The Whales Of The Silver Bank

Well its all change here on the boat as we find ourselves down on the silver banks just off the coast of the Dominican Republic (The DR). Its whale watching season and the long and short of it is that we are now a floating hotel. We leave the port of Pourta Plata each Friday night and make the long transit out to a large coral platau off the coast called The Silver Banks, which is where we tie up for the week. There we stay for five days of whale watching and its not hard to spot them as there is anything from five to seven thousand humpback whales here over the season!! This first week has been an interesting one as I have once again found myself in the kitchen cooking. It has been fun and yet again I just need to look up through the window and I am blessed with a consistent flow of whales fighting for supremacy or mothers looking after their new born. It is incredible to be out here amongst these creatures. I did not get to get in the water with them this week but we are here for eleven weeks now so there will be plenty of time. As I said before there is also three weeks off to think about in-between too. When we arrived in the DR last week I was taken back to when we arrived here in 2010 on the cruise ship. It is an incredible country with rolling hills covered in growth. The streets have almost a Cuban / South American vibe to them and the rules of the road are similar to Thailand or India (crazy free for all). I look forward to spending some time exploring but for now its turn the boat over and head back to the banks!!

I wrote the previous entry a while ago and have not had chance to post it. In other news I had the most incredible dive a few days back. I entered the water, alone, with the task of checking the mooring to ensure the bolts were tight and we would not float away at any moment, that sort of thing. When I got underwater I could hear a whale singing, it was close and it was making the most incredible bass sounds that shook my chest but the visibility was terrible so there was no chance of me seeing them. I headed towards the coral head the mooring was attached to and still the singing continued so I just swam around above the coral head looking to see if there was a whale nearby. As I glanced back over my shoulder a huge male humpback was swimming straight past me, as my jaw dropped I kicked a little closer, he was having non of it and with two effortless kicks of his tail he was out of sight. What a blessing, very few people in the world have been in the water with humpbacks and even less have been on SCUBA. I was grinning from ear to ear but I still had one more task for the dive and that was to find some lost sunglasses. I began search patterns near the back of the boat and was not having much luck, I did however find an old dive compass which had been there so long it had coral growing on it. A spotted moray eel came to check me out and I found the most beautiful blue sea anemone. As I looked down to see how much air I had I was shocked to see I had 10bar!! And I was still at 25 meters (for those non divers that’s not a great deal of air and rather deep to have no air). I calmly started my ascent and kept my eyes to the ground still in search of the glasses. At about my halfway mark I looked down and saw what looked to be sunglasses. I looked again at my air and it was now reading pretty much zero. I decided….what the hell I’ll go for it and I swam back down and collected what I saw. It was indeed a pair of glasses, not the ones I was looking for but some a previous guest had lost almost a month ago. I wont bore you with the details but I made it back onboard the boat and what an amazing dive it was.

I am now on Vacation/holiday in a small town called Caberete in the DR and needless to say it is EPIC. Surfing in the morning, kite surf the afternoon and then the party kicks off on the beach around 10. All good so far and I’ll try and post a little more now I have internet!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwjCRFHx4Og&feature=youtu.be

The Holiday Season

Yet again it has been a long time since I have entered the realm of blogging and there has been a fair amount going on. Talking of the holiday season, I made the mistake of categorising some of my stock photos with the word ‘Holiday’ and being an American site they were instantly rejected for not having anything to do with Christmas!!

I was back in the UK for a couple of weeks and it was incredible to say the least. It was however very cold and I can safely say I am completely acclimatised to the Caribbean now. My parents threw a Christmas day, not on the actual day, and the whole family was there which was quite a feat in itself. My best bro had an epic surprise party, which went without a hitch a managed to quell my need for good music and beer.

My photography is really starting to pick up now and is gaining momentum as we speak. One of the windows open on my desktop is of my new website, under construction, and the other is some shots I have been editing from yesterdays diving so I think I can say I am hitting it hard. Just before my return to the Caribbean I submitted my first article that will be published in Under Water Photography magazine, obviously I will be shouting about it closer to the release date of Jan/Feb. I had my first ever placement in a photography competition. I was placed third in the Stoney Cove monthly event, first and second were both incredible photos so I was happy. The prize arrived in the post the other day, lets just say it may take longer to pay for my camera than I first thought!

