Belize Aggressor III Captain's Logs

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report June 22-29, 2013

Average Water Temp: 82F - 84F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: Light Chop
Crew: Captain Jay, Second Captain Michael, Video Pro Jody, Stewardess Vanessa, and Chef Yanis

All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm and got settled in with their equipment. This week we welcomed our international guests Ed & Megan, Aiden, Colin, Kevin, Brian, Ron, Sherri, Richard, Bob & Renee, Jen, Mike, Mitcy, Nancy, Vince & Stefanie and Anita. 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 and Julies Jungle
Monday: Long Caye Ridge and Cathedral
Tuesday: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Beach BBQ and Half Moon Caye Wall
Wednesday: Painted Wall and Long Caye Wall
Thursday: Chain Wall and Silver Caves
Friday: Aquarium and Front Porch

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Friday morning dive on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of 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, and octopus, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angelfish 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, pipe horse, 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, Belize zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

And 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): Ed, Megan, Kevin, Brian, Ron, Renee, Mike, Nancy, Vince, Stefanie and Sherri
400th Recreational Dive: Sherri
200/600th Recreational Dive: Ron
100th Recreational Dive: Kevin and Mike
Newly Certified Rescue Diver: Ed
Newly Certified Advanced Open Water Divers: Megan, Aidan and Colin
Newly Certified Enriched Air Divers: Jen, Megan, Aidan and Colin
and what about Bob?? Happy Birthday Bob!!

Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

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Belize Aggressor II Captain’s Report June 29 – July 6, 2013

Average Water Temp: 82F - 84F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: Light Chop

All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm and got settled in with their equipment. This week we welcomed our international guests Garry, Michaele, Roy, Lisa, Holly, John, Alice, Ryan, Sherrie, Steve, Christine, Brett and Debbie. 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: Sandy Slope & Black Beauty
Monday: Long Caye Ridge & Painted Wall
Tuesday: Half Moon Cay Wall & Long Cay Wall
Wednesday: The Blue Hole, Chain Wall & Cathedral
Thursday: Silver Caves & Sand Box
Friday: Dos Cocos & Amber Head

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for Monday and the Friday morning dives on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of 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 and octopus, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angelfish 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, pipe horse, 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.

And 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): Garry, Michaele, Roy, Holly, John, Steve, Christine and Brett

100th Recreational Dive: Roy

Newly Certified Enriched Air Divers: Steve and Christine

Hope to see you all again!!
Crew: Captain Jay, Second Captain Michael, Video Pro Jody, Engineer Fermin, Stewardess Vanessa, and Chef Yanis

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report July 6 – 13, 2013

Average Water Temp: 82F - 84F, 3mm recommended
Average Visibility: 80ft to 120ft
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Sea Conditions: Light chop

All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm and got settled in with their equipment. This week we welcomed our international guests Adam & Claire, Kurt & Laura, Mark & Ange, Chris & Margie, Dino & Kristen, Michael & Elyn, Larry, Gustavo, Stephen, Maddy and Alex. 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: Long Cay Ridge and Cathedral
Monday: Aquarium and Dos Cocos
Tuesday: The Blue Hole, Private Island BBQ and Half Moon Cay Wall
Wednesday: Chain Wall and Long Cay Wall
Thursday: Silver Caves and Hat Cay
Friday: Long Cay Ridge and Black Beauty

We did most of the diving over at Lighthouse Reef except for the Friday morning dive on Turneffe Atoll. We had a great week of diving with sightings of reef sharks, juvenile black tip, 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, and octopus, along with tons of reef fish such as trumpetfish, several species of angelfish 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, pipe horse, 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. Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who declared it one of the top ten scuba diving sites in the world, made this site famous. 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, Belize zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Happy Birthday Claire!! And 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): Adam, Claire and Gustavo
  • 400th Recreational Dive: Stephen
  • Newly Certified Enriched Air Divers: Adam, Claire, Dino, Kristen and Alex
  • Newly Certified Advanced Open Water: Adam, Claire and Dino
  • Newly Certified Open Water: Dino

