Maybe I'm amazed

Another grand day out thanks to the lovely boys and girls at Tortuga Divers. Conditions were excellent with only a 4-5 knots ESE at the surface. As usual most people on the boat wanted to see sharks, so we ended up going South again. I think the only way we'll end up going North at this rate is if we swim there!

Can't tell if Miss Leslie is smiling or constipated in this shot.........

We also had an influx of well meaning old divers on the boat. You know the ones that have been diving for 30 years but only dive once a year and and are still stuck in the Lloyd Bridges Sea Hunt era. They were giving me advice on where to store and how to store camera rig on the boat.

Sorry, but you don't even have a camera and when you've used a camera as much as I have on boats around the world, then you can give me advice. Until then please take you're ill informed opinions to the back of the boat and quietly throw them overboard. Thank you.

First stop was the Maze to play with the some sharks and play hide and seek in the cracks, crevices, crinoids and sponges. Only two sharks today, a male and a female and they both kept their distance which is no good if you're shooting wide angle. You make do with what you've got.......

Captain James was also doing his bit for the environment and giving the lionfish a taste of cold British steel. They don't like it up 'em!

Next on the list was Delwyns Delight which normally turns out to be pretty good for macro and in this instance we weren't proved wrong with painted elysia and elsyia crispata everywhere. Jill and Miss Leslie claim they were busy playing with squid and turtles but I don't believe them.........

And a nice little juvenile goldentail moray thrown in for good measure too.

And then you've got these pair who almost see things eye to eye.......

Night Prowler

Once again it was time to slip in to the darkened waters of uncharted territories and find out what adventures would await us beneath in Poseidon's warm embrace. Or in other words we went for a night dive at our favourite little dive site to look for all the fun stuff.

Nope, I still don't know who this lot is...........

As soon as we dropped down, we got a visit from an unexpected visitor. At first I thought it was a goliath grouper due to the size but as it it got closer it had the unmistakable dorsal and pectoral fins of a nurse shark but as soon as we had spotted it, it did a quick U-turn and had cleared off, so no picture this time I'm afraid. Sorry.

Jill, Miss Leslie and Jonatan headed out for the mini wall for a little look see and I was left to scour the hard pan and find the good stuff. As always the gobies and blennies were out in force and more than happy to show their good side to the lens.

And not to be outdone, the crustaceans put on a good show ( some more than others if the star eyed hermit crabs were anything to go by.....) with white speckled hermits, red legged hermits, the infamous star eyed hermits and a selection of clinging crabs. Best case of crabs I've ever had. And I don't say that too often!

No, I have no idea what they are up to. Go and ask your parents.......

Did someone order octopuses because there was a lot of them around in all sizes from tiny to bloody huge which was a feat to try and keep it in the frame. They were certainly active tonight.

No yellow spotted rays tonight which was a little surprising but the peacock flounders were their usual happy self. I love these things, they have the emotional range of Victor Meldrew on weed

 Last but not least were my personal favourites, the nudis and flatworms. Unfortunately the flatworms I found were at the 1m mark and the surge was pretty ferocious so I didn't get the shots I want. But still, nudis!!

If ever you want a great shore dive and and even better night dive, Lighthouse Point is definitely the cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned. It's got something for everyone and we'll keep coming here till I get old (older), grey and my fins drop off.