Carib Dancer Captain's Logs

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report July 27 – Aug 3, 2013

Water Temperature: 82-84 F
3 mm Wet Suit or Skin Recommended

The Carib Dancer continues with its Special Charters out of the West End Of Grand Bahama with a variety of dives. Some of our dives were shallow, some deep, some drift but all were Fantastic! The water was warm and clear blue and the marine life was plentiful.

Our adventure started on Saturday afternoon when our guest Wayne, Nicholas, Emmanouil, Allen, Kelly, Joe, Louise, Glen, Curt, Corinne and Nicole boarded and shortly after our Safety Briefing, the Carib Dancer set a course for the Little Bahama Bank under a beautiful night filled with stars.

We started our West End Adventure on a sweet dive site called The Sugar Wreck. The Sugar Wreck is an old barge that sank somewhere around the late 1890’s. Because the barge was carrying molasses at the time of its sinking it became known as the Sugar Wreck. The wreck is scatted over about a 50-yard area, located in about 25 feet of clear, warm water. Over this part of the Little Bahama Banks there is nothing around for marine life to congregate around so when this molasses barge became part of the underwater world the marine life started using the wreck for shelter and at any given time you can find hundreds of fish and other underwater creatures. After enjoying the Sugar Wreck we spent the afternoon and night on Hogfish Reef. While diving we saw Nassau, tiger and black groupers, Caribbean spiny lobsters and hawksbill turtle. Then Mother Ocean added Caribbean reef sharks and a few lemon sharks to come play up close for some pictures and video shots.

It’s Monday and ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem’ because we are diving on the West End Of Grand Bahama and our first dive site is the Mini Wall, which is a large reef about 300 yards long. The east side is in only about 35 feet of water while the west side sloops to about 65 feet looking like a mini-wall. The top of the reef is full of soft corals and it would take a week of diving this site to see the entire variety of marine life present. The afternoon was all about Classic Tiger Beach. Can this sandy area get any more popular for sharks? Today while diving here we always had at least 10 lemon sharks around us, and at any point during our long bottom times they would come within a few inches of us. We were able to get some excellent shark pictures and video.

Tuesday our first stop was Shark Paradise, and this is not far in distance from Tiger Beach where we see lots of sharks. The reef here is covered with a variety of marine life such as snappers, angelfish, groupers, barracudas, jacks, spotted moray eels, crabs, lobsters and sharks. While diving we saw several Caribbean reef sharks and a big lemon shark. The afternoon we did a couple of drift dives near an area we call Mount Olympus, an area that is made up of huge coral heads that start in about 45 feet and drop down past the recommended limit for diving. Today we had the pleasure of diving with turtles, eels, sharks and a few spotted eagle rays that swam in for a closer look at the group. We finished our diving today on the Sugar Wreck for our night dive. Spotted drum, hawksbill turtle, spotted moray eels and octopus were only some of the things we enjoyed spotting tonight.

Wednesday was a busy day of drift diving. The Gulf Stream runs very close to the Little Bahama Banks and sometimes we can feel part of that current traveling from the south to the north. Today was one of those days. We started the drift day with everyone’s favorite from yesterday Mount Olympus, and then it was drifting at El Captaan. After this we enjoyed El Dorado, and to finish off a day of drift diving it was on to the Mini Wall. I would be talking all night to list all the things we had a chance to see. As one of our guests said, “It was the very good day of diving”. Because of current all day we went to our sweet little wreck, the Sugar Wreck for our night dive. I know some of you are thinking, not again. But each time we have done this site has been different. Tonight we saw over a dozen porcupinefish, big ocean triggerfish, and some of the biggest gray angelfish I have ever seen anywhere. I had a green moray eel swim out of its hole right next to me and he was small, only about 3 feet. Also we saw a spotted moray and a hawksbill turtle eating. There was a Caribbean reef shark that almost ran over me, and as I was headed up the mooring line to finish the dive there was squid hanging next to me as I slowly made my way up.

Thursday was ‘Classic Tiger Beach Day’. We arrived at Classic Tiger Beach in the early morning hoping to see a tiger shark and right from the start as we entered the water we had lemon sharks all around us. Tiger Beach is basically a sandy beach located under about 15 -20 feet of water. It’s an amazing feeling that while swimming on top of this white sandy beach you have about 15 lemon sharks swimming along side with the smallest shark being about 4 foot, though most average around 6 feet in length. Everyone was happy we stayed for the rest of the day on Tiger Beach. After a wonderful lunch, we entered the water with all the lemon sharks and just a short time later we were joined by a pod of spotted dolphins. Then a tiger shark, around 10 feet in length, joined us. It did a few swim bys, and off he went. It was a very exciting day at Classic Tiger Beach.

