Another day on vacation, another alarm set for 0730 and we didn’t even mind! First mission, buffet breakfast at the Tipsy Seagull, of course! We were off to an early start because Tuesday was another boat dive day.
The first boat dive site was called Invisibles. While it was accessible from the shore, it was pretty cool to be able to dive it from the boat. Invisibles ended up being one of my favorite dive sites because we saw some new underwater critters that we hadn’t seen before. We saw a spotted scorpionfish (my new favorite fish!), palmeto, drum fish and a HUGE hermit crab, probably about the size of a cantalope, crawling along the bottom, leaving a trail in the sand behind him.
We headed a bit north during our surface interval to the second boat dive site for the day at Salt Pier. Salt Pier was pretty incredible. The sheer size of the pylons that supported the pier were amazing and made me feel really, REALLY small! At Salt Pier we saw a sea urchin, a HUGE rainbow parrotfish (forever dubbed the Grand Master Parrotfish) and another spotted scorpionfish.
After some late lunch at the resort’s Scubar, we analyzed and set some tanks for later and decided to take a ride in our rental truck to a large dive shop on the island. When we got out to the parking lot, we noticed that the rental truck had a flat tire thanks to a cactus spike through the tread from yesterday’s adventure. We took it to the rental shop and got it replaced with a new tire – thank goodness for getting the full coverage insurance option! After a short drive, we arrived at the dive shop but were disappointed to see “Closed For Inventory” signs in all the windows. Oh well!
After enjoying another tasty dinner at the Tipsy Seagull, Josh decided to do another night dive with a few dive buddies. (Meanwhile, I opted for Pina Coladas at the resort’s beach bar!) They headed for Salt Pier for the night dive, which provided some difficult conditions due to the current. The guys saw two eagle rays during the dive that they were pretty stoked about, but, Josh said he felt like something “stung” the back of his head during the the swim out before descending. The current ended up getting the best of the guys on the dive as they ended up back swimming to the shore and walking along the water’s edge to the exit point for the dive site. We inspected the back of Josh’s head when he got back from the dive since he felt some type of sting at the beginning of the dive and didn’t see any kind of mark of disturbance. Another pina colada and it was time for some really restful sleep!
Small Living, Big Life 