Turtles, whales and dolphins
February/23/2008
Another
stellar day for diving. Accompanied by Salvador,
Anna, Alfredo and
Peter from Chicago, we set out for the north end of Carmen Island just after
8:30 am. The water was like glass, the sun reflected its surface with a
brilliant piece of weather. We spotted nothing for 20-minutes and then a blue
whale appeared a mile to the north, its enormous fin a give-away even at that
distance. Ramon Mandilon gunned the engine and tried to get us beside, but the
whale wasn’t interested.
Continuing on, Ramon brought us into a secluded cove surrounded by basalt and
cactus. This time, a dozen bottlenose appeared and Rafa wanted to follow.
Dolphin expert that I am, I predicted that they werent interested in playing
and 10-minutes later, I was proven correct. We could all see how much krill
and nutrients were in the sea that morning and we just couldn’t compete.
I was the first diver down. The equalization of my ears was better. The boys
threw me a buoy and dragged me to the anchor line to counter the strong
current. The water was 63-degrees but clear with a visibility of about 40-
feet. Once down, we separated into two groups, Salvador, Anna and the camera
in one and the rest in another. Fish were sparse but we were rewarded
instantly with the appearance of a greenback turtle that I tried to follow.
This guy’s performance is the antithesis of that on land. Ran into a school of
Cortez angels and barberfish before nearly stumbling on a giant stingray that
had buried itself in the sea floor. With a shutter, it sensed our presence and
shaking the sand from its body, with beautiful wing undulations, lumbered up
and sped away. We spent the remainder of the 46-minute dive combing the coral
rock, trying to coax damselfish, wraisses, goatfish and king Angels out of
their hiding places.
As we navigated to our second dive spot, we caught up to a battalion of
long-nose dolphins, at least 200 of them according to Rafa. The water was a
cauldron of energy as Salvador with his HDV camera and I slipped into the
water among their midst with anticipation of close encounters. But before we
had completely submerged, the dolphins blew us off, immediately changing
course and leaving us in their wake. Happily, we could hear their squeals and
whistles under the water, contenting ourselves with those few intimate
moments.
Our second dive followed a more open coast populated by pinnacles that
attracted schooling fish. The current was slack, making descent uneventful. As
soon as we had all descended, we were treated by an appearance of more
dolphins about 50-ft away, barely visible but audible. Will the taunting never
end? I spent most of the time microdiving with my eye glued to the magnifying
glass. Little nudibranches, starfish spores, coral polyps. The boys came
across a juvenile moray eel that they persuaded to leave its lair. I was
shaking my rattle to get the camera’s attention to film a large balloonfish
shyly laying back in its cave. I found some wraisse I had never previously
encountered and still can’t identify. I was left to my own devices as everyone
ascended ahead of me because of the cold water. I stuck around examining coral
until, with 800 psi left, I too surrendered and left.
Peter from Chicago, we set out for the north end of Carmen Island just after
8:30 am. The water was like glass, the sun reflected its surface with a
brilliant piece of weather. We spotted nothing for 20-minutes and then a blue
whale appeared a mile to the north, its enormous fin a give-away even at that
distance. Ramon Mandilon gunned the engine and tried to get us beside, but the
whale wasn’t interested.
Continuing on, Ramon brought us into a secluded cove surrounded by basalt and
cactus. This time, a dozen bottlenose appeared and Rafa wanted to follow.
Dolphin expert that I am, I predicted that they werent interested in playing
and 10-minutes later, I was proven correct. We could all see how much krill
and nutrients were in the sea that morning and we just couldn’t compete.
I was the first diver down. The equalization of my ears was better. The boys
threw me a buoy and dragged me to the anchor line to counter the strong
current. The water was 63-degrees but clear with a visibility of about 40-
feet. Once down, we separated into two groups, Salvador, Anna and the camera
in one and the rest in another. Fish were sparse but we were rewarded
instantly with the appearance of a greenback turtle that I tried to follow.
This guy’s performance is the antithesis of that on land. Ran into a school of
Cortez angels and barberfish before nearly stumbling on a giant stingray that
had buried itself in the sea floor. With a shutter, it sensed our presence and
shaking the sand from its body, with beautiful wing undulations, lumbered up
and sped away. We spent the remainder of the 46-minute dive combing the coral
rock, trying to coax damselfish, wraisses, goatfish and king Angels out of
their hiding places.
As we navigated to our second dive spot, we caught up to a battalion of
long-nose dolphins, at least 200 of them according to Rafa. The water was a
cauldron of energy as Salvador with his HDV camera and I slipped into the
water among their midst with anticipation of close encounters. But before we
had completely submerged, the dolphins blew us off, immediately changing
course and leaving us in their wake. Happily, we could hear their squeals and
whistles under the water, contenting ourselves with those few intimate
moments.
Our second dive followed a more open coast populated by pinnacles that
attracted schooling fish. The current was slack, making descent uneventful. As
soon as we had all descended, we were treated by an appearance of more
dolphins about 50-ft away, barely visible but audible. Will the taunting never
end? I spent most of the time microdiving with my eye glued to the magnifying
glass. Little nudibranches, starfish spores, coral polyps. The boys came
across a juvenile moray eel that they persuaded to leave its lair. I was
shaking my rattle to get the camera’s attention to film a large balloonfish
shyly laying back in its cave. I found some wraisse I had never previously
encountered and still can’t identify. I was left to my own devices as everyone
ascended ahead of me because of the cold water. I stuck around examining coral
until, with 800 psi left, I too surrendered and left.