Friday morning we finished our week of diving on Fish Tail Reef. This reef is about 200 yards long and about 75 yards wide and the top of the reef is covered with soft corals and a huge variety of marine life. While diving here we also had several Caribbean reef sharks and a nurse shark stayed near for most of the dive. We get the chance to see so many big creatures while diving that sometimes we forget about the small stuff. That’s why it was so nice when Kelly found a juvenile smooth trunkfish. It was another amazing week of diving on the West End of Grand Bahama and we thank our guests for joining us.

Best Fishes,
Crew for the Carib Dancer was Captain Dennis, Video Pro David, Photo Pro Jason, Assistant Engineer Julia and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 3 – 9, 2013
6 Night Tiger Beach Unique Charter

Water Temperature: 82-84 F
3 mm Wet Suit or Skin Recommended

The Carib Dancer continues with its last week of special charters out of the West End of Grand Bahama Island. This last charter started as we welcomed guests Ken, Brad, John, Maria, Ramon, Nefertari, Joan, Maria, Javier, Danielle, Karim and Phillip with an early Sunday morning departure from Old Bahama Bay Marina on a beautiful sunrise cruise to our first dive site called the Sugar Wreck.

I know we have only done this dive site a few times but the Sugar Wreck has become my favorite dive site on the East End and the Little Bahama Bank. We always see a hundreds of fish and a huge variety of marine life. After enjoying a wonderful morning diving with angelfish, nurse sharks, snappers, groupers and turtles we headed to Hogfish Reef. Who ever name this reef picked it right, there were hogfish swimming all over this reef. We also saw lots of soft and hard corals, juvenile fish of most every type, and a few Caribbean reef sharks.

Monday started at Classic Tiger Beach. As soon as we pulled into the area and dropped the anchor we had several lemon sharks around the Carib Dancer. At one point while diving I counted 19 Lemon Sharks swimming circles around our 12 guests. Makes you want to ask, who was watching whom? After playing at Tiger Beach we headed out for a drift dive over Mount Olympus. Mount Olympus is a coral head starting around 45 feet and we saw a variety of hard and soft corals, as well as several types of marine life. After the drift dive we ended the day for a night dive on Sugar Wreck. This was a Fantastic Night Dive!!! I think diving the Sugar Wreck during the day is a great little dive, but diving the Sugar Wreck at night is Amazing! We saw countless porcupinefish, nurse shark and a Caribbean reef sharks, too many spotted Caribbean lobsters to count, spotted moray eels swimming out in the open, and three turtles; two were loggerheads. One was the biggest turtle I have ever seen and he was sleeping under a part of the wreck. The second loggerhead turtle was swimming about, and the third was a small hawksbill hanging around us for a few minutes towards the end. Best night dive I have done this year!

Tuesday we started on Shark Paradise swimming with a few Caribbean reef sharks. During the dive we did see lots of other types of marine life, however everyone wanted to see Tiger Sharks. So after shooting pictures and video of Caribbean reef sharks up close we headed out to look for some tiger sharks. We drifted a huge coral head that was covered with marine life. The dive site was called El Captaan and it was nice to swim with rays, eels and more Caribbean reef sharks. The afternoon and night dives were on Mini Wall. Mini Wall is a pair of long coral heads that make a mini wall, the top being about 30 feet and the bottom around 85 feet. Mini Wall is covered with juvenile creatures of all types, as well as several large schools of snappers, wrasses, a few groupers, and lets not forget Caribbean reef sharks.

Wednesday morning we started early at Tiger Beach. As the Carib Dancer set her anchor we watched as several big lemon sharks swam straight to the stern of the boat. By the time we briefed the divers and entered the water we had almost a dozen lemon sharks around the vessel and we all enjoyed swimming with them. Before the day at Tiger Beach was over we had 20 plus lemon sharks swimming around us, with some bumping right into us like that didn’t see us laying their taking pictures. A few times we sat next to them on the sand while they had their mouths open and getting cleaned by smaller fish. One time one bumped my leg, so I went to move by putting my hand on another one’s fin making him jump. We didn’t see any tiger sharks today, but it was a very enjoyable day on the Carib Dancer with all the lemon sharks keeping us occupied. No one wanted to leave the area, so we stayed all day. For our last night dive of the week we went back to the ‘best night dive site’, Sugar Wreck. Just like a few nights ago, it was an amazing night dive with eels, lobsters, squid and a couple of huge loggerhead turtles.

