So begins week 2 of the Maldives Aggressor II. The two dive guides we have are brothers: Suju and Shaf. They both look so similar, the crew calls them Copy-Paste. They are the two all the way on the left.
Ha! That's what I'm doing with week 2: copy-paste.
This week we have ten divers: Four young people from Switzerland: Daniela and Daniel who own a dive shop TSK, Jens who will hit 500 dives on this trip and another guy named Daniel (who is also an American citizen). Then we have Steph (German), Gemma (English) and David and Nicole a couple from Austin Texas who will hit 50 dives on this trip and finally Tim from Alaska.
We figured out a couple of big coincidences in the first few days. David and Nicole go to Yard Bar in Austin with their dog! I told them that I know the owners, Jen Ervin and Mike Noth.
Later I was chatting with Tim and we figured out we were in Palau at the same time. He said that he had his dive log from there and started reading the entries. In black and white on December 1st, 2005 he wrote that Pam took pictures of the divers in a Santa hat for the holidays. What!?!?!?
Monday's third dive on the Kuda Giri Wreck was the best dive so far. I found SEVEN distinct species nudibranchs on one dive, which is pretty good for the Maldives. I was so excited. After the first day I am already half way to my overall species count from last week. Woot!
On Tuesday we had five dives. Not really on purpose. On the second dive, Suju misjudged the current and we were caught in a downcurrent. It was pretty strong and was challenging for many of the newer divers. Suju eventually called the dive and we went up after about 10 minutes, so the crew filled our tanks and we went again. On this channel dive, we hooked in and really did see “shark soup” in the blue!
Another funny thing happened when Shaf tried to show the guests a nudibranch. He gave the nudibranch signal, but they all mistook it for the "It's time to hook in" signal and they all got out their reef hooks and hooked in on this weird spot where there was no current at all. I found it hilarious. Afterward, we had to review with them the difference between nudibranch and hook in hand signals.
At night we did the nurse shark dive where it seemed there were many more above us this time, not just below. Both Shaf and Daniel said that they used my bright Kraken light to make cool images with the shadow of the nurse sharks. Here is Daniel's:
I on the other hand, mostly was looking for small stuff. At one point I just gave up and looked to my right and saw this:
Yup. That is what you think it is. Claspers of a nurse shark. Pretty impressive, right?
On Wednesday we spent about two hours looking for a whale shark so we could snorkel with it. We never found one. However, during the second dive we did see one underwater. It was just a dark shadow cruising by. None of us got great footage of it.
The crew serves snacks on the dhoni while we search and they slice up some fresh coconut. That is my favorite! I was hoarding all the leftovers for later because it was so darn good.
On Thursday we had three good macro dives. The seas were so flat that over lunch when we looked out the window, we couldn’t tell where the water ended and the sky began. It was a little creepy to lose the horizon.
I figured out this technique where I take the Go Pro Max down strapped on my head and record a time lapse. The works pretty good for wrecks so I did it on Kudimaa Wreck and I found the Goniobranchus gleniei! This one is unique to Maldives.
At night, we have the BBQ. I wanted to night snorkel, so I took my gear. Before dinner, I took a stroll around the island with Captain Hussain and we looked for crabs. After dinner, Chilly (the Dhoni Captain) and I went night snorkeling. It was fun until WHAM! Something hit me really hard in the strap of my mask. It was crazy hard!!! I kept looking around to try to figure out what it was. I think it was a garfish (needle-nose). They were darting toward the light but MAN, they really packed a punch! Chilly kept telling me "light down"! That way the flashlight doesn't attract them. However, before we could exit the water he got hit in the forehead too! Maybe not the best idea.
Today was Tim's 65th birthday which means that when we met 15 years ago, he was the age I am now. I want to still be diving when I am 65. Heck, I want to still be diving when I am 85!
We were supposed to do the manta night dive tonight, but they didn't show up. I was THRILLED! That meant we got to do a regular night dive. It was incredible. Here is my dive log entry:
We dropped in on a turtle and a free swimming eel and it just picked up from there!!! There were baby white tip sharks swimming around so I starting singing "baby shark doot doot da doo da doo" thru my regulator. Then two HUGE marble rays showed up; they got a little too close for comfort. They really liked our lights. I saw two crown of thorns and they were bright blue with red thorns... I've never seen them that color! Two Coriocella hibyae. My favorite part was that I found a Glossodoris pallida. It was near sexy shrimp so I also shot those. Then this eel really liked my light and got right up under me. It was a little too close for comfort so I felt like I really needed to move but I wanted more shots of that nudi. It appeared to be on a rock, so I was going to grab it and move it when the eel wasn't watching. When I did, I figured out this was a hermit crab, not a rock. Whatever I took it anyway and set it out to take more photos. Isn't that crazy? The nudi was on a hermit crab shell. Phyllidia marindica. Phyllidia varicosa. The bloodworms were EVERYWHERE!!! At the end, there were two enormous stonefish out and freely swimming around. Whoa! I've never seen them wiggle like that. One was bigger than a football and the other was a little smaller.
