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Okeanos Aggressor Captains Report March 9 - 19, 2013
Average Water Temperature: 78 F (26 Celsius)
Average Visibility: 50 ft -15 mts
Wetsuits: 3mil, maybe more if you get cold easily
Crew this week: Capt. Beto, Chefs Douglas and Emanuel, Engineer Luis, Steward Osayuki, Deck Hand Edward, Boat drivers and Divemasters Marvin, Xavier, and Carlos (Photos by Carlos Sanchez)
This week the weather was awesome. The sun was shining everyday and we only had a couple of showers at night, which would leave us with hot tropical days. But the ocean water was acting weird, as sometimes the water temperature from the surface all the way down to 100 feet was 86 degrees, but I recall a couple of dives where in 100 feet the water was 77 degrees, while close to the surface the temperature still reached 86 degrees. This caused the fish to act differently, as the hammerhead sharks were active in Dirty Rock, but were not as active in Alcyone. We also saw tiger sharks on every single dive in Manuelita, my old favorite . Even with the changes in water temperature and visibility the diving was excellent. Galapagos sharks in Punta Maria, tons of hammers in Dirty Rock, huge manta in both Ulloa Island and Dirty Rock, frog fish in Pajara Island, and the tiger sharks in Manuelita.
But I still have a strange feeling from one of the dives this week. At Manuelita I entered the water after the last diver dropped in and as I descended down I noticed that all the divers had taken off. So I continued to 110 feet and just as I reached the sand a 5-meter (15 ft) tiger shark showed up! I swam after it, but just as if the fish felt me coming, it turned around and began closing in on me. My heart was about to make its way out of my chest! Luckily, the tiger took a good look at me, then started to fin its way toward deeper water - leaving me with my camera and dirty pants J . As incredible as it may sound, I then spotted the divers (as I had a glimpse of one of their powerful lights) and headed towards them. Just then, the tiger shark came back to me, so the tiger shark and I swam together towards Axel, who had the bright lights and he got a very good shot of the tiger shark swimming towards him. The shark was kind of curious about the big, bright lights but then it took off for good not to be seen anymore during the dive. Axel and I were very happy that the other divers were really close, but because of the limited visibility and the fact that they had taken off a minute before this - they missed it.
Manuelita gave us one of the best dives this week. Some of our guests wanted to really see the tiger shark, so we went back to the same place I had seen the tiger shark before. After a few minutes some of us took off, just to find out later that the tiger shark had indeed come back (but not all of us had been patient enough to wait for it). As we continued swimming around the rock, we encountered a huge thermocline of very cold water coming up from the deep. It was so cold that even the marble rays werent comfortable with it and started to swim for shallower water, putting on quite a nice show for us.
Our crossing back to port was nice and flat. The sky was full of stars at night and we enjoyed a bright hot sun during the daytime. Thanks to all of our guests: Holger, Matthias, Thomas, Axel, Ulrich, Benedict, Manfred, Wolfgang, Erwin, Erich, Henning, Heinke, Elke and Matthias, Merthan, Klaus, Hansjorg, Paul, Thomas, Daniel, Karlheinz and Johannes - for a great week of diving!
Safe Diving,
Capt. Beto
Average Water Temperature: 78 F (26 Celsius)
Average Visibility: 50 ft -15 mts
Wetsuits: 3mil, maybe more if you get cold easily
Crew this week: Capt. Beto, Chefs Douglas and Emanuel, Engineer Luis, Steward Osayuki, Deck Hand Edward, Boat drivers and Divemasters Marvin, Xavier, and Carlos (Photos by Carlos Sanchez)
This week the weather was awesome. The sun was shining everyday and we only had a couple of showers at night, which would leave us with hot tropical days. But the ocean water was acting weird, as sometimes the water temperature from the surface all the way down to 100 feet was 86 degrees, but I recall a couple of dives where in 100 feet the water was 77 degrees, while close to the surface the temperature still reached 86 degrees. This caused the fish to act differently, as the hammerhead sharks were active in Dirty Rock, but were not as active in Alcyone. We also saw tiger sharks on every single dive in Manuelita, my old favorite . Even with the changes in water temperature and visibility the diving was excellent. Galapagos sharks in Punta Maria, tons of hammers in Dirty Rock, huge manta in both Ulloa Island and Dirty Rock, frog fish in Pajara Island, and the tiger sharks in Manuelita.
But I still have a strange feeling from one of the dives this week. At Manuelita I entered the water after the last diver dropped in and as I descended down I noticed that all the divers had taken off. So I continued to 110 feet and just as I reached the sand a 5-meter (15 ft) tiger shark showed up! I swam after it, but just as if the fish felt me coming, it turned around and began closing in on me. My heart was about to make its way out of my chest! Luckily, the tiger took a good look at me, then started to fin its way toward deeper water - leaving me with my camera and dirty pants J . As incredible as it may sound, I then spotted the divers (as I had a glimpse of one of their powerful lights) and headed towards them. Just then, the tiger shark came back to me, so the tiger shark and I swam together towards Axel, who had the bright lights and he got a very good shot of the tiger shark swimming towards him. The shark was kind of curious about the big, bright lights but then it took off for good not to be seen anymore during the dive. Axel and I were very happy that the other divers were really close, but because of the limited visibility and the fact that they had taken off a minute before this - they missed it.
Manuelita gave us one of the best dives this week. Some of our guests wanted to really see the tiger shark, so we went back to the same place I had seen the tiger shark before. After a few minutes some of us took off, just to find out later that the tiger shark had indeed come back (but not all of us had been patient enough to wait for it). As we continued swimming around the rock, we encountered a huge thermocline of very cold water coming up from the deep. It was so cold that even the marble rays werent comfortable with it and started to swim for shallower water, putting on quite a nice show for us.
Our crossing back to port was nice and flat. The sky was full of stars at night and we enjoyed a bright hot sun during the daytime. Thanks to all of our guests: Holger, Matthias, Thomas, Axel, Ulrich, Benedict, Manfred, Wolfgang, Erwin, Erich, Henning, Heinke, Elke and Matthias, Merthan, Klaus, Hansjorg, Paul, Thomas, Daniel, Karlheinz and Johannes - for a great week of diving!
Safe Diving,
Capt. Beto