Carib Dancer Captain's Logs

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s report July 14 – 21, 2012
Water Temperature 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended


This was a very special trip for the Carib Dancer. We had John Ellerbrock, President of Gates Underwater Products and assisting John was David Ulloa of Valeo Films Inc. John had several underwater video units for guests to try while diving the beautiful dive sites of the Exuma Islands. Both John and David spent their time giving guests and crew hints and helpful informative presentations to help us as divers take and enjoy shooting better underwater images. I would like to thank these gentlemen for helping us have a little extra fun diving the Exumas this week.

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded, the Carib Dancer and its guests - Jenny, Dee, John E, David, Jennifer, John H, Judy, Lada, Beat, Maria, Robert and Michael departed its home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started the trip out to the Exuma Islands. On the way to the Exumas from Nassau there’s an area called the Yellow Banks. The Yellow Banks is a very shallow area of spotted coral heads that should only be crossed during daylight hours. The Carib Dancer anchored for the night just on the outside of the Yellow Banks. It was a very nice night under the stars.

One thing I truly enjoy about being a staff member for the Dancer/Aggressor family is having the opportunity to meet, dive and enjoy many of the top professional in the dive industry. If you ever get a chance to sign on a charter that has these professional as guests, take the trip. You will enjoy the diving, equipment and some of the top professionals and nicest people in the dive industry.

Sunday morning early we pulled anchor and headed across the Yellow Banks for our first dive site Pillar Wall. The top of the reef on Pillar Wall is only about 40 feet and is covered with soft corals. While diving Pillar Wall we saw sharks, spotted eagle rays, mackerel and a schools of Atlantic spadefish near the mooring line. One of the nicest things to see on this dive was a yellow sponge brittle star on a reddish-orange volcano sponge, which made that little brittle star an excellent picture. Next we traveled to Jewfish Wall where we swam with large groupers, Caribbean reef sharks, a loggerhead turtle, schools of tropical fish, and let’s not forget about the spotted eagle ray.

Monday’s first stop was Blacktip Wall. We never go wrong on this dive site. Blacktip Wall seems to always offer lots of big and small creatures, such as eagle rays, sharks, turtles and beautiful angelfish that swim up close to you for a look. We could have stayed all day playing here with the marine life and lots of swim thru’s, but more dive sites to see. And the next one on this list was Barracuda Shoals. Scattered low profile coral heads with an array of marine life to video or shot a picture or two. The highlight at Barracuda Shoals was the playful common octopus we had on the night dive. This little creatures wasn’t shy, staying with diver for over 30 minutes when we shot pictures and video.

Tuesday first dive site was a place I haven’t been to in over three years called Up Jump The Devil. This is an awesome wall dive that is covered with swim thru’s, canyons and a beautiful colorful wall. We will be back here again and next time we’ll plan on staying longer. Dog Rock/Church Wall was next and is one of the crew’s favorites. Everyone enjoyed the swim thru’s canyons and large colorful elephant ear sponges. Lots of soft and hard corals, spotted moray eels that swam within a few inches of my video camera and we spotted an eagle ray just on the edge of the wall.

Wednesday morning we headed south to the Exuma Land & Sea Park area where all the marine life is bigger because the park is a “No Take Zone”. Amberjack Reef was our first dive site and as we pulled up to the mooring the sharks swam up to the Carib Dancer. The coral here is high profile with lots of little creatures inside the reef. While doing our safety stop we had schools of snappers, jacks and a few large black groupers next to us. It’s always fun being around sharks and big groupers and now with a new underwater video system it’s even more fun - if that’s possible. Jeep Reef was next and is still one of my favorites. Jeep Reef is shallow, colorful and has lots of marine life. That means you can have lots of time underwater shooting lots and lots and lots of underwater images.

Thursday we started making our way back up north and stopped at a dive site called Cracked Coral Head. We enjoyed lots of swim thru’s, a large colorful wall and just off the mooring line we discovered a large brain coral head that was over 6 feet across and in excellent condition. As always, the marine life, swim thru’s and the wall made Cracked Coral Head an excellent dive site. Hammerhead Gulch was our next shallow colorful dive. At Hammerhead Gulch we spent time in the grass area looking for small creatures and played around the coral heads with schools of fish.

The night dive on Hammerhead Gulch was especially fun because John Hott of Ocean Technology Systems was vacationing with us and had extra underwater communication systems. This took diving to the next level. Now we were shooting underwater video and talking with everyone topside about what we were shooting. It was fun listening to divers underwater talk about the loggerhead turtle they were seeing just under the boat or about playing with the octopus they just encountered. Just a little different way to enjoy the night dives on the Carib Dancer.


Friday came all too soon, but The Blue Hole is always a fun dive. Though we didn’t see the schools of sharks like we have been seeing the past several weeks we did see schools of fish, along with turtles and stingrays. It was a very nice last dive to end out charter with.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Craig, Engineer Gareth, Instructor Brian and Chef Robert.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report July 21 – 28, 2012
Water Temperature: 80-85 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended


After everyone boarded the Carib Dancer on Saturday our guests Claudette, Jane, Gail, Nathalie, Don, Marc, Francois, Catherine, Eve, Jean-Paul, Robert, Harlan and Ryan enjoyed a sunny and breezy Nassau Harbor. We departed the home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started the trip out to the Exuma Islands. The Carib Dancer anchored for the night just on the outside of the Yellow Banks so we could safely make our crossing in the daylight hours. The winds were high and the 3 to 4 foot seas made for a few bumps while sleeping, but being rocked to sleep on a 100 foot yacht is relaxing for many of our travelers.