I am trying to up my game by the week and I am trying to enter some prestigious competitions with the hope that I wont just make myself feel bad for not winning. There are three weeks before we shut shop in the Turks & Caicos and head for the Dominican Republic. There we will stay through to April, taking a full boat of guests, every week, to snorkel with humpback whales on the Silver Banks (Google maps). This will all be broken up for me by a three week holiday/vacation during which I will be Kite surfing for fourteen days and doing a ten day course in Miami towards my big boat Captains ticket…. And taking lots of photographs:

Nikon D600 in Hugyfot  InonZ240 strobes. Shutter 1/60 f20 iso 400 Tokina 16mm

Rain Drops And Palm Trees

 

The Bahamas, it always conjures up images of clean blue skies, warn sun with a gentle breeze, crystal white sands with turquoise blue waters lapping at its edge and lazy palm trees leaning out to sea.  I’m sure that if you took a flight to the northern Bahamas in the summer time then this is exactly what you would find. Right here, right now in the southern most islands of the Bahamas it’s a very different story. We set sail from Caicos Marina, Turks & Caicos, on Saturday evening with eight guests and six crew bound for Mayaguana the next morning. The itinerary would see us stop at this southern most island of the Bahamas first and then follow on to Plana Cay, Samana Cay, San Salvador, Conception, Long Island and dock in George Town, Great Exuma to complete our trip.

We arrived the next day after driving through the night, the crew taking turns to watch the bridge, dropped the anchors and we were diving!! The day drew on and the diving was good and the weather was calm. The weather report for the next few days told a different story and so a decision had to be made. The fourth dive was complete and over dinner the captain announced that the weather was closing in and we would have to drive through the night to reach the relative protection of San Salvador (they claim that this is where Christopher Columbus first hit land, so do the residence of Grand Turk and so the argument continues).

We once again took it in turns to sacrifice sleep and we powered on into the night bound for San Sal and running from the weather. We awoke the next morning to 20 knot winds and sideways rain but we could see land. After finding somewhere to hide we hit the water and the diving was good. We stayed here for the next few days and the wind started to calm but the rain continued to fall with some glimpses of sun. We have had great guests this week and they have been totally understanding of the situation.

We arrived at Conception Island yesterday morning and the weather finally broke. We had some beautiful dives and a Hammer Head shark showed its face, which really makes the trip for us. I jumped in to guide the first dive at 6am this morning and the sun did not show its face before we surfaced in time for breakfast. As I was diving along the wall, hovering in darkness over the abyss with panicking phosphorescence exploding like fireworks before us, I remember that I really enjoy the Bahamas for its epic topography and stunning visibility. This trip has been different from previous trips and the main reason is that we are all relatively rested, which makes everything else seem that little bit more enjoyable.

Its Been A While

 

Well its been a long time since I last wrote on here and I think that it is probably due to the fact that my previous entry was going to be hard to beat. After an accumulation of a few months I think I have enough tales to suffice an entry worth reading.

In August I flew back to the UK for my sisters wedding with the mission of being the official photographer for the event. I some how managed to turn the event in to a well-timed mission, with no margin for error.

I woke early on the Saturday morning to see off that weeks guests and to finish my packing. My flight was going to leave around 2pm so I headed to the airport just after lunch and made my goodbyes. I checked in without drama and in no time I was on my way to Miami, on schedule so far. The usual pain of getting through customs was there to greet me when I arrived but I am getting well trained at being patient with the American imigration system, even if it drives me insane, I smile and do as I told.

I hailed a Yellow Cab and ask the driver to take me to Electric Avenue, a very popular electrical store and there I would find my new DSLR camera that I had pre-ordered over the net to save time. The guys in the shop were fantastic and they had obviously been working there for may years. Some conversation was had and we soon got on to the fact that I was on an important mission with little time to spare. With great intrigue they listened to my itinerary and were all amazed that such a feat would even be considered. Walter, one of the three gentlemen, was most interested in my background in underwater photography and gave me a business card to contact him. He has invited me to give a presentation on my pictures at a meeting of his photography club in December.

I left the shop with my new camera and jump into the yellow cab, that was patiently waiting, and headed back to the airport (just as a side note here, I have been wanting to buy this camera for over 6 years and I am over the moon with it!!). I checked in and got some food then found a charging station to get some juice in the camera as there would be no time when I landed. With a couple of hours to kill I got settled in to the operations manual. The reading continued into the night and I tried to get some sleep as we flew over the Atlantic and into London. An overcast Sunday morning was there to greet me when I arrived at Heathrow, forty minutes ahead of schedule!!

