What have you seen?

[shoredivr]

Ice crystals forming in the water in front of me at the end of an ice dive, I was 2 ft below the surface in the hole cut in the ice.

A New Years Day dive in Wiarton On. Not a breath of wind, the bay was like glass. It was raining and looking up I could see the perfect little ripples spreading out from each raindrop, and at the "horizon" line, the outline of the cedar trees along the shore.

A banded sea snake in 85' water on the Great Barrier Reef.

The wreck of the Niagara II from the surface of Georgian Bay...another mirror-flat day, clear
May water and the deck at 70 ft could be clearly seen. When we were on the bottom at 90 ft the name of the Charter boat could be read clearly.

Finally, diving Silfra, Iceland. 300'ft viz in glacier fed water, put my right hand on the North American Continental Plate and my left hand on the European Continental Plate while hanging in the rock cleft between them.

 

[Ryan Nelson]

Had two Orcas surface about 15 meters away from us as we were surface swimming to a reef in Laguna Beach, CA. Also kind of scary as I imagined how much we looked like seals...

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[MaxBottomtime]

In 1989 I learned about the UB88, a WWI German submarine sunk off Los Angeles Harbor in 1921. I spoke with several divers who had searched for it since the 1950s with no luck. After conducting a search with friends for several years and then searching on my own for a few months I made a dive on what I believed to be the site. I was filled with such joy and a feeling of accomplishment when the first thing to appear out of the gloom was the conning tower.

 

[KeithG]

Bulldozer shrimp. Cleaning out the hole for them and the goby. Belize.

 

[Wingy]

This week - electric flame scallops in the Phillipines. Other good stuff...mantas, whales, whalesharks, dolphins, dugongs, sharks of many varieties......but I hadnt seen the electric shells until this week. I liked seeing something new.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

In 1989 I learned about the UB88, a WWI German submarine sunk off Los Angeles Harbor in 1921. I spoke with several divers who had searched for it since the 1950s with no luck. After conducting a search with friends for several years and then searching on my own for a few months I made a dive on what I believed to be the site. I was filled with such joy and a feeling of accomplishment when the first thing to appear out of the gloom was the conning tower.
View attachment 175157

Has the wreck been penetrated, and have you been able to confirm its identity?

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Maui 2012, parrot fish repeatedly swimming into the side of a white tip reef shark that was "in his spot." The white tip left after 4 hits to the mid section. All the best things we have seen are animal behavior related. Second place, for example, is a 5 feet long tarpon smashing into a auto wind film camera that was stuck on auto wind and making a huming sound. This was on a night dive and I was the guy with the camera, way back in 2000. Lots more, too much to share. Thanks for the thread to stimulate a stroll down memory lane.
DivemasterDennis

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Has the wreck been penetrated, and have you been able to confirm its identity?

Yes, and yes.
UB88 Submarine

I didn't find it first, but I was the first to share the location with tech divers and boat captains. It's become a popular tech site.

 

[chris_the_brit]

Hundreds of sea nettles cruising past during the safety stop at Eric's Pinnacle, Monterey. Magic.

 

[berk]

The strange stuff seems more memorable.

I think it had to be a monster basking shark that passed RIGHT next to the boat, fin up, off Cape Cod just as we were discussing the increase in White Shark populations. At first we were dead frozen. The fin came up and then the tail a mile away.

Remora trying to attach to me.

Perhaps chasing some douche I got paired with when I was 10-12 years old diving in Cayman without my folks. I wasn't allowed on the 2 tank dives yet. He took off like shot out of a gun and by the time I caught him it was 70-80' and the wall loomed ahead. Clearly that was not the right direction and it was wild to see it for the first time not expecting it.

Jumping in on a NE Atlantic dive and suddenly realizing that Gulf Stream water had come closer to shore. It was like a bath tub and really clear when you were expecting the cold and dark.

15-30' Below me on a long hang were some kind of big Jack or Tuna type fish making impossibly tight and fast circles around the anchor line. By far the most scared I have been of marine life; just a lot of power. I imagine that being among feeding billfish would feel similar.

Big groupers booming. I had no idea what it was until I surfaced. I saw one hiding in a cement pipe; just eyes and a huge mouth.