Sunday morning early we pulled anchor and headed across the Yellow Banks for our first dive site, Basketstar. The winds prevailed and we enjoyed a shallow check-out dive on the protected side. This site provided us with rays, a turtle, blennies and some very beautiful coral. After the dive we enjoyed lunch on the upper deck where though it was windy it was refreshing. The 25-knot winds kept us on the leeward side for the afternoon and we ventured to our next site called Hammerhead Hole. This was a wonderful dive with 60 foot visibility and our guests enjoyed the shallow, warm water. We saw schools of yellowtail snapper and wrasses, angelfish, gorgeous sea fans and a mix of hard and soft corals. C Lee, our chef, served a great dinner. Our anchorage provided shelter from the winds, and music and cool drinks took us into the night.

Monday morning we woke up moored at Hammerhead Hole (which was our first dive site yesterday), but after breakfast we ventured out to a site called Black Tip. Seas were good to us and the deeper dive allowed us to see large groupers, a few lionfish, and all the great colors of coral that are prevalent here. Unfortunately the winds picked up again, so we traveled back to Hammerhead Hole for the remainder of the day. With two dives and spending the night there, we really enjoyed getting to know Hammerhead very well.

Tuesday dawned much calmer and we started on Black Tip Wall. I don’t think I’ve ever had a disappointing dive here. This dive site offers so much with marine life, hard and soft corals, plus eagle rays, sharks, large black grouper and quite a few curious queen angelfish that will swim within a few inches of you. Our next site was Cracked Coral Head Wall. This site got its name because there is one coral head that actually looks like it was dropped and cracked. We found another coral head that was taller and had small caverns. All these nooks and crannies held a ton of fish, including glimmering silversides and of course those big, big groupers that the Out Islands of the Bahamas are famous for. We ended the afternoon and night dives on Amberjack, a site that is probably my favorite. Here we always see Caribbean reef sharks, big-eyed jacks and many big grouper. We had a perfect night dive with the winds continuing to slacken.

Wednesday morning we hit Three Peaks. The coral heads here held lobster, tons of grouper and in the surrounding sand we found garden eels. Our next site was Jeep Reef and the shallow diving allowed the divers plenty of bottom time to take in the colors of the reef along with discovering all the wildlife. Swimming alongside and within the schools of snappers and grunts was great. Danger Reef was next and we ended our day with a night dive that was awesome, swimming with the Caribbean sharks that hang out here.

Thursday our first stop was the wreck of the Austin Smith. The mooring line is on the stern of the wreck. At 60- 80 feet deep the wreck attracts Caribbean reef sharks and big groupers, along with a few lionfish and all sorts of crabs. Pillar Wall was next and entertained us with sharks, rays and another spotted ray. We spent the night protected from the wind at Lobster No Lobster Head where our divers did a leisurely dive and saw tons of small stuff while enjoying the colors of the reef.

Friday we anchored at Periwinkle where the vibrant reef colors stand out in the shallows and made a perfect backdrop for the rays and a turtle we spotted. As we continued to head back towards Nassau our final dive was the Blue Hole, which is always a fun dive. The nurse sharks, the turtle, along with the remoras and the schools of grunts and snappers topped off a great week of diving for our guests.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Tom, 1^st Mate Craig, Engineer Gareth, Instructor Brian and Chef C.Lee.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer July 28 – Aug 4, 2012
Water Temperature 84-86 F 29-30 C
3mm, skin or shorty Wet Suit Recommended


Saturday afternoon we were pleased to welcome Doug McNeese, CEO of SSI and SSI dealers Graham, Nicole, Kathy, Adam, Ashley, Don, Vicky, Mike and Vee.

After a delicious Dinner of BBQ ribs, chicken, corn on the cob and paprika-roasted potato wedges we all enjoyed Nicole’s Birthday cake. The Carib Dancer departed its home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started her trip to the Exuma Islands. On the way to the Exumas from Nassau there’s an area called the Yellow Banks, which are very shallow and should only be crossed during daylight hours. We anchored on at the banks for the night where we had a lovely evening.

On Sunday morning we lifted anchor and headed to a shallow dive site called Basket Star where we had more than our fair share of macro critters. Graham took a great picture of a family of red-tipped sea goddess nudibranchs!!!

Our next dive was at Black Tip Wall where we went through a labyrinth of reef. All the way to the wall some horse eye and amber jacks played with our bubbles. On the way back an eagle ray joined us and then we spotted two black tip sharks followed by a goliath grouper. What a Dive!!! We ended Sunday with a spectacular sunset and a delicious tiramisu talking about the great start of our week.

Monday morning found us tied to Shroud Wall. As were able to see the bow from the stern, almost a hundred feet ahead underwater, we were sure this would be a great site! Reaching the wall moments later we were thrilled to have visibility more than 150 feet. (This was confirmed by Doug back aboard, but no one believes him anyway!) Visibility this great and 86F at depth is what summer diving in the Bahamas is all about. Being in the “no take zone” of Exuma Park results in everything being larger. Off the reef we had a few reef sharks on patrol. Oh no, diving in shark infested waters. Numerous types of angelfish were sited including French, queen and greys, and of course too many invasive lionfish. Adam spotted a very large parrotfish in transition with the front 2/3 red and a distinct change to green for the last 1/3.

After a nice Mexican lunch on the sundeck we headed south to a dive site called Amber Jack. We were in for a big surprise. As we secured to the mooring at least 5 BIG reef sharks came all the way up to the surface. This was a very persuasive invitation for everybody to get in the water. The scenery was incredible, excellent visibility with yellow tail snappers and goliath groupers and up to 7 Caribbean reef sharks all over the place. We did a night dive here with two nurse sharks putting on a great show while they were having dinner. By the end of the night all our guests were talking about our superb dive day.

