Sunday, September 20. 2009
SCUBA dive off the back end of Great Thatch Island this afternoon.
t was nice to be in West End on a Sunday. There were not as many ferry boats to try and capsize us this morning....I am sure they will make up for it tomorrow morning though.
We made a quick tour around the bay, looking to see what boats were up in the harbour, and nothing new... Same old wreck that has been there forever...
Could get closer to it though as there was not so many boats in the way to look at it!
Went over to Jost for a short while and then Bazza said I could go for a dive. I jumped in on the north side of Great Thatch, and the water was fairly murky, but there was quite a bit of fish and bird action.
I saw Barracuda, Turtles, Sting Rays, Permits, Rainbow Runners, and this nice Eagle Ray... There were so many particles in the water I decided to go with NOT cleaning up the noise and instead made him look like he is flying through outer space (perhaps I have too much time on my hands!!)
The Spade Fish are always so friendly when you see them, THEY posed for me quite nicely...
Lots of Basket Stars, that will come out tonight and be gorgeous. I was almost tempted to get in the water tonight, but I sat down for awhile and that thought went away...
Went up shallow and the hard coral here was strange. There was some VERY healthy, and then next to it there would be one that was totally dead, and then the next one would be half and half...Not sure if it was coming or going!
A rainbow Runner looking for dinner...
Bazza was talking to Foxy this afternoon. We have always liked his boat "Ocean Fox" (well, Bazza thinks it would be a great "water workshop" for him with all these toys he is building. The guests may object to tripping over all his half built toys on Promenade). Foxy wants to get someone to take the boat out fishing, as, apparently when he bought it, it then spent a year in drydock having work done. I won't say how much he says it costs, but lets just say you could comfortably buy yourself a BRAND new one of those boats!
He is hoping to get some money back out of it that way. Just in case anyone is looking for a job as a fisherman! He wants to run some deep pots (like 700 feet) and do some tuna fishing.. (but then again, last year when he showed us his boat he wanted to take it up to Anegada and do some longlining with someone up there, so it could sit in Great Harbour for another year or two.....
We made a quick tour around the bay, looking to see what boats were up in the harbour, and nothing new... Same old wreck that has been there forever...
Could get closer to it though as there was not so many boats in the way to look at it!
Went over to Jost for a short while and then Bazza said I could go for a dive. I jumped in on the north side of Great Thatch, and the water was fairly murky, but there was quite a bit of fish and bird action.
I saw Barracuda, Turtles, Sting Rays, Permits, Rainbow Runners, and this nice Eagle Ray... There were so many particles in the water I decided to go with NOT cleaning up the noise and instead made him look like he is flying through outer space (perhaps I have too much time on my hands!!)
The Spade Fish are always so friendly when you see them, THEY posed for me quite nicely...
Lots of Basket Stars, that will come out tonight and be gorgeous. I was almost tempted to get in the water tonight, but I sat down for awhile and that thought went away...
Went up shallow and the hard coral here was strange. There was some VERY healthy, and then next to it there would be one that was totally dead, and then the next one would be half and half...Not sure if it was coming or going!
A rainbow Runner looking for dinner...
Bazza was talking to Foxy this afternoon. We have always liked his boat "Ocean Fox" (well, Bazza thinks it would be a great "water workshop" for him with all these toys he is building. The guests may object to tripping over all his half built toys on Promenade). Foxy wants to get someone to take the boat out fishing, as, apparently when he bought it, it then spent a year in drydock having work done. I won't say how much he says it costs, but lets just say you could comfortably buy yourself a BRAND new one of those boats!
He is hoping to get some money back out of it that way. Just in case anyone is looking for a job as a fisherman! He wants to run some deep pots (like 700 feet) and do some tuna fishing.. (but then again, last year when he showed us his boat he wanted to take it up to Anegada and do some longlining with someone up there, so it could sit in Great Harbour for another year or two.....
Wednesday, September 16. 2009
We have a new wreck dive in the BVI! Welcome to the Seal...
It was almost three years ago that I first put up a blog entry about the sinking of the Island Seal. It had gone down near Brandywine Bay and there was a few containers floating around for a bit.
This has been in Fish Bay sinking deeper and deeper. Since I looked out my front hatch at it all the time, I kind of kept a photographic journal of the wreck. It was going to be towed out and sunk off the south drop as a fish attraction device, and then we had permission to sink it in WRECK Alley off Cooper Island, which was great news.
One of the things that struck me when looking back at the pictures of when it first sunk was how much it has changed, and you do not notice it in the day to day view. Compare the picture of when it first sank...
and this summer. Quite a difference hey!
WHen it was still in Fish Bay this summer I jumped in the water to take some pictures of it before it was moved....
Then I kind of watched to see when it might get towed away, and soon enough Husky was on the job with lift bags refloating it and pumping it full of air to move...
We were coming around the corner of Beef Island the other day when we saw it in tow...
She slowly (boy that would be a boring job towing boats like this upside down...It took HOURS for them to get across the channel!
And then it subsequently took awhile for them to get the air out of the ship, position it where it was going to be sunk and we watched it slowly slowly start to sink and once it starts to go! Boom!
It was positioned perfectly right beside the Beatta, as we took the opportunity to jump in the water after it went down to see what it looked like. These pictures have a lot of noise in them that I have not bothered to filter out, although I may on a couple as the lift bags hanging off the boat gave me some neat picture perspectives! Since we were in the water maybe half an hour after she went down, the sand was still pretty stirred up...
