some real closeups of a barracuda that was about 4 feet long. She got right in his face, he made threatening gestures and she finally convinced him that if he wasn't going to attack she was going to keep filming and he finally went away. Also she got footage of the wreck and a stingray. I cannot wait to get this VHS tape converted over to share with you all. I have to say that being aboard yacht opus was the highlight of the trip! I give Michelle and Lenny 5 stars!
I also enjoyed the people from Chris Sawyer whose boat we went out on they were very friendly and outgoing and helpfull. I would recommend them for dives if you are there!
Then for the negative. My wife and I got certified with Dive In on sapphire Beach. They absolutely SUCK! I will post more on that under "dive instructor from hell"
If you are in St. Thomas I highly recommend you avoid them entirely as they are very unsafe and not overly professional.
Once again my compliments to the owners of yacht opus for 2 very memorable dives!
