Well I was off traveling again…this time I took Matt and we went to Grand Bahamas Island into the town of Freeport. My friend Cristina works at a dive company over there and I have always wanted to come visit her and she what she does. The dive shop was UNEXSO and its an awesome company. They are really professional over there and run great diving experiences. Matt and I went on a 2 tank dive to the Wreck of the La Rose followed by a shallow reef. What amazed me about this dive was that I saw Nassau Groupers!!! We NEVER see Nassau Groupers in Florida because they are super over-fished in our area. What bummed me out though was the abundant amount of lion fish on the reef. I saw about 10 all within the same area. Lion Fish are an evasive species to the Carribbean…there are lots of stories of how they got here…someone let their fish tank go in the ocean, a hurricane…whatever the story is the bottom line is these fish are a problem. To learn more about the lion fish problem visit REEFs website, they are a group deciated to preserve the marine ecosystems in Florida and the Carribbean.
The next dive trip we went on was the Carribbean Reef Shark dive. This was pretty intense, I have never been that close to sharks feeding before but Matt was there to calm my nerves. Cristina dressed herself up in a chain-metal suit and proceeded to handle the sharks like they were pets…it was crazy. What she does is puts the shark into a trance-like state called tonic immobilty by rubbing the sharks Ampullae of Lorenzini (or what is known as pores on their nose that are connected to a sensory system). The shark is then able to be held and moved around for all to see. I think by giving these divers an up-close look at a shark without “fear” that it will bite will give divers eaze around sharks on their next dive…also hopefully will bring appreciation to all shark species and they will do their part to help us conserve these beautiful creatures. If you are at all interested in learning more about sharks, my friend Brendal is your girl…she gives a PADI presentation on Shark Awareness. Its an awesome class with great information (contact me and I will get you in contact with Brendal).
The next day Cristina treated us to one of her favorite types of diving…Cave and Cavern diving. We went out to Ben’s Cave located in the Lucayan National Park. Ben’s cave contains stalactites and stalagmites (which only can form in air), and the water consists of a freshwater lens floating on underlying sea water. It was a totally different style of diving for me.
by Nikole
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