Glover's Reef - Dives 1, 2 & 3

Up at 5 and at the dive shop by 5:30 am. It was a looooooong boat ride out to Glover's Reef. Placencia penninsula is 16 miles long, for scale. 

We set out knowing our captain would have to make a game day decision as to whether our ship was headed out to Glover's or on to a tamer destination. But in the end they braved the 5-7 foot swells and we crossed the Caribbean Ocean out to Glover's. All in all, it was about 2 hours of crashing waves to get us there. Weeeee!

Here's a quick guide to what marine treasures the reefs surrounding Placencia have to offer. 

We reached Glover's where an atoll sheltered us from the waves. Which we promptly ignored as the boat pulled around ocean side and we all jumped off into the swell for our first dive: Manta Wall. The action started at 70 feet, but the whole descent I was marvelling at the incredibly rich aquatic flora. I've never seen such healthy coral gardens. The sea shelf was littered with tube sponges, brain coral, sea fans, elk coral, sea whips, basket sponges, et cetera. 

Our second dive was White Sand and our third was The Abyss. 

Highlights of the day included seeing spotted dolphins play in our boat wake, a small hawksbill turtle, a few great barracuda getting uncomfortably friendly, a naughty remora suckering on to unsuspecting divers, a spotted eagle ray floating ethereally by, napping nurse sharks, and a huge endangered Goliath grouper. 

French Grunt and snapper

Squirrelfish

Caribbean Spiny Lobster

Remora

Nurse Shark

Great Barracuda

Queen Angelfish

And we were of particular interest to a great barracuda!

After a long day of diving, we ventured over to visit long-time friends at Mariposa, a developing resort in Placencia. It's coming along beautifully! Kudos to the bartender and chef in residence too.