Club ED

So its been two weeks since I last wrote, mainly due to the fact that I have been too busy. We were drilling new moorings the first week which has basically knocked me for six and I have been recouping my energy ever since. We did our first run over to Grand Turk which was fun. We met Smitty who is a diving legend over here. He works as a guide at Grand Turk Divers, is 70 years of age and knows the reefs like the back of his hand. A great guy to get advice from and he blew my record for drilling with a 15 minute dive, drilled, cement and done. Just incredible, an honour to have dived with him.

I saw the biggest southern sting rays I have ever witnessed, two meters wide, off the coast of South Caicos island. Some beautiful diving down there. On one dive I saw a hawks bill turtle, eagle rays and a huge logger head turtle, very cool.

We had the best night dive ever with around five sharks feeding right under the boat. We sat on the sand and watched the show, it was a real honour to see these apex predators in their truest form.

The water has hit 29 degrees centigrade since we returned to TCI and I have ditched the wetsuit for shorts and a skin and its an amazing way to dive.

This last week has been my favourite yet with a group from Club ED, a dive club run by non other than ED. A true legend in his own right, diving has been second to non. A few of the guys have been killing the lion fish infestation and it has attracted great interest from the sharks. This has led to some incredible encounters with the high light being our final dive with five sharks, a dolphin and a turtle to finish. I luckily had my video camera with me on the dive and ill upload the finished product when I get round to editing it.

The guys were really fun and they took us out for dinner on the final night. We ended up at the casino and ED taught me the finer details of black jack. He did something right because I doubled my money and drank for free all night.

The group are heading to fiji next year and I plan to go with them. Clay, one of the guys from the group owns a sky diving drop zone out in Florida so im already planning a trip to go visit. What a great bunch of people, the next group has a lot to live up to.

Back To The Turks & Caicos (TCI)

I have tried to take notes this week, time just seems to fly by and I often feel I have missed out some odds and ends so here goes.

We went for a dive at “Double Caves”, San Salvador, which is one of my favourite sites from the Bahamas. You can only get on the mooring if the weather is good and this morning the conditions were perfect. I had already explored the cave that was directly below the mooring but I had seen a sink hole at the end of our last visit that I wanted to investigate. I briefed the group that I would enter first then call them in if I could see an exit. I found the hole, signalled for them to wait and descended into the cave. It curved into a horizontal tunnel heading towards the edge of the wall. As I descended it got darker and I was glad I decided to bring the torch. I was about to turn and give up when I saw a glimpse of blue, an exit. I called the other divers in and we headed out to the wall at 33m, it was awesome and a I was happy I was able to find it before we left.

Wednesday, 6^th June, I was on the bridge with the captain at around 06:30 on route to Samana Cay. All of a sudden he says “look, a manta just breached the surface!”.I looked out the window in time to see a huge tail fin crash into the water, clearly not a manta. The captain slowed the engines, just as we saw what appeared to be a pilot whale jump completely out of the water, bolt up right, then crash back into the waves. An awesome sight and a great way to start the day.

The final day in the southern Bahamas brought bad weather, well no rain but very strong winds. We arrive early and a diver went down to attach the mooring to one of our newly placed eye bolts. It was a true test for the new mooring as the seas were high and the boat was pulling hard on the line. As the divers entered the water I kept a close eye on the buoy as the line pulled tight it would sink and when the line went slack it would float. I watched nervously through out the whole dive and eventually the divers returned to the boat. I looked out towards the buoy and it was floating, I waited for the boat to swing and the buoy stayed afloat, we had broken from the mooring with one diver still under. I shouted to the engineer who confirmed my concerns and ran to start the engines. I jumped in the dingy and another instructor started to recall the final diver by banging on the bottom of the boat. We waited for what seemed like an age for him to surface before I sped over and picked him up. Only then could the captain kick the boat into gear and take us away from the shallow rocks we were being blown towards. I returned to the boat with the diver and we decided to skip the Bahamas and head back to TCI. We arrived back that afternoon, after covering some awesome seas, for a final dive in West Caicos. It was a busy week, but a good week none the less.