On Tuesday morning we sailed north to Crack Coral Head. Another great dive with tall corals forming canyons that you can swim through all the way to the wall. At the end of the dive under the boat we all gathered around Ashley and witnessed Adam’s engagement proposal. This was a very special moment. Congratulations to the both of you!!! Aboard the yacht the diving was done and the celebration began.

Later in the week we did a wreck dive on the Austin Smith wreck. This is a 150 ft wreck that sits close to the wall and is the home to a few goliath groupers and some reef sharks. After this dive we anchored on the east side of Highborne Cay and spent the night on calm waters. It was a very busy night on the reef with all the night creatures out looking for a little something to eat. While enjoying the small stuff we also saw a turtle, shark and octopus.

The next morning we did shallow dive at Barracuda Shoals where the reef is very healthy and full of reef fish. We had an eagle ray come swim with us for a while and then some yellow stingrays. After lunch we did a bit of cruising in the dingy looking for a nice beach to hang out and take pictures. We found some beautiful little cays called Leaf Cay and Allan’s Cay. As we got off the dinghy several very curious small iguanas welcomed us to their island. We did some exploring around the cay and then headed back to the yacht. We set sail to round the Yellow Banks and spent the night closer to Nassau.

Friday morning’s first dive was at Periwinkle, which has two large coral heads that are full of life. We followed that with a dive into the Blue Hole. Always a fun dive, it was a nice last dive where we saw schools of fish, turtles and stingrays.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Larry, 1^st Mate Craig, Engineer Gareth, Instructor Mario, Instructor C. Lee and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 11 – 18, 2012
Water Temperature 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded, the Carib Dancer and its guest Talih, Defne, Dilek, Robby, Brenda, Greg A., John, Greg N., Sheryl, Laura, Marc, Marjorie and Steve departed our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started the trip out to the Exuma Islands. On the way to the Exumas from Nassau there’s an area called the Yellow Banks. The Yellow Banks is a very shallow area of spotted coral heads that should only be crossed during daylight hours. The Carib Dancer anchored for the night just on the outside of the Yellow Banks. It was a very nice night under the stars.

Sunday morning early we pulled anchor and headed across the Yellow Banks for our first dive site Pillar Wall. The top of the reef on Pillar Wall is only about 40 feet and is covered with soft corals. While diving Pillar Wall we saw sharks, spotted eagle rays, mackerel and a school of Atlantic spadefish near the mooring line. After Pillar Wall we headed north to one of the crews favorite dive site called Dog Rocks/Church Wall. This dive sites offers a little of everything to the diver. We swam through large and small swim thru’s, canyons and enjoyed the very colorful wall covered with sponges and whip corals.

Monday our first dive site was Up Jump The Devil. There’s so many swim thru’s on this dive site you can’t help but have fun. Some of the swim thru’s are a little spooky and you sometimes feel like something will come up behind you to pull on your fins. The top of Up Jump The Devil is covered with soft corals and schools of juvenile fish, the best for me was have a queen angelfish swim a few inches from my mask - it was a wonderful experience. Our afternoon and night dive was at Hammerhead Gulch. This is a shallow reef in which the medium profile coral heads are scattered. Hammerhead Gulch is very colorful with schools of snappers, grunts and angelfish. But swimming slowly in the grassy area is even better especially when you find Red-Tip Sea Goddess Nudibranchs. The night dive was fun with several different types of stingrays was well as an octopus vulgaris (common octopus) which swam only a few inches from a southern stingray and they both just kept watching each other to see what would happen.

Tuesday morning we traveled to Jewfish Wall where we swam with large groupers, black tip and Caribbean reef sharks, a spotted eagle ray and schools of tropical fish. Diving Jewfish Wall is a wonderful way to start a Tuesday morning. Our next stop was BasketStar Reef. BasketStar is a shallow reef with large, scattered, colorful sponges among the hard and soft coral heads. Because BasketStar is shallow we get a lot of natural light, which makes taking pictures and video a lot more colorful and fun. Flat Rock Reef was our afternoon dive site. Diving around Flat Rock Reef is like diving in an aquarium. We saw schools of white and Caesar grunts, wrasse and angelfish. There are so many different type of schools of fish, plus colorful corals, however the best was seeing a Purple Ring Aeolid Nudibranch.

Wednesday morning we headed south to the Exuma Land & Sea Park area where all the marine life is bigger, because the park is a “no take zone”. Danger Reef was our first dive site and as we pulled up to the mooring the sharks swam up to the Carib Dancer. The coral here is high profile with lots of little creatures inside the reef. While doing your safety stop we had schools of snappers, jacks and a few large black groupers next to us. Jeep Reef was our next dive site. Jeep Reef is a very colorful shallow dive. We swam through schools of grunts and snappers. Because of the colors and array of tropical fish Jeep Reef is a photographer’s dream world. Our afternoon and night dive were on Amberjack Reef where we swam with Caribbean reef sharks, rays and with all our usual nighttime creatures.

Thursday morning we started heading back north to our first dive site called Shroud Wall. As you dive Shroud Wall you can be very surprise on how many small creatures you can find along the coral heads and the shear wall. Still making our way back up north we next went to a dive site called Cracked Coral Head. We enjoyed lots of swim thru’s, a large colorful wall and just off the mooring line we rediscovered a large brain coral head that was over 6 feet across and in excellent condition. As always the marine life, swim thru’s and the wall made Cracked Coral Head an excellent dive site. The wreck of the Austin Smith was next for our guests. On the Austin Smith we were able to dive along side several sharks, groupers and a playful remora. The night dive was on 3 Peaks. At this dive site there are three large corals heads that are separated by a small sandy area. These coral heads are covered with soft corals and lots of night creatures. At any given time on this site at night we can see nurse sharks, octopus, and black jacks that follow you at night waiting for your light to shine on their next meal. It was a nice relaxing, fun and easy night dive.