Thursday was our final dive day on the West End of Grand Bahama as this was only a 6-night charter. To finish our shorter time on the Little Bahama Banks we picked Shark Paradise as our final dive site. We enjoyed swimming with schools of snappers and grunts, found lobsters hiding in their holes, and encountered barracudas swimming up close. Also, we had several large Caribbean reef sharks along with a beautiful eagle ray that came only a few feet away, letting us get a very close look. It was a good dive before breakfast, and an even better one after breakfast.

The last several weeks out of Grand Bahama have been wonderful, but it’s time for the Carib Dancer to head back to its home in Nassau. Look out for upcoming Exuma reports. In fact, come join us and live the experience yourself.

Best Fishes,
Crew for the Carib Dancer was Captain Dennis, Video Pro David, Photo Pro Jason, Galley/ Engineer Assistant Julia and Chef Shea.

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 10 – 17, 2013

This week the Carib Dancer welcomes guests Doug, Derek, Bill, Mara, Carolyn, Gary, Penny, Nick, Norris, Virginia and Wendy on board ready and anxious to dive. Everyone first gets settled and then gets ready to start our adventure.

The divers woke to the smell of coffee and blueberry pancakes this morning as we had arrived earlier at our first dive site called Lobster No Lobster for the night. Chef Shea has prepared a breakfast feast of sausage, fresh fruit, ‘eggs your way’ and blueberry pancakes – excellent! Next we move to a dive sight called Close-mon. Close- mon is a shallow dive, 15- 25 feet with an island for a backdrop and the dives here are spectacular. With yellow stingrays lurking about, great barracuda seemingly motionless, schoolmasters gathering around sea fans, and long spine squirrelfish peeking out from under ledges. The divers return famished and ready for lunch. Chef Shea has prepared a 16-spice chicken, a glorious fruit salad and cucumber salad, marvelous. With the tide change we move back to Lobster No Lobster. Here we will do two dives and this site gives up the goods. The divers encounter a southern stingray resting on the bottom while a hawksbill turtle effortlessly strolls by and there are lots of sightings of conch and lobsters milling about. The divers return to the Carib Dancer with many fish tales and are ready for dinner. Dinner has a southern flare with pork chops, poached potatoes, veggies and pineapple upside down cake to die for. The sun has set and time for the night dive. We move to a little sight we call The Airplane. In just 18 feet of water, the divers witness slipper lobsters hiding in the wing and yellow rays gliding across the bottom. As always, the red banded shrimp and hermit crabs can be found hiding everywhere.

As the sun awakes, a new day appears on the horizon and new adventures. We move through the ships’ channel to Up Jumped The Devil. This dive site provides the divers with a fabulous wall and swim throughs. We watch a school of 20 Atlantic spadefish, all in formation, swimming just under the boat. As the divers swim on they sight a Caribbean reef shark, angelfish, groupers, and goatfish. With two dives down and the divers back on board, we head to Church Wall/Dog Rocks, a site that is a little farther north. If there was ever a place you wanted to go to see a huge variety of fish, this is it. There was so much variety I’m going to just list a bit of what three dives produced for fish. Here we go, eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks, filefish, thousand of silversides filling one of the swim throughs, lionfish, jacks, barracudas, gray spadefish, parrotfish of all sorts, trumpetfish and I could go on and on, but it’s time for dinner. Chef Shea has grilled hanger steaks, asparagus and baked a spiced potato, yum, yum. Day turns into night and it’s time to night dive. Church Wall opens its doors to eagle rays, clinging crabs, spiny lobsters and Caribbean reef sharks. The divers have been treated to an exciting dive.

First thing in the morning we now have moved to Madison Avenue that has some of the best small to mid-size coral heads for finding and cataloging fish along with plenty of spiny lobsters. There were also several kinds of butterflyfish that were found. Jewfish Wall next awaits our arrival and when we arrive there it reminds us that today is a special day for one of our guests. Today is Derek's birthday - he’s just turning 14 and birthdays on the Carib Dancer always mean fun, so Derek gets his own personal cake and a gift from the crew. Now let’s go diving!!! Jewfish Wall has some beautiful swim throughs and a wall that is also spectacular. Back onboard the divers talk about the eagle ray that was sighted, a baby Caribbean reef shark, and the southern stingray found hiding in the sand. Our next dive is always a guest favorite, the Austin Smith Wreck, as this is one of sights noted for sharks. The divers immerse themselves into the deep and there at the wreck are almost a dozen Caribbean reef sharks. What a great time, and the divers ask to come back and dive here again this week.

