Let's Get this Scuba Party Started - Diving Sandy Slope and Triple Anchors

December 02, 2017

Let's Get this Scuba Party Started - Diving Sandy Slope and Triple Anchors

Repeat after me: sleep, eat, dive. The routine for the next five days is pretty much exclusively that. Up no later than 7 am, it’s breakfast followed by an 8 am dive briefing on the location of the morning two dives. You’re in the water no later than 8:30, and out an hour later. Have a snack, take a one hour break on the boat, then repeat at 10:30. At 12:30 have lunch as the boat heads to the afternoon dive site. Briefing at 2, dive for an hour, rest for an hour, and second dive starts at 4:30. Dinner at 6:30 and night dive briefing at 8 pm. Out of the water from the night dive at 9:30 pm, shower and have a well-deserved drink before heading to bed. Every day. Phew!

Right on schedule in the morning we learned about our first site - Sandy Slope. Off we went! Here are a couple photos from both dives at Sandy Slope.

Red lionfish

Southern stingray

Wendyfish

Hermit crab in a barrel coral

Hawksbill turtle

Spotted moray

Weird glass bubble thing

Banded coral shrimp

Flamingo tongue cowrie

Caribbean lobster

Fan coral

Spotted trunkfish

Pederson cleaner shrimp

Big southern stingray kicking up sand

Big, fat green moray

Gray angelfish

Yellow headed jawfish

Arrow crab

Putting along and bobbing up and down, we enjoyed a hearty lunch as we travelled about an hour to our second mooring for the day. Arriving at Triple Anchor, it was time to suit up again and chase down some local flora and fauna. Despite the name, I only saw one anchor. But we did see towering coral structures on the south end of the site and lots of swim throughs (arches or tunnels in the reef big enough for a diver to go through). Here’s a collection of shots from the afternoon dives.

Fairy basslets

One of the anchors

Paired clinging crab

Next on the agenda is our first night dive of the trip. And it will be only my second night dive. Why go diving on the reef at night you might ask? Well, just like every other ecosystem the flora and fauna do a big shift change, giving you a whole new cast of characters to meet. It is exhilarating and not much different from diving during the day except you use the light from an underwater flashlight to lead the way. I’ve quite enjoyed it so far!