Dive the French Side - St Martin

After another day of relaxing and seenig the sites back in St Maarten, we found out late Monday afternoon that OE was scrubbing their trips on Wednesday because of weather - the wind had shifted to the east and surf had picked up making the south end a mess. Very bummed to think our diving was done, but Maureen suggested calling around the French side and a quick call to Octopus connected me with Sally and voila, our 4th dive day was saved by the crew at Octopus.  Enthusiastic, we headed to Grande Case first thing Tuesday morning, squared things with Sally and then met Sean, who would be our DM for the morning, and we were quickly off.

As we neared our first dive site, Creole Rock, Sean briefed us on the setup. We would drop in together, meet at the bow, and descend into a drift dive from the east end of the formation, make our way past the seaward side and then around the back into a more protected, shallow "cove" where we would meet the boat. Drifting between 20' and 30' while maneuvering around and over the boulders and scree, this was an easy dive with plenty of fish life, though visibility hovered around 30' and provided Sean some extra work as he stopped periodicaly to collect us (well, mostly me as I often dropped back for some picture opportunities). Notable fish included white spotted and orange spotted filefish, queen and french angels, porcupine puffer, hogfish, boxfish, trumpet, and queen angel along with the wrasses, parrots, damsels, banded shrimp, a flounder and juvenile cubbyu (closely resembling juvenile spotted drum but with a different stripe pattern). An hour dive with a max depth of 34', this was a very enjoyable dive and I can only imagine how nice this would be with better viz.

After a 38 minute SI, we were geared up and ready for our 2nd dive, this one at the French side's Turtle Reef. After a visit to a few artificial sites with stacked concrete blocks filled with squirrelfish, a moray, juvenile cubbyu and several large lionfish, we headed across the sand and grass beds towards the reef. Reaching the reef, we had a brief dance with hawksbill turtle. We then cruised along the reef with grunts, yellowtail snapper, wrasse, boxfish, parrots, and more. We finished the dive back on the artifical mini-reefs before heading up to the waiting boat. This was another very nice site which would have been even nicer with a bit better viz. After an hour and a max depth of 29', the time had come to begin heading back to Grande Case and begin packing up from our last dive of this trip.

All in all I was very happy with the dives and with Octopus. If I had one critique it would be to tell Sean to relax a bit. While I certainly don't mind an occasional "air check" request, these were a little more than necessary, particularly for this depth and experienced divers.

7 great days, 4 great days of diving, awesome food, beautiful scenery, friendly people.  Would have loved to stay a few more days - about the highest compliment I can give to anywhere.  We'll definitely visit again.

Diving Saba

After two days of diving St Maarten, we decided to take a day to explore a bit of the island and spend some time at the beach.  A short ride from Simpson Bay brought us to the "amicable divide", separating the Dutch and French sides of St Martin, and into the town of Marigot on the French side.  Narrow roads, lots of traffic, and roundabouts make navigating an adventure - patience pays dividends - better not to be in a hurry here.  From Marigot we headed out towards the Northwest point and settled down at Raymond's, a beach bar with an awesome view.  This is a great place to have a few beers, grab a bite, and relax to the sound of the waves gently breaking on the beach.

For sunset, we headed back around the northwest point, with a brief detour to Maho beach to experience the thrill of large jet aircraft passing just feet over your head or the sand blasting received as the engines rev up at departure. 

Past the airport on the south side is Karakter's, a beach bar on Simpson Bay on a narrow strip of land between the airport and the water.  The late afternoon crowd was lively and included talent from some of the local adult establishments.  With planes taking off behind you and the water and sunset in front, this is a must visit spot.

Excitement and anticipation reigned Sunday morning as we awoke early and prepared for our trip to Saba for a couple of dives with Saba Deep.  Catching the ferry (Edge II) about 9, we made the adventurous hour and 15 minute trip over as the seas started to build from the east. We were met by one of our dive guides, Mike, who transported our gear from the ferry dock to the dive boat, while we walked up to the shop. After a few introductions and some paperwork, including get our lunch order submitted to the restaurant above the shop, we walked down to the boat. Our gear had been set up, so after double checking everything, off we went. After a thorough boat/safety briefing and general "good diver behavior" sermon, we headed out. Given the ferry time over, we were joining for their 2nd and 3rd dives of the day.