We travel now to Black Tip Wall. This is another fun dive with swim throughs that will leave you breathless and today our divers have a time of their life with sightings of eagle rays and more reef sharks. Next we move to Hammerhead Gulch, a shallow dive with medium to low coral heads. Our first octopus shows up and we find him having a small crab for lunch. We continue to swim along finding clinging crabs and lobsters hiding under the ledges. Whales Tail Wall is our next dive site and here the canyons and large coral heads have a mystical look of ancient pyramids. We swim with hogfish, grouper, schoolmasters and yellowtail. Today the visibility is excellent, so we swim out into the blue and look back at the grandness of the wall.

Night falls and day breaks. With that we head back to the Austin Smith Wreck for one more shark dive where the divers are visited by a dozen Caribbean reef sharks, black groupers and Nassau groupers. Our next stop is Crab Mountain and with many caverns and swim throughs the fun begins. As we approach the wall an eagle ray pops up from the deep, fabulous. All the divers witness the beauty and grace of the spotted eagle ray as it swims near. It's been another awesome dive. Barracuda Shoals is our next site, and this has been a favorite site of Chef Shea and today he not only prepares an absolute delicious turkey dinner (for later), but dives also. On Barracuda Shoals today we get the pleasure of seeing a red tipped sea goddess nudibranch, lettuce sea slug, flamingo tongue, red-ridged clinging crab, spiny lobsters, Pederson cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, and more. What a nice site this is.

Our last dives this week will be the Blue Hole and then Periwinkle Reef. At the Blue Hole we encounter nurse sharks, nudibranchs, and a hawk bill turtle. We then travel to Periwinkle Reef, which is a small, shallow sight. Here a hawksbill turtle becomes friends with the divers and makes for great entertainment. For such a small sight the divers have some extraordinary stories to tell afterwards of things they saw.

Home now as we say goodbye to our old friends we get ready for new divers and adventures.

Captain Ernie Stanley

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 17 – 24, 2013

Air temp: mid 80s
Water temp: 82-84F (27-29C)
Winds: Breezy with16kts and gusts to 20kts
Seas: 4ft or less, swells 6ft or less

This week’s guests Sabrina, Kalia, John, Robert, Whit, Nancy, Shari, Brian, Diana, George, Gayle, and Ken have arrived. With the water temperature hovering around 82 to 84 degrees, a 3 mil wetsuit or less is recommended.

Lobster No Lobster is the site for our first two dives. The site has low to medium size coral heads with an array of orange and brown sponges, and colorful sea fans. Marine life sightings were large lobsters, trumpetfish, four-eye butterflyfish, schoolmasters, and spotted goatfish. We move next to a site called Closemon. Anchored a mere 100ft (30m) from the cay makes this site very shallow at only 20ft (6.9m). Here we find porcupine fish, great barracuda, sergeant majors, and many long-spined sea urchins.

Aquarium is our first site today with low to medium coral heads where we have numerous tropical fish sightings along with southern stingrays, queen conch, hermit crabs, spotted moray eels and garden eels. The Carib Dancer then moves to our next site Dog Rock/Church Wall. Church Wall, like the name implies, is a wall dive and is well known for its eagle ray sightings and an eagle ray does show up on our second dive here. There's also reef sharks, a spotted moray eel, triggerfish, queen angelfish, and hogfish, just to name a few of the creatures we find. Up Jump The Devil is our next stop and is known for its swim throughs and deep caverns. Fish sightings here are rainbow and midnight parrotfish, queen and ocean triggerfish, gray angelfish, and yellow stingrays.

On our third day aboard the winds have picked up and with them so have the seas. We decide to move to the Eleuthera where our first dive is Cave Rock. Cave Rock is a large coral head, with a hole right through the middle and there are smaller coral heads scattered about. Here we see several lettuce leaf slugs and there are also a couple of clinging crabs hiding in the rock. Other fish sighted were juvenile drums and spotted moray eels. Our next dive is at Hole In The Wall, which is a deep wall dive with a swim through that leads out into the blue water that is a lot of fun to venture into. Hole In The Wall has some beautiful brown tube sponges and large sea fans with trumpetfish hiding along the wall. There are also bar jacks and a Nassau grouper spotted at cleaning station. As the divers ascend to the Carib Dancer we are ready for our move to the next dive site called Monolith. Monolith is a wall dive at a 60-foot depth that is named after a large coral formation that stands alone at the wall. In the sand we see a field of garden eels as a reef shark swims by us, and a hawksbill turtle is spotted as it ascends up the wall. We leave Monolith and arrive at Knucklehead, which is a shallow site and is also our night dive. Tonight the lobsters come out and wander about, a coral crab is found walking across a coral head and we find a yellow ray in the sand hiding.