Friday The Blue Hole was our last dive of the charter. We never know what we will see while diving the Blue Hole. Today it was schools of tropical fish, moray eels, stingrays, a huge loggerhead turtle and no less then six nurse sharks lying around the rim of the Blue Hole. It was an excellent way to end a wonderful trip throughout the Exuma Islands on the Carib Dancer.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Mario, Engineer Gareth, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 18 – 25, 2012
Water Temperature: 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon we welcomed our guests David (aka Jersey), Jeff, Bill, David (aka Boston), David (aka Dallas), Jeremy, Kevin, Steve, Windy, Just, Lisa, Cindy, Rick and Linda aboard the Carib Dancer. We soon departed our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started the trip out to the Exuma Islands. On the way to the Exumas from Nassau there’s an area called the Yellow Banks, which is a very shallow area of spotted coral heads that should only be crossed during daylight hours. Tonight the Carib Dancer traveled under the bright stars to one of our night moorings off Alan’s Cay.

Sunday morning early we let go of the mooring and crossed between the rocks and islands to the Exuma Sound and our first dive site named Pillar Wall. The top of the reef on Pillar Wall is only about 40 feet and is covered with soft corals. While diving we saw sharks, spotted eagle rays, mackerel and a schools of Atlantic spadefish that was near the mooring line. We then headed north to one of the crew’s favorite dive site called Dog Rocks/Church Wall. This dive sites offers a little of everything to the diver. We swam back and forth through large and small passages and canyons to get to the very colorful wall that was covered with sponges and whip corals.

Monday our first dive site was Up Jump The Devil. There’s so many swim throughs on this dive site you can’t help but have fun. Some of the swim throughs are a little spooky and you sometimes feel like something will come up behind you to pull on your fins. The top of Up Jump The Devil is covered with soft corals and schools of juvenile fish. The swim throughs and wall at this dive site are awesome. Our early afternoon dive was Barracuda Shoals. This site is filled with scatted colorful coral heads in shallow water so everyone had a chance to get lots of bottom time. The later afternoon and night dive was at Flat Rock Reef. This dive site is like swimming inside an aquarium because it is a shallow dive site covered with hard and soft corals and schools of tropical fish. During the night dive the usual creatures were seen, along with squid and octopus. Diving this spot at night was a wonderful and relaxing experience.

Tuesday morning we traveled to Jewfish Wall where we swam with large groupers, black tip and Caribbean reef sharks, a spotted eagle ray and schools of tropical fish. What a nice way to start a Tuesday morning. The tide was in our favor to do an excellent shallow afternoon dive at Hammerhead Gulch. We didn’t see any hammerheads today but we did see an array of fish, colorful sponges, nurse shark and rays. Blacktip Wall was next on our list for Tuesday. We can never go wrong diving this site. We always have fun exploring the swim throughs and along the wall. Today we had something a little extra because as we swam through one of the passages there were hundreds of tiny, shimmery silversides filling it. Shooting video or taking pictures of them is always fun because as we swam through the school parted and then closed in behind us.

Wednesday morning we headed south to the Exuma Land & Sea Park area where all the marine life is bigger, because the park is a “no take zone”. Our first stop was Cracked Coral Head. This is one of my favorite dive sites in the Exumas. We enjoyed lots of swim throughs, a large colorful wall and just off the mooring line we re-discovered a large brain coral head that was over six feet across and in excellent condition. As always the marine life, swim throughs and the wall made Cracked Coral Head an excellent dive site. Amberjack Reef was our next dive site and as we pulled up to the mooring the Caribbean reef sharks swam up to the Carib Dancer. The coral here is high profile with lots of little creatures inside the reef. While doing our safety stop we had schools of snappers, jacks and a few large black groupers hanging out right next to us. The later afternoon and the night dive were on 3 Peaks. This site is named for the three large corals heads that are separated by a small sandy area. These coral heads are covered with soft corals and lots of night creatures. At any given time on this site at night we can see nurse sharks, octopus, black jacks that follow you at night waiting for your night to shine on their next meal.

Thursday morning before starting our way back north we did a dive at Danger Reef. Danger Reef is not far from Amberjack, so we enjoyed swimming along side the Caribbean reef sharks and large black groupers again. Due to weather conditions we headed back inside to Hammerhead Gulch for an afternoon dive. We had all the beautiful tropical fish among the colorful corals again and this time rays, a turtle and squid. We finished Thursday at Lobster No Lobster. Yes I did see a nice size Caribbean spiny lobster. On the soft corals we saw basket stars getting ready to open for the night, colorful feather star and clams. The good visibility, warm water and lots to see made Lobster No Lobster a good choice.

It was a wonderful week on the Carib Dancer diving throughout the Exuma Islands. Can’t wait to start another trip… Tomorrow… Best Fishes Everyone

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Mario, Instructor Gareth, Engineer Ernie, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report Aug 25 – Sept 1, 2012
Water Temperature 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Our guests this week enjoyed a different type of charter onboard the Carib Dancer. Joining us were Dancer Fleet CEO Wayne Brown and Dancer Fleet President Wayne Hasson, along with Mike Haber from the “Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography. Our guests (students) for the week were Tim, John, Bryan, Steward, Michael and Octavio. Throughout the week Mike worked with each of them, both topside and underwater, giving them personalized one-on-one attention using their own camera systems. Getting that personalized attention enabled the students to watch their pictures get better and better on each dive. They also had a chance to dive with owners Wayne & Wayne and have both Wayne’s share their underwater and topside dive experiences.

