teamoctopus
Registered
- Messages
- 59
- Reaction score
- 2
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
We planned a 90 minute surface interval, and since all the dive sites are only short distances from the harbor, we took an opportunity to head back and grab a soda. The Marines were amassing equipment, personnel and a lot of food for their exercises. We again boarded Big Blue, and headed out to The Twilight Zone. There are a cluster of dive sites with science fiction names The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and a couple others I cant remember.
Michael briefed us for the dive on The Twilight Zone, which is another pinnacle that rises from the sea floor some 150m or so below, has a horseshoe shaped plateau at 32m, and twin peaks at 25 and 23m. Our dive plan was to drop to the plateau, and then work our way around the peaks in a series of figure 8s, as we made our way up. This was an incredible dive, and we saw a huge-hawk bill turtle, a cruising nurse shark (we got video!) and other beautiful forms of life. Our guide Michael, Chris and I spent around 10 minutes hanging in the blue, scanning the blue water for signs of pelagics they sometimes see hammerheads in the blue water and even Marlin. We finished our safety stop, got on board and situated, and headed back to the harbor.
Chris: That afternoon we headed back to Scouts Place, showered and had another fantastic lunch in the restaurant. Then headed out to check out some of the most breathtaking views you will find in the Caribbean.
Dinner was at Scouts Place too and luckily their menu is varied and extremely well put together. We had no complaints about the food, reasonably priced, plenty of it and fresh!
Tuesday 4th September 2012
Keith: I awoke early (6:30am), got up, and went out in search of coffee. The restaurant doesnt open until 7:30, so I caught up on email, did a Skype call home, and caught up on the newspaper (Boston Globe, downloaded via my iPad). Chris came down at 7:30, and we had breakfast (I upgraded to the American again). We straightened up our room and got it squared away and then caught our taxi to the harbor at 9. We met up with Michael and Caroline at the dive shop, arranged our gear, and headed out to Big Blue. We were heading out to dive Man Owar Shoals, along the shore of the islands south-western side. Man Owar Shoals is a shallow dive site nestled in close to Saba. The bottom here is at about 20m, with set of twin peaks that rise up to 5m. The shoals get their name, reportedly, from its use as a shallow draft escape route for pirates, who when chased by a british Man Owar, slipped through this passage to make their escape. The Man Owar, with its deeper draft, reportedly did not make it through intact. This makes for a great story, but Michael told us that it is probably just a legend, as there is no evidence of a shipwreck here.
Caroline briefed us for the dive, and we geared up and got into the water. I brought along my new toy for testing the iGills underwater case and dive computer for the iPhone 4. The dive on the shoals was fantastic. The colors here are amazing, and can be seen clearly due to the shallow depth of the site. We worked our way around the bottom of the shoals (no signs of shipwreck, alas ) and then made our way up in a series of figure 8 spirals, until we reached the top of the shoals. When Caroline signaled that it was time for our safety stop when I looked at my Vyper, I saw that we were already at 5m, and that we only had another minute to go. My iGills worked perfectly, and reported to me that we had 45 minutes of bottom time, and a water temperature of 83 degrees. I even had the chance to shoot a few pictures and some short video with my iPhone.
We secured our gear and motored over to Tent reef for our next dive. Michael dropped his homemade drift computer into the water (a 5m rope with some dive weights on the end), and noted that we had a pretty decent current running through the site. We discussed it for a bit, and decided that we would do a drift dive this meant that Michael would have to stay topside as the boat captain, but the plus was that we got another dive with Caroline. Caroline briefed us on the dive, we would descend on Tent reef, and then make our way down current along the reef. We started with a great shallow reef structure that was full of life, and as we drifted down, it developed into a double wall system. The upper wall starts at about 5m, and drops down to about 15m to a sandy step. Then another wall drops down another 10m or so to a sandy bottom. There were some great overhangs and small caverns to peer into, and abundant life. We drifted along this reef/wall for about 45 minutes, occasionally drifting down to look at the lower wall, or into the small caverns, but staying mainly on the upper wall where the light made the colors vibrantly bright. The dive ended all too soon, and we did our safety stop while Caroline floated her SMB. We made our swim to the boat, surfaced and boarded. I was a bit saddened, knowing this was our last dive on Saba for this trip and I knew I would miss it immediately.
When we got back to the dive shop, Michael and Caroline helped us wash, sort and pack our gear for the trip back. Chris and I headed to the bar/restaurant next door, and got two Sam Adams to celebrate. All too soon our taxi arrived, and we packed up our gear and headed back to Scouts place. We gathered the rest of our gear, checked out, and then grabbed one last lunch at the restaurant. While we were in the restaurant finishing lunch, a newlywed couple noticed our Octopus diving T-shirts, and asked if we knew anything about Octopus diving, as they were headed to St. Martin next, and hoped to dive with them. I quickly introduced Chris as the Owner/Operator of Octopus diving, and we had a great chat about their next few dives. It turns out that we shared both the cab to the airport, and the flight to Sint. Maarten with them. It sure is a small world.
