We were looking for dive sites that Lee could get to without too much time away from the baby, and found good reviews for Director’s Bay, just down the road from Tugboat. So we piled our gear and tanks into the car for a five-minute drive down the road from the dinghy dock. And we found ourselves in a parking lot with a bunch of concrete benches that seemed designed for divers setting up their gear. Down a short set of steps, we found at a nice little beach with a dive boat sitting on a mooring.
Entering the water from the beach, we found a wavy wall of coral, heavily strewn with what looked like erosion-preventing reinforcements, and the occasional abandoned fish trap.
As everywhere else we’ve been, there were a ton of chromis, and a scattering of the invasive lionfish.
As we headed south, we found increasingly healthy corals along the wall. On the right, an unlikely grouping of three usually-solitary artichoke corals.
We were cruising along at about 60 feet when Lee spotted a big, ancient stingray skulking along the cliff wall below us. Left, see Jazz trying to descend for a closer look, staring at her watch to check whether she would have enough no-deco time for a closer look. Not a problem we’re used to having, but we’re back on air now that we’re not in Bonaire with its plentiful nitrox any more.
We found a couple of very small filefish. If you look closely, you can see one hiding right under Jazz’s face. (Also note the tiny sharpnose puffer to the left; we see tons of these little guys here.)
Slightly less usual, we ran into a really light-colored angelfish, left, and a porkfish, top right.
Left, a bunch of pederson cleaning shrimp around a corkscrew anemone. Right, a golden crinoid!
As we came back towards shore, we swam around some abandoned pilings.
We were just about to ascend when we spotted these two big scrawled filefish, cruising along just at the edge of the drop-off.
Fascinating! Your camera makes great photos! The colors are so vivid! Enjoy your commentary!