Tomorrow arrives, which means a new dive site, so Cut –N-Run is next on the list. This is the first time we have dived this site and we find an airplane, a large anchor, and chain lying on the bottom. With scattered coral heads, Cut-N-Run is a lot of fun to explore. Our next dive site is Split Coral Head and this is one of our shark sites. We plunge into the water and immediately encounter several Caribbean reef sharks. This site also has a large coral head that is split in the middle and has several large spiny lobsters, clinging crabs, and sea fans with trumpetfish hiding behind them.

As we leave Split Coral Head we head back to the Exumas where our first stop is the wreck of the Austin Smith, another site that is a shark dive. We find several reef sharks swimming around the wreck and they are unperturbed by our presence. This makes for an awesome and exciting dive. Next we move to Barracuda Shoals, which is a shallow site with medium to low profile coral heads. Here the divers see a southern stingray, lobsters, scrawled filefish, ocean triggerfish, and queen triggerfish.

Finally it’s time to dive the Blue Hole and today we find pesky remoras as the remoras chase us trying to hitch a free ride. There is also a nurse shark found and a rough tail stingray is spotted. As we ventured down to about 70 feet into the hole there is a small cave that is full of lobsters. Our last dive of the week is at site called Periwinkle. This site is always fun as the sergeant majors love to play with the divers and keep us quite amused. Here there is also a small hawksbill turtle that loves to be petted, and we find a couple of nurse sharks resting in the grass.

As we head toward the Carib Dancer’s homeport of Nassau, we look back at the great dives we’ve had this week, but mostly forward to the new friends we have met and enjoyed having onboard. We bid you a fond farewell and safe journeys.

Captain Ernie

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 24 – 31, 2013

Weather conditions for this week -
Air temp: mid-80’s
Water temp: 83 F
Chance of thunderstorms: 40%
Winds: 8kts
Seas: 2-3 ft with ocean swells 3 ft or less
Recommended wetsuit: 3mil or less

This week we welcome group leader Rob from Scubaland in Austin TX along with Jeff, Christine, Carolyn, Jeanette, Darren, Scott, Sara, Sharon, David, Lynn Charlotte, John, and Elizabeth. Let the dive experience begin. This week we went to 20 dive sites and to write about each dive site would make this captain’s log a captain’s book. So here we go with an abbreviated version.

Dive Sites:
Periwinkle Reef, Blue Hole, Dog Rock, Up Jumped The Devil, Madison Avenue, Basket Star Reef, Barracuda Shouls, Shroud Wall, Austin Smith wreck, Amberjack Reef, 3 Peaks, Parrotfish Reef, Wall City, Danger Reef, Jeep Reef, Wall City 2, Cracked Coral Reef, Airplane wreck, Lobster No Lobster and Close-mon.

Our dive sites were filled with swim throughs and deep caverns for the adventurous to explore. Pristine hard corals and colorful soft corals were explored as well and they were filled with diverse marine creatures and tropical fish. Each sighting was unique and just some of the sightings this week were spotted eagle rays, Caribbean reef sharks, green turtles, hawksbill turtles, southern stingrays, queen couch, hermit crabs, rainbow parrotfish, midnight parrotfish, fire worms, yellow headed jawfish. Caribbean spiny lobsters, shovel nose lobsters, sea slugs of various kinds, nudibranchs, flamingo tongues, sergeant majors, remora, and razor fish just to name a few.

We also can't forget the meals that Chef Shea prepared daily. There was bourbon and espresso chocolate cake to tease you, a brisket to please you, and cooked-to-order breakfasts to feed you.

The week was marvelous with our group of wonderful guests and we toast farewell to our new dive buddies.

Captain Ernie

Crew this week: Captain Ernie, Video pro and Instructor David, Photo pro and instructor Jason, Galley Asst. Julia and Chef Shea

 

[Dancer Fleet]

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report August 31 - Sept 7, 2013

Welcome to the Carib Dancer, Nassau Bahamas

This week’s guests are Wayne Hasson, president of Aggressor Fleet & Dancer Fleet, Richard, Al, Ray, Josh, Diane, Peter, Eric, Susan, Kari, Eric, Julie, Vicki & Andrew.

Crew this week: Captain Ernie, Second captain and video pro David, Photo pro Jason, Dive instructor Zachary, Galley Julia and Chef Casey.