Bahamas

 

We have been here in the Bahamas for a month now, which has gone like the wind. The diving has been different, in comparison to the Turks & Caicos there is far fewer fish but the sharks are bigger and the topography is just breath taking. San Salvador being my favourite, why it has not been exploited for technical diving I do not know. There are so many incredible caves, canyons and deep walls I could spend years exploring the dive sites. We only managed a small amount of the west cost and it was awe inspiring. Some of the sites have the most incredible walls it feels like your flying over the grand canyon at times, with giant towers of ancient coral pushing up from hundreds of meters below.

Conception Island, uninhabited by humans, has a small turtle sanctuary and the coral is incredibly healthy with its own dose of big walls and drop offs. There is also a resident dolphin that lives there, apparently alone, who joined us for most of a dive there. One day I plan to get dropped off on Conception for a week or two, spend a week Bear Grylls style!

The group this week were fun, a group from a dive centre in DC. We had some great dives with hammers, turtles, dolphins and all the usual suspects. When you get great customers it all becomes easy and a pleasure to work.

We sail tonight bound for the Turks & Caicos and back to our regular itinerary. Its been fun exploring the southern Bahamas and I am sure ill be back one day, especially if it involves some time on San Salvador.

The French Invasion

This week has been fun, we had a big group of French and Swiss passengers with a number from the USA too. Most notably from the U.S was a guy who was travelling alone and turned out to be  an art collector. He has the worlds largest collection of art from Frida. Frida was one of, if not the most famous female painters the world has ever seen and his catalogue was breath taking, an awe inspiring collection.

I ironically got along with the French contingent from day one and they inspired a European feel to the entire week. On the first night they were trying to get me onto the pastis but company policy is no drink for the crew during the week. The diving was incredible and again there were many hammer head sharks and some very cool cave dives. A true alliance was built up over the week and we laughed and had a lot of fun. The American contingent taking the micky out of me for the word “Torch”, which is apparently a flash light! I was soon backed up by my European friends.

Our final dive was on the wreck of the Komberbak, Long Island and I was joined by only three of the French. It was a beautiful morning dive and we headed down to the wreck at 30 meters. After some time, and a couple of photos, we headed to the sail boat sank just off the port bow. One of the French disappeared inside the wreck and we waited for him to reappear. He did not return for some time and myself and the remaining two divers looked at each other with puzzled faces. After a few minutes he returned to the entrance of the wreck and produced a toilet!! We could not believe it and you could hear the laughter projected through the water. We ended the dive in fits of laughter and recalled the story late into the night over a big bottle of pastis :) 

Dolphins and Hammers

Im going to keep it short this week. 18 guests and the crew is getting smaller, so the work gets a little harder but its still cool. The group this week have been fun and the diving has been incredible. There is a great need for a small crew such as ours to have cohesion and a sense of humour to allow the fun and excitement of diving to pass off onto the passengers, that sounds cheesy when you read it back.  Unfortunately im not sure this crew has what it takes right now but its early days.

I was passing on my small knowledge of drilling to our new drill team from club med this week. In return one of their instructors told me about a dive site called “The Great Cut”. I wont go into too much detail but the site is awe inspiring and truly rivals some of my favourite sites from Egypt such as “The Canyon” and “The Blue Hole” (those of you that know what they are will under stand, those who don’t, buy me a beer and I’ll tell you).

We completed one dive at conception island, I had to return to the water to recover the mooring from the bottom and I was joined by a bottle nosed dolphin. He watched on as I swam to the bottom and released the shackle, clearly wanting to play. One of the crew members darted around in the zodiac above and gave him some exercise and a show for the passengers. I hung on the line for a while before surfacing and he just looked me in the eye, not nervous but interested. I broke the surface to help recover the buoy and when I looked down he was gone.

