Coming Through!
Yesterday's dive trip was a pretty perfect one, there was not one cloud in the sky and the ocean looked like a lake. It was gonna be a great day! Right after we made our way out of the Jupiter inlet captain Steve let myself and our divers know that he had sighted some Dolphins on the surface and for us to keep an eye on the water so we would get to see them as well. He circled the boat around and we followed them for a while until they decided that it was time to dive down and take off. What a way to start the day! We continued on our way to the dive site, all very excited and ready to go diving. The underwater conditions looked very promising just by looking at the beautiful blue color of the water and I couldn't wait to see what our dives were gonna be like.
As soon as we jumped in at Leigh's Ledge, our first dive site of the day, we could see the bottom. I did a little happy dance on the way down and couldn't be in a better place than right then and there. After our descent and swim over to the ledge it was literally one thing after another; a reef shark, an eel, a goliath grouper, big school of spadefish, barracudas, more reef sharks, another goliath, turtles, you get the point. It was beautiful!
While cruising along the ledge I was thinking about how lucky we are. When diving at lots of other places, you'll be happy to see one shark, or one turtle along with your usual reef critters in one dive, Diving here along the Jupiter ledge you get it all, it's amazing that we got this unbelievable underwater world right here in our backyard.
We ended our first dive and after a nice relaxing surface interval, we jumped back in the water for our second dive at Capt. Kurls. And I have to say, that dive didn't disappoint either. Again top to bottom visibility and fish everywhere. Capt. Kurls is one of my favorites when the visibility is good because there's just so much going on. The main ledge is amazing but when you go just a little more to the east you'll run into some other really neat smaller ledges and overhangs where a lot of fish and critters like to hang out.
I was hoping for another hammerhead encounter like I had last Monday, and even though that didn't happen, I was treated with some other cool marine life. I got to see a ton of nurse sharks, more reef sharks, eels, goliaths, lobster, lots of them, literally all over the ledge right now, and last but not least some turtles. Three of our Florida species, some Hawksbills, a couple of Loggerheads, and a really cute green turtle that decided to swim right at and then over me. It was one of those, "Hey, Excuse me, Coming through!' moments. Those encounters are the best, getting up close and personal like that without scaring the turtle and seeing it continue to swim along with all the other divers so everyone could get a good look.
The second dive came to an end and everyone started to take their gear apart to be ready for when we'd get back to the dock. But the day wasn't over yet! On our way back to the Jupiter Inlet the dolphins decided to treat us with a visit once more. An amazing dive trip with a perfect ending. I'm ready for more and can't wait to see what tomorrow has in stock for us!
Happy diving!
- Anne