Normally on Saturday evening the Carib Dancer departs for the Exuma Islands for a week of diving. However this week, due to Mother Nature and a hurricane named “Isaac” we enjoyed an extra day in port. This didn’t stop several guests from still wanting to dive. So, we suited up and did a dock dive in our homeport “Elizabeth On Bay”. During the dive we enjoyed juvenile drums, angelfish and several other small creatures that make this dock their home. Later some of our guests toured the local area for the afternoon.

Monday morning the weather cleared and we left the dock and made way to the Exuma Islands. Our first stop was a shallow dive called Flat Rock Reef. Because the visible was a little down due to the storm, most everyone started with shooting macro for their underwater pictures. We were able to get photos of Christmas tree worms, feather dusters, butterfly fish and tangs. Our afternoon and night dives were on Barracuda Shoals, which is a low to medium profile dive site with many coral heads. As we swam around these coral heads we saw yellowtail damselfish, stoplight parrotfish, gray snappers and other small tropical fish. Mike Haber spent his time swimming around from guest to guest helping them compose and get the best possible pictures while practicing some new techniques.

Tuesday morning we made our way out to the Exuma Sound and our first wall dive on Pillar Wall. The top of the reef on Pillar Wall is only about 40 feet and is covered with soft corals. While diving here we saw sharks, mackerel and a schools of Atlantic spadefish near the mooring line. After Pillar Wall we headed a little south to a wreck called The Austin Smith. On the wreck we enjoyed swimming with a beautiful green moray and a large Nassau grouper. The grouper was the perfect model as it would swim right up to the camera lens and pose, but the highlight was the Caribbean reef sharks. At any given time we had about 12 or more swimming very near us, some less then a foot away. This was an exciting fun dive in some nice clear warm water.

Wednesday in the early morning we dropped the mooring line and headed south to the Exuma Land & Sea Park. Our dive site was Amberjack Reef, which is a group of high profile coral heads that has lots of creatures around, between and inside each coral head. Just under the Carib Dancer we swam with large black groupers, several Atlantic spadefish and several Caribbean reef sharks. Heading back north we stopped at one of my favorite dive sites - Cracked Coral Head. This site sits along the edge of a wall so we enjoyed both a beautiful wall and several swim throughs. One swim through was full of shimmering silversides that kept everyone very busy taking pictures and video. We ended our diving day at Hammerhead Gulch. This is a shallow reef in which the medium profile coral heads are scattered. This site is very colorful with schools of snappers, grunts and angelfish.

Thursday we started the day off on Blacktip Wall. Blacktip Wall offered us an awesome wall and lots of swim throughs. However the best view was seeing a school of over 50 Atlantic spadefish near the mooring line. We then continued to make our way north to a site called Jewfish Wall. Here we enjoyed the scenic swim throughs, moray eels, and even a few more Caribbean reef sharks. For the afternoon sites we checked the conditions and found we had an incoming tide to work with. Two excellent sites for that type of tide are Flat Rock Reef and Closemon. Both of these sites are shallow and when diving them it’s like swimming inside an aquarium. Our guests (students) were shooting both macro and wide angle and everyone was getting some excellent pictures and video, plus lots of bottom time. Our night dive was on Lobster No Lobster. We saw a beautiful black long spine sea urchin and a bright colored rock beauty that was hiding; well trying to hide in the reef system. My favorite marine life here had to be the colorful golden crinoid, which was almost 8 inches across.

Friday started back at the wreck of the Austin Smith. Everyone had so much fun shooting pictures and video of sharks here that we went back for more and once again it was an excellent dive for pictures and video. Our last dive of the week was the Blue Hole. We always enjoy this dive with the nurse sharks and angelfish, but everyone really enjoyed seeing the huge loggerhead turtle.

Mother Nature made the week start slow but then she cleared everything up and we had a fantastic time onboard the Carib Dancer this week. If you get the opportunity to be onboard a Dancer or Aggressor trip with the Owners, Wayne & Wayne or with Mike & Mike of the “Jim Church School of Digital Underwater Photography” you will truly enjoy the trip. Being around those guys just made everything a little more fun.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Mario, Instructor Gareth, Instructor David, Engineer Ernie and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report September 1 – 8, 2012
Water Temperature 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended


Saturday afternoon we welcomed aboard our guests for the week: Raylana, Lynn, Eric M., Eric A., Gerald, Lisa, Paul, Michael, Dan, and Miguel. Once everyone settled in, we departed our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay to start our journey out to the Exuma Islands and our first dive site for the next morning; Barracuda Shoals. We enjoyed a wonderful sunset dinner cruise on the sundeck as we got to know one another. Also under the boat was a Roughtail Stingray that remained very calm as its pictures was taken.

Sunday morning could not have been any better. We enjoyed calm seas, very little wind and good visibly on Barracuda Shoals. While diving these shallow coral heads we took pictures of schools of grunts, snappers and northern/southern sennets, and of course a huge great barracuda that was hanging out under the boat. Pillar Wall was next on the dive slate. With the top of the wall only about 40-45 feet and covered with hard and soft corals, no one really had to go over the wall. Not only were there a few Caribbean reef sharks, but a huge loggerhead turtle also swam by. We stayed here for the night dive and found it was covered with decorative neck crabs and very long tiger tail sea cucumbers.

Monday started with Up Jump The Devil. I really like this site with lots of swim thru’s that come out over the wall. I shot nice video of a school of juvenile Creole wrasse that was swimming in a single line up the side of the wall. Looking inside of a basket sponge we saw lots of baby arrow crabs. Our next dive site, Dog Rocks/Church Wall, is such a big area that we could spend a couple of days there and still not see all of it. We swam in clear, calm, warm, blue waters through the many canyons and swim thru’s. Along the very colorful wall we had a pair of spotted eagle rays that came swimming right towards the group. Near the mooring line we once again this week had about 30 Atlantic spadefish along with a few stingrays and even a couple of sharks. This was an awesome day at the office, without a suit or tie!

