Belize Aggressor III Captain's Logs

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report April 20 - 27, 2013

Crew:
Captain/Instructor – Jay
Second Captain/Instructor – Michael
Engineer – Fermin
Video/Instructor – Jody
Stewardess – Randy
Chef – Anna

Average Water Temp: 82 F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: light chop

This week we welcomed our international guests Joel, Wanda & Valerie, Jonas, Berry, Hitoshi & Miyako, Massimo & Carala, Tom & Ingrid, Gary & Gerry, Jose & Lucia and Lyn. All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm and got settled in with their equipment. After doing our Captain’s safety briefing and introductions, we sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Yanis. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Lighthouse Atoll for the evening to start our diving early Sunday morning.

Dive Sites of the week:
Sunday - Front Porch & Black Beauty
Monday - Dos Cocos & Aquarium
Tuesday - The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Beach BBQ & Half Moon Caye Wall
Wednesday - Quebrada & Cathedral
Thursday - Chain Wall & Silver Caves
Friday - Long Caye Ridge & The Elbow

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Monday and Friday dives on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of Caribbean reef sharks, juvenile black tip sharks, spotted eagle rays, loggerhead/hawksbill/green turtles, amberjacks, bottlenose dolphins, free-swimming green and spotted morays, huge black and Nassau groupers, curious barracudas, schools of tarpon in formation, octopus running across the sand on the afternoon dive, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angel and triggerfish, schools of creole wrasse, tons of parrotfish…midnight, rainbow, stoplight, etc…, rock beauties, basslets, hamlets, damselfish, to name a few. Also there were a lot of critters such as skeleton shrimp, wire coral shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, Pederson shrimp, pipefish, pipehorse, blue throat pike blennies, head shield slugs, several species of nudibranchs, squid (some juvenile), comb jellies, and several cleaning stations.

Tuesday morning we traveled up to The Great Blue Hole. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery and even saw flamingo tongues in the depths. After the Blue Hole we headed to Half Moon Caye Island. The island is the oldest site for wildlife protection in Belize and also the only breeding colony in the country for the thousands of red-footed booby birds that nest beside their pirating neighbors the magnificent frigate birds. We spent some time walking around the palm tree lined beaches, combed paths, came across a few hermit crabs, an iguana and enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower/platform nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach barbeque for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship.

On Friday and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to Altun Ha Mayan Ruins, The Belize Zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Happy Birthday Miyako!!

Thanks to the wonderful group of people and a great week of diving!!

Congratulations to the following divers:
Advanced Open Water Certification: Joel and Lucia
Nitrox Certification: Tom, Ingrid, Jose, Lucia and Barry
800^th Recreational Dive: Massimo
500^th Recreational Dive: Carala

Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report April 27 to May 4, 2013

Crew:
Captain/Instructor – Jay
Second Captain/Instructor – Michael
Video/Instructor – Chris
Video/Instructor – Jody
Stewardess – Vanessa
Chef – Yanis

Average Water Temp: 82 F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: mild to light chop

All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm and got settled in with their equipment. This week we welcomed our international guests Ned & Gavin, Chuck & Laurice, John & Marguerite, Bob & Mary, Felix & Nicole, Alison, Bryan and Holly. After doing our Captain’s safety briefing and introductions, we sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Yanis. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Lighthouse Atoll for the evening to start our diving early Sunday morning.

Dive Sites of the week:
Sunday: Dos Cocos & Quebrada
Monday: Aquarium & Long Caye Wall
Tuesday: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Beach BBQ & Painted Wall
Wednesday: Half Moon Caye Wall & Cathedral
Thursday: Silver Caves & Black Beauty
Friday: Sandy Slope

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Monday, Thursday/Friday dives on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of Caribbean reef sharks, juvenile black tip sharks, spotted eagle rays, loggerhead, hawksbill and green turtles, amberjacks, bottlenose dolphins, free-swimming green and spotted morays, huge black and Nassau groupers, curious barracudas, schools of tarpon in formation, octopus running across the sand on the afternoon dive, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angel and triggerfish, schools of Creole wrasse, tons of parrotfish…midnight, rainbow, stoplight, etc…, rock beauties, basslets, hamlets, damselfish, to name a few. Also there were a lot of critters such as skeleton shrimp, wire coral shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, Pederson shrimp, pipefish, pipehorse, blue throat pike blennies, head shield slugs, several species of nudibranchs, squid (some juvenile), comb jellies, and several cleaning stations.

