Great walls, lots of marine life, large pelagics, black coral, sharks – average water temperature 79(F). A large Eagle Ray was sighted at Elephant Ear Canyon in a sandy area. We were able to get fairly close. It looked like it was trying to get rid of the remoras. Another large Eagle Ray with similar behaviour at the top of the reef was spotted by several guests and crew at Brandywine. We also saw a couple of Yellow headed jaw fish with eggs in its mouth, which was a great sighting. One of the crew found a gorgeous Purple Mouth Morat at EEC and was able to captured it on video as it was feeding. An enormous Turtle at the Gully was feeding at the top of the wall biting chunks of sponge. Several guests were able to get quite close without any disturbance. A school of Atlantic Spadefish, about 15 to 20 of them and a bit of Shark activity at West Caicos and also French Cay.

Southern Bahamas – May 30-June 8, 2009

Quite a few Sargassium Trigger Fish spotted @ 50 ft during an exploratory dive off off Long Island, a relatively rare sighting, and a first for the Captain.

San Salvador did not disappoint again this week as the Hammerheads are still hanging around.  Also spotted were Reef Sharks, Flying Gunnards, Yellow-headed Jawfish, Midnight Parrot Fish, Stoplight Parrot Fish, Sand Tile Fish, Scrawled File Fish, Turtles, and the rest of the usual suspects.

Several Barrel sponges were caught smoking on our dive at San Salvador.  The Barrel Sponges release their spores and look like mini-volcanos when they do this.  It is the second week we have had guests lucky enough to see this.

The sharks at Shark Reef did not disappoint again this week and we had good dives at Joe’s Reef and Hog Cay Reef.

Had a great big green Moray at Telephone Pole for the night dive, along with some voracious jacks and a couple of lobster. Several Hammerheads were spotted during dives along San Salvador, and several guests reported seeing a shark with an unusually long tail…may have been a Thresher Shark, which would be unusual for these waters.  Spotted Morays were fairly common and we had large schools of Creole Wrasse, Blue Chromis, and quite a few Oceanic Triggerfish.  The Lobsters were out and about competing for scraps with the Clinging Channel Crabs.  We had several turtles while at San Salvador as well.

Captain Dave
Southern Bahamas
Caribbean Explorer II

Hammerheads were around San Sal this week, but were not seen as frequently as in past weeks.  Reef sharks, turtles, midnight parrotfish, yellow rays, schools of creole wrasse and chromis were some of the highlights of the trip.  Weather was a bit blustery all week, but the vis was very good all week. Water temperatures are hovering right around 75-degrees.

From Captain Dave Guldin – “We had a great group this week and enjoyed a wonderful dinner over at St. Francis with our guests.  When we returned, the guests retired to the salon and began their goodbye celebrations.  Earlier in the week Demi had asked Ken our engineer for a length of PVC pipe, which Ken readily provided, assuming that Demi needed it for the dive deck.  Actually, Demi needed it to make a dijeridoo (no idea how you spell that – the Australian musical instrument).  The guests were enjoying their after dinner drinks when Demi appeared in the salon with his dijeridoo and wearing a dreadlock wig!  He proceeded to play the dijeridoo and soon all the guests were giving it a go!  Next thing you know, he also has them playing a snorkel, vacuum parts, and the conch! Out of control!  I probably have the only Japaboriginal Rastafarian in the entire live aboard fleet!

I spoke with the Captain of a mega yacht tied up down the dock.  He stated wistfully that it sounded like our guests were having a ball…he had stainless steel to polish.  I win.”

We will have a special video and presentation of Jeff Pantukhoff’s ‘Save the Whales’ aboard the Turks & Caicos Explorer II during Earth Day week, April 18-25. Jeff Pantukhoff is the president of the Whaleman Foundation. Their goal is to “Bring whales and mankind together to preserve and protect our world.” If you would like to join us for this special week please contact us at 1.800.322.3577.

Caribbean Explorer II left port in George Town, Great Exuma this past Saturday to start their new itinerary in the southern Bahamas. We look forward to some great reports. They will be diving Long Island, Conceptions Island and San Salvador.

Join us in celebrating Earth Day, April 22, 2009. If you can’t join us aboard one of our vessels, be sure to participate in a local activity to help care for the beauty we enjoy.

Earth Hour 2009 is Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. Explorer Ventures will be recognizing this world-wide event by ‘flipping the switch,’ as much as safely possible, aboard our vessels. The office staff is also participating in the same manner.

The September/October 2008 edition of DAN’s Alert Diver has a good article entitled ‘Invasives’  March to New Frontiers by Bob Rossier.  At the end there is a short section on what we as divers can do which I will quote:

Perhaps not too surprisingly, scuba divers can unwittingly transport some invasive species from one location to another.  Wet scuba equipment or stray strands of seaweed or other debris can carry eggs, nympths or other growth stages of aquatic and marine pests.  Here again, preventing the transport of marine pests via scuba is not terribly difficult. 

“As a general recommendation, a freshwater wash, cleaning (including removal of any weeds, etc) and air drying will kill most, if not all, marine pests,” notes Alastair Morton, senior marine environmental officer in Hobart, Tazmania.

In the war against invasions, divers can also help by keeping an eye out for invasive species.  “As part of the [Australian] National System, marine pest species ID cards are also being developed,” Morton explains.  “Many states already have their own versions available.  These cards contain phone numbers to report marine pests.”

Others around the globe are developing programs to increase awareness of invasive species.  By paying attention and alerting local authorities when invasive species are detected, we can help efforts to control and manage the spread of pests.

It truly is a war out there, and the steps we take as divers to control marine invasions can be vitally important.  By working together, we can help preserve the ecological balance of the oceans, lakes, rivers and streams for future generations.

 

For information on invasive species in the US visit: http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/stressors/invasivespecies/welcome.html

To learn more about invasive species and to report sightings in the US and the Caribbean, visit the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)’s webpage: http://www.reef.org/programs/exotic