Tuesday morning we had a strong incoming tide and one of the best dive sites in the area for that type of tide is Flat Rock Reef. Flat Rock Reef is a shallow reef with a max depth of about 25 feet that is covered with both hard and soft corals. As you swim around this reef, you will see schools of tropical fish and it feels like you’re inside an aquarium. We found a congenial golden tail eel that came partly of its hole and let several guests get some good photos of its excellent smile. Jewfish Wall was our next stop where we enjoyed more swim thru’s, eels and more Caribbean reef sharks. Our last dive site for the day was the wreck of the Austin Smith. Today, more then any other day, was all about Sharks. At one point during the dive on the Austin Smith we had about 10 Caribbean reef sharks swimming, sometimes less then a foot away from our cameras. Also close by were a variety of large and small groupers. One especially large Nassau grouper would not leave you alone until you took its picture, then it would venture to the next diver for another mug shot. The Austin Smith is getting more exciting each time we dive this wreck.

Wednesday morning we headed into the Exuma Land and Sea Park and the dive site called Amberjack Reef. As we descended, we were surrounded by schools of jacks intermixed with snappers and a few very large black groupers - and let’s not forget more sharks. All of the numerous crabs, angelfish, and splendidly colorful reef were great, but having a spotted moray eel swim within an inch or two from the lens of my video camera was the best. Both a Nassau and tiger grouper stayed around and let me shoot video from several different angles. We did our safety stop among the horse-eye jacks and Caribbean reef sharks. Three Peaks was our next dive site for this Wednesday afternoon. The reef area of Three Peaks is full of soft corals, sponges and small creatures. When looking inside many of the tube and basket sponges we could see lots of small brittle stars clinging to the insides. Best picture of the day went to a white reticulated brittle star perched on top of a bright red sponge – outstanding color contrast. Our best find of the day was on our night dive where we found a pair of hawksbill turtles sleeping under a ledge. We were also looking at hundreds of red night shrimp scattered throughout the reef and we also saw a few Caribbean spiny lobster and a spotted lobster. Doing the night dive was both relaxing and fun.

Thursday we did a pre-breakfast dive on Danger Reef. Nothing is better than jumping in the water before breakfast and being greeted by schools of snappers, large groupers and more sharks. Then as we were swimming on this colorful high profile reef a loggerhead turtle swam right up for a picture. Heading back north along the Exuma Islands we next stopped at Cracked Coral Head. This dive site was so much fun with swim thru’s filled with shiny silversides. Today, everyone voted to do a sunset dive. Though dealing with the tides in the Exumas can be a challenge, when the tide is in your favor, it’s simply the best. So keeping this in mind, for the sunset dive we went back to our shallow dive site that was like being in an aquarium, Flat Rock Reef. With the sun still shining, this site was at its best showing its brilliant colors. Before we knew it we had been down over 90 minutes just watching the marine life changing behavior from daytime to evening.

Our final dive of the week was an early morning dive in the Blue Hole. This dive site always offers us something special and this week it was surrounded by nurse sharks, loggerhead turtles, angelfish and colorful nudibranchs.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Mario, Engineer Ernie, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report Sept 8 – 15, 2012
Water Temperature 80-85 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Early on Saturday afternoon our guests Marian, Allan, Jeanine, Peter, Sam and Phillip boarded the Carib Dancer. After a nice welcome we slowly cruised out of Nassau Harbor enjoying a beautiful afternoon with only very slight winds leaving the seas flat calm and glowing a gorgeous orange all the way to the Exumas islands were we tied up to Allan’s Mooring to spend a very tranquil night.

Early on Sunday morning we headed toward our first dive site of the week, Pillar Wall where we did two dives. Two Caribbean reef sharks came by and checked us out for a while. The wall here is decorated with all kinds of sponges and coral. On the way back to the boat we found a big coral formation that has a cave full of silversides that dance to the rhythm of the bubbles. The top of this coral formation was full of blue chromis and yellow wrasses that made a very colorful dive. Later in the day we moved to Lobster No Lobster for a great afternoon and night dive. During the afternoon dive a turtle decide to join the group and pose for the photographers.

With Monday’s sunrise we crossed Allan’s Cut to head to Jewfish Wall. On our very first dive six eagle rays cruised by us in formation. It was an amazing sight to see them glide by gently. A little further down the wall a turtle didn’t stop her breakfast as we watched her munch on the sponges and other soft corals. It was a great morning full of happy divers discussing how many eagle rays they spotted. During lunch on the sundeck we went north towards Devil’s Jump and Dog/Church, one of the staff’s favorite sites. Very nice swim throughs with schooling fish by the hundreds. A school of horse eye jacks surrounded us and kept getting closer and closer, this must of seemed to much fun for the school of Atlantic spade fish because they joined the jacks and kept swimming circles around us too. On the night dive an octopus was the center of attention and then a hawksbill totally surprised the divers by bumping them while they were looking at the octopus.

Tuesday we started heading south towards Up Jump the Devil. What we like about this dive site is the huge swim throughs and columns that make you feel very small. Later we continue south to Austin’s Smith Wreck. Two very fun dives on the wreck with at least 12 or more Caribbean reef sharks and a 6 foot nurse shark that kept swimming trough all the divers. The wreck is home to a couple of big old black groupers and a bunch Nassau groupers. This dive is great for wide-angle photography. After a marvelous dinner prepared by Chef Shea, which the guests enjoyed on the sundeck, it was time for a night dive on the wreck of The Austin Smith. This is always a fantastic site for night diving, we saw at least 10 channel crabs on the hunt for a late night snack and a yellow tail stingray prowling the shallows cruised by us to say “hello”. The highlight of the night dive was a spotted eel that zig zagged its way through the broken up shipwreck. The divers got some amazing video of this majestic creature dancing in the beam of our divers flashlights.