Tuesday morning we traveled up to The Great Blue Hole. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery and even saw flamingo tongues in the depths. After the Blue Hole we headed to Half Moon Caye Island. The island is the oldest site for wildlife protection in Belize and also the only breeding colony in the country for the thousands of red-footed booby birds that nest beside their pirating neighbors the magnificent frigate birds. We spent some time walking around the palm tree lined beaches, combed paths, came across a few hermit crabs, an iguana and enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower/platform nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach barbeque for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship.

On Friday and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to Altun Ha Mayan Ruins, The Belize Zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Happy Birthday Nicole!!

Thanks to the wonderful group of people and a great week of diving!!

Congratulations to the following divers:
Gorilla Divers (completed all of this week’s dives): Ned, Gavin and Bryan
100^th Recreational Dive: Alison and Bryon

Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report May 4 – 11, 2013

Average Water Temp: 81F - 83F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: mild to light chop

This week we welcomed our international guests John & Pam, Bill, Brian & Amy, Merri & Kylie, Walter & Jennifer, Pierre & Laurence, Jerry, Rich & Carol, Kevin & Lesa and Marie. After doing our Captain’s safety briefing and introductions, we sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Yanis. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Lighthouse Atoll for the evening to start our diving early Sunday morning.

Dive Sites of the Week:
Sunday: Southeast Cut & Cathedral
Monday: Half Moon Caye Wall & Dos Cocos
Tuesday: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Beach BBQ & Painted Wall
Wednesday: Chain Wall & Quebrada
Thursday: Silver Caves & Aquarium
Friday: Long Caye Ridge Wall & Front Porch

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Monday & Friday dives on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of Caribbean reef sharks, juvenile black tips, spotted eagle rays, loggerhead/hawksbill/green turtles, amberjacks, bottlenose dolphins, free-swimming green and spotted morays, huge black and Nassau groupers, curious barracudas, schools of tarpon in formation, octopus, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angel and triggerfish, schools of Creole wrasse, tons of parrotfish…midnight, rainbow, stoplight, etc… rock beauties, basslets, hamlets, damselfish, to name a few. Also there were a lot of critters such as skeleton shrimp, wire coral shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, Pederson shrimp, pipefish, pipehorse, blue throat pike blennies, head shield slugs, several species of nudibranchs, squid (some juvenile), comb jellies, and several cleaning stations.

Tuesday morning we traveled up to The Great Blue Hole. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery and even saw flamingo tongues in the depths. After the Blue Hole we headed to Half Moon Caye Island. The island is the oldest site for wildlife protection in Belize and also the only breeding colony in the country for the thousands of red-footed booby birds that nest beside their pirating neighbors the magnificent frigate birds. We spent some time walking around the palm tree lined beaches, combed paths, came across a few hermit crabs, an iguana and enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower/platform nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach barbeque for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship.

On Friday and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to Altun Ha Mayan Ruins, the Belize Zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Happy Birthday Kylie!!

Congratulations to the following divers:
Gorilla Divers (completed all of this week’s dives): Rich, Jeremy, Kevin, Bill, Brian and John
Honorary Hotshot & Reef Protector: Kylie
100^th Recreational Dive: Amy & Kylie
The Honorary Critter Finder: Marie

Thanks to the wonderful group of people and a great week of diving!!
Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

Captain/Instructor – Jay
Second Captain/Instructor – Michael
Video/Instructor – Chris
Video/Instructor – Jody
Stewardess – Vanessa
Chef – Yanis

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report May 11 -18, 2013

Average Water Temp: 81 - 83F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft - 120ft
Average Wind: 5 - 10 knots
Sea Conditions: mild to light chop

This week we welcomed our international guests: Steve W, Stephen, John, Kamal, Matthew & Christine, Tom & Linda, Sylvia, Wanda, Steven & Donna, Rolf & Jodi, Michael & Kara and Gerald & Deborah. After doing our Captain’s safety briefing and introductions, we sat down to a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Anna. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Lighthouse Atoll for the evening to start our diving early Sunday morning.

Dive Sites of the week:
Sunday: Sandy Slope & Long Caye Ridge
Monday: Dos Cocos & Julie’s Jungle
Tuesday: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Beach BBQ & Half Moon Caye Wall
Wednesday: Chain Wall, Aquarium & Eel Town
Thursday: Silver Caves & Long Caye Wall
Friday: Cathedral & Front Porch

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Sunday and Friday dives on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of Caribbean reef sharks, juvenile black tip sharks, spotted eagle rays, turtles: loggerhead, hawksbill and green turtles, amberjacks, bottlenose dolphins, free-swimming green and spotted morays, huge black and Nassau groupers, curious barracudas, schools of tarpon in formation, octopus, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angel and triggerfish, schools of Creole wrasse, tons of parrotfish…midnight, rainbow, stoplight, etc…, rock beauties, basslets, hamlets, damselfish, to name a few. Also there were a lot of critters such as skeleton shrimp, wire coral shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, Pederson shrimp, pipefish, pipehorse, blue throat pike blennies, head shield slugs, several species of nudibranchs, squid (some juvenile), comb jellies, and several cleaning stations.