I jumped in my hire car and headed off to the midlands. I arrived at the country manner that my sisters wedding would be held and there waiting was my good friend Madeline, her camper van and my pressed suit and shoes to get changed into. There was just enough time for us to stroll to the venue and a quick briefing from the master of ceremonies. Quick hellos to everyone present and it was off to work, all standing. The first glimpse of my sister and my father was of them both heading up the isle. A cheeky grin from my dad let me know he was pleased to see that my journey had gone to plan.

I had great weather for my holiday in England and managed to cram a lot in to my two weeks, but its never enough and back to the Caribbean I went. I had managed to pick up the new addition of an underwater housing for my camera, again something I had dreamed about for many years. Upon my return, after reclaiming my lost baggage that had my new housing in, things got back to the same routine. Guests have come and gone and I continue to practice my underwater photography. Our current captain will be leaving us this week, after five years with the company, and our relief captain will take us to the Bahamas for three weeks. I am learning a lot on this boat and I hope to learn a lot more. Soon it will be time to holiday in the UK again and then early next year we head to the Dominican Republic for the Humpback Whale watching trips. Hopefully I wont leave it so long to write here again. If you want to catch up on some of my new photographs head over to my flikr page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonjameshigton/

Running Away From Chantal

 
Well you really wont believe what happened this week!! You just couldn’t write it…. So I’m just going to type it instead!

It all started well, the guests got on board no problem, they got settled in and sat down to enjoy dinner before we set sail for the week. Once all the dishes were done and the tide was high we set out to leave the dock. We made it to the entrance of the dock and ran aground on shallow rocks. There we stayed as we battled to get free. As I started up the dingy to go and push on the starboard side I had an over whelming feeling that this was a higher power telling us not to leave the dock this week but I ignored it and we wriggled the boat free. We set anchor and I got kitted up and did a dive under the boat to establish a rough damage report. The stabilizer fin was badly damaged and the props had some small dents. After reviewing my photographs the Captain decided it was safe to continue and off we went.

The next couple of days went very well, the diving was good and the guests were having fun and getting involved in some heavy banter. One guest however was having some stomach cramps and had decided to sit out a days diving. No sooner had we got into the flow the bad news started rolling in. A storm cell was forming in the southern Caribbean and it had earned itself the name “Chantal”. After some careful monitoring we had no alternative than to run and hide in the safety of our marina. We joined up with the Aggressor ( the other live aboard here in TCI) and tied down the boats for the night. Before closing up shop Martin and I kitted up and took a dive under the boat to remove the damaged fin so we could leave it at the ship yard for repair.

The storm came and went. When it finally hit us it had burnt itself out and was only classified as a “tropical wave”, nothing too dramatic.

Once again we set sail for a final days diving before the week was out. We managed three good dives and settled down for some dinner before the night dive. After dinner one of the guest went to talk with the captain in the wheelhouse. His stomach cramps had concerned him and he had called the dive medical association DAN. They had advised that he stop diving and monitor for DCS ( the bends). He had taken their advice and took a day off diving. After feeling fine he had joined us for the three dives on the final day. When surfacing from the final dive he was complaining of a pain in his shoulder, a classic symptom of DCS ( Decompression Sickness). With a call to the local recompression chamber on the island and contact once again with DAN its was confirmed that the boat must return to port immediately to allow a full medical assessment. We set sail to Sofadilla bay where we would anchor and tendor the patient in. All went well and upon arrival at the doctors it was confirmed he had a case of the bends and would be kept in for treatment over night so we all retired to bed, still on anchor. At around 2am a very loud bang and the sound of loose chain could be heard throughout the boat, what more could possibly go wrong!!!

I headed to the bow to investigate and found the engineer and the captain starring at the anchor windlass. It turned out it had given way and around an extra 150ft of chain had broken loose. After about two hours of boring stuff I cant be bothered to explain we had retrieved most of the chain but we had not enough power to lift the 500lb anchor from the ocean floor. Cue another dive by me at 3am with the biggest lift bag you ever did see. In zero visibility, at 3am in the morning, I found myself being dragged along the ocean floor, wrestling with an anchor and trying to hold on to the lift bag so I didn’t drift off into zero viz water. The anchor was raised to the surface and we winched it tight and secured it to the deck. Finally we got to bed a 4am…then we had to get up at 5am to take the guests diving!!!

