EVFleet
Contributor
This weeks charter marked the first following a hurricane timeout. The last month has been a test of endurance by crew and vessel as they plied the waters between St Maarten, St Kitts, Guadeloupe and Dominica, seeking shelter and assisting those in need. As we observe each island slowly progressing towards some state of normalcy after hurricanes Irma and Maria, we ourselves are getting back in the game and venturing out to explore our beloved dive sites and take stock. As life for our friends throughout the islands will take time to mend, so will our reefs. Yes, the landscape has changed; however, the truly amazing thing about nature is how quickly it can bounce back. Even in the short time that Maria bullied her way through, the foliage on Saba is turning green again, the Tropic Birds are nesting and the Sand Tilefish are taking full advantage of the surplus of old excavated coral that was once hidden under the sand, to rebuild. The fish life is abundant and flourishing. They too are exploring their altered environments and getting on with it and so shall we.
With our small group of divers on board and settled in we set out for Saba Saturday evening from Port Zante Marina in St Kitts. Two days were spent in Saba starting off with Ladder Labyrinth, Tent Wall and Tent Reef. Visibility was marginal but good enough to see the schooling wrasses, grunts and snappers. Several gold lined Seagodesses were spotted along with several sea turtles (which is always comforting).
Day two was much more successful in terms of water clarity and the conditions at Diamond Rock and Man O War Shoals were near to perfect. The sandy bottom was no longer flat but undulating with areas of upturned sand revealing old broken coral. Many of the surrounding boulders around the main structure had about 2 feet exposed. The black margates, schoolmasters and mahogany snappers were maintaining their usual spots on the reef. Arrow crabs cleaning shrimp and gobies were hanging out in the barrel sponges and tube sponges at every depth on the rock. Man O War was much the same. Good vis, loads of fish including a large population of black durgon; and no current!
Without a mooring at the pinnacle still, we did a live boat dive, descending on the plateau and pinnacle directly. It was a fabulous dive with good vis and plenty to see. Just the sensation of dropping feely into the deep blue was fun. Torens Point was very surgy but it didn’t stop us from negotiating the tunnel. As we slowly made our way through the dim light, spotted and spinney lobsters could be seen on both sides of us along the walls and small schools glassy sweepers danced in our light as we got closer to the exit. Exiting the tunnel was a matter of timing and as we moved away from the shallows a small, very well camouflaged octopus moved along with us, obviously disturbed by our presence. He tucked himself behind a rock but not out of compete view from the appreciative onlookers. Of all the sites we dive, Torens is the only one with a sizable population of Elkhorn coral. Their pale mustard yellow hues shimmered in the sunlight while small fish varieties dipped in and out of the many nooks and crannies.
We observed a lot in Saba and departed with the knowledge that it still has much to offer and look forward to returning next week for more.
Heading back to St Kitts Monday night, we started off with the usual. A dive at Paradise Reef. The landscape looked different as with other sites we’d seen so far. Most obvious being the lack of turtle grass. The shallower reef patches were very active with juveniles and a few rays were out and about foraging away. We did two dives at Anchors Aweigh. Here the barrel sponges were healthy as too were the lionfish (and they appeared to have grown!). We were seeing large adult spotted drums on a regular basis at many of the sites, and came across several schools of highhats, still in their usual hangouts. Our day ended with two dives at Old Road Bay. Minus the turtle grass, it was interesting to navigate our usual route from the anchor. The lines weren’t so defined anymore where grass meets sand meets reef. Although vis was down, the reef was humming with activity. The barracudas, puffers, permits, spotted eels, and gold spotted eels were out, along with the usual suspects. Another school of highhats had taken up under the huge old anchor in the central part of the main reef.
Since we had an extra day in St Kitts waters, we tried a dive on a reef called Brimstone Shallows. Here we found a standard collection of soft and hard corals, schooling fish and crustaceans. Good vis, easy dive. Next up was the River Taw. Although some parts of her had shifted around abit, generally everything was as it should be. The long anchor chain was still navigable out to the van and dozer, although it too had been pushed around by heavy surge and seas. The van looked a little bare however the fish were there and at the dozer in huge numbers. The corkscrew anemones were enormous and their resident Pederson cleaning shrimp extremely active and very willing to jump on our hands for a quick mani. One of a few octopi we would typically see in the area was out of his den and waiting for our arrival. He didn’t seem to mind the impromptu photo shoot and stayed put for quite awhile. Back on the bow section of the wreck itself we observed so many fish that it was difficult to know where to look first. Really amazing. Small secretary blennies seemed to be in every little coral head along the chine and we had a school of blue runners make several passes. On the way back to the mooring we spotted a pair of the smallest juvenile French angelfish that couldn’t have been any bigger than a pinky fingernail.
Monkey Shoals gave us great vis and loads of schooling French and blue grunts under the ledges on the main reef. Many of the barrel sponges were full of small nimble spray crabs and banded coral shrimp. The patches of warty corallimorph were flourishing and appeared to have expanded their coverage area.
