OP
Woo Hoo! 13 hours to departure, 19 hours to arrival, 34 hours to first dive!
GC East End trip 10/19-10/23; others?
- Thread starter sladerer
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billinwilliamston
Contributor
How was it? I need to live vicariously through someone.
Thanks.
Thanks.
OP
Trip Summary -
Amazing. This was my first trip to GC and I was not disappointed. While the weather could have been a little sunnier/drier the diving and OF were awesome. We logged 8 dives including Babylon, Snapper Hole, Stingray City and the OF night dive. Neil, Elly, Britta, Sam, and the rest of the crew were friendly, professional, funny, helpful, .... in other words, easily the best dive op and crew we have experienced to date.
Day 1: Arrive GC about 2, circle the airport road several times trying to find the way out, arrive Morritt's about 3 (room not ready yet), check-in with OF shop at The Reef (and convince my wife to do the night dive on Tuesday, YEAH!), drive to Rum Point for late lunch/dinner, check in about 6 and crash about 8.
Day 2: Arrive OF at 8, set up our gear (which is the last time we'll need to worry about it on this trip) and head out under overcast skies and periods of light rain.
Dive 1 at The Maze - my first true wall dive - descend from the boat to about 40', head down through a "slot canyon" and emerge about 10 minutes later on the wall at 105' with nothing but blue in front and below - absolutely beautiful. Cruise the wall for about 10-15mins - stunning - (at one point grabbing my wife Maureen, Mo for short, to keep here from slowly dropping into the abyss - she's mesmerized), gorgonians, sponges, black coral, french and gray angels, rock beauty, and the rest of the crew. Vis between maybe 60 and 80 as the lack of sunlight keeps it fairly dark.
Dive 2: Kelly's Caverns - bottom around 40' and then off around pinnacles and through the arches and tunnels. A few soft and hard corals mixed in the fans and sponges, just beautiful.
Day 3: Drive into Georgetown, visit Hell, drive out to northwest tip, then back to the east end to get ready for our night dive.
Night dive: "Sunset Reef" - just offshore inside the barrier, OF's night dive spot, our first night dive ever. While still cloudy, there's more natural light than I expected when we turn our lights out to watch the bio-luminescent flecks of light as we fin and wave our hands. "Blood worms", small red worms, swarm our lights as we seek out, and find, sleeping parrotfish (including several that are cocooned), filefish, and others plus the lobsters and rays out and about. While nervous at first, Mo eventually turns off her light and watches the bios as well as the occasional flashes of lightning.
Day 4: Safari Wedsnesday - Finally, Sunshine
Dive 1: Babylon - Wow! I'm almost at a loss for words. The purples, yellows, reds, and blues of the sponges and gorgonians, the angels, puffers, butterflys, basletts, trumpetfish, the feathered black coral. Vis at over 100' with sunlight above and deep blue nothing falling away below. If you haven't done this, what's keeping you?
Dive 2: Stingray City - OK, it's a little more of a tourist thing than real diving, but the feel of the stingrays skin, a little rougher above and smooth below; the way they glide and fly through the water and sift out the squid occasionally buried in the sand; the way the wrap around you and "smile" as the slide past your head. This was pretty fricking cool.
Dive 3: Snapper Hole - Very cool. Snappers, Angels, Jacks, Grunts, Barracuda, and all the little fish you could hope for; a lettuce leaf sea slug, corals, sponges, gorgonians galore; and a "cave" to swim through swarming with silver sides. Can live get any better than this?
Day 5: Back to rain and clouds
Dive 1: Turtle Pass - A couple of turtles, more triggers and large sponges, probably the most small fish (damsels, fairy basslets, butterflys, and more). One Purple and yellow sponge is monstrous with an entire colony of fairy basslets that consider it home is just one highlight.
Between dives, the surface is the roughest in 4 days. Mo becomes a true veteran as she feeds the fish as we're gearing up for the second dive, yet finishes gearing up and jumping in.
Dive 2: Dragon's Lair - a bit melancholy as this will be our last dive. The lighting probably contributes, as even Elly the resident shutterbug for OF says afterwards "it looks like a night dive". Mo completes one of the longer swim throughs - a huge triumph for a slight claustrophobic.
Dinner in Georgetown at The Wharf - outstanding food, great wine (if a bit pricey), sitting outside listening to the waves lap against the shoreline.
Day 6: Going home - the only things we can really think about are how awesome the diving was and how soon we can go back.
Amazing. This was my first trip to GC and I was not disappointed. While the weather could have been a little sunnier/drier the diving and OF were awesome. We logged 8 dives including Babylon, Snapper Hole, Stingray City and the OF night dive. Neil, Elly, Britta, Sam, and the rest of the crew were friendly, professional, funny, helpful, .... in other words, easily the best dive op and crew we have experienced to date.
