Batfish....CRAZY!!

So today I'm diving off of Sunset Beach. Its my second dive of the day and its cold, so I'm feeling like I wish this dive was over, when who do I stumble into but this guy. Just sitting there as cool as you like, in his red lipstick with his little nose pointed proudly in the air.
Well you can imagine my excitement! Here is a video from utube of him walking:
This guy looks like he was deposited right from outer space - or Alice in Wonderland (he looks like the mad hatter - don't you think?). I don't usually mess with marine life - but I did have to fan the water a little behind this guy so I could watch him walk.
'hello crazy man what's going on?'
'oh I'm just taking a little morning stroll through the coral in my red lip stick - and excuse me but there is nothing crazy about me, I'm a very serious kind of fish'
'oh really - so when I fan the water behind you why do you waddle round like a little old turkey'
'ah get off me you big oaf - you simply have no appreciation for the more stately creatures who inhabit the waters off sunset beach'
I tell you I could have hung with this guy for a long time, but sadly I was in the middle of referral dive #4 with 3 divers who were not as excited as I was to meet my new friend. I'm going to hunt for him again this week. I'm guessing he has a mate or family or at least a good buddy batfish around somewhere too.
If you watch the utube video, you'll also see a frog fish. I have seen little blue feet protruding from a little nook in a coral head. I think this may be a frog fish but I can't tempt him to come out. I'm on to him though so its only a matter of time - stay posted!!!

Puffer Fish on Sunset Beach

So, as I've said, I'm getting to know the inhabitants off sunset beach really well. A young boy, Jason, who I was diving with today told me he wanted to see a puffer fish. I said that although it was difficult to predict what the Ocean would bring that day I had never seen a puffer off Sunset Beach. I think this little spiny puffer heard me: He was hiding against some rocks the same color as him when I happened along. Apparently these guys like to swim slowly near to or rest on the bottom, blending with the background. I love puffer fish's eyes. They are all glassy and really look like they are looking deep into you. This guy was trying to hide. We looked at him for a little while and then left him to his business. What cute little faces they have. Its those big eyes that make them look like they have sweet little personalities. I wonder what he was really thinking ('I wish these big scary divers would leave me alone to get on with feeling melancholy... if I stare really hard at her I bet she'll think I know what she is thinking'). Might I add that as well as spiney puffer this character is also known as a porcupinefish.

Some Interesting Info on the Porcupine Fish:
Porcupinefish Scientific Name: Diodon hystrix

Porcupinefish suck up water to scare predators. The thick, leathery skin of porcupinefish is covered by scales that have been modified into spines. They are extended when the porcupinefish gulps down water to puff out and sticks a hungry predator.

Appearance
Shaped like a short baseball bat, the porcupinefish doesn’t seem like a fierce creature. Looking closer, it is found to be quite dangerous. The scales of this fish are modified into long spines, which generally lie flat against the body. When frightened, porcupinefish quickly gulps down lots of water. This makes the fish expand like a balloon—doubling and even tripling in size. As the porcupinefish puffs up, the spines on the skin stick straight out, making this fish even harder to eat. After the frightened predator swims away, the porcupinefish lets loose all the water inside its body, getting back to its normal shape and size.

This fish can be up to 3 feet (1 m) long, which would be quite a display after puffing out its entire body into a ball shape.

Habitat
Porcupinefish live in the caves and holes of lagoon and seaward reefs at depths of 7 to 167 feet (2 to 50 m). Generally they can be found either resting in a reef hideaway or swimming out in the open over the reef.

Juveniles and occasionally adults may live in the open ocean floating around within the safety of Sarassum weeds, which is a leafy golden brown algae that floats freely throughout the ocean with small air bubbles or bladders. Catching a free ride inside these weeds allows the porcupinefish to be found in all the tropical oceans.

Range
Porcupinefish live in the warm parts of all the warm Oceans.

Diet
At night, the porcupinefish searches for hard-shelled sea urchins, snails and crabs. “Diodontidae", the Family name of this animal, means “two-toothed". This refers to the hard beak-like jaw that the porcupinefish uses to crush its crunchy prey. Sometimes this fish will also eat sea jellies.

Reproduction
At sunrise or sunset, porcupinefish pelagic spawn, which means they mate in an area where the fertilized eggs will be taken away on the currents to drift into the open ocean. Pairs may spawn together, or a group of males will spawn with a single female. After the eggs hatch, the larvae float in the open ocean near the surface. When the small fish grows to a certain size, it will swim down and become a member of a coral reef.

Threats and Management
These fish are sometimes sold to souvenir shops, where the porcupine fish are lacquered in their puffed up state. Otherwise, they are not highly sought after because their organs are poisonous. The poison in the fish actually comes from a type of toxic algae that the porcupinefish eats.

Skilled Japanese chefs prepare porcupinefish and boxfish, which is called fuga, in a way that retrieve the meat and almost all the poisonous parts are cut out. A slight amount of poisonous meat is left to be served with the safe portion. The diner feels somewhat woozy after eating the fuga. Prepared in this way, these fish are considered a delicacy. On occasion, a person eating the fuga dies.

While porcupinefish are taken for souvenirs and occasionally to eat, there hasn’t been an overabundance of them taken from the oceans. Their population remains stable.

Did You Know?
As another defense mechanism, high levels of poison are concentrated in the porcupinefish’s gonads and liver. Most predators will remember getting sick from eating a porcupinefish and won’t try it again.

Few animals will eat porcupinefish. Tiger sharks, which are known as the garbage cans of the sea because they eat just about anything, will eat adult porcupinefish. Juveniles are eaten by large billfish like dolphinfish and tuna.

