Reflections of my life

Some wild winter weather we've been having on the rock the last week or two with high winds coming in from every direction so we headed East once more to escape the sea soaked shores were it was still overcast with 16 knots gusting up to 26 at times but it still couldn't dampen our ardour.

It was a relatively small boat today and Captain Nige, Captain in training Sarah and not Captain Caitlin were in fine form although they were wrapped up against the elements. Anyone would thing it was cold or something.....

Unfortunately North was out and it was a first stop at High Rock Drop Off where there has been alleged sighting of hammerheads, but it wasn't to be today, still it wasn't a bad little dive as wall dives go with some nice sponge and coral formations inhabited by a cornucopia of large shoals.

There was a reasonably stiff current which made some shot a little awkward but what you doing to do? You just get your fins down and get on with it. The snappers loved it though and they could resist regularly cruising over our heads and up from beneath us to prove a point.

The added bonus of a current also made things a bit of pain for some shot setups I had to do for an upcoming magazine safety feature. Caitlin was very kind enough to assist in buddying up with Jill for additional modelling duties. Thanks Caitlin!

Once back aboard, it was apparent that some people just weren't made for the "cold" (ha) weather so Captain Nige broke open the deck plate for everyone to warm their delicate tootsies and other parts of their anatomies on the still warm engine block. I swear if people had packed them, they would be getting into drysuits...... break out the marshmallows whilst your there.

After a brief warming and a brief briefing, Kelly's Caverns were next on the agenda. With some nice shoals of sweetlips and grunts to cruise through as we wormed our way in and out of the cuts, there was some nice macro stuff to find, mind you there's always nice macro stuff to find if you look hard enough with some lovely gobies, blennies and hermit crabs.

There was also a flatworm bombing across the reef at high speeds. I couldn't identify it in any of my books and it has been suggested it may be some sort of bi coloured flatworm. If anyone else out there knows any better, I'm open to any suggestions.

And with that we leave you with the final shot of the day. SMILE!!!!

Fisherman's blues

And once more unto the breach with a visit to the East End which has been lacking for the last couple of months due to the holiday season and being very busy.

Conditions were excellent today, with a 4-5 knots SSE and pretty decent vis. I got outvoted at this point as I wanted something scenic but everyone else wanted sharks, so that was that. Tanja and Jonatan were able to get some time off to join us and JB was there as well to cause general chaos and mayhem.

Captain James whisked us off to the Maze first off and it didn't take long before we had a male and female reef shark join us. One curious thing I noticed was some writing on a secondary buoy on the mooring pin. I have no idea what it could mean.......

Scenery wise it was ok, but wasn't particularly abundant for the stuff that would make some awesome jaw dropping stuff and all that jazz.

There was also some lionfish hanging around which were swiftly dispatched by Captain James and his spear of maleficence.

We headed North a little ways to check out Black Rock reef for dive number two and we found some lovely little elysia crispata, blennies, gobies and wrasse.

After a brief pit stop at 19 metres, I found a lovely little little gaudy clown crab. I love the colours on these as they are very striking and really stand out against the back drop of the reef.

Not bad for the first boat dive of 2016, with many more to come. Still getting there with the new camera but getting a little better all the time.

Garden Party

Another visitor, another trip to the botanical gardens. I love going here, just to have some peace and quiet, just me and my camera having a play around...........

Welcome to the cruel world

Link: HERE

Have you heard that the Cayman Turtle Farm is the last farm that breeds sea turtles for human consumption? As if that wasn't bad enough, the farm encourages visitors to handle the turt les, which causes considerable stress and mental anguish.

No wonder University of Oxford researchers named the farm as one of the world's cruelest tourist attractions. And it operates on taxpayers' dollars -- about 10 million a year.

I just signed a Care2 petition to demand that the Cayman Turtle Farm stop slaughtering and encouraging visitors to handle their turtles. Will you join me? Click here to learn more and sign your name too!