The first dive site, Tent Reef, was spectacular. We got a site briefing on our ride out and were in our wetsuits ready to gear up and drop in when we hit the site. We had a bit of current that the crew did not seem to expect, so rather than a granny line we had to work our way to the down line from the mooring ball 30' or so in front of the bow.  Waiting for the rest of the divers to assemble gave me an opportunity to relax and take in the coral heads around the drop zone.   Our DM Gary and the rest of the crew assembled, we headed at 45 deg to the current and then slowly dropped over the wall, awed by the wall structure and dense life of sponges, gorgonians and fish - baslets, rock beauties, smooth trunkfish, honeycomb cowfish, queen angel, damsels, surgeons, parrots, wrasses and more. To our right, the wall continued its gradual descent into the dark blue of the deep, while a fantastic array of sea life surrounded us, scarcely noting our presence.  As we started working back up the wall, Gary was motioning us to a coral head covered in sponges and fire coral.  There, we waited in turn for views of the small, green longlure frogfish that had taken up residence.  After snapping a couple pics, I started up again only to be waved over to a sea fan and its current inhabitant - a seahorse.  What an awesome combo, and my first seahorse after almost 200 dives. From here we slowly worked back towards the boat, through a nice arch swimthrough, then finally to the safety stop as we passed a few lobster, squirrelfish and a scrawled filefish - current was strong enough at this point to have us flying like pennants from the line. It took a bit of work to get back to the towline and climb aboard.

A bit further northwest from Tent Reef, we dropped into our 2nd dive of the day at C Delight to virtually no current and an equally stunning site.  A spur and groove formation with 15 to 20' or more of elevation from top to bottom, C Delight is a wonderland.  Working our way through a school of tarpon, we hit bottom at 40' and slowly worked our way to 70' as we navigated a series of spurs and around a few coral heads covered in hard corals, sponges, gorgonians and soft corals. Fish life included the only 2 lionfish of our trip, plus large parrots (stoplight and princess), french and queen angels, a webbed burrfish, butterfly (foureye, banded and longsnout), hamlets, surgeons, tangs, sandperch, sharpnose puffers and others. It's the kind of site that makes you wish for gills.  Another 51 minutes with a max depth of 75' and an easy swim back, our safety stop complete, we were aboard and headed back to lunch. The crew radioed in to have lunches started, and about 15 minutes later we were back at the dock.

I can now absolutely see why Saba gets a top 10 from so many folks.  The combination of rock/reef structure, abundance and variety of marine life, and terrific visibility easily make this one of the best places we have ever dived.  Add to that the great service from Cheri, Tony, Gary and Mike from Saba Deep and you have world class diving.  I can't wait to go back.

Wrecks and sharks in St Maarten

Continuing our adventures in the underwater playground around St Maarten, we headed back out with Ocean Eplorers for our second day of diving.  Two wrecks on the agenda for the morning, followed by the afternoon shark dive.

First up was the Porpoise (an old Tug). Located a bit further west out of Simpson Bay, the Porpoise sits in about 95' of water. With visibility at around 50 feet, the top of the wreck materializes out of the blue just moments after beginning our descent down the line.  The back deck is open and allows an easy descent into what looks to have been the engine area.  Using the video light, a slow 360 survey lights up the squirrelfish, lobsters and a 4' barracuda that call the wreck home.  Slowly rising out of the hole to minimize sediment dispruption, then moving forward to penetrate the main p-way from the deck midship to the p-way just behind the wheelhouse reveals more of the wrecks denizens.  Making a hard left turn and working towards the port side passes the head just prior to exiting the wreck. From here, the wheelhouse is a short move up and forward, and allows easy access and a nice 270 degree view of the site.. Overall, the wreck is home to barracuda, dozens of spiny lobster, and a good colletion of grunts, squirrelfish, and various snapper, including gray and yellowtail, moving steadily around the wreck. Another tour around the outside of the deck and wheelhouse and its time to head up.