We tried an anchor drop at a new site called Coconut Reef. It was very similar to the surrounding coral reef at Monkey Shoals. Our final dive on Thursday was on the M/V Corinthia. A very large permit was hanging out around the crane. According to ‘the book’ it was all of what is stated as the max size for this fish. 3 to 4 feet!
Generally we were pleasantly surprised at how well things looked and how active the marine life was. And no current!
Look forward to seeing it all again next week!
With our small group of divers on board and settled in we set out for Saba Saturday evening from Port Zante Marina in St Kitts. Two days were spent in Saba starting off with Ladder Labyrinth, Tent Wall and Tent Reef. Visibility was marginal but good enough to see the schooling wrasses, grunts and snappers. Several gold lined Seagodesses were spotted along with several sea turtles (which is always comforting).
Day two was much more successful in terms of water clarity and the conditions at Diamond Rock and Man O War Shoals were near to perfect. The sandy bottom was no longer flat but undulating with areas of upturned sand revealing old broken coral. Many of the surrounding boulders around the main structure had about 2 feet exposed. The black margates, schoolmasters and mahogany snappers were maintaining their usual spots on the reef. Arrow crabs cleaning shrimp and gobies were hanging out in the barrel sponges and tube sponges at every depth on the rock. Man O War was much the same. Good vis, loads of fish including a large population of black durgon; and no current!
Without a mooring at the pinnacle still, we did a live boat dive, descending on the plateau and pinnacle directly. It was a fabulous dive with good vis and plenty to see. Just the sensation of dropping feely into the deep blue was fun. Torens Point was very surgy but it didn’t stop us from negotiating the tunnel. As we slowly made our way through the dim light, spotted and spinney lobsters could be seen on both sides of us along the walls and small schools glassy sweepers danced in our light as we got closer to the exit. Exiting the tunnel was a matter of timing and as we moved away from the shallows a small, very well camouflaged octopus moved along with us, obviously disturbed by our presence. He tucked himself behind a rock but not out of compete view from the appreciative onlookers. Of all the sites we dive, Torens is the only one with a sizable population of Elkhorn coral. Their pale mustard yellow hues shimmered in the sunlight while small fish varieties dipped in and out of the many nooks and crannies.
We observed a lot in Saba and departed with the knowledge that it still has much to offer and look forward to returning next week for more.
Heading back to St Kitts Monday night, we started off with the usual. A dive at Paradise Reef. The landscape looked different as with other sites we’d seen so far. Most obvious being the lack of turtle grass. The shallower reef patches were very active with juveniles and a few rays were out and about foraging away. We did two dives at Anchors Aweigh. Here the barrel sponges were healthy as too were the lionfish (and they appeared to have grown!). We were seeing large adult spotted drums on a regular basis at many of the sites, and came across several schools of highhats, still in their usual hangouts. Our day ended with two dives at Old Road Bay. Minus the turtle grass, it was interesting to navigate our usual route from the anchor. The lines weren’t so defined anymore where grass meets sand meets reef. Although vis was down, the reef was humming with activity. The barracudas, puffers, permits, spotted eels, and gold spotted eels were out, along with the usual suspects. Another school of highhats had taken up under the huge old anchor in the central part of the main reef.
Since we had an extra day in St Kitts waters, we tried a dive on a reef called Brimstone Shallows. Here we found a standard collection of soft and hard corals, schooling fish and crustaceans. Good vis, easy dive. Next up was the River Taw. Although some parts of her had shifted around abit, generally everything was as it should be. The long anchor chain was still navigable out to the van and dozer, although it too had been pushed around by heavy surge and seas. The van looked a little bare however the fish were there and at the dozer in huge numbers. The corkscrew anemones were enormous and their resident Pederson cleaning shrimp extremely active and very willing to jump on our hands for a quick mani. One of a few octopi we would typically see in the area was out of his den and waiting for our arrival. He didn’t seem to mind the impromptu photo shoot and stayed put for quite awhile. Back on the bow section of the wreck itself we observed so many fish that it was difficult to know where to look first. Really amazing. Small secretary blennies seemed to be in every little coral head along the chine and we had a school of blue runners make several passes. On the way back to the mooring we spotted a pair of the smallest juvenile French angelfish that couldn’t have been any bigger than a pinky fingernail.
Monkey Shoals gave us great vis and loads of schooling French and blue grunts under the ledges on the main reef. Many of the barrel sponges were full of small nimble spray crabs and banded coral shrimp. The patches of warty corallimorph were flourishing and appeared to have expanded their coverage area.
We tried an anchor drop at a new site called Coconut Reef. It was very similar to the surrounding coral reef at Monkey Shoals. Our final dive on Thursday was on the M/V Corinthia. A very large permit was hanging out around the crane. According to ‘the book’ it was all of what is stated as the max size for this fish. 3 to 4 feet!
Generally we were pleasantly surprised at how well things looked and how active the marine life was. And no current!
Look forward to seeing it all again next week!