Hope to see you all again!!
The Crew

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report July 13 - 20, 2013

Sea Conditions: flat with a light chop
Average Water Temp: 82F to 84F (recommended full body 3mm wetsuit)
Average Visibility: 60-120 foot (occasional 120’+)
Average Wind: 5-10 knots
Crew this week: Jay, Mike, Chris, Jody, Randy and Anna

This week we welcomed Amy, Anna, Glen, Scott, Lee and Minnie, Steve and Ursula, Rafael and Roberta, and Marco. All of our anxious guests boarded at 3pm on Saturday 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 Anna. Afterwards, we departed from the Fort George Dock in Belize City and headed over to Turneffe Atoll for the evening.

Sunday - Turneffe Island and Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Sandy Slope (2 dives); PM: Julies Jungle (2 dives)
We initiated our week moored to Sandy Slope where we did our checkout dive and second morning dive.
The dives started off with sighting a small hawksbill turtle swimming with the guests and a couple of green morays poking their heads out of their holes. Second dive we found a couple spotted moray eels, scorpion fish, decorator crab, nudibranchs, a yellow stingray in the sand, and a jawfish with a mouthful of eggs. After lunch we did our crossing over to Long Cay Island and Julies Jungle dive site where we encountered great barracuda, numerous parrotfish, lionfish, several groupers, filefish, cowfish, juvenile spotted drum, hogfish, colorful parrotfish, scorpion fish, garden eels, blenny, jawfish, lettuce sea slugs, and hiding lobster. After a big sunset and dinner, we prepared for our night dive. We entered the evening water and observed dozens of jacks, tarpon, chubs, stingray, an active and on the move octopus, inquisitive squid, shy spotted moray eel, pufferfish, a few hiding lobsters - and the night ended with dolphins making an appearance as we tied up at the night mooring.

Monday – Lighthouse reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Long Cay Ridge (2 dives); PM: Hat Cay (3 dives)
We started off the day with a calm Caribbean morning and an abundance of sea life of all shapes and sizes, including a group of schooling jacks and a large free-swimming green moray directly under the boat. These locations are also known for their incredible wall dives cut by gorgeous sand canyons to explore. Huge barrel and tube sponges cover the underwater landscape and highlighted by all types of reef activity including, hawksbill turtle, large groupers cruising the area, spotted moray eel, trumpetfish, pipefish, triggerfish, parrotfish, and both neck crab and decorator crabs. Highlights included a great barracuda dive buddy, lobster enjoying their own fish dinner on the wall, jumping arrow crabs in the shallows, and a juvenile spotted drum dancing about the coral. For our night dive we found a school of squid, stingray, flounder, scorpion fish, arrow crab, octopus, a spotted moray eel, sleeping parrotfish, scores of nudibranchs, and even a spotted toadfish.

Tuesday – Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Half Moon Caye
Dive sites: AM: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Island Private Beach BBQ (2 dives); PM: Half Moon Caye Wall (2 dives)
We started the day off with a dive at 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. Today, our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery. 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 and combed paths where we came across a few hermit crabs and iguanas. We then enjoyed the scenery from the observation tower platform that is nestled in the canopy. We ended our island visit with a private beach bbq for lunch and a water taxi back to the mother ship. Our next dive site, Half Moon Caye Wall, is known for its beautiful wall highlighted by a multitude of marvelous vibrant colors. Sightings today included great barracuda, lionfish, spotted drum, trunkfish and hiding lobsters. The mooring block was also full of life as we discovered numerous mini trunkfish, baby angelfish, sailfin blennies, shrimp, and a baby lionfish. Pipefish were also spotted in the grass along with numerous garden eels on the sandy bottom. For our night dive we found tarpon hunting under the boat, squid, bar jack, sharp tail eel, spotted drum, a big defensive crab, hiding lobsters, and a spotted moray eel.

