Riding Rock - San Salvador Jun 09 trip report

[Puffer Fish]

Day five and the winds had begun to die... we dive from boats again..

A word about what you see.. there are fish everywhere...in the sand.. on the top green reef, and on the walls.. lighting varies a lot, and taking pictures requires constant adjustment.. but there is lots to take pictures of:

And the deep water relative of the above:

 

[Puffer Fish]

It did not matter where you were, there was always something to take a picture of:

At the end of every dive we would have large mutton snapper with us or grouper.. on one dive, this guy spent the whole time rubbing against me:

 

[Puffer Fish]

A word about sharks.. we saw them on every dive, but when they saw us, they swam away...

Still we did see a lot of them..

 

[Puffer Fish]

Our last dive day is Friday morning...I finally got to spend some time with all the jaw fish living in the sand..

Then it was clean up... dry stuff... pack and go home:

Flying back was just as easy as coming.

 

[Puffer Fish]

I wish they had bigger tanks.. wish they did four dives per day... wish the weather had been nice.. but I like the place overall, and plan to go back...

Note: I have posted less than 5% of the good pictures I got there...

Oh, and the staff is very nice...always provided help when it was needed.

 

[deepstops]

Jim,

Thanks for the report and those are some nice pics.
Question - maybe I missed it but is there nitrox there or is it all air??

 

[Puffer Fish]

Jim,

Thanks for the report and those are some nice pics.
Question - maybe I missed it but is there nitrox there or is it all air??

Thanks... I found it difficult to get a good exposure that also had color from the strobes. Even at 50ft it was easy to take pictures at iso 80 without strobes...but there was no red light present.

Just air...only air diving I have done in the last couple of years.

With only three dives per day and the last one starting around 4 pm.. did not seem to me that difficult to avoid deco issues.

 

[lmorin]

Nice report. Funny, I have almost identical pictures of the juvie trumpetfish and Ted, the Nassau grouper, that I took last month in San Salvador. I particularly like your basslet pics. I've never managed to get that close for long enough.

 

[mbressman]

Thanks for the report. My wife and I are going there on July 25.
What was the water temp?
Their web site states that their tanks allow you to use about 4 pounds less weight. I have never experienced that before. Did you find that to be true?
Contrary to some other reports about the Bahamas, you reported alot of fish life. That's great.

 

[Tavi]

Nice Report!! Great Pics!!

Thanks!!!