WOW............. Just WOW!

Did I already say WOW, if not than WOW! For those that have followed our travel blogs before, you have heard me say “some days are diamonds”. Well this ranks up in that category along with our day on the Cassier in British Columbia and our trip to the bottom of Copper Canyon in Mexico. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, and the sea was that perfect shade of deep blue that you usually only see in a post card. We got up early had a HUGE breakfast at the hotel and boarded the shuttle to our guides for the day, “The Adventure Company”. We were quickly checked in and fitted for fins and masks.

 During the 2 hour ride out to the reef, we were kept amused with comical briefings and banter from the dive team. A great bunch of guys who helped make the trip seem like minutes instead of hours. At our first stop, Jenn & Erin were one of the first in the water and I soon followed. I was a little overwhelmed at first being in the presence of my ex-swimmer wife and my current swimmer daughter, but I quickly figured it out and was moving around in the water but not seeing much. Then one of the dive team came by and asked if I wanted to take a guided tour holding on to a life ring he was pulling. 

I quickly accepted and I talked Erin into joining us. He pulled us along and pointed out the best stuff around the first reef we visited with Jenn kicking along under her own power. We saw Nemo and a few of his friends, some Parrot Fish, a large clam (about 1 foot across), and many other fish that I don’t know.

 He then drug me back to the boat and Erin & I went aboard while Jenn continued to explore. We spent about 2 hours there and then pulled up anchor and headed over to Hastings Reef. This was the best part. Over at the previous reef, the average depth was about 15 meters and occasionally it would bump up to about 3 meters so you could see some fish. At Hastings, the average depth was about 2 meters and sometimes even shallower. So you could snorkel along for hundreds of feet with the reef almost within reach and it was covered with fish large and small. Groupers, many Parrot Fish, Diagonal Striped Sweet Lips, Sea Cucumbers, Sea Urchins, and many other fish I have no clue what they were. 

In addition there was many kinds of colorful coral other “Soft Coral” covering almost all the colors of the rainbow. I also became much more adept at snorkeling and could cover ground (or water in this case) much quicker, which opened up the deep the deep blue hole that we had seen from the copter that dropped off to hundreds of feet from our view from the reef. Absolutely spectacular! We then took a helicopter tour of the reef and what a site to see it from about 800 feet above the surface. 

We got back about 45 minutes before the boat was to leave, so we quickly put our gear back on and swam our way over to a deep drop off in the middle of the reef that we had spotted from the air. Another spectacular drop off in the middle of the reef where we saw some fish schools, a large grouper, and a very large clam before the whistle blew to return to the boat. The day could not have gone any better. Everything I expected and so much more. Check out the Pictures to the left to see more pictures and some videos that Jenn took today. A perfect Diamond Day and a big Two Thumbs up from the Martins