Last night, the plan for today was written on the whiteboard:
We are diving air on this trip as the boat does not have Nitrox. Therefore, our bottom time will not be as lenient as if we were on Nitrox.
There is a possibility we could do three dives today, but the plan is to only do two.
I woke up around 2am and decided to finish putting my camera together. It was too much to finish it last night.
I am trying out my new checklist for getting the camera ready. I never want to jump in again without my battery changed!
Early in the morning I went to set up my dive gear.
I have new fins and booties. The booties are really buoyant so I brought my ankle weights. I think I am going to need them for a little while.
On the first dive, I found several species of nudis. The coral was so healthy. We also came across a whitefin shark and a big octopus.
I put some water in my floats since that is what I was doing with my blackwater… but then I realized that my diopter was making the setup heavier. I don’t need to put any water in my floats when I have my diopter on. In fact, the rig is a bit too heavy.
At the end of the dive, Mariasol found a nautilus shell on the surface and brought it onto the liveaboard. So cool and VERY lucky.
I am on boat two, but they went up when I still had a ton of bottom time, so I was invited to stick around with the third boat so I could get a longer dive in. Yay!
Our dive guide Melki wears two different color fins. It is pretty easy to find him.
I feel like my strobes are not lighting up the subject very well. I need to keep tweaking. Maybe I am also now used to the power of the Atom strobes so I feel like these MiniFlash2s aren’t so great.
On the second dive, the wrist strap on my backup dive computer that I mounted on my float broke. Luckily I noticed exactly when it detached and I saved it and put it in the pocket which hangs off my BC. Well, the computer itself keeps on working.
The crew has the cutest habit. Whenever a skiff leaves, they cheer. And then when we come back, they cheer again. It is quite uplifting.
In the afternoon, a huge pod of spinner dolphins came alongside the boat and did some major tricks for us. Jumping and Splashing. It was really fun!
We also had a DJ and Alvi and Mariasol were club dancing on the bow.
It was pretty smoky on the site we pulled into for the night dive. It was mucky and rocky but we found some cool slugs.
Nudi Species
1 - Phyllidiella sp.
3 - Thuridilla sp.
4 - Antonietta sp. 1
7 - Samla riwo
11 - Paradoris liturga
12 - Phyllidiella nigra
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