For more information on Octopus Diving please visit our website:
http://www.octopusdiving.com/
We can also arrange trips to Saba and St. Eustatia, these trips can be personally guided by Chris Davies, just email http://chris@octopusdiving.com for more information.
Michael briefed us for the dive on The Twilight Zone, which is another pinnacle that rises from the sea floor some 150m or so below, has a horseshoe shaped plateau at 32m, and twin peaks at 25 and 23m. Our dive plan was to drop to the plateau, and then work our way around the peaks in a series of figure 8s, as we made our way up. This was an incredible dive, and we saw a huge-hawk bill turtle, a cruising nurse shark (we got video!) and other beautiful forms of life. Our guide Michael, Chris and I spent around 10 minutes hanging in the blue, scanning the blue water for signs of pelagics they sometimes see hammerheads in the blue water and even Marlin. We finished our safety stop, got on board and situated, and headed back to the harbor.
Chris: That afternoon we headed back to Scouts Place, showered and had another fantastic lunch in the restaurant. Then headed out to check out some of the most breathtaking views you will find in the Caribbean.
Dinner was at Scouts Place too and luckily their menu is varied and extremely well put together. We had no complaints about the food, reasonably priced, plenty of it and fresh!
Tuesday 4th September 2012
Keith: I awoke early (6:30am), got up, and went out in search of coffee. The restaurant doesnt open until 7:30, so I caught up on email, did a Skype call home, and caught up on the newspaper (Boston Globe, downloaded via my iPad). Chris came down at 7:30, and we had breakfast (I upgraded to the American again). We straightened up our room and got it squared away and then caught our taxi to the harbor at 9. We met up with Michael and Caroline at the dive shop, arranged our gear, and headed out to Big Blue. We were heading out to dive Man Owar Shoals, along the shore of the islands south-western side. Man Owar Shoals is a shallow dive site nestled in close to Saba. The bottom here is at about 20m, with set of twin peaks that rise up to 5m. The shoals get their name, reportedly, from its use as a shallow draft escape route for pirates, who when chased by a british Man Owar, slipped through this passage to make their escape. The Man Owar, with its deeper draft, reportedly did not make it through intact. This makes for a great story, but Michael told us that it is probably just a legend, as there is no evidence of a shipwreck here.
Caroline briefed us for the dive, and we geared up and got into the water. I brought along my new toy for testing the iGills underwater case and dive computer for the iPhone 4. The dive on the shoals was fantastic. The colors here are amazing, and can be seen clearly due to the shallow depth of the site. We worked our way around the bottom of the shoals (no signs of shipwreck, alas ) and then made our way up in a series of figure 8 spirals, until we reached the top of the shoals. When Caroline signaled that it was time for our safety stop when I looked at my Vyper, I saw that we were already at 5m, and that we only had another minute to go. My iGills worked perfectly, and reported to me that we had 45 minutes of bottom time, and a water temperature of 83 degrees. I even had the chance to shoot a few pictures and some short video with my iPhone.
We secured our gear and motored over to Tent reef for our next dive. Michael dropped his homemade drift computer into the water (a 5m rope with some dive weights on the end), and noted that we had a pretty decent current running through the site. We discussed it for a bit, and decided that we would do a drift dive this meant that Michael would have to stay topside as the boat captain, but the plus was that we got another dive with Caroline. Caroline briefed us on the dive, we would descend on Tent reef, and then make our way down current along the reef. We started with a great shallow reef structure that was full of life, and as we drifted down, it developed into a double wall system. The upper wall starts at about 5m, and drops down to about 15m to a sandy step. Then another wall drops down another 10m or so to a sandy bottom. There were some great overhangs and small caverns to peer into, and abundant life. We drifted along this reef/wall for about 45 minutes, occasionally drifting down to look at the lower wall, or into the small caverns, but staying mainly on the upper wall where the light made the colors vibrantly bright. The dive ended all too soon, and we did our safety stop while Caroline floated her SMB. We made our swim to the boat, surfaced and boarded. I was a bit saddened, knowing this was our last dive on Saba for this trip and I knew I would miss it immediately.
When we got back to the dive shop, Michael and Caroline helped us wash, sort and pack our gear for the trip back. Chris and I headed to the bar/restaurant next door, and got two Sam Adams to celebrate. All too soon our taxi arrived, and we packed up our gear and headed back to Scouts place. We gathered the rest of our gear, checked out, and then grabbed one last lunch at the restaurant. While we were in the restaurant finishing lunch, a newlywed couple noticed our Octopus diving T-shirts, and asked if we knew anything about Octopus diving, as they were headed to St. Martin next, and hoped to dive with them. I quickly introduced Chris as the Owner/Operator of Octopus diving, and we had a great chat about their next few dives. It turns out that we shared both the cab to the airport, and the flight to Sint. Maarten with them. It sure is a small world.
For more information on Octopus Diving please visit our website:
http://www.octopusdiving.com/
We can also arrange trips to Saba and St. Eustatia, these trips can be personally guided by Chris Davies, just email http://chris@octopusdiving.com for more information.