Wednesday morning we headed south in to the national park where we got to dive Amber Jack. As soon as we turned off the engines (while we were getting ready to dive) the local reef sharks came up to the surface. Once we jumped in its was an incredible sight. You have the sun light rays crowning the boat and right under a school of horse eye jacks guarded by two big black groupers. The reef sharks get close for a while and then they leave us alone. Here there is no wall close by, but we have big coral heads with swim throughs. After two dives here we continued south to Jeep Reef. A nice shallow dive with incredible color and all kinds of fish.

We left early Thursday heading back north into the banks for some protection from the wind that had picked up. Here we did Basket Star where we found a good number of red tip sea goddesses. We were also excited about the juvenile queen angelfish that were swimming among the rest of the colorful reef fish. On our way back to the boat, almost right under it, a big southern stingray was looking for some food. We stayed with her until she went looking for food away from us. After this dive we went to Close Mon. This dive site is really close to a small island, hence the name. This dive is really fun, but we can only do it on an incoming tide. You dive really close to the island and if you want you can swim in to the current and let it take you for a while. The last dives on Thursday we did at Flat Rock where all the fish were really active just before they went to bed. It was a stunning sunset dive. During dinner we started our journey across the banks towards the Blue Hole.

On Friday Morning we woke up early to tie up to the Blue Hole. We had a good size nurse shark come out of the whole and swam in circles around the perimeter. Around the lip of the Blue Hole you can find coral heads that are home to schools of small fish and a multitude of different angelfishes. We then started our journey back to Nassau after another fantastic week of Bahamas diving.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 1^st Mate Mario, Engineer Ernie, Instructor David and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report September 15 – 22, 2012

Water Temperature 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended


Saturday afternoon the Carib Dancer and its guests Jennifer, Sean, Carol, Byron, Doug, Brian, Paula, Tom, Bruce and Danny departed our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started its trip out to the Exuma Islands.

Sunday morning we started making bubbles on Barracuda Shoals. Barracuda Shoals is a shallow dive site with scatted low profile coral heads. This dive site is an excellent spot for fine-tuning our weights and buoyancy. While working on our buoyancy we enjoyed swimming with schools of mahogany snappers, several types of parrotfish such as the stoplight parrotfish and the princess parrotfish, as well as a three-foot great barracuda hanging out under the Carib Dancer. Next we made our way out to Pillar Wall. Pillar Wall is a type of dive site where you don’t need to venture over the wall. In just 30-50 feet of water and right under the boat we took pictures and video of a spotted moray eel, along with both cero and Spanish mackerels. A school of Atlantic spadefish circled as I did my safety stop near the mooring line.

Monday morning we had; no business suits, no ties, no office, just a wonder dive site called site Up Jump The Devil. There’s so many swim thru’s on this dive site you can’t help but have fun. Some of the swim thru’s are a little spooky and you sometimes feel like something will come up behind you to pull on your fins. The highlight here was having a spotted eagle ray swim by off the top of the wall and then later come by for a second look. We finished this Monday on Dog Rocks/Church Wall. This has to be one of my favorites with an array of soft corals that cover the top of the wall. This site has it all: swim thru’s, canyons and a colorful wall that can match anything in the Caribbean. Along the wall we swam around deepwater sea fans, huge colorful bright orange elephant ear sponges and bushy black coral. We had a couple of small Caribbean reef sharks swim near and just about anywhere we ventured on this site we enjoyed small tropical fish.

Tuesday morning we started at Crab Mountain. We did see a few crabs, as well as, schools of yellowhead wrasse, squirrelfish trying to hide in the reef, and more Atlantic spadefish swimming around us as we did safety stops under the Carib Dancer. Next was a wreck call the Austin Smith. The Austin Smith sits in about 40 feet of water surrounded by coral heads. Today while diving the wreck we enjoyed Caribbean reef sharks; lots and lots of Caribbean reef sharks! At one point we had as many as 10 swimming around, sometimes within a foot from us. This made for excellent pictures and video. But lets not forget about the turtle, small moray eel and other creatures we enjoyed while diving the Austin Smith.

Wednesday morning we started our way south to the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Our first stop was Shroud Wall. Being inside the marine park the marine life must know they are protected, because they will swim right up to us. This is such a relaxing site where we enjoyed a long dive in just 40-55 feet of water right under the yacht - and if we wanted more it was only a 40 foot swim to the edge of the wall. Once on the wall we got good pictures of whip corals, branching tube sponges and pink vase sponges. We continued south further into the marine park to Danger Reef. As we pulled up to Danger Reef, several Caribbean reef sharks and a couple of very large black groupers swam up to the side of the Carib Dancer. After spending some time enjoyed the high profile coral and large marine animals, we headed to Jeep Reef. As I was slowly pulling up to our mooring I saw three hawksbill turtles. That’s when I knew it would be a special dive. This is one of the most colorful shallow reefs in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Jeep Reef rages from 8 feet on top of some of the corals to 30 feet in some sandy areas near the bottom of a few coral heads. Some guests took pictures, some shot video and some just swam around and enjoyed this colorful reef with schools of tropical fish, colorful sponges and corals and a few hawksbill turtles.

