After a slightly longer than normal speed boat ride to the dive spot due to engine problems, we arrived at a favorite reef diving spot entitled “Speedball.” Descending onto the shallow reef was like landing on the surface of the moon surrounded by little “alien” fish. If it hadn’t been for the baby white tip reef sharks out in the blue distance where the reef dropped to unseen depths, I would have wondered if what I was seeing was real or not. I’ve been to this particular spot only once before, and remembered it being a good dive, but this was beyond belief. As the strong current carried us around to the drop off, we had to maneuver through crags and crevices of coral to emerge into the deep blue of nothingness in front and a gorgeous, thriving reef at our backs.
It’s so easy to descend to 100+ feet without realizing it as you discover resting nurse sharks with only their tails sticking out of the holes in the reef or stop to visit the anemones that always make me think of Nemo. My boyfriend noticed a large grouper, which made him think of delicious grouper sandwiches while one of our other dive partners was checking out the Titan Trigger Fish who was clearly in nesting mode and watching out for intruders. As far as dives go, this is one of the most exciting and challenging in these waters. It’s easy to allow the current to take you too far, so you have to be aware of turning around before you get carried down the reef, and then begin watching your depth and holding on to the reef as you ascend and explore some more before ending your dive. Because of the ever present swirling current in this area, this reef is extremely colorful and diverse with lots of soft corals which can look like anything from flowers to feathers as they sway in the waters which pull you past them, sometimes before you want to leave. I can’t wait to do this dive again!
Next, after a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some water to keep our energy up and our bodies warm and ready to swim, we hit the Corsair, which is slightly north of the airplane graveyard we’ve visited several times before. Because of the depth of the plane dive and the sheer number of them, it’s almost impossible to hit both the 13 planes and the Corsairs on the same one tank dive, so I had never seen the Corsair before. As we descended, we were pleasantly surprised to discover we could also view a couple of the other SBD Dauntless planes we had not seen previously, and another plane that we will need to research as we could not identify it. In addition, there was an aging 2 ½ ton truck off to the side of the last plane we investigated. It was a fantastic dive as each plane has its own character. The Corsair, for example, is nose down, and it’s different from all the rest because of its characteristic bend wing design. The last plane we saw that we were not sure of was bigger than the rest with the wings broken in two and bent backwards which may have occurred during its upside down landing.
It’s not just the planes themselves that are fascinating, but the life that grows on and in them. For my very first time, one of our dive partners discovered a fried egg nudibranch attached to the underside of one of the Corsairs wings, and there was a magnificent branchy coral attached to the wing of one of the SBD’s I checked out briefly. I think I’m becoming addicted to diving! There’s always something new to check out and see, even if you’ve been to that spot before. The ocean is a whole other world, so even though I am not able to travel to sightsee in other countries as much as I would like to, I am sightseeing other worlds from underwater!
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