What's the most wonderful thing you've seen on a surface interval?

[mike_s]

a couple of disclaimers... I didn't take this pic... and can't remember where I saw it. Just saved it because I thought it was a cool pic....


Waterspout seen on a surface interval.

 

[mongodives]

saw Humback whales a few times in Okinawa during SI, Kona, HI saw whales and calfs, spinner dolphins and a whale shark.

 

[vladimir]

a couple of disclaimers... I didn't take this pic... and can't remember where I saw it. Just saved it because I thought it was a cool pic....

Waterspout seen on a surface interval.

I have also seen a waterspout between dives, from the beach on Sipadan. I have the slides in my storage bin, but they were pretty mediocre pictures taken with my NikonosV and 35mm lens.

We tacked a snorkel on the fringes of a baitball onto the end of a dive in Cocos. Again, the picture isn't that great--I had a 20 mm lens on.

It doesn't capture the magnitude of the frenzy very well. From the surface you could see silky sharks hurling themselves though the bait and out of the water. Once we got into the water we were completely surrounded by them. Dolphins, yellowfin tuna, Galapagos and blacktip sharks all joined in the fray--hundreds of sharks alone, plus the other predators.

I'm not sure a shore excursion is in the spirit of the thread, but it was between dives, and a visit to Komodo National Park wouldn't be complete without a Komodo dragon:

 

[devonlas]

Saw a whale during the surface interval off turks&caicos (west caicos). We actually saw two whales underwater while diving too! (Unhappily, I didn't do underwater photography and didn't get a picture, which is why I'm now looking for an underwater camera haha).

 

[FireInMyBones]

My wife, preparing lunch.

No one else around. Me and nature.

 

[reefseal]

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me on this dive...but the four HOT Brazilian snorkelers (in thong bikini's) that were along to fill out the boat on a dive I did off of Marathon a few years back were pretty nice! (not to mention they supplied some Champagne for the ride back in!)

Diving off Bali, the most beautiful danish blonde changing in and out of her wetsuit in the buff. Us American's aren't used to this.

2ndly, during surface interval on Speigel Grove, this guy pulls up in another mooring ball. He was with this beautiful hot blonde. Started with rubbing suntan lotion and lead to something.. We saw him back at the marina afterwards and saluted him.

 

[FireInMyBones]

Or helping one of the crew members on the Truk Odyssey fix his split fins...

Perfect.

 

[gcbryan]

I saw an odd sight on the way to a dive site once and it turned out to be even funnier later in retelling it in a strange way.

I had a friend who had experienced problems with drugs earlier in his life before I knew him. We dove together a lot and then I didn't see him again for a while. During this later period he got back into drugs...this time for pain after surgery though. I got a call from his wife and visited him after he almost died of an over dose.

OK, the story isn't funny yet I know...when I walked into the hospital room it didn't look like the same guy, he had been on a ventilator until a few days before I saw him. He had been in a coma as well. None of us really knew if his brain had been damaged. Earlier on it wasn't clear at all if he was going to live or not.

We all stood around being polite and not knowing what to say. We told a few "making conversation" type of stories and then he looked at me and said "hey remember when we were on our way to a dive site and we saw that sea lion walking down the highway?"

His wife looked at me apologetically as if to say yes, I know he's not all there.

The funny thing was...we did see a sea lion walking down the freeway once on our way to a dive site

 

[drbill]

Other than that 20 ft great white circling me as I hung on the anchor line (just teasing... it was only 14 ft), I think the most interesting thing I observed and filmed on a safety stop may have been a halfmoon (Medialuna californiensis) cleaning an ocean sunfish (Mola mola) on a safety stop above Little Farnsworth, Catalina Island. Very cool!

 

[Rescue Diver68]

1. Humpback Whales-Maui
2. Mola Mola - Jersey- Rockland County barge
3. Waterspout- Grand Cayman