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 :)