Tuesday morning we traveled up to the Great Blue Hole. This site was made famous by Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world. In 1971, he brought his ship, the Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery and even saw flamingo tongues in the depths. After the Blue Hole we headed to Half Moon Caye Island. The island is the oldest site for wildlife protection in Belize and also the only breeding colony in the country for the thousands of red-footed booby birds that nest beside their pirating neighbors the magnificent frigate birds. We spent some time walking around the palm tree lined beaches, combed paths, came across a few hermit crabs, an iguana and enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower/platform nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach barbeque for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship.

On Friday and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to Altun Ha Mayan ruins, the Belize zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Thanks to the wonderful group of people and a great week of diving!!

Congratulations to the following divers:
King Kong Divers (completed and exceeded all of this week’s dives): Steve W, Jodi, and Rolf
Gorilla Divers (completed all of this week’s dives): Steve R, Linda, Tom, Sylvia, Donna, Stephen and Wanda
400^th Recreational Dive: Rolf and Jodi
200th Recreational Dive: John
100^th Recreational Dive: Stephen, Matthew, Wanda, Kamal and Christine

Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

Captain &Instructor – Jay
Second Captain & Instructor – Michael
Video & Instructor – Chris
Video & Instructor – Jody
Stewardess – Randy
Chef – Anna

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report May 18-25, 2013

Seas: choppy
Winds: 5-20 knots
Skies: sunny and cloudy
Avg. Water Temp: 80-82F
Avg. Visibility: 70’

This week we welcomed 17 guests: Holly, Wanda, Becky, Todd, Brad, Lisa, Clayton, Bethany, Martin, Kim, Mike, Slavka, Borzidor, Sharon, RD, Joel, and our snorkeler Darilyn. All our guests boarded the vessel, got settled and checked in, and then it was time to relax. We did our ‘Introductions and Captain’s Safety Briefing’, then had a wonderful fish dinner prepared by Chef Anna before heading straight over to Lighthouse Reef for our first dive on Sunday. This is where we would stay for the week of diving, except for one drift dive on Turneffe Atoll.

Dive Sites:
Sun – Dos Cocos & Cathedral
Mon – Julie’s Jungle & Sand Box
Tues – Blue Hole & Painted Wall
Wed – Long Caye Ridge & Aquarium
Thurs – Silver Caves & Long Caye Wall
Fri – Dos Cocos & Amberhead (drift dive at Turneffe)

For our first dive of the week we did our check out dive and 2^nd morning dive at Dos Cocos. This was a great introductory site to the beautiful reefs and abundance of fish and other marine life that Belize boasts. This site would set the norm for the week of diving ahead as we saw swarms of Creole wrasse running along the top of the reef, tons of sergeant majors were swimming around along with chubs, black durgeons, trumpet fish, angelfish, rock beauties, triggerfish, parrotfish, damsels, and hamlets...we would see these fish at every site along with other fascinating marine life.

We had a fun group of people and all appreciated our underwater world as well as our island excursion over to Half Moon Caye Natural Monument. Our divers (and snorkeler) excitedly recapped what they saw on their dives (and snorkeling). Not only were they impressed with the fish life, but the gardens of beautiful corals on the reefs also had them in awe. Then there were the macro critters…skeleton shrimp, neck crabs, wire coral shrimp, several species of nudibranch, juvenile squid, juvenile trunk fish, anemone shrimps and crabs, arrow blennies (and tons of other blennies and gobies), a family of spotted drums, pipe horses, and slugs about 1/8” long. There were several of our guests that said they saw stuff on this trip that they had never seen before.

We also had sightings of eagle rays, lots of green and spotted morays…some hiding out, some getting cleaned, and some out hunting. We had close encounters with Caribbean reef sharks, and there were several of our guests that got to swim side by side with turtles on several dives. This week we also visited the Great Blue Hole and did our deep dive to see the massive limestone stalactite formations and where we saw a small Caribbean reef shark. We also visited the bird sanctuary on Half Moon Caye to see the nesting grounds for the magnificent frigate birds and our only red-footed booby bird colony in Belize.

What an awesome week of diving…we saw everything and satisfied those that like the large fish, those that like macro life, and those that appreciate the overall beauty and abundance of marine life on our reefs. We look forward to diving with you again. Thank you.