As we start are journey we become anxious for the first dive. Weather will be mid 80s with a chance of showers, seas 3 ft or less, winds light & out of the east. Water temp 84, recommend 3 mil or less for protection.

Dive sites this week: Lobster No Lobster, Jewfish Wall, Austin Smith wreck, Madison Avenue, Cut-N-Run, Barge, Cobia Cage, Split Coral, Knucklehead, Monolith, Cut Thru City, Cave Rock, Premo Wall, Tunnel Rock, Flat Rock, Airplane, Blue Hole, Periwinkle.

There was a variety of Caribbean fish sighted this week. Some of the unique sightings include scorpion fish, octopus, nudibranchs, basket stars, spotted eagle rays, and Atlantic spadefish. There was also a sighting of a manta ray.

We arrive back at are homeport and said good-bye to our new diver friends.
Captain Ernie Stanley

---------- Post added September 23rd, 2013 at 04:19 PM ----------



---------- Post added September 24th, 2013 at 10:15 AM ----------

Carib Dancer Captain's Report September 7 - 14, 2013

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

Saturday afternoon after everyone boarded the Carib Dancer and its guest Gladwin, Wendy, Marc, Laura, Sheila, Eric, Tim, Jody, Monic, Greg, Bastien, Mak, Vincent and Hung departed its home dock at Elizabeth On Bay and started its trip out to the Exuma Islands. On the way to the Exuma’s from Nassau there’s an area called the Yellow Banks.

Sunday we started our diving adventure on Pillar Wall. I like this site because if gives everyone a choice. Our guest can stay just under the Carib Dancer in shallow water and enjoy a variety of hard and soft corals and hundreds of Juvenile Creatures as well as a few adult versions. Or they swim about 100 feet to the edge of the wall and enjoy some of the same and a beautiful wall. It was the perfect way to start a good week of diving. Our next stop was Crab Mountain East. Crab Mountain is a very large dive site, big enough to have two moorings. The East mooring where we were is right on the edge of the wall. Because of this location, again guest had a chance to mix it up with shallow or something a little deeper. Lots of Channel Clinging Crabs, Schools of Snappers and Grunts and A beautiful Small Blacktip Shark came by for a few guests to get a closer look.

Monday was a day of Swim Thru’s, Canyons and Walls. We started with Jewfish Wall. In front of the mooring pin a few of us entered a small canyon which turned into a long swim thru coming out into the dark blue Exuma sound over the wall at about 90 feet. Swimming back towards the shallows along the wall we enjoyed Sea Whips, Sponges, and a Very Nice Spotted Eagle Ray which Gladwin and Wendy was able to shoot some video of. After a nice long lunch break to gas off our next stop 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 and Spotted Eagle Rays. We ended our Monday on Dog Rocks. Dog Rocks is one of my Favorite Dive Sites in the Exuma Islands. We enjoyed lots of Swim Thru’s and Canyons, some of them having thousands of Silver Sides that we had to swim thru. We took pictures of Black Coral, Colorful Elephant Ear Sponges and Sea Whips. Also joining us on the dive was a Huge Barracuda that was swimming up close to most everyone and a couple of Spotted Moray Eels one swimming out in the open.

Tuesday we woke up in Eleuthera. After a great Monday night dive on Dog Rock we drop the mooring and headed to the island of Eleuthera. When the winds are out of the East this is the place to be making bubbles. We started our dives in Eleuthera at the Hole In The Wall dive site. This site has a awesome swim thru that starts at 40 feet and out over the wall at 100 feet. Then we enjoyed a colorful wall as we slowly swam back toward the top of the wall. Next stop was a dive site called Cut N Run. The name Cut N Run came from the days of drug running in the Bahamas. I small plane was ditch by the Drug Runners so they could escape for the police. The plane is mostly broke apart by it sets next a Colorful Wall and the Coral Heads around the plane are covered with Marine Life. We finished the day on Cave Rock. One of my favorites late afternoon and night dives around Eleuthera. Around the dive site we swam with White Spotted Filefish, Nassau and Tiger Groupers, Princess Parrotfish and even saw a Large Spotted Scorpionfish.