Wednesday – Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Chain Wall (2 dives); PM: Cathedral (3 dives)
At Chain Wall we observed Caribbean reef sharks, spotted eagle rays, and a large hawksbill turtle coming up the wall. We also sighted octopus, big grouper dive buddies, furry cucumber in the sand, and a very curious great barracuda. Our second dive site at Cathedral was equally exciting and full of action with Caribbean reef sharks, spotted eagle rays, free swimming big green moray eels, octopus, schooling tarpon, hiding lobsters, spotted drum, and baby barracuda traversing the reef. After sunset, we had a very active night dive with hunting tarpon again under with boat, along with schools of Bermuda chub, horse eye jack, and pompano jacks. We also got to spend time with a squid, crab, lobster and shrimp lurking just in the shadows.

Thursday – Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Dive sites: AM: Dos Cocos (2 dives); Aquarium to Cathedral Drift Dive (1 dive); PM: Long Cay Ridge (3 dives)
The first morning dive at Dos Cocos started off with awesome visibility down the wall, with scores of fish and several huge groupers cruising the reef. Additional sightings included; Amy’s elusive big green moray eel, Scott & Glen’s spotted eagle ray, a pair of filefish, hiding lionfish, lobster, big pufferfish on the move and ended with a large group of jacks schooling under the boat. On our drift dive from Aquarium to Cathedral, we encountered a couple of spotted eagle rays, a baby black tip shark, a marathon swimming moray eel, and a little juvenile spotted drum. At Long Cay Ridge in the afternoon we navigated along a beautiful wall and past sand canyons where we saw Caribbean reef shark, spotted eagle rays, great barracuda, trunkfish, orange filefish, cowfish, lionfish, hungry snapper, banded coral shrimp, spotted drum, decorator crab and a shy puffer fish which was valiantly trying to evade the divers. On the night dive we again encountered numerous hunting tarpon and Bermuda chub under the boat’s lights. Also found dancing squid, spotted moray eels, basket stars, bristol star, large lobsters, spider crab and various other types of hiding crabs.

Friday – Lighthouse Atoll and Turneffe Island
Dive sites: AM: Painted Wall & The Elbow Drift (2 dives)
We splashed in at Painted Wall for a dawn dive where we watched the underwater reef transition from night to day and saw green moray eels, spotted moray eels, awaking parrotfish, jawfish, garden eels, tiny octopus, various nudibranchs, neck crab and hiding lobsters. On the following morning dives at The Elbow we stumbled upon a few southern stingrays, big lobsters, a crusty crab, pufferfish, and a baby triggerfish. In the afternoon 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.

Congratulations to the following divers:
Gorilla Divers (completed all of this week’s dives): Scott, Glen, and Marco
Nitrox Certification: Anna and Marco

Thanks again to all our awesome guests!
Captain Mike

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report July 20 – 27, 2013

Sea Conditions: flat with a light chop
Average Water Temp: 82- 84F (recommended full body 3 mm for multiple dives)
Average Visibility: 80-120Ft (with a few days of 120+ visibilities)
Average Wind: 5-7 knots
Crewed this week by Jay, Mike, Chris, Jody, Vanessa and Yanis

This week we welcomed Dan & Michele, Stu & Fay and LADY GO DIVERS: Patty, Linda, Naomi, Lilian, Mary, Bonnie, Beth, Lisa, DJ, Lita, Barbara, Amy, Gayla, Brenda, and Namdar. 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 Turneffe Atoll for the evening.

