Monday, June 14, 2010
Two surprises in one
Pingo said he had a surprise for us--he found a new fish. He'd never seen this type of fish before so he had to come up with a name for it. He calls it the Chicken-Fish! Interesting name--we can wait to see it!
It was our six dive of the trip--third dive on Sunday, June 13. The dive site is called White House--Casa Blanca. It's called this because of marker on shore--a white house!
The current on this dive was just rippin'! No kicking necessary until we had to travel from one reef to a parallel reef. Otherwise, it was Superman/Superwoman diving!
There were a few things that got away--one was a HUGE green moray eel swimming free! There was a swim through that was open from one side of the reef to the other. I thought it would make a great picture. Just as I lifted up the camera, I saw the eel swimming freely. It is an incredible site--but I was on the wrong side of the reef! The eel was there then it was gone--hidden by the reef. Meanwhile, Pingo was further ahead than I was, rounding the end of the reef. He too saw the eel and rattled and pointed excitedly. I couldn't get there fast enough but I was able to see the eel for a brief second before it was gone again, slithering into a hole. Nope, this wasn't one of the surpises!
We came to the end of one reef--it was flat with small patches of grasses. Greg and I were just a little behind Pingo, Lynn, and Bruce. We had stopped to take pictures of sponges and fish. Pingo rattled his noise-maker excitedly to get our attention. (You're gonna ask me how we knew it was an excited rattle versus something else. You're just gonna have to trust me on this one. It was an excited rattle and it made us go to where he was pretty quick!)
As we got closer, we realized why--he'd found a seahorse in the grass. It's like finding a needle in a haystack! The seahorse was about three inches long and had his tail wrapped around a blade of grass. This was a great find since we haven't seen any seahorses since before the huge hurricane in 2005! After Pingo, Lynn, and Bruce oh'd and ah'd, they moved on so Greg and I could do the same and take some pictures.
Then came our second surprise--the chicken fish! Bruce laughed a LOT when he saw the chicken fish! And we all relived the moment back on board the boat as we described the chicken fish to Liz and Jennifer!
It was our six dive of the trip--third dive on Sunday, June 13. The dive site is called White House--Casa Blanca. It's called this because of marker on shore--a white house!
The current on this dive was just rippin'! No kicking necessary until we had to travel from one reef to a parallel reef. Otherwise, it was Superman/Superwoman diving!
There were a few things that got away--one was a HUGE green moray eel swimming free! There was a swim through that was open from one side of the reef to the other. I thought it would make a great picture. Just as I lifted up the camera, I saw the eel swimming freely. It is an incredible site--but I was on the wrong side of the reef! The eel was there then it was gone--hidden by the reef. Meanwhile, Pingo was further ahead than I was, rounding the end of the reef. He too saw the eel and rattled and pointed excitedly. I couldn't get there fast enough but I was able to see the eel for a brief second before it was gone again, slithering into a hole. Nope, this wasn't one of the surpises!
We came to the end of one reef--it was flat with small patches of grasses. Greg and I were just a little behind Pingo, Lynn, and Bruce. We had stopped to take pictures of sponges and fish. Pingo rattled his noise-maker excitedly to get our attention. (You're gonna ask me how we knew it was an excited rattle versus something else. You're just gonna have to trust me on this one. It was an excited rattle and it made us go to where he was pretty quick!)
As we got closer, we realized why--he'd found a seahorse in the grass. It's like finding a needle in a haystack! The seahorse was about three inches long and had his tail wrapped around a blade of grass. This was a great find since we haven't seen any seahorses since before the huge hurricane in 2005! After Pingo, Lynn, and Bruce oh'd and ah'd, they moved on so Greg and I could do the same and take some pictures.
Then came our second surprise--the chicken fish! Bruce laughed a LOT when he saw the chicken fish! And we all relived the moment back on board the boat as we described the chicken fish to Liz and Jennifer!// posted by Leenie @ 4:43 PM 