Wednesday our first stop was the Cobia Cage. The Cobia Cage is a huge underwater structure. Starting at 15 feet and going down to about 65 feet, the cage is use by the island school for research. It was damage during Hurricane Sandy last year by has been repaired. When diving next to the cage is looks like a Big UFO! The Cobia Cage also sits next to an amazing wall that starts about 70 feet and just keeps going. Just on the edge of the wall I swam with a couple of Sharks and a Hawksbill Turtle. As I swam back towards the cage and the Carib Dancer I was over the sandy area and saw a couple of Big Southern Stingrays. After the Cobia Cage we headed south to Cut Thru City. Lots of Swim Thru and Canyons, Hard and Soft Corals and of course Marine Life, lots of Marine Life. Our last stop of the day was Split Coral Head. Split Coral head is a unique dive site. It’s a Large Coral Head that starts about 15 feet and goes to about 45 feet and has a huge Split down the center. Split Coral Head location is about 75 feet from a magnificent wall. We always enjoy the colorful corals, awesome wall and lots of Caribbean Reef Sharks. We can always find them between the Split Coral Head and the Wall. Sometime they will be as many as 12 and today was no different. We were able to get some excellent pictures and video of them up close and personal. We can’t wait to get back to this dive site!

Thursday started back in the Exuma islands on Blacktip Wall. Blacktip has lots of swim thru’s and most head out to the wall. We enjoyed several schools of tropical fish, Caribbean Spiny and Spotted Lobsters and around the mooring line we had to swim by about 25 Atlantic Spadefish. Next on the list for our day of diving was the Wreck of the Austin Smith. While diving the Wreck of the Austin Smith we found lots of small Blenny’s, Clams, and Colorful Sponges along its side. But the highlight just is the Caribbean Reef Sharks that hang out around this wonderful dive site. We enjoyed the Wreck, the Reef around it and a Huge Variety of Marine Life. We ended the day on Barracuda Shoals. Barracuda Shoals is a shallow dive site that has Scattered Coral Heads that are covered with an array of colors. While diving Barracuda Shoals we swam with large Arrow and Channel Clinging Crabs, Queen Angelfish and Two Green Turtles as well as Octopus. The afternoon and night dives at Barracuda Shoals was Awesome!

Friday morning we started with a pre-breakfast dive on a wall just off the north end of Highborne Cay. It was an excellent way to start the day, swimming through swim thru’s taking pictures of Sharks, Rays and Turtles. To finish our week of diving we made one more stop and that was the Blue Hole. The outer rim of the Blue Hole sits in about 35 feet of water. The wall inside the hole is covered with colorful creatures and corals. Along the Northwest side we had schools of Grunts, Snappers, Angelfish and three Nurse Sharks.

It was an Excellent Week of Diving in the Bahamas on the Carib Dancer!!!

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 2nd Captain Ernie, Video Pro / Instructor David and Instructor Zach and Chef Kasey.











---------- Post added September 24th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ----------

Carib Dancer Captain’s Report September 14 – 21, 2013

Water Temperature 80-84 F
3 or 5 mm Wet Suit Recommended

Saturday afternoon our guests Tom, Kyle, Rick, Austin, Elizabeth, Jim, Sharron, Al, Terri, Bob, Mary, Tim, Deborah and Thomas board the Carib Dancer for a week of diving in the Bahamas. Due to late arrivals and very late bags we stayed at our home dock at Elizabeth On Bay for the night. Our guests had a chance to enjoy a wonderful dinner onboard, then relax and enjoy the lights of Nassau.

Sunday we departed the docks in the early am. It’s not often that we get a chance to see the lights of the island as we travel through the waterways heading for the Exumas. Having fresh coffee and enjoying the early morning view made for a very enjoyable ride to the Exuma Islands. Or first stop was Periwinkle Reef, which is a shallow reef that is covered with a variety of fish that will swim all around you. After enjoying a very long dive here the next bubble-making stop was Barracuda Shoals. I really would like to dive this site more as it is shallow, so we can get lots of bottom time. It’s also very colorful for getting good pictures and video, and we never know what marine life will come near us while diving. We saw barracudas (of course), colorful corals and sponges, several types of stingrays, sharks, and let’s not forget about the octopus.

After we finished today with an amazing night dive we headed east across the Exuma Sound for the island of Eleuthera. Our first dive site to visit was Cut-N-Run. This site has a few things I really like with a small plane wreck that has lots of little creatures around, a large anchor stuck into the wall with a long chain attached that is both covered with coral and sponges, and a big beautiful wall filled with sponges and several different types of coral, including a couple varieties of black coral. I had about sixty mackerels swim right in front of me as a huge loggerhead turtle swam near the group, and about forty ocean triggerfish were spotted near the mooring line. Diving Cut-N-Run was a good way to start a Monday. Our next stop was the Cobia Cage and its wall. The cage is an underwater structure that starts in 15 feet of water and goes down to about 65 feet and is used by the island school for research. It was damage during Hurricane Sandy last year by has since been repaired. The amazing wall next to the Cobia Cage starts about 70 feet and just keeps going too deep for you or I. On the edge of the wall we almost always see sharks and rays, and today was more of the same as a couple of guests and myself were able to swim really close to a couple of rays and a few Caribbean reef sharks. There was also a large black grouper that insisted on getting its picture taken, so a few guests helped him out. Cobia Cage (which looks like a UFO underwater) is always a fun dive. Next we were off to The Barge and its assortment of small creatures. About two years ago, a barge was sunk just off the coast of Eleuthera as an artificial reef and since the sinking a variety of marine life has made the barge their home with schools of fish, nurse sharks, spotted eels, groupers, barracudas and an array of other creatures to be found. The Barge is a very nice late afternoon dive and a wonderful night dive, and I should know, as I was one of the first in the water and the last out. :blinking:

Tuesday started at Cut Thru City and its spectacular wall. If you’re a diver who enjoys canyons and swim thrus along with a colorful wall then this is your type of dive site. While swimming along the top of the wall, around 40 feet, you can pick between several canyons or swim thrus to enjoy and there is lots of color on the wall, as well as several types of black coral. After a fantastic lunch we headed to the dive site Tunnel Rock. While diving here we saw hogfish, spotted drums, orange-spotted filefish, Nassau and tiger groupers, along with a few Caribbean spiny lobsters. After our dive here it was time to go swim with some sharks and the best dive site for that in Eleuthera is Split Coral Head. This large coral head starts in about 15 feet of water and the base is around 45 feet. The site is located about 150 feet from a beautiful wall that is surrounded by lots of sand. Between the large coral head and the wall we had the pleasure of swimming with 9 Caribbean reef sharks ranging in size from 4 feet to 7 feet, and while we were diving they would swim as close as a few inches away. This was an Awesome Dive and we will be back again…

Wednesday morning and our first dive site was Monolith. We had no idea that the way this day started that spotted eagle rays would be its theme. While we were diving Monolith, which is a magnificent wall full of colorful sea whips, sponges, and corals, we also enjoyed having a couple of sharks pass up close and personal. But the highlight was the spotted eagle ray that swam close just for us to shoot some video. Next we headed to Primo Wall, which is another wall dive site, except with a few more canyons to enjoy. We saw an array of marine life, but having a hawksbill turtle swim within a few inches was part of making this the best dive of the week. The next part was having the spotted eagle ray swim close, then turn around and come by - again and again. After finishing a primo dive at Primo Wall we headed back to the Exuma Island to one of my favorite dive sites called Dog Rocks. Here we enjoyed swim thrus, canyons, an awesome wall, sharks, eels, and yes, another spotted eagle ray that came by a couple of the guest several times. Today was definitely ‘Spotted Eagle Ray Day’…

Thursday we started at Up Jump The Devil. I love diving in the Bahamas because each of our dive sites has such diversity. At Up Jump The Devil during one dive we enjoy shallow and deep swim thrus and canyons, an amazing wall, plus sharks, eels and so much more. This was a great morning dive. Next was Madison Avenue where while swimming through a swim thru we had to move hundreds of silversides out of the way for us to make it to the other side. There were yellow-headed jawfish everywhere, as well as Christmas tree worms we spotted in several different colors. We finished the dive watching yellow stingrays feed in the sand. To end the day we headed to the Wreck of the Austin Smith. When diving the Austin Smith we know it’s time for sharks. We had close to ten Caribbean reef sharks swim close to us while we took some excellent pictures and video. Also while diving on the wreck we had groupers, snappers, crabs, eels and rays. Yesterday, we enjoyed ‘Eagle Ray Day’, and today was ‘definitely Shark Day’. Awesome!

Friday we had a pre-breakfast dive on Pillar Wall as we were watching the reef and wall wake up this morning. Looking at the variety of marine life, as well as turtles and sharks, is a nice way for us to wake up as well. After all that we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast while headed to our next dive site where we finished the charter diving the Blue Hole just off Nassau. This is always an enjoyable dive site. On one end of the wall we have a few coral heads that have several schools of jacks, snappers, grunts and angelfish swimming around. While down inside the colorful wall, and if you go slow and look into the holes and crevices, you can see crabs, shrimps and clams. On the rim of the hole we had a nice surprise of three nurse sharks lying together that made for a good video and a few guests got some good pictures. It was a wonderful way to end a great week of diving in the Bahamas on the Carib Dancer.

Crew for this Charter was Captain Dennis, 2^nd Captain Ernie, Video Pro David, Instructor Zach, Photo Pro Shea and Chef Kasey.