04.07.09 Kirk
OK Sten It’s Blog time. To Start, I’ll say that this is without question the most elegant dive ship I have been aboard. The Vessel was obviously carefully designed and appointed.The crew all friendly and professional.The food tasty and well prepared. I’ll copy some notes from my log later. In Cabo 04.05.09 After dinner I went for a walk around the Yacht harbor. I found the Nautilus Explorer. She looked even better sitting at the dock than in the pics on the web site. I felt so lucky. I promised her I’d be back in the morning. Love at first sight.
At the dive site ‘Boiler’ San Benedicto Island 04.08.09
The boiler is a Pinnacle with steep walls of very layered volcanic rock. An easy time to make a turn around it. My first Manta encounter ever. What graceful beings. Every time we turned a corner on the rock there was another. Really fantastic!
Moving to Socorros tomorrow.
Roca O’Neill Socorros Absolutely Awesome almost orgasmic. in spite of the nasty looking break. Going down a hole filled with white tipped sharks to emerge 50 ft lower finding varied topography and Galapagos sharks. and mantas waiting right on time. Friendly and very approachable. I find when interacting with them I become very calm. my breathing is controllable and it seems like time slows down.
The exit was exciting. The ground swell breaking and shooting up. I got in the inflatable faster than I ever had before.
Pacific diving at it’s best!
Three hours later same site different dive. The current was up and the vis was down.
Slowly working our way around a corner one of the divers got a little panicky and dive master Pedro decided to turn back.The exit was more dicey than the first time. The fastest I ever got out of my BC and into the inflatable.
04.10.09 Roca Partida One tiny rock atop a sea mount way out in the blue boonies.A good look at hammerheads, Galapagos, and white tips. A couple of mantas curious about us, but not very social. This is a hot dive site today. On the second dive as we approached the wall one of the divers began pointing very emphatically . I couldn’t see anything much. then the wall began to move and my vision resolved into a Whale shark. Of course I didn’t have my camera in hand or turned on. It was moving through at an easy pace for it , sprint speed for us. We all went in pursuit. Sten who usually barely seems to move was along side with his video camera. Almost keeping up with it.I didn’t get a picture, but it was a real high point for me. `So Bitchin!
Breakfastus Interruptus
The humpbacks were there on the first dive. A family group consisting of mother father and a really fresh calf. They had been breaching and sounding all around us as long as we had been here. Suddenly, as breakfast was being served, the calf breached right next to the boat. And the mother was there. Sten was BANG! in the water with his video camera. Followed by about half the divers Sylvia, one of the crew was taking orders for eggs and almost weeping. She kept say “this is my dream”, but her duty kept her to the boat. Skipper Gordon took her clipboard and said GO! She headed for the berthing compartment for her swim suit and we all said GO! So she did. The whales circled the boat for as if waiting for her. Tim made a record putting on his wet suit in the water. Most didn’t bother with the suit. Even just ten years ago I would have beat Sten into the water, but I held back, just seeing them so close was fantastic. It took a little while to get breakfast back on track, totally worth it.
Guest Blog 4-07-09