Sunday:
Dive sites: Sandy Slope (2 dives), Julies Jungle (3 dives) – Turneffe Island & Lighthouse Reef Atoll
We initiated our week moored to Sandy Slope off the west side of Turneffe Island where we did our checkout dive and second morning dive. These reefs are very healthy and populated with tons of juvenile fish and cleaning stations sheltered between the coral heads especially for the groupers. Other sightings included spotted toadfish, trumpetfish, needlefish, butterflyfish, angelfish, damselfish, triggerfish, assorted wrasses and parrotfish. We also discovered a huge coral crab, spider crabs, lobsters and several lionfish staking their claims on the reef. After our checkout dives we headed over to Lighthouse Atoll. On our second dive site, Julies Jungle, we were welcomed by numerous jack schooling under the boat, a couple large free swimming green moray eels along with a few stunning queen triggerfish. In the sand and shallows we found a southern stingray, spotted drum, a spotted moray eel, jawfish, and assorted nudibranchs. The day concluded with a beautiful Caribbean sunset and a night dive with lobster, squid and octopus.

Monday:
Dive sites: Aquarium (2 dives), Cathedral (3 dives) – Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Fish Galore & Swim Thrus!!!
These locations are incredible wall dives highlighted by all types of reef activity. The morning was filled with numerous cleaning stations for the parrotfish, large groupers, queen triggerfish, queen angelfish and barracuda at Aquarium. Sightings also included a baby blacktip shark, several trunkfish, filefish, porcupine fish, and schooling sergeant majors. After lunch we navigated through awesome sand canyons and Swiss cheese like swim-thrus at Cathedral where we found hiding arrow crabs, squirrelfish and spiny lobsters. We also bumped into another baby blacktip shark cruising along the reef. In the sandy shallows, also discovered pipefish, wire coral shrimp, decorator crab, a bristol star, jawfish and numerous nudibranchs. In the evening, we swam with hunting tarpon, a group of squid, a colorful octopus and a hawksbill turtle.

Tuesday:
Dive sites: The Blue Hole, Half Moon Caye Island Private Beach BBQ (2 dives), Long Caye Wall (2 dives) –Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Three Reef Sharks in 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, Calypso, to the hole to chart its depths. Today, our exploration was led past the deep and ancient stalagmites to relive its initial discovery and even three reef sharks 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. Our next dive site at Long Caye Wall is known for its beautiful wall highlighted by marvelous vibrant colors including great barracuda, lionfish, spotted drum, trunkfish and hiding lobsters. For our night dive we found tarpon hunting under the boat, squid, bar jack, sharp tail eel, spotted drum, a big defensive crab, hiding lobsters and a spotted moray eel.

Wednesday:
Dive sites: Painted Wall (2 dives), Silver Caves (3 dives) – Lighthouse Reef Atoll
Spotted Eagle Rays, Turtles & Big Moray Eels!!!
Huge barrel and tube sponges cover the underwater landscape at Painted Wall as the day was filled with a variety of sea creatures including spotted eagle rays, turtles, big green moray eels, stingrays, a school of midnight parrotfish, friendly groupers, a nurse shark, lionfish, baby trunkfish, green moray eels, spotted moray eels and a big curious great barracuda. Later that night at Silver Caves, we were entertained by assorted sized squid, a stingray flying around in the darkness, a spotted moray eel on the hunt, and a lobster trying not to attract too much attention.

Thursday:
Dive sites: Chain Wall / Dos Cocos (2 dives), Dos Cocos / Sandbox (3 dives) – Lighthouse Reef Atoll
More Sharks & Spotted Eagle Rays!!!
The morning started off at Chain Wall with sightings of Caribbean reef sharks, spotted eagle rays, friendly eels and numerous groupers. Additional highlights include: puffers, elusive lionfish, friendly turtles and dancing spotted drums. In the afternoon we ventured to Dos Cocos again and discovered more spotted eagle rays, a very large green moray eel patrolling the reef and a very friendly grouper. After dinner, we jumped back in the water at Sandbox with hunting tarpon, photogenic octopus, schooling squid, shy stingrays, hiding lobsters and several feeding basket stars scattered along the reef.

