We had to wake up a half hour earlier today because the boat left at 8:00 instead of 8:30. Our dive site, Mary’s Place was further away. It’s also a popular site, so we wanted to get there before it got crowded. Something special about Mary’s Place is that there are two swim throughs. You are surrounded by coral on either side as you go through these areas.
While we went through them, I took photos and videos of Linda swimming. When I watched the video after the dive, I realized that I was taking short breaths in and out. Slightly panicked but not quite hyperventilating. Marco would always tell me when I get back into the boat that I’m breathing too quick. He says breathe normal and mimics my rapid breath. After realizing this I made a much better effort to breathe slowly – a four count in and an eight count out, on my afternoon dives.
At Mary’s Place, we saw a turtle swim through our dive group. Now, that was exciting! We also saw a mantis shrimp. Linda saw a large seahorse. After the dive, we drove through the harbor on the way back to avoid the swell of the large waves. The dive crew on board brought the boat up to a couple groups of kids waiting outside their houses. They threw each group of kids a package of cookies. It was heart warming to see that.
For our drop dive, we asked to drop on the Prince Albert wreck. Linda and I swam through many parts of the wreck. We might not have explored all of it. But we easily saw 80% of it, if not more. We saw a trumpet fish on the wreck. Andy saw a lion fish before he went into the wreck the first time.
Before the afternoon boat dive, Andy wanted to stop by the nurse’s station. He explained how he felt foggy after diving. How it was way worse before breathing nitrox. She talked to Andy about breathing slowly, taking a four count in and an eight count out. She said you need to focus on it until it becomes monkey memory. The nurse considered us new divers because we haven’t had over 100-200 dives yet. She also gave a vibrating tool to clear water from ear drums. I need to return that before we leave. Since getting this advice and using it, Andy feels better after diving.
The afternoon dive was at the French Cay Cut. We saw big groupers, schools of fish and a moray eel swimming. We also saw a sting ray. Other fish include a big trumpet fish and a sand flounder. We also started noticing jellyfish, which we haven’t before.
We dropped on Coco View Wall in the afternoon. Andy found a jellyfish and took a video to make a record of his effort to control his breathing. Linda saw a huge lobster on the wall. Andy found a shrimp in a barrel sponge. Linda saw a spider crab along the chains for the safety stop. We saw two lionfish. One was at the pier, and the other was to the right of the safety stop.
Before dinner tonight, they had a hermit crab race. You can buy as many entries into the race as you want. Crabs are $1 each. Top three finishers from the first round advance to the final. Winner takes all. We entered four crabs for the race. I was surprised that we actually won both the first race and the final. Linda took a video of the crab races. But she missed the night dive master, Edgar, saying he would turn the losing crabs into soup.
After the crab races we ate dinner. Then we got to watch the fire dancers. We did both of these events the last time we came to Coco View. But they are still a lot of fun. We came back to our room to discuss how we are going to allocate funds for tipping. Linda and Andy also talked about practicing diving before our next trip.