The Drill at Sunset Beach

One of my Open Water Students, Phil and his fiance Cecy, were kind enough to send me some pictures from our dives off "Sunset Beach".
Here we are gearing up:About to get in:Final words before dive:Phil - fully certified PADI Open Water Diver!
Just like Dutch Springs, PA except 60-80 ft vis!! Trade spiders and dirt for sand and breaking waves and 7mm plus a 3mm vest for a 3mm wet suit. Down side is I miss my favorite teaching pals.... And hell I have to say I really loved Dutch Springs. Perhaps it's inhabitants were a little less exotic BUT it was always an adventure!!
This morning, I saw a beautiful pair of flying gunard fish. I actually think that the flying gunard I saw with Miguel was half of this pair. We were probably around Sunset Beach when we saw him. I'm adding the gunard couple to my list of Sunset Beach inhabitants. Miguel told me today that a Frog Fish and Bat Fish have been seen off Sunset beach. I will be hunting for these!!!

Sunset Beach

So I'm enjoying my new job. I work mornings by the pool offering free scuba try outs and then anyone who is interested comes along with me to sunset beach to dive. I like this job for a number of reasons.
The people who dive from El Cozumeleno are pretty nice. Because they tend to be beginners they are eager to learn and super respectful about Marine life.
I love that the dives are shallow. This is easy on my body and means I can run and lift weights after work. Most people who guide from boats are diving 4 dives a day, starting at around 100ft. This is tough on you physically and really restricts what you can do in terms of exercise and your own personal diving.
Another thing I like is that I always dive in the same area. This is nice because I am getting to know the marine life down there. For example there is one coral head where I know a family of yellow stingrays live:This guy often whispers "Nothing to see here just a sandy bit of ocean floor - no stingrays to look at here - honest- its much more interesting on the next coral head". Frankly, if I were those stingrays, I would move because all of the dive masters who dive of Sunset Beach know where to find them - so at least 4-5 times a day they are accosted by a heard of elephants. I try not to disturb them too much but a few days ago I did interrupt some stingray lovin. Two of them were just about to get busy when I came along with my group. I'm afraid we completely ruined the moment.
My favorite fish off sunset beach is the trunk fish. Here is a little video I took of one:


The snorkelers clearly feed these fish and so they are completely unafraid of people. This is nice and at some points in the dive you can swim amongst big groups of trunk, cow and parrot fish.
One of my recent students took some pictures of us gearing up. I'm hoping he will send those to me so I can give you an idea of the set up.

Cave Diving in Cozumel

Yesterday I went cave diving with German Yanez who is a cave instructor in Cozumel. We dove in two very different caves.
The first was Xcan Ha. This cave is basically a pit, the size of a football pitch with a bottom at 120ft. There is a debris cone in the center of the cave and we tied into this and swam around the circumference of the bottom. There were dead tree branches looming out of the cone. I was slightly surprised to see a baby crocodile, all curled up like a little sleeping dragon. I started to wonder about his mother and suddenly the blackness behind me seemed even blacker. Next we came upon a curled up snake. HUmn.. I'm thinking my mother would have liked this dive. My computer went slightly into deco and we'd planned 3 deco stops (2@70', 3@40' and 8@20' - all very conservative which I like). On the 20' stop German signaled for me to look up at the surface. The cenote water was colored brown by the tanic acid produced by decaying vegetation; it was close to 12 and the sun was pretty much directly overhead; the effect was pretty spectacular. The sun looked like a big ruby fireball, sending out beams of red through the water. I had 8 mins to admire this - very cool. On the surface I immediately grilled German about the crocodile and snake. I was assured both were dead (albeit recently), apparently the snakes fall in from the trees (quick scan of the overhead branches for potential jumpers - all clear), German went on to say that the cenote was only populated by crocodiles in the rainy season - ah ha I said 'you mean the rainy season that we are just in the process of coming out of?' I was assured that crocodiles in these parts were not man eaters like their African relatives and seldomly grew to sizes bigger than me (I'm 5'7"). OK this was enough chit chat for me. One of my more speedy water exits! After two yoga classes the previous day I found myself on one knee on the dock absolutely unable to stand up. Even visualizing one of my new dive buddies lumbering out of the undergrowth or falling from one of the branches overhead did not give me the strength to stand up on my own. DAMN - I had to be hauled to my feet by German:(
We had around two hours between dives, changed our gear over, pondered life and fought off mosquitos (one got me in the middle of my forehead - very attractive).
Then on to Aerolito. From the shore you can see that the water is full of white globules - this is sulphur. We saw a fire worm and sea cucumber. Both are albino and have adapted to life in the cave. There were also starfish and tinsy sponges - all white and gray. All of the creatures slithered away from our flash light beams - a little bit creepy. This dive also contained two of the worst restrictions I have come across to date (bear in mind that this was my second cave dive as a certified cave diver - so that is not saying much). German was leading and I watched him tootle onto his side and pull himself through a pretty small gap. OK I thought if this guy can get through there then so can I (I'm calculating body size here rather that expertise). So on I went - my tanks clanked a lot on the wall and I'd say I reached the very edge of my comfort zone. Still I just moved very slowly and made it through - checked my valves (Hans voice in my head reminding me to do this) and on we went. We called the dive at about 34 mins. I lead back through a terrain of much less visibility. I'd say down to about 12" through the restrictions. I could not really make out the shape of the cave around me but figured if the line was there I must be passing the place where I needed to be on my side. Felt a little bit stuck but resisted panic and took my time to relax and pull myself slowly through. All in all a pretty good dive. The cave reminded me of the bit in temple of doom where Indie is running away from the rock ball. It was pretty dark brown and looked like it had been hacked out of the rock by dwarfs rather than water and time. These caves are very different from those that