Friday:
Dive sites: Long Cay Ridge / Amberhead (2 dives) – Lighthouse Reef Atoll & Turneffe Island
Baby Seahorse!!!
On Long Cay, we awoke to another beautiful Caribbean sunrise for the dawn dive at Long Cay Ridge. We encountered parrotfish darting around the reef, as well butterfly fish, angelfish, damselfish, triggerfish, assorted wrasses and filefish. After the early morning dive, we headed over to the southern tip of Turneffe Island for the week’s one and only drift dive close to Amberhead where a baby sea horse was found and now pictured on Aggressor’s Facebook page. In the afternoon and once back in Belize City, guests had the opportunity of participating in land tours to the Mayan Ruins, the Belize Zoo, cave tubing or zip lining before the evening cocktail party.

Happy Birthday Naomi!!!

This week’s Gorilla Divers (Completed all the week’s dives): Patty, Lita, Stu, Fay and Dan

Thanks again to all our awesome guests!!

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report July 27-Aug 3, 2013

Avg Water Temp: 83F
Avg Visibility: 80 ft
Crew: Capt. Jay, Chef Yanis, Stewardess Vanessa, Engineer Fermin, and Instructor Chris

This week we welcomed our guests Richard, Kara, Jonathan, Lee and Laura, along with JB and Jill who were with us a year ago. Everyone boarded and got settled in, then we had our ‘Introductions and Safety Briefing’ before enjoying the wonderful meal prepared by Chef Yanis.

Sunday:
We started our dives on Turneffe Atoll, doing Sandy Slope that morning and Front Porch in the afternoon. We had a great first day of diving! After getting weighted properly and doing the check out dives, our guests explored the dive sites and got a glimpse of the large variety of marine life that Belize has to offer. One of the first things we saw as we dropped down at Sandy Slope was a shortfin pipefish. Between the two sites we saw sargassum triggerfish, peacock flounder, green morays, scorpionfish, huge barracuda, several lobsters, neck crabs, lettuce sea slugs, eagle rays, hawksbill turtles, and lots of jacks, trumpetfish, hamlets, angels, and tons of other reef fish.

Monday:
After travelling from Turneffe Atoll to Lighthouse Reef Atoll on Sunday night. We did our first dive at Painted Wall and finished the day at Cathedral. As we pulled up to the morning, two bottlenose dolphins paid us a visit as they swam under the bow. This site is called Painted Wall because of the painted tunicates found on the wall. Also, because of the vast array and mix of colors from the fish, corals, sponges, and all the marine life on the reef and wall…also, the top of the wall gets lots of sunlight, as it is a shallower site. Today was no exception…the colors were brilliant. We saw a huge lobster on the wall, an eagle ray cruising at depth; a hawksbill turtle swam alongside Lee while Laura took photos. There were huge groupers, several barracuda, a wahoo swimming at breakneck speed, and as usual, tons of reef fish along the top of the wall. We also got two rare sightings…a blue spotted cornet fish, and a juvenile smooth trunkfish.

At Cathedral as divers descended, two Caribbean reef sharks were cruising the wall; one was surrounded by a group of horse-eye jacks. Along with its beautiful reef, huge sponges, colorful reef and wall, and magnificent marine life. Cathedral also has some pretty cool swim thru’s that can sometimes be swarming with silversides. And, as with all the sites out here at Lighthouse Reed, Cathedral boasts a vast variety of reef fish and critters that inhabit the reef. Blue chromis, sergeant majors, black durgeons, and creole wrasse were everywhere scattering around the water column as over a dozen tarpon just hung out in formation. As we looked down we saw a shortfin pipefish and a mantis shrimp on the sandy bottom. At night there were squid, eels, nudibranchs, and an octopus swimming in mid water from the deep into the shallows. It hung out on top of the reef for about 15 minutes.

Tuesday:
First dive of the day was The Blue Hole Natural Monument! We dropped down to 130ft to see the massive stalactite formations. We didn’t see any sharks on that dive, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t see us. After our dive at the Blue Hole we headed over to Half Moon Caye to see the red-footed booby bird and magnificent frigate bird colony. Chef Yanis prepared a BBQ lunch, and we had “Cheeseburgers in Paradise”…then it was dive time.