Thursday we started making our way back north and the first stop was Cracked Coral Head. We enjoyed several very nice swim thru’s that were full of silversides. I had a pair of French angelfish swim, play and eat just a few inches from my mask. It’s hard to believe how fast an hour can go by before you start your way back to the boat. The afternoon dive was on Lobster No Lobster. To answer the question, yes we did see lobster, along with beautiful colorful sponges and many schools of tropical fish in the clear warm water. Diving at Lobster No Lobster is an awesome way to spend a Thursday afternoon. Our final dive of the day was a sunset dive at Flat Rock Reef. Diving Flat Rock Reef is like being in an aquarium. It’s shallow, colorful and full of marine life creatures. The water at this dive site was almost too warm and too clear – impossible! I love the shallow dive sites here in the Exumas.

Friday the Blue Hole was our last dive of the charter. We never know what we will see while diving the Blue Hole. Today it was schools of tropical fish, moray eels, and stingrays. It was an excellent way to end a wonderful trip of diving throughout the Exuma Islands on the Carib Dancer.

Crew for this charter was Captain Dennis, Engineer Ernie, Instructor David, Instructor Gregory and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report September 22 – 29, 2012

Water Temperature: 79-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon the Carib Dancer and its guest David M, Janet, Jonathon, Richard, Tibor, Ilona, Terry, Carrie, David L, John, Bette, Edward and Akimi departed our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started a week long of exploring the dive site throughout the Exuma Islands.

Sunday morning our first dive was on Pillar Wall where we swam with schools of Atlantic spadefish. I had a pair of Queen angelfish swim only inches from my mask. Swimming near us along the edge of the wall a spotted eagle ray was showing off her spots. Heading north along the Exuma Islands our next stop was Crab Mountain. We did see channel clinging crabs and arrow crabs as well Caribbean spiny lobster and spotted lobster.

Monday morning we headed to one of my favorite dive sites in the Bahamas and Caribbean; Dog Rocks/Church Wall. This dive site is one where we can shoot macro or wide angle for photograph or video. Dog Rocks/Church Wall has it all with colorful swim thrus, canyons and a wall covered with sponges and black coral. Let’s not forget about the marine life, sharks, schools of tropical fish and rays. After shooting enough pictures and video to fill a couple of slide shows, we started making our way south to our next dive site called Madison Avenue. Here we were up close and personal with Caribbean spiny lobster, spotted lobster, crabs, and schools of snappers. Under ledges we saw fairy basset that were colored in shades of purple to violet, as well as blackcap and three line bassets. After finishing with Madison Avenue it was time for Lobster No Lobster. Yes we did see lobsters, along with snappers, grunts, barracudas, barred hamlets and an array of other creatures to fill a memory card.

Tuesday our first dive site was Jewfish Wall. Actually, just last week, because of all the eagle rays we had here we changed the name to Eagle Ray Pass, so we had big hopes this week. It must have been a little early for them today because we only saw one very big spotted eagle ray that swam near us. Simply beautiful! However, I still spent almost an hour enjoying the fabulous marine creatures on this dive site. Also today we made some bubbles on Closemon Reef. We have a few very shallow dive sites that are like swimming inside of an aquarium. Closemon is one of them and we had several different schools of tropical fish swimming around us as we played in the crystal clear 85^o F water. Our next stop was at the Wreck of the Austin Smith and this is always a highlight of the trip. I think it has something to do with the amount of Caribbean reef sharks that we encounter. At any given time we had 9 different sharks swimming just a short distance away, less than a foot in some cases. Also, we had a large nurse shark and several Nassau and tiger groupers keeping us company. Diving with these beautiful sharks is one of the greatest experiences you can have underwater and we get to dive with them each week!

Wednesday we started making our way south into the Exuma Park and our first stop was Shroud Wall. Here we swam next to huge rainbow parrotfish. Joining a school of Atlantic spadefish was a few ocean triggerfish to change up the mix. We also came across hundreds of garden eels, as well as, a very large loggerhead turtle. Danger Reef was our net site and as we pulled up to the mooring several Caribbean reef sharks and a few black groupers swam next to the Carib Dancer. We had a fun afternoon and night dive on Danger Reef. Not only did we swim with the sharks and groupers, but also we saw gaudy clown crab, orange button and blub tunicates. However, the highlight was finding a white Frogfish. Not bad for a Wednesday of diving the Bahamas.

Thursday we started making our way back north and the first stop was Cracked Coral Head. We enjoyed several very nice swim thrus with one that was full of silversides. Then it was Blacktip Wall where we shot video and took some pictures of more sharks, a hawksbill turtle and both smooth and spotted trunkfish. The tide was changing, so we headed to another shallow dive site that makes you feel like you are in an aquarium called Flat Rock Reef. At Flat Rock Reef someone can shoot as many pictures and video of fish as a memory card can hold. However, always save some room for a shoot a picture or two because we never know what we will see underwater in the Exumas. While diving we also saw a redline blue sea goddess nudibranch and a hawksbill turtle.

Friday we did a pre-breakfast dive on Barracuda Shoals. Barracuda Shoals is a shallow reef with lots of marine life to swim around. Seeing the reef come alive first thing in the morning is always nice. The Blue Hole was our last dive of the charter and we never quite know what we will see while diving the Blue Hole. Today it was schools of tropical fish, moray eels, and stingrays. It was an excellent way to end a wonderful trip of diving throughout the Exuma Islands on the Carib Dancer.

Congratulations to Richard and Jonathon for completing their Nitrox Certification, Jonathon also completed his Advance Diver Certification and David L completed his Night Diver Specialty. Thank you Janet for finding the best creatures this week, especially the nudibranchs and our white frogfish. A very special congratulation and thank you goes to Bette and Edward, who came to the Carib Dancer in the Bahamas from Colorado to dive and celebrate their 45 Wedding Anniversary!!!

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, Engineer Ernie, Instructor David, Instructor Gregory and Chef Shea.