So I write this here, now, sailing home to port with no additional problems. Fingers crossed we get tied up and I get my beer at 5pm!!! I am sure this will go down as the most interesting week to date and it turns out that Chantal was the least of our worries.

Engine Problems

 

Ive grown up around canal boats and they are truly a part of me. I worked for my fathers company for over a year and I learnt how to weld a boat together, fabricate steel, hot rivet plates the same way its been done for hundreds of years. The one thing that I never really learned about was the mechanics of a diesel engine, but that’s changed a little now.

A few weeks ago we were in the Bahamas and one of our engines blew a piston. Its not a simple case of calling the AA and hoping for the best, we have a resident mechanic but he cant work alone when it comes to rebuilding an engine. I took my turn in helping to rebuild the engine and I learned fast. The engine was put back together and we made the next weeks charter without a hitch. Unfortunately I now know what constitutes rebuilding one of our engines, lets just hope it doesn’t happen again soon.

Well its been a while since I last wrote this and I suppose I’ve been busy. We got back from the Bahamas, which is a good thing. Don’t get me wrong they are beautiful islands but it means more work on our part, longer hours and the pay is always low. Meaning we have a tired cranky crew, damaged boat and no money to show for it.

Anyway we arrived back in the TCI and got back to normal duty, not to mention I only worked one week and then off to Miami!!

Leaving the routine of the boat behind its such a relief and Miami is only a small hop away so a 6am flight got me in at 10:30am. I hired a car for the week, a brand new Chevy Malibu with 8 miles on the clock!! I cruised up the main street of south beach, the scene of so many films, surrounded by super cars and palm trees. I found my hotel and checked in for the week then walked to the strip for a check of the bars and a few beers. After finding The Clevlander (look it up on the web) with house music, a pool and cold beers I got settled in for the night.

That was pretty much it for the week – coffee, beach and skateboarding during the day. Miami heats basketball on the big screen, beers and pool parties by night. Needless to say I had a good time, love Miami, want to go back and felt refreshed and ready to work again at the end of the week.

So I am back on TCI again and getting settled back into the routine, cant complain for now. Week one nearly done and only eight more weeks then I’m bound for the UK shores for the sisters wedding and some great days spent with friends, good times.

Cleaning dishes and swimming with dolphin

Just a quick note about my office: The other week I was washing dishes as the guests were eating breakfast, just like any other morning. We spotted a pod of about twenty dolphins heading towards the boat. Martin and I ran out and grabbed fins and mask and jumped in. We swam with the pod, diving and playing for about half an hour. We jumped out, dried off and returned to the galley to continue with the dishes. I had to smile and wonder how many times I will ever run out of my place of work to swim with dolphins, good times.

Last week saw us head up to the southern most island of the Bahamas, Mayaguana, for a chartered trip to research and cull Lion Fish with the charity R.E.E.F. Lion fish are not native to these areas and are accused of devastating the reef populations in this part of the world. The charity is led by Lad Aikins and supported by one of SCUBA Diving’s all time legends Peter Hughes, both on board for the week and a honour to dive with them. It was an interesting week and a tough week with over night transits and bounce dives to set moorings. One thing that always gets me about trips like this is that we get to dive sites that may have never been seen by another human being. That really excites me, true exploration of new reefs, seeing formations no other person has ever seen. We had a great week and some great people on board.

The Bahamas is always tough because we have to be up early to move the boat, dive more to set buoys to tie into and take turns to drive the boat on long transits. Last week was a taste of more to come, we returned to TCI to restock and refuel and we are now on route to George Town, Exuma. We will spend the week covering a new Island every day, some of which are uninhabited, then spend three weeks diving the beautiful southern Bahamas. Its hammerhead season and its going to be good, tough work, long hours but rewarding.

www.REEF.org

May 25^th – Leave Turks & Caicos - Ropes off around midnight and set a course for Mayaguana. Im on watch for two hours during the night.

May 26^th – A day diving in Mayaguana, still not that great a place to dive, ropes off early morning.

May 27^th – Plana Kay, A beautiful deserted Island with crisp white shores and palm trees J

May 28^th – Samana Kay, deserted but diving not impressive.

May 29^th – San Salvador, always amazing diving and hammer head sharks!!!

May 30^th – Conception Island, a beautiful place to dive, deserted and a hot spot for luxury yachts to get away from it all.

May 31^st – Long Island, Bahamas - Early morning dive on the Cumberback, a 40ft island freighter then 3 hours before docking in george Town, Great Exuma.