The afternoon dives were at Half Moon Caye Wall…and what a GREAT afternoon of diving! We had some close encounters with some very friendly marine life. A barracuda wanted to be part of the group and followed us for most of the dive. A 7-foot Caribbean reef shark hung out for a little and let Laura and Lee take it’s picture…actually it spun back 3 times for them to make sure they got its good side. A little hawksbill went about its business and swam right through the group of divers, and as it swam away an eagle ray came up from out of the deep. We also saw several headshield slugs, pipefish, pipe horse, flounder, schools of jacks, schools of midnight and blue parrotfish, several tarpon, and tons of razor fish and garden eels.

Wednesday:
After a long day yesterday diving at the Blue Hole, walking around Half Moon Caye, and diving, today was a little slower paced. We woke up to flat seas and had some nice easy dives at Shark Point in the morning and Long Caye Wall in the afternoon. Once again it was an awesome day of diving…eagle rays, reef sharks, turtles, free-swimming green moray, and a large variety of reef fish. We also saw some critters…neck crabs, lettuce sea slugs, headshield slugs, pipefish, lots of different crabs and shrimp. On the night dive there were lots of nudibranch, lobsters, and squid.

Thursday:
Our dives today started at the world famous Aquarium and finished at Chain Wall. Aquarium truly is like an aquarium (except it doesn’t have a glass case LOL). There were fish everywhere swimming amongst this underwater garden. As soon as we got in a HUGE eagle ray was swimming right below the surface. We headed over to the wall and Lee gave us the “shark sign”…a small reef shark was cruising below at about 80 ft…. we continued to cruise the wall amongst schools of creole wrasse, blue chromis, sergeant majors, Bermuda chubs, bar jacks, and along with a couple barracuda and Nassau groupers. On the top of the reef we were able to spend some time swimming alongside a friendly hawksbill turtle that was going about his business. We later found an octopus hiding out in a hole over at Chain Wall and spent some time looking at a jawfish with eggs in its mouth. There was a barracuda that wanted to be our dive buddy and spent the entire dive swimming along with us, while a 7-foot Caribbean reed shark stayed below at depth. We were also able to look at a couple southern stingrays feeding in the sand as we did our safety stop.

Friday:
We hopped into the water before breakfast at Long Caye Ridge for the first of two dives today. Both divers and fish were just waking up on this dive. All the reef fish started scurrying about as they left their nighttime hideouts. Several eels were spotted, including some spotted morays doing a mating dance. A huge school of fish hung out with divers at their safety stop under the boat. After the dive we had breakfast while making the crossing from Lighthouse Reef Atoll to Turneffe Atoll and we were accompanied for a short while by a big pod of spinner dolphins.

The last dive of the week was a drift dive at the Elbow. A few minutes after we dropped in we were greeted by a loggerhead turtle. He didn’t hang around too long though, as he was headed in the opposite direction against the current. As we reached the drop-off, an eagle ray glided by along the wall. We drifted down current and passed huge gorgonians, sponges and black coral along the massive coral formations. We passed schools of Atlantic spadefish, cubera snappers, ocean triggers, and creole wrasse, and then we ran into another eagle ray hovering in the current. Not too long after we were approached by a friendly hawksbill that hung out and drifted down with us for about 15 minutes…that is until it stopped to feed on a sponge. What a great way to end the week…dramatic wall, beautiful reef, tons of fish, and friendly marine life.

We would like to thank our guests for visiting us on the Belize Aggressor III and we hope to see you again. Safe Diving! EAT, SLEEP, and DIVE!!!

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report Aug 3-10, 2013

CREW:
Captain Jay
Chef – Anna
Steward – Randy
Engineer – Fermin
Instructors – Juan & Chris

This week we welcomed 16 guests from Argentina, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria, UK, and USA. Our guests were Sultan, Bruno, Katia, Theresa, Marlena, Keith, Donna, Michael S, John, Natalie, Michael A, Sheldon, Cynthia, Juergen, Silvina, and Jose.