Crew: Capt. Jay, Chef Anna, Engineer Fermin, Steward Randy, Instructors Jody & Chris

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report May 25 to June 1, 2013

Weather: Partly Cloudy, 10-20 KT winds, 2-3 FT swell
Temperature: Air 89 F, Water 82 F
Wetsuit: 2-3 MM full recommended

Crew: Captain Jay, Engineer Fermin, Instructor Jody, Instructor Chris, Chef Yanis, and Stewardess Vanessa; Photos By: Jay Roberts

A guest and a member of the staff danced a wild fandango trying to avoid an overly zealous remora looking to attach himself to a bit of exposed flesh!

Our indomitable swimming guest did laps around the boat for 35 minutes each day. On Thursday a large loggerhead turtle mistook him for a potential love interest and attempted to mate while 5 remoras watched the show!

A shark, a dragon and a bunny walked into a bar – no wait, they walked onto the boat, bringing merriment and fun, changing the company tagline to EAT, SLEEP, DIVE, PARTY!! The “Fab 4” reported seeing more free-swimming eels than we thought possible.

The French are known for being lovers – our French guest this week fell in love with Chef Yanis – nary a meal passed that he didn’t fill 3 plates per meal! In the water he was amazed by his first encounter with squid and loved the octopi and turtles. And there was something about Lynda and the bunny ears?

And what’s a trip without a virgin…diver that is! We celebrated a new open water diver with the now famous “Aggressor Cake” and we also “caked” a not-so-new diver for her 500^th dive (did she REALLY certify on a double hose regulator???)

This week saw the passage of a veteran diver onto the rolls of “senior citizen.” Always the embellisher, he kept us in stitches ‘til we peed our britches! (OK, we really peed in our wetsuits!) And we believe his wife enjoyed his birthday spanking WAY too much! In the water they really liked the rays.

This week we had an Indian Princess aboard – used to the oilrigs, she liked to go deeeeeep…a beautiful buddy hopper – now you see her, now you don’t! She was off chasing her favorite spotted eagle ray and an octopus or two.

There were also newlyweds aboard – they were fun to watch dancing in the deep – or maybe they were just narc’d?
Their crazy somersaults made us wonder what they were really up to! I wonder what’s coming if her toes are painted as dive flags and her favorite sighting was of a pregnant pipe horse?

The members of our world traveling dive family were masters of air consumption – first in, last out, fab photos of a happy spotted eel, beautiful eagle rays, awesome sharks and the best parade of international dive shirts we’ve seen in a very long time!

Tanks for the memories!

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Log June 1 – 8, 2013

Crew: Capt. Jay, Chef Yanis, Stewardess Vanessa, Engineer Fermin, Instructors Jody and Chris

This week we had flat, calm seas for most of the week with minimal winds. Water visibility averaged 100ft +. We had a fun group aboard with guests Linda, Dennis, Frank, Stewart, Michael, Emily (who turned 16 a few years ago aboard the Belize Aggressor III and was now back to visit again), Stephan, Claudia, Jay, Grace, Chloe, Sharon, Steve, Rich, Joe, Jim G, Jim N, and Greg.

Dive Sites visited this week:
Sun – Front Porch & Black Beauty
Mon – Eagle Ray Pass & Hat Caye Wall
Tues – Blue Hole, Shark Point, & Cathedral
Wed – Half Moon Caye Wall & Dos Cocos
Thurs – Chain Wall & Silver Caves
Fri – Long Caye Ridge & The Elbow

The dives were awesome from the start. On the first dives of the day we had already seen eagle rays, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles, free-swimming morays, a roughback stingray, and just tons of fish. On the evening dives the schools of creole wrasse, horse-eye jacks, bar jacks, parrotfish, and silversides reminded me of rush hour traffic…this is one type of traffic I don’t mind being stuck in.

The awesome dives continued with everyday sightings of more eagle rays, moray eels, sharks, and turtles…we also saw hawksbills, loggerheads, and green turtles. And on Half Moon Caye wall we saw a 12-foot hammerhead shark cruise in close to the wall, allowing our divers a great opportunity to get some video and pictures.

But the pelagics weren’t the only cool things this week…I mean it’s hard to get more excited after coming face to face with an eagle ray, unless of course, you love the macro life…and there was lots of it. We found several very well camouflaged pipehorses…even a pregnant one. We saw pipefish, nudibranch, wire coral shrimp, and tons of other shrimp, slugs that were a mere 1/16 of an inch, baby flounder, slender filefish, anemone crabs, lots and lots of hard to spot neck crabs, a baby octopus grabbing the captain’s finger, and tons of other stuff.