Our 2nd dive of the day was on the Gregory, an overturned cargo barge located further west near Longue Bay near the Frech/Dutch border. Sitting in about 55' of water with the upturned bottom at about 40', the 100' long Gregory is a great beginner site and allows penetratoin for more advanced divers with good buoyancy through a large opening between the sand and gunwhale along one side and a smaller opening on the opposite.  Once underneath, a hatch provides further access into a hold area. The highlight here was a large clinging channel crab and a good size nassau grouper inside, blue phase seargent majors guarding egg clusters all along one side of the hull, and a field of yellow headed jawfish living just off to one side. There is a good photo op alongside the props at the top of the wreck, and a porthole that can be used to frame a nice headshot. Many of the coral encrustations along the outside of the wreck host little secretary blennies, and a few barracuda hung around just over the hull or around the outer hull.  With visibility around 50' and no current this was a very nice dive.

After a break for lunch at Lee's (a short walk from the shop), we headed back out for the third and most memorable dive of the trip - the shark encounter. Pulling up to the site, one of the crew drops in and works to connect to the mooring line as Jef gives the dive brief.  By the time everyone has geared up and dropped in, our "hosts" have already assembled and are slowly cruising the site.  We make our way down to about 60' and and assemble in a semi-circle using cinderblocks as our anchor to handle the bit of surge on the site.  There's really no way to describe the feeling of being in the midst of a half dozen reef sharks. From about 4 feet to about 7 feet in length, Jef provides the attraction in the form of some fish tails as the "grey ghosts" circling, swooping, and "dive" around us crossing in and out of the "ring". 

Being this close to an apex predator, in their natural environment, is amazing.  The sharks never appear aggressive, providing tons of opportunities for pictures and video and even come in to be "nuzzled" by Jef with his chain gloves.  This is a truly awesome experience - anyone who loves nature, loves the water, loves diving should make this a must do.

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Go to an island and Dive!

The excitement built as we made our approach, anticipating the moment that the beach, the hotels, and the crowds would "fly" by our window - FLASH - for just an instant it's all there, almost at eye level.  Forty yards.  The narrow strip of sand known as Maho beach is all that separates the runway from the sea at Philipsburg's Princess Juliana International Airport on the west end of St Maarten.  Just 200 yards further there's a bump, the wheels chirp, and we've arrived.

After grabbing our luggage and a rental car, we head to the half of the crescent fronting Lilttle Bay and our home for the next week, a one bedroom condo at Divi's Little Bay resort on the small slip of land that separates Lilttle Bay and Great Bay. 

Day 1:
We head to Kim Sha beach on Simpson Bay to meet the folks at Ocean Explorers and do some diving.  Check-in was smooth - one of the owners, Lu, checked our C-Cards, we filled out/signed the "standard" waivers, and she asked if we had everything we needed. We met the other owner, Jef, who would be our captain and guide for the day.

Our gear was setup at the shop, and once checked, it was carried down to the boat and loaded. After crossing the beach and wading out to the boat, we climbed aboard the Undersea Adventures (a 28' Mako center console with twin Merc 225's).  Once loaded, the gear occupies most of the stern area, so we all squeezed onto the benches up front for the short ride to the site. We were told that with northerly winds and westerly seas, we would be staying fairly close in for the day.

After a short ride, we hooked up to the mooring ball at our first site, Turtle Reef. We were given a site brief, then 2 divers at a time geared up and entered, one from each side of the boat. The DM's helped everyone gear up and did air checks, including asking me if my computer had synced to its transmitter (I actually don't get asked this very often). Turtle Reef is a long, relatively flat reef with 5 feet or so of elevation and a wide sandy top. The site is average at best, with highlights being the turtle "Lily" and a dolphin sighting (though not by me). There were scattered hard corals, gorgonia, and sponges with typical caribbean reef inhabitants - spiny lobster, squirrel fish, a few parrots, blue surgeons, various wrasses, etc. The spotted trunkfish and a bevy of rock beauties were nice. Visibility was in the 50' range. After a nice 45 minute dive with only a very light current and a max depth of 60', my wife and I were the last up from our safety stop and after being assisted aboard, we did a run back to the shop for tank exchange.