Lots of air coming out of it still....
The wreck will make a great compliment when you are diving the Beatta. The Seal is right next to it, and it is lying multi level from about 70 feet up to about 30-40, with an amazing wide open swim through at the bottom that I can see attracting lots of inhabitants. There was already a barracuda and a big grey snapper scoping out there new houses!!
I absolutely loved the lift bags on it. It looked surreal, like hot air balloons up around the wreck. Husky was coming back in the morning to retrieve all their lift bags. Surprising to us, there were quite a few that had popped going down, and they were obviously all new bags...
And that is my pictorial of the sinking and making of a brand new wreck dive for us here in the BVI over the last few years! I am sure we are the wreck capital of the Caribbean now.
This has been in Fish Bay sinking deeper and deeper. Since I looked out my front hatch at it all the time, I kind of kept a photographic journal of the wreck. It was going to be towed out and sunk off the south drop as a fish attraction device, and then we had permission to sink it in WRECK Alley off Cooper Island, which was great news.
One of the things that struck me when looking back at the pictures of when it first sunk was how much it has changed, and you do not notice it in the day to day view. Compare the picture of when it first sank...
and this summer. Quite a difference hey!
WHen it was still in Fish Bay this summer I jumped in the water to take some pictures of it before it was moved....
Then I kind of watched to see when it might get towed away, and soon enough Husky was on the job with lift bags refloating it and pumping it full of air to move...
We were coming around the corner of Beef Island the other day when we saw it in tow...
She slowly (boy that would be a boring job towing boats like this upside down...It took HOURS for them to get across the channel!
And then it subsequently took awhile for them to get the air out of the ship, position it where it was going to be sunk and we watched it slowly slowly start to sink and once it starts to go! Boom!
It was positioned perfectly right beside the Beatta, as we took the opportunity to jump in the water after it went down to see what it looked like. These pictures have a lot of noise in them that I have not bothered to filter out, although I may on a couple as the lift bags hanging off the boat gave me some neat picture perspectives! Since we were in the water maybe half an hour after she went down, the sand was still pretty stirred up...
Lots of air coming out of it still....
The wreck will make a great compliment when you are diving the Beatta. The Seal is right next to it, and it is lying multi level from about 70 feet up to about 30-40, with an amazing wide open swim through at the bottom that I can see attracting lots of inhabitants. There was already a barracuda and a big grey snapper scoping out there new houses!!
I absolutely loved the lift bags on it. It looked surreal, like hot air balloons up around the wreck. Husky was coming back in the morning to retrieve all their lift bags. Surprising to us, there were quite a few that had popped going down, and they were obviously all new bags...
And that is my pictorial of the sinking and making of a brand new wreck dive for us here in the BVI over the last few years! I am sure we are the wreck capital of the Caribbean now.
Monday, September 14. 2009
More pics of Scrub Island and a SCUBA dive on the Chikuzen
We were anchored off Scrub Island last night so we took a few more pictures on our way out to the Chikuzen...
One thing they have in this marina, is great docks for Birds!! I love seeing them...
It says 17 days until completion..I don't think I would believe that, look behind the sign!
None the less, the partially completed villas were pretty in our very clear skies today.
It was one of my worst dives on the Chikuzen today... After we played find the wreck, it was pretty murky and lots of current swirling in different directions. I managed to get an entire 30 minute dive out of my tank including safety stop I believe and I was exhausted by the time I got back on board if that tells you anything.
The schools of fish hiding under the bow are getting larger...
The wreck is splitting a bit in the middle and this is Bazza disappearing into a part he was hesitant to go in before because of its size...Of course it was the engine room!!! He said he spent the entire dive in there. And had the smaller of the Goliath Grouper watching him the whole time! I passed....
Did have to avoid a few nasty jellyfish on my way back up...
There were large schools of Horse Eyed Jacks under the boat though which were pretty! And I saw a Reef Shark!!
That was enough of that spot, so we went back into Cooper Isle and were in the water just before sunset...as you can see here, and then made our way back to our marina! Nice to get out on the water for a few days and good to be home again too!
One thing they have in this marina, is great docks for Birds!! I love seeing them...
It says 17 days until completion..I don't think I would believe that, look behind the sign!
None the less, the partially completed villas were pretty in our very clear skies today.
It was one of my worst dives on the Chikuzen today... After we played find the wreck, it was pretty murky and lots of current swirling in different directions. I managed to get an entire 30 minute dive out of my tank including safety stop I believe and I was exhausted by the time I got back on board if that tells you anything.
The schools of fish hiding under the bow are getting larger...
The wreck is splitting a bit in the middle and this is Bazza disappearing into a part he was hesitant to go in before because of its size...Of course it was the engine room!!! He said he spent the entire dive in there. And had the smaller of the Goliath Grouper watching him the whole time! I passed....
Did have to avoid a few nasty jellyfish on my way back up...
There were large schools of Horse Eyed Jacks under the boat though which were pretty! And I saw a Reef Shark!!
That was enough of that spot, so we went back into Cooper Isle and were in the water just before sunset...as you can see here, and then made our way back to our marina! Nice to get out on the water for a few days and good to be home again too!
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