Scott101
Contributor
Well, better late than never I guess.
Arrived on St. Maarten 4/23. The flight down was uneventful except for the fact that my camcorder set off the bomb detection machine in the airport and that we landed in the middle of a monsoon. Note to travelers: Be sure to remove your camcorder from your carryon (used to just be the laptop) and send it through alone. Of course, I didn't so it had to be removed and then tested by one of the new bomb sniffers. Of course, it set the machine off (they can detect trace particles down to the billionth) for nitro residue. But after what seemed like a deep cavity search I was on my merry way.
Landed in SXM during a freak thunder storm that lasted until Sunday evening. After that, the weather was absolutely the best. Surface conditions were also great. It was the calmest (think Cozumel flat) I had ever seen. Because of this, we were able to dive some of the sites farther out. While the closer dive sites are fine, the ones near St. Bart rock! As usual, I dove with Aquamania (Dive Adventures). I got certified with them 4 years ago and its really nice to walk in and be greeted like you live just up the street. All the dives were on 32% EAN with the exception of the first which was on 36% (extra tank from a nitrox cert diver).
I won't bore you with a dive by dive account but will instead give you the sites and anything "unusual" that happened.
Conditions throughout the week: water temp:82-84 vis: 60+
Day:
1. Mikes Maze II/Prostelyte It was a nasty weather day and everyone else decided to cancel so I had the boat all to myself. I told the DM's that there was no need to go out just for me and they said they would rather be diving than staring out the window. Who was I to argue? Got caught in a thunder storm but road it out and had a great dive.
2. One Step Beyond/Little Grouper Best two dives in the 40 plus that I have done on SXM. Due to the calm water conditions, we were able to head out to St. Barts and dive these pinnacles. Stand outs on these dives were 2 curious reef sharks (one looking for dinner in a school of Grunts, kinda scary) a couple of nurse sharks and a huge eagle ray. These two also seems to have more marine life and coral. VERY NICE indeed.
3. Hens & Chicks/ Time Tunnels H&C, for some reason, is one of my favorite dive sites. There is a crater where a metor struck that you can swin down into. Plenty of fish to see also. Time Tunnels has a lot of boulders, cracks and such and is a decent dive. What stood out on this dive was getting to see a White Billed Pipe Fish. Apparently these are cousins to the sea horse and very rare. The DM, Kurt, who is known for being able to find the little stuff (read about him on sea saba) pointed it out after we all swam over it on our decent.
4. Tiglund/ Long Beach Reef The Tiglund* is an old wreck that has lots of spotted Morays, schooling snapper and a few lobsters so it is a nice dive.
5. One Step Beyond/ Mikes Maze "Horse Shoe" Last diving day so it was a thrill to get to head back out to OSB. That dive went great again but it went down hill from there. At the horse shoe (the reef forms a semi-circle that, yes you guessed it, looks like a horse shoe) we got a visit from a couple more reef sharks which was nice. Then, much to my dismay, my computer decided to take a nap....more like a deep, never waking sleep. So that meant that the diving was over for the day/trip.
As for the computer, I checked the battery to make sure it wasn't flooded but it hasn't worked since....except when it went off in my drawer telling me that I needed to do a deco stop at 250 ft....and then one at 130 ft...and that I was at 300 ft for two long....again, while sitting at my desk. Note to self, get a redundant depth guage/timer.
Topside:
Again, Peg Leg Pub was the food favorite. They have the absolute best filets anywhere. Most people go to SXM to sample the fine dining at Grand Case but IMHO, it can't get much better than the PL Pub, the Boathouse and a couple of other places around Simpson Bay.
Here's a link to some of the pics I took. Keep in mind that I am very much an amatuer. The ones that look like the big blue have the sharks in them (must be camera shy) and 5-1- 54 55 56 are of the pipe fish.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frasure711/my_photos
thanks again to the folks at Dive Adventures for the great week of diving.
Arrived on St. Maarten 4/23. The flight down was uneventful except for the fact that my camcorder set off the bomb detection machine in the airport and that we landed in the middle of a monsoon. Note to travelers: Be sure to remove your camcorder from your carryon (used to just be the laptop) and send it through alone. Of course, I didn't so it had to be removed and then tested by one of the new bomb sniffers. Of course, it set the machine off (they can detect trace particles down to the billionth) for nitro residue. But after what seemed like a deep cavity search I was on my merry way.
Landed in SXM during a freak thunder storm that lasted until Sunday evening. After that, the weather was absolutely the best. Surface conditions were also great. It was the calmest (think Cozumel flat) I had ever seen. Because of this, we were able to dive some of the sites farther out. While the closer dive sites are fine, the ones near St. Bart rock! As usual, I dove with Aquamania (Dive Adventures). I got certified with them 4 years ago and its really nice to walk in and be greeted like you live just up the street. All the dives were on 32% EAN with the exception of the first which was on 36% (extra tank from a nitrox cert diver).
I won't bore you with a dive by dive account but will instead give you the sites and anything "unusual" that happened.
Conditions throughout the week: water temp:82-84 vis: 60+
Day:
1. Mikes Maze II/Prostelyte It was a nasty weather day and everyone else decided to cancel so I had the boat all to myself. I told the DM's that there was no need to go out just for me and they said they would rather be diving than staring out the window. Who was I to argue? Got caught in a thunder storm but road it out and had a great dive.
2. One Step Beyond/Little Grouper Best two dives in the 40 plus that I have done on SXM. Due to the calm water conditions, we were able to head out to St. Barts and dive these pinnacles. Stand outs on these dives were 2 curious reef sharks (one looking for dinner in a school of Grunts, kinda scary) a couple of nurse sharks and a huge eagle ray. These two also seems to have more marine life and coral. VERY NICE indeed.
3. Hens & Chicks/ Time Tunnels H&C, for some reason, is one of my favorite dive sites. There is a crater where a metor struck that you can swin down into. Plenty of fish to see also. Time Tunnels has a lot of boulders, cracks and such and is a decent dive. What stood out on this dive was getting to see a White Billed Pipe Fish. Apparently these are cousins to the sea horse and very rare. The DM, Kurt, who is known for being able to find the little stuff (read about him on sea saba) pointed it out after we all swam over it on our decent.
4. Tiglund/ Long Beach Reef The Tiglund* is an old wreck that has lots of spotted Morays, schooling snapper and a few lobsters so it is a nice dive.
5. One Step Beyond/ Mikes Maze "Horse Shoe" Last diving day so it was a thrill to get to head back out to OSB. That dive went great again but it went down hill from there. At the horse shoe (the reef forms a semi-circle that, yes you guessed it, looks like a horse shoe) we got a visit from a couple more reef sharks which was nice. Then, much to my dismay, my computer decided to take a nap....more like a deep, never waking sleep. So that meant that the diving was over for the day/trip.
As for the computer, I checked the battery to make sure it wasn't flooded but it hasn't worked since....except when it went off in my drawer telling me that I needed to do a deco stop at 250 ft....and then one at 130 ft...and that I was at 300 ft for two long....again, while sitting at my desk. Note to self, get a redundant depth guage/timer.
Topside:
Again, Peg Leg Pub was the food favorite. They have the absolute best filets anywhere. Most people go to SXM to sample the fine dining at Grand Case but IMHO, it can't get much better than the PL Pub, the Boathouse and a couple of other places around Simpson Bay.
Here's a link to some of the pics I took. Keep in mind that I am very much an amatuer. The ones that look like the big blue have the sharks in them (must be camera shy) and 5-1- 54 55 56 are of the pipe fish.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frasure711/my_photos
thanks again to the folks at Dive Adventures for the great week of diving.
