Mainly we do shore dives. But today, The Bumblebees, Martin, Stephanie, David and I ventured out early to dive at Eastpoint. Those who know where we live, also know you can't get any farther from Westpoint.
We went with Neils and Dive Charter Curacao Curacao Scuba Diving - Dive Charter Curacao the best boat dive adventure in the Caribbean. No, not off a helicopter. The seas have been rough but had calmed down enough that we thought we could make it around the tip of the island but it wasn't to be today. But that's all right.
Our first dive was quite near the large lagoon near the end of the island. Neils says it is not a marked site but from what I can tell it was somewhere between NoWay and Basora in Jackson's book. What a spectacular dive! The reef was a sloping, not quite a wall dive with some steeper sections. The coral was the healthiest I've ever seen. Not like the the massive formations at Watamula but instead a huge variety; Staghorn, elkhorn, huge pillar, brain and even some black coral. There were tremendous sea fans and soft coral mixed in as well. And fish! We must have seen dozens of trigger fish and schools of different colored fish. I saw a few I had never seen before. Gotta spend some time with our fish ID book later. Our surface interval was in the lagoon snorkeling with giant starfish. And then back out to rock and roll on the seas.
Our second dive was near Awa Blanku, again not on the dive maps but near Black Rock in Jackson's book. While not as spectacular a site, it was still quite impressive. We saw 5 fairly large Moray Eels, one out sunning itself on the sand.
Wait!
That was on the first dive. On our second we saw.....



Wait for it....
On second thought; Stan close this thread.... sorry you couldn't join us.
We saw a....



A Manta Ray!!!!
It wasn't as big as the 2 we saw a couple of months ago in the bay but there it was just cruising along a little below us. The poor thing had some line wrapped around it. I tried to dive down to intercept it, yeah and do what? but it was so fluid and graceful that it just glided beneath me. Neils said it was the second one they saw this week.

Oh, we saw 4 good size nurse sharks sleeping off whatever nurse sharks do when they party hard, but a Manta Ray? Hooray!

Dive Charter has a zodiac boat with pontoons. There was Neils driving and not getting to dive, another sorrrryyy, 2 dive masters and the 6 of us. We are all very good on air and the first dive was on average 40 feet. After 70 minutes most of us came up with 12 or 1300 PSI. It's an experience getting back into the boat and I don't think the Navy Seals will be calling on me anytime soon. Big boats with metal ladders in high seas kinda scare me so this was much less stressful. Stan, you're still reading aren't you! It was a bit bouncy on the way out so unless the seas are calmer, I would think that any boat might aggravate your back. But you would have loved the dive! We had a good current on the second dive and swimming to and around the boat might not be for anxious or inexperienced divers. For the rest of you however.....

So there you have it. A long trip report from someone who lives on the island and still finds new and exciting dives after 1 1/2 years. David and I are at home, the other 4 are out on a night dive at Alice In Wonderland.

Best fishes, Sunshine