The diving started at Sandy Slope located over at Turneffe Atoll, where we saw an eagle ray as soon as we descended. We also saw several Nassau groupers, a couple green morays and spotted morays, a scorpion fish, lettuce sea slugs, several sargassum triggerfish, and a pair of yellow stingrays. After two dives at Sandy Slope we then we headed over to Light House Reef Atoll where we would spend the next few days diving along Long Caye and Half Moon Caye, before heading back to Turneffe to finish our week.

All the dive sites on Lighthouse Reef are wall dives. On any of the sites, you can find swimming around the reef a variety of marine and fish life, such as trumpetfish, angel fish and rock beauties, triggerfish, sergeant majors, hamlets, damselfish, a variety of parrotfish, black durgeons, puffers and burrfish, snappers, groupers, squirrel fish, schoolmasters, chromis, basslets, creole wrasses, and lots of other species…these fish are in abundance on every dive at every site. Critters and macro life are also in abundance…if you can find them. There are lots of neck crabs, skeleton shrimp, and wire coral shrimp hiding in plain sight. Cleaning stations with Pederson shrimp, squat anemone shrimp, and snapping shrimp are also in abundance. Also, beautiful colors among the coral formations, and magnificent sponges and soft corals are commonplace. We also had great encounters with hawksbill and loggerhead turtles, eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks, and lots of eels. This week we had the opportunity to swim with dolphins that were hanging around the vessel. We were on the boat and saw them surfacing and jumping…and of course, we had to hop in to see them up close! Another interesting activity we observed was a bunch of fish jumping on the surface…below was a Tiger Shark feeding on a bait ball of bonitos out in the deep water.

On Wednesday several of the guests headed over to Half Moon Caye to wonder around the island. We climbed the bird observation deck and saw the nesting red footed booby birds and the magnificent frigate birds. There were also tons of land hermit crabs and iguanas on the island. We went for a swim off the beach before heading back to the Belize Aggressor for lunch.
Other cool things we spotted this week were the large-eye toadfish, white spotted toadfish, skeleton shrimp, pipefish, pipe horses, headshield sea slugs, white-speckled nudibranch, tassled nudibrach, tufted nudibranch, tritons, lettuce sea slugs, Spanish dancer, octopus, squid, and beautiful comb jellies.

We headed back over to Turneffe Island on Thursday to dive Black Beauty and then finished the week at Front Porch with two awesome morning dives.

We had a couple milestone dives…Natalie hitting 100 dives; while Donna & Keith hit their 50th dives – and - Theresa was given the “Gorilla Diver” award for doing all the dives this week…CONGRATS!!!

From the crew, we would just like to say thank you for an awesome week…EAT, SLEEP & DIVE!!!!

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report August 10 - 17, 2013

Weather: Moderate w/ scattered showers
Winds: Moderate 5-15kt
Water Temperature: 83 F
Wetsuit: 1.5 - 3mm recommended
Crew: Capt. Jay, Engineer Fermin, Instructor Jody, Instructor Juan, Chef Anna, and Steward Randy
Photos By: Jay Roberts (Sony NEX-5N in Aquatica Housing w/ Sea & Sea Strobes)

Dive Sites visited this week:
Sunday - Sandy Slope and Long Caye Ridge
Monday - Aquarium and Cathedral
Tuesday - Blue Hole, Island Tour, Half Moon Caye Wall
Wednesday - Chain Wall and Dos Cocos
Thursday - Silver Caves, Painted Wall, Long Caye Wall
Friday - Front Porch

On Saturday we welcomed 18 guests from the USA, France, Italy, and the UK. Once all the C-cards were verified the safety briefing was given. Anna and Randy prepared a wonderful dinner and shortly after, we motored out to Turneffe Islands Atoll.