Our second dive was around the rubble from the old Simpson Bay/lagoon canal bridge. Prior to dropping in, we were told to explore the artificial reef areas as we wished, but not to leave for the others unless guided as the bridge and two little wrecks were not visible from one another. This was a nice site with plenty of fish life. A short swim away are two small artifical reefs. Again, inhabitants on these included the typcial caribbean assortment mentioned above, plus a spotted moray, banded and pederson shrimp, a porcupine puffer, cowfish, grunts, yellowtails, etc. There is a cleaning station on a lower section of the bridge rubble - this visit saw two lizard fish lined up. In the sand/grass beds between the artificial reefs we saw a large southern stingray mostly covered and a porcupine puffer. Viz in the 50' range, this dive lasted 55 minutes with a max depth of 50'. In both cases, we were never rushed, and allowed to dive our air and computers. I would compare both of these dives to the keys, but with bluer water.

A great first day of diving and a great start to our vacation.

St. Maarten bound!!!

Been off the wire for a while, new job and lots of other stuff, but time to get back on the horse!

Headed to St. Maarten on Wednesday, a week of sun, fun, diving and relaxation.  Planning on diving both sides as well as spend a day in Saba - or at least in the water around Saba :-)

Looking forward to taking some pics and updating as we go next week, so stay tuned....

Provo, Turks and Caicos

Wow. 
The first word that popped into my head when looking at the water of Grace Bay, Providenciales - Wow. 

Absolutely the most stunning blue water I've ever seen, whether in the shallows of Caicos bank

 or along the wall off West Caicos,  the hues were amazing.

    Less than 3 hours from Charlotte, Providenciales (Provo for short) is one of the smaller, less developed islands in the region.  With no deep water port, cruise ships don't call, and most of the condos and resorts are relatively small and none would be considered high rises.  Large parts of the island are undeveloped and much of the surrounding water is protected marine parks. 

    Touching down on Provo brings you to one of the smallest, most laid back airports in the region.  A short, though not cheap, taxi ride with one of the islands more interesting characters - "keep your feet on the floor, no smokin or drinkin, and no bags in your laps!" - and we were at our home for the week, Coral Gardens.  Set right on the beach at the center of Grace Bay in the area known as lower Bight, CG has several buildings of condos ranging from the big, luxurious penthouses to the smaller, more budget friendly.  CG also hosts one of two Caicos Adventures shops which offers diving and snorkeling trips plus dive instruction, and a beachside bar and grill, Somewhere Cafe.

    With an 8:30 or so (it is island time, after all) pick up at CG each morning by Matt, one of the DM's and bus drivers with Caicos Adventures, we did 10 dives over the next 4 days, all on the west side of Provo or West Caicos with the exception of our night dive off the beach in front of the condo.  The wall along the west side of Caicos bank makes for oustanding diving.  The highlight for me was the almost constant presence of large gray reef sharks cruising the wall.

   Of course there was plenty of other life to see.  Large nassau and tiger grouper; queen, french and gray angels; 4-eye, banded and long-snout butterfly; queen, princess, stoplight parrots; ocean trigger, black durgon, and queen triggers; schools of silver and yellowtail snapper and schoolmasters; harlequin bass, fairy basslets, hamlets, wrasse, goby, banded coral shrimp, arrow crabs.  Oh, and some very friendly hawksbill turtles.

   Unfortunately, there were also plenty of lionfish to be found.  While they have started to allow limited hunting, all of the DM's and other T&C regulars have noted significant changes in the numbers of fish present on the reefs since the lionfish numbers have exploded.

    As for the rest of our trip (the part not spent underwater), we also had a terrific time.  Of course, a good amount of this time was on boats motoring back and forth between the harbor and dive sites.  While a little windy, we were blessed my mostly sunny skies and temps about 80 every day.  Afternoons were generally spent sitting on the beach with a cooler of Presidente or Turks Head beer.  We ate in a number of nights, with the local IGA having a nice selection to choose from though more local fish would have been nice.  We also had two fantastic dinners out - one at Mango Reef at the Alexandra resort, and one at Hemingway's at the Sands.  The shrimp pasta at Mango Reef was terrific and Hemingway's offered fresh wahoo.  To round out the trip we spent one day just driving around the island.