We dove the Great Blue Hole and swam amongst the massive stactites. On the night dives we saw squid (including a baby one about a ¼ inch long…we’ve been spotting those more often), followed an octopus while it fed, eels out and about, and lots and lots of nudibranchs.

We had a some serious, but fun, group of divers of all ages. We had several divers that didn’t skip any dives, and they never seemed to get out of the water…handing up the tank and grabbing a snorkel while they did their surface interval. All in all it was a fun group of people and some great diving…just what we love on the Belize Aggressor III. EAT SLEEP & DIVE!!!

 

[lostcajun]

Looking forward to a trip on Belize Aggressor III in a few weeks!

 

[lostcajun]

We've been missing the Captain's reports the last two weeks. I know the captain and crew are incredibly busy with busy trips and quick turnarounds.

 

[Aggressor Adventures]

Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report June 8-15, 2013

Avg. Water Temp: 80F
Avg Vis: 60ft (beginning of week); 100+ft (last few days of week)
Avg Wind: 15-25 knots
Sea Conditions: choppy

Crew: Captain Mike, Chef Anna, Steward Randy, Engineer Fermin, Instructors Jody and Chris

Dive Sites:
Sunday - Long Caye Ridge and Julie's Jungle
Monday - Long Caye Wall and Painted Wall
Tuesday - Cathedral and Aquarium
Wednesday - Half Moon Caye Wall
Thursday - Silver Caves and Black Beauty
Friday - Sandy Slope

This week we made new friends and welcomed back old friends during a fun week of great diving. Our guests this week: Carol, Mary, Ido, Noa, Jeremy, Jim, Karen, Taz, Patti, Francine, Rich, Alice, Kay, Fred, Graham, Abby, Anne, and Dan.

We started our diving over at Lighthouse Reef and stayed there until Thursday. The first dive we did was at Long Caye Ridge for our check out dives. We descended through a school of creole wrasse and as we came through an eagle ray was gliding below. We also had a close encounter with a very friendly hawksbill turtle. Over in the shallows we found a very well-camouflaged pipe horse holding on to some soft coral and two juvenile trunkfish bobbing around in the reef.

This week we were actively looking for critters, as we had lots of people interested in finding the macro subjects. There were no shortage of wire coral shrimp, neck crabs, skeleton shrimp, arrow blennies, roughhead blennies, spinyhead blennies, Pederson shrimp, and tons of gobies. We also saw several species of nudibranch and slugs, squat anemone shrimp, and other crabs and shrimp that hang out in the anemones. In addition, we also saw lots of eagle rays, Momma reef sharks and baby reef sharks, free-swimming eels, and even a free-swimming golden tail eel.

We had interesting sightings of a huge green moray and a black grouper hunting together, as well as a golden tail and a graysby hunting. Actually, the goldentail and graysby swam right over a scorpionfish hiding in the reef. There were also lots of turtles. We had sightings of loggerheads, hawksbills, and green turtles. There were no shortage of drums this week either…we saw very small juvenile drums, about ¾”, to big adult drums and everything in between. Also, interestingly this week, we saw lots of juvenile trumpetfish. Night dives provided us with octopus, squid, slipper lobsters, nudibranch, eels, and huge basket stars to name a few things.

On Wednesday we spent the entire day over on Half Moon Caye Wall…we saw everything!!! Close encounters with Caribbean reef sharks, eagle rays, and turtles, along with dozens of midnight parrotfish and blue parrotfish, schools of creole wrasse, horse-eye jacks, silversides, tarpon, southern stingrays, curious barracudas, wahoo, and tons of fish swimming around. Those looking for critters were able to see several pipe horses, pipefish, sailfin blennies, hundreds of garden eels, nudibranch, arrow shrimp, sea slugs, and even a baby octopus. Also there were razor fish darting into the sand and flounder skimming along the bottom.

On Thursday afternoon we headed over to Turneffe Atoll after a great dive on Silver Caves. That morning we had four Caribbean reef sharks hanging out in the area and coming in close every now and then to get their picture taken. What an exciting dive to be so close to the sharks!

Turneffe was no disappointment with 100ft+ of visibility and tons of animals. Once again we got treated to seeing a huge loggerhead swimming right past us, a huge roughback stingray layed in the sand, several free-swimming green morays and a spotted moray out feeding in the reefs, rainbow parrotfish, schools of jacks, and creole wrasse moving busily about, and of course we had to look for the white spotted toadfish that is only found on the Turneffe atoll.

We finished our Friday dives at Turneffe and headed back to port after a great week of diving with a wonderful group of people. Old friends came back and new friendships were formed, and hopefully we get to see you all again very soon.

Thank you for a great fun-filled week!