Technically eight islands in one week, Bahamas will be home for the next couple of weeks and then we do it all in reverse.

Im not into the whole self portrait thing but I swam over to Plana Cay, A deserted island in the southern Bahamas, I was the only person on the island at the time so I had to get some evidence

Adventurous Blood

When I was younger I had an ever-lasting desire to go out and explore the fields and forests behind my house. It always looked like it went on for an eternity when in reality it was only ever a couple of miles or so. I would set out on what I would call “an adventure” with my friend Dan. Hours would fly by with the discovery of pathways through trees and the discovery of the perimeter fence of the cement factory at the far end of the field. I would proudly march home with a real sense of discovery and achievement, only to be greeted by a concerned parent and a cold cup of tea.

My dad spent many happy years travelling and exploring the waterways of Britain aboard The Alice May. He would do weekly trips for people and turn the boat round every week, much the same as what I do now. It all has an air of inevitability about it, a desire to discover the unknown and explore new territories.

I suppose that hunger for discovery has never left me, im always itching for the next perimeter fence. The main difference being that I have a Boeing 747 at my disposal now so the options are endless. Im dedicated to travelling a lot this coming year, not just in my work, but when I take holidays. I have some big plans for the next 12 months and there is potential for a new dive project to really take off next year, but that’s next year and im still finding some paths in the forest for now.

“They say that every adventurer suffers from the conviction that he was born too late” – Ed Viesturs

 

West Caicos:

The Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) are made up of a number of different Islands and Cay’s. We visit just a few on our weekly itinerary. West Caicos is a deserted island with only an empty, semi built resort to show for human interaction. In the middle lays a large fresh water lake and we moor on the west coast of this Island to dive the edge of the Caicos Bank. The Diving is breath taking and I had never actually set foot on the island before last week.

During my one hour break I grabbed my mask and swam over to the rugged edges of the island. I hit land at what is known to the charts and locals as “Boat Cut”. This is a small lagoon of turquoise water about 10 foot deep with a slopping bank on one side where I climbed ashore. I walked around for a few minutes and then couldn’t help but jump off the cliffs into the blue. It was great to set foot on deserted land and great just to be off the boat for a while.

The following week I did the same and Martin came along, one of the other instructors. We took the GoPro along and got some shots, which will eventually make it on here when I ever get time and a good internet connection.

We have a pod of Dolphins that are starting to regularly visit us, I will try and video them if I get a chance. The water temperature is increasing which is always good.

 The GoPro is starting to get used a lot now so I have lots of video footage but no time to upload it. All is well, I cant believe its been a month already, good times.

 

April 12 2013-04-11

There’s always something exciting about getting on a plane with a one-way ticket. The excitement comes from the fear of the unknown, the chance of adventure, discovery and exploration of new characters and experiences.

When I got up in the morning of April 12^th 2013 I ran through what has become a bit of a routine for me. Head fuzzy from the leaving drinks the night before as I lumber my over sized baggage into the back of my dad’s car. I turn to my mum and give her a long hug while we both stay strong and hold back the tears, knowing that voice will be our only interaction for the coming months. After talking through last minute logistics down the M1 we arrive at the Heathrow, check in with a playful smile to the lady at the desk so she over looks my extra kilo’s then settle into a final coffee with the old chap. Once again the holding of tears keeps us both strong and im released through security.

I have a new travel rule – DO NOT transit through Miami airport, it sucks and I always seem to blank it from my memory. After nearly missing my flight due to government budget cuts im on the final leg. All that remains now is to sneak under the customs radar of The Turks & Caicos and I’ve made it.

I awake the next morning in the hotel room after a few Gin & Juices with the new purser the night before. We leave it til the last possible moment and head over to the boat to begin week one. When we get on board it’s like I never left except there’s a few changes to the crew. A crew really makes a boat what it is and I really thinks its going to be a good year. The fact that I am only sitting down to write this in week two is a testament to how much more I am enjoying this year than last.

I have a new vision this year and a fresh focus as to why I am here, a plan some might say but it really is in the roughest and flexible sense. But as im sure you already know, that’s just how I live my life.

The diving is as amazing as the year before and im sure there will be plenty of adventure and tales to recount. Life has many cross roads, all of them with positives and negatives, trying to quantify every detail is impossible, some times you just have to take that leap of faith, enjoy the positives and learn from the negatives.

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".