    Not sure when the next trip will be - starting a new adventure next week as I leave HP to join the new software team at Dell.  I will definitely visit T&C again, perhaps next time hitting Grand Turk to try the wall diving there.  For now, it's back to quarry weekends helping with dive checkouts.

Cambridge MD, Tampa, Charlotte and anticipation - part 2

    Visiting Tampa and Charlotte in the spring, even for a quick one or two day business trip, is a great way to start shaking the later winter blahs.  While temps can cover a pretty big range, by late March you can count on trees and flowers in bloom, usually warm daytime temps and mild evenings, the occasional spring  rain, along with people who have emerged from their winter cocoons walking and enjoying the spring air.

    This edition of the blog will focus mainly on food.  In Tampa, their are a number of very good to great restaurants.  Two of my long time favorites, Bern's for steak and Oystercatchers for seafood are standouts for great food and great service.  On this trip I tried a couple of new places as well and was rewarded with more great food and service at Ocean Prime and Charley's.  All 4 of these restaurants are at the pricier end of the Tampa dining scene so there are no bargains here, but all of them warrant a try if you're willing to pay for great food and service.

    It's hard to describe Bern's if you haven't been there.  It has an old world charm along with what has to be one of the most comprehensive wine collections of any restaurant in the world.  The food is prepared with painstaking precision.  Most of the wait staff have 20, 30, or more years of tenure.  You can tour the cellar - only part of the massive wine collection is here, the rest occupies a nearby climate controlled warehouse - the kitchen - where they grow there own watercress under lamps - and finish the meal in the upstairs dessert room.  I could write pages about this place - but in the interested of brevity, if you love great steaks, great wine, great service and are willing to pay for them, eat at Bern's on your next trip to Tampa.  Located outside of the downtown area in an older neighborhood, you'll swear you're going the wrong way, but follow you GPS and you'll be rewarded with one the best evenings you've ever had.

    Oystercatchers, at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay, with it's view of the bay and it's offerings of fresh fish
is another must do in the Tampa dining scene.  Tucked into the corner of the Hyatt property away from the hotel, Oystercatcher's features an open kitchen and dining area.  A very contemporary feel along with attentive wait staff and superbly prepared food are the staples that bring me back to Oystercatchers every
change I get.  With a great array of special preparations or your choice of simple grilled, blackened, or pan saute'd, you select from local favorites like yellow-tail snapper, black grouper and others or classic offerings like salmon as well as chicken and steak items.  They had not gotten stone crab claws in that day, but the calamari appetizer was top notch, and the blackened yellow-fin was done perfectly.  Every member of our party raved about how good their meal was.  As a bonus, arrive in time for sunset and you'll be rewarded with great views along with an oustanding meal. 

    Having eaten at both Oystercatchers and Bern's on a number of occasions, I opted to try a couple of new (at least to me) places this time - Ocean Prime and Charley's.

    Ocean Prime is a contemporary, upscale mix between steakhouse and seafood restaurant.  With a solid selection of prime steaks and fresh seafood, OP tends to the more casual side of fine dining with a large lounge area and an expansive patio.  A solid wine list compliments the menu, servers were attentive and knowledgeable, and the overall experience was very enjoyable.  The grilled grouper was outstanding and the caesar salad before lunch was spot on with just the right bite of sardine and garlic while not being overwhelmed by the dressing.  While the location near a local shopping area and amidst a number for corporate office buildings doesn't provide quite the greatest ambiance, once inside you'll be happy you gave it a try.

    Charley's is another great choice for great steaks and seafood.  Sandwiched between a couple of national chain hotels along a relatively busy strip, once inside you'll be reminded of the old style steakhouses that use to dot the american landscape.  A bit darker inside, with wood and leather in abundance, this place harkens back to the days of tux clad waiters and business men closing deals over martinis.  That said, the crowd is generally much less formal, though a number of folks were still dressed for the occasion.  The salt water tank at the back of the lounge area has a nice collection of saltwater tropicals, mostly Indo-Pacific oddly enough.
There was still a 40 minute wait after 8PM mid-week, so make a reservation, but once I had a taste of the bronzed grouper with the cajun/cream sauce I know exactly why it was so busy.