The weather this week started with light showers, cleared quickly and made for a very pleasant week of diving. We spent the majority of the week diving Lighthouse Reef. Lots of great encounters with the marine life. A great mix of moray eels, spotted eagle rays, turtles, and sharks made the day dives go by quickly. At night the tarpon and Bermuda chubs were always under the ladders to greet you entering and exiting the water. Octopus, squid, lobsters, and crabs were among the favorites.

On Friday we made two dives on Front Porch, and after seeing a great hammerhead (about 14 feet long!) several free swimming moray eels, the white spotted toadfish, and a hawksbill turtle, we headed back to port. After arriving in port, most guests went ashore and visited the Mayan ruin of Al Tun Ha. Others just relaxed until our cocktail party.

Congratulations go out to Trevor in becoming a newly certified Open Water Diver!!! Jacques, Isabelle, Barbara, Luca, Stephen, Trevor, and Meredith for completing their Enriched Air Nitrox 40% course. Kevin and Stephen completed their Diver Stress and Rescue as well as CPR, First Aid, O2, and AED courses. Isabelle and Jacques completed Advanced Open Water. Thorsten and Denise were awarded the coveted “Gorilla Diver” of the week for completing all dives offered.

Saturday concluded the week with the crew saying their goodbyes.
As always, keep smiling and keep diving!

Eat, Sleep & Dive
Captain Jay Roberts

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Belize Aggressor III Captain’s Report August 17 - 24, 2013

Weather: Moderate w/ scattered showers
Winds: Moderate 0-10KT
Water Temperature: 83 degrees
Wetsuit: 1.5 - 3mm recommended
Crew: Capt. Jay, Engineer Fermin, Instructor Jody, Instructor Juan, Chef Anna, and Stewardess Vanessa. Photos By: Jay Roberts (Sony NEX-5N in Aquatica Housing w/ Sea & Sea Strobes)

Dive Sites visited this week:
Sunday - Sandy Slope and Dos Cocos
Monday - Aquarium and Cathedral
Tuesday - Blue Hole, HMC - Island Tour, and Long Caye Wall
Wednesday - Half Moon Caye Wall and Long Caye Ridge
Thursday - Chain Wall, Silver Caves, and Front Porch
Friday - Front Porch and Black Beauty

On Saturday we welcomed 18 guests from the USA, Italy, Israel and the UK. C-cards were reviewed, dive gear setup and guest shown to their cabins. At 5:30pm the safety briefing was given, then dinner was served.

Sunday morning we began our checkout dive on Sandy Slope located on the west side of Turneffe Islands Atoll. The shy sargassum triggerfish could be found 70 feet beneath the swim platform. After another dive we loaded up and motored to Lighthouse Reef Atoll to finish out the day on Dos Cocos. A large school of horse eye jacks met the divers at the safety stop. Scorpion fish, tarpon, a couple eagle rays, and green moray eels were just some the encounters during the dives.

The rest of the week proved to be exciting. We visited the Blue Hole and walked the beach at the island of Half Moon Caye. Weather conditions were perfect for sunbathing and no wetsuit diving! The night dives had something for everyone. Octopus, Caribbean reef squid, white speckled nudibranch, fringe back nudibranch, enormous basket stars, and those tarpon casually swimming past divers. Other encounters during the week included sharks, eagle rays, southern stingrays, turtles, big-toothed barracudas (posers), pipefish, pipe horse, lettuce sea slugs, and very photogenic Nassau groupers.

Friday came early, but what a great week of diving! We splashed in early before breakfast and found the endemic spotted toadfish and a couple eagle rays cruising the wall.

Congratulations to: Jean and Angelique for completing Advanced Open Water. Jerry and Vanessa (crew) for completing EAN40 Nitrox course. Courtney, Margaret, and Jerry made their 100th dive with us! Our coveted “Gorilla Diver” award went to Cory, Rose, Mike, Mike Jr, Margaret, and Courtney for completing all the dives offered this week...Awesome!!!

Thanks for joining us in Blissful Belize,
Eat, Sleep & Dive
Captain Jay Roberts

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