Day 1: Arrive GC about 2, circle the airport road several times trying to find the way out, arrive Morritt's about 3 (room not ready yet), check-in with OF shop at The Reef (and convince my wife to do the night dive on Tuesday, YEAH!), drive to Rum Point for late lunch/dinner, check in about 6 and crash about 8.
Day 2: Arrive OF at 8, set up our gear (which is the last time we'll need to worry about it on this trip) and head out under overcast skies and periods of light rain.
Dive 1 at The Maze - my first true wall dive - descend from the boat to about 40', head down through a "slot canyon" and emerge about 10 minutes later on the wall at 105' with nothing but blue in front and below - absolutely beautiful. Cruise the wall for about 10-15mins - stunning - (at one point grabbing my wife Maureen, Mo for short, to keep here from slowly dropping into the abyss - she's mesmerized), gorgonians, sponges, black coral, french and gray angels, rock beauty, and the rest of the crew. Vis between maybe 60 and 80 as the lack of sunlight keeps it fairly dark.
Dive 2: Kelly's Caverns - bottom around 40' and then off around pinnacles and through the arches and tunnels. A few soft and hard corals mixed in the fans and sponges, just beautiful.
Day 3: Drive into Georgetown, visit Hell, drive out to northwest tip, then back to the east end to get ready for our night dive.
Night dive: "Sunset Reef" - just offshore inside the barrier, OF's night dive spot, our first night dive ever. While still cloudy, there's more natural light than I expected when we turn our lights out to watch the bio-luminescent flecks of light as we fin and wave our hands. "Blood worms", small red worms, swarm our lights as we seek out, and find, sleeping parrotfish (including several that are cocooned), filefish, and others plus the lobsters and rays out and about. While nervous at first, Mo eventually turns off her light and watches the bios as well as the occasional flashes of lightning.
Day 4: Safari Wedsnesday - Finally, Sunshine
Dive 1: Babylon - Wow! I'm almost at a loss for words. The purples, yellows, reds, and blues of the sponges and gorgonians, the angels, puffers, butterflys, basletts, trumpetfish, the feathered black coral. Vis at over 100' with sunlight above and deep blue nothing falling away below. If you haven't done this, what's keeping you?
Dive 2: Stingray City - OK, it's a little more of a tourist thing than real diving, but the feel of the stingrays skin, a little rougher above and smooth below; the way they glide and fly through the water and sift out the squid occasionally buried in the sand; the way the wrap around you and "smile" as the slide past your head. This was pretty fricking cool.
Dive 3: Snapper Hole - Very cool. Snappers, Angels, Jacks, Grunts, Barracuda, and all the little fish you could hope for; a lettuce leaf sea slug, corals, sponges, gorgonians galore; and a "cave" to swim through swarming with silver sides. Can live get any better than this?
Day 5: Back to rain and clouds
Dive 1: Turtle Pass - A couple of turtles, more triggers and large sponges, probably the most small fish (damsels, fairy basslets, butterflys, and more). One Purple and yellow sponge is monstrous with an entire colony of fairy basslets that consider it home is just one highlight.
Between dives, the surface is the roughest in 4 days. Mo becomes a true veteran as she feeds the fish as we're gearing up for the second dive, yet finishes gearing up and jumping in.
Dive 2: Dragon's Lair - a bit melancholy as this will be our last dive. The lighting probably contributes, as even Elly the resident shutterbug for OF says afterwards "it looks like a night dive". Mo completes one of the longer swim throughs - a huge triumph for a slight claustrophobic.
Dinner in Georgetown at The Wharf - outstanding food, great wine (if a bit pricey), sitting outside listening to the waves lap against the shoreline.
Day 6: Going home - the only things we can really think about are how awesome the diving was and how soon we can go back.
divesergeant
Contributor
sladerer,
Man, that sounds like a truly memorable vacation. But then, we've grown to expect that from OF!
Reading your post, I kept thinking, "Yeah! I've been there. And there. And there!" It was great to feel your excitement as I read.
And yes, we've had members of our dive party 'chum' for fish between dives. It's all just part of it. I figure, as expensive as chow is on the island, it's good to get a second chance at enjoying it!
Glad you had a great time. When ya goin' back?
DS
Man, that sounds like a truly memorable vacation. But then, we've grown to expect that from OF!
Reading your post, I kept thinking, "Yeah! I've been there. And there. And there!" It was great to feel your excitement as I read.
And yes, we've had members of our dive party 'chum' for fish between dives. It's all just part of it. I figure, as expensive as chow is on the island, it's good to get a second chance at enjoying it!
Glad you had a great time. When ya goin' back?
DS
OP
Will definitely visit/dive GC again in 09. We're doing a family trip to Spain/Porutgal in
July and will do some diving, so I just need to figure out where to squeeze a trip
to GC in.
July and will do some diving, so I just need to figure out where to squeeze a trip
to GC in.
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