I had some great dives this week and they were all relatively deep. I was sure I spotted a hammer head shark but was not 100%, I was sure the narcosis was to blame. The next dive the passengers surface, elated they had all seen a Hammer Head!! I was happy because this made me feel sure I had spotted one, but I had no evidence. Sure enough the next dive we were once again visited by these notoriously shy creatures. I was blown away, when I told the boys from club med they said it was not uncommon to see them this time of year but the sightings were getting fewer.

I still had no evidence, I decided to take my camera on the next dive but I knew this would push the superstitious balance against me. I descended to around 30 meters ( hammers love deep water) followed by two of the passengers, both experienced cave divers. We battled against a strong current for about 20 minutes and admitted defeat. I turned to the diver next to me and gave the signal to turn, looking forward one last time. I looked round to our route back along the wall and there in the distance was the faint shimmer of a shark. I stared at it hoping that it was and its was!!! I glanced back at the other diver, when he finally looked at me a signalled and I watched as his eyes light up. We both look over to see a huge 8ft Hammer heading straight for us and he was not stopping. My breathing went through the roof, after I realised what was happening I pointed the camera at him and just kept hitting the shutter button. The most beautiful shark swan right up to us and casually swam past, barley batting an eye lid at the vicious current we had battled to be there. He strolled off into the distance and the diver next to me looked back with an elated face, I was so happy, the rest of the dive I just lay back and let the current take me to the boat. I got the photo I was after.

Pioneering New Dive Sites

Wow, what a week, where to start. The week began by me driving to the airport to get the guests, driving again was fun!! I soon picked up that the group (9 people) where all from a group called Seacology, a non-profit foundation who develop projects for islands around the work, check it out www.Seacology.org.

This charter has been an exploratory trip of the islands of the southern Bahamas and most of the dive sites did not have names or had even been dived previous to our arrival!! This was a cool because we had to name the dive sites as we went along, possibly the only time I’ll get to explore places other people have never been before which is pretty special. Most of the islands where uninhabited and so naturally we jumped in the dingy and went exploring between dives. The diving was varied but my main aim was to spot an oceanic white tip but no luck this week, however we are now running this charter for the next three weeks so there is still a chance. Oceanic White tip sharks are endangered, they also have the worst reputation for attacks, they truly are the masters of the ocean. We dive an island called conception which is where im going to concentrate my search. Conception is a small uninhabited island that’s sits just on the edge of the Atlantic ocean and there is no other land until Africa from its shore line.

The other portion of our trip has been installing new mooring pins for us to use on our return to the dive sites. We all took it in turns to be on the drill team and it’s a fun, exiting and different side to being a diver. We drilled using a hydraulic drill then set the pins and finally setting them in place with either cement or epoxy depending on the type of mooring. An education for me but fun, something different, keeping it varied again.

When we arrived at San Salvador the Seacology group departed for land to attend an opening ceremony. The group had funded an new conservation centre for the iguanas that are indigenous to the Bahamas. All seemed to go well for them and they returned to the boat for another dive. No rest for us it just gave us an opportunity to get some routine maintenance done on the boat.

All in all its been a good week, I can not believe its been a month. We now spend three weeks out of George Town, Great Exzuma, Bahamas. It’s a change of pace and hopefully it will be fun, exploring new dive sites and looking out for the elusive Oceanic White Tip Shark.

Splicing Variety

So this week ive been learning how to splice line, making loops and putting thimbles into line. Its all in preparation for when we head to the Bahamas next week. We have also been setting up the underwater hydraulics drill we will be using to put in mooring pins. The plan is to arrive at a dive site, drop anchor and while someone guides a dive two others will dive down and drill into the ocean floor, put in a pin and cement it in place. We can then attach the mooring lines, which we are currently splicing together, which we can then moor to when we return to the site. Its all in an effort to reduce the damage of dive boats in the Bahamas.

On the other side of the coin ive been offered the Chef position for when we sail to the Dominican Republic in January for the whale watching trips. Im currently I talks about wages because the added responsibility obviously requires a better rate of pay J

We are currently on route back to port after yet another successful charter, I nearly got head butted by a 2 meter Eagle Ray the other day which ws nice and I spotted my first Arrow crab, its all good fun but the variety of it all is the best part for me.

As The Prop Turns

 

“As the prop turns” The concept our captain has come up with for a reality TV show based around the characters who work and visit our vessel, The Turks & Caicos Explorer II.

The crew are varied and all have personalities of their own, I don’t want to express an opinion on individuals as they might read this and that’s not fair. However guests I can talk about, hypothetically.

My first week brought what I feel was an average selection of guests, all with good sturdy personalities that we, as crew, could work with and relate to. One guest was on his own on the trip, but a very experienced diver. An all American guy with a good attitude to life and we got along well. One of the first nights the opportunity for a night dive arose. A young chap from Aus wanted to dive but his mother did not want to go, neither did any of the other guests. Our all American friend opted to be his buddy….. then the young Aussy got scared and so just the American and I dropped in. We had a great dive and it was a running joke for the week that we were sneaking off each night for some “alone” time. It was a great week and the tips said it all.

This week has been a little different, some great guests but some not so easy to relate to. The problem is this is not a dive job but a service industry and its our job to relate to guests, comfort them and serve their needs, be it conversational or dive related. It has been a tough week, and the tips not so good.

I went out with the boys tonight and we vented some concerns about crew and passengers alike, both of which I have mentioned no names.

I got up at 5am this morning and went for the dawn dive, a turtle came and spent some time with us and a shark nearly head butted me in the chest and that’s what makes it all worth it. 

Week One

 

So week one has been quite eventful. We lost an anchor at the start of the week and had to leave before we could find it. Then generator two went down so we had no back up. We headed out for west Caicos and some tough days. Start at 5am, breakfast, followed by diving, snack, dive, lunch, dive, snack, dive, dinner, night dive and so on.

The very first dive I went on we were greeted by a turtle who followed us for the whole dive. Just before the end of the dive two reef sharks decided to come say hi. Lets just say I haven’t done a dive and not seen a shark yet!! The highlight for me was watching two eagle rays with a wing span of about two meters come flying past me on our second to last dive out at French kay, truly a beautiful moment.

We headed back to port this morning where the hunt for the anchor began. A troop of snorkels headed out but no luck. It came to be my turn so I suited up and got into the water. The difference was I got towed around holding a rope from the back of our tender. After an hour in the water I spotted it!! Elated we reported back to the captain, I could tell he was relieved I dread to think what that anchor was worth. He quickly deployed me with a 500lb lift bag and SCUBA. I raised it up and we towed it back to the boat where we hoisted it up to the deck using the ships crane. A triumphant finish to a truly inspired week at sea, and it all starts again in around 5 hours. 

The Begining

So the day began like many others, coffee with the old man and an international flight.

Virgin Atlantic was everything I could of imagined, highly recommended. I had a copy of National Geographic to read on the flight. The first story I read was about K2 which has once again inspired me to take up rock climbing. There's a morbid draw to the "mountaineers mountain" I think ive ignored for too long.

The next was the feature article about the centiarary of the Titanic and what an article it was. As I read the pages and the clouds broke to show we were flying over the north ice fields. I could see real live ice burgs!! I then started to look closer to see if I could spot the MS Balmoral as she makes the same voyage as the great titanic.

It rained in Miami but I didn't miss my connection, all good. Hitch a lift to the hotel with a bunch of people just starting their dive holiday. When I got to the hotel I met Jean, they told me he was a crew member but it turns out he had been the relief captain for the last week. Great guy, lives in L.A, makes wine and his favourite sport is sky diving. He turned down a job offer to run gate crasher and became a captain instead!!

After some amazing food on the beach it was bed time, 3am BST but only 10pm TCI. Woke up feeling fresh this morning, off for breakfast then onto the boat. Quote: "it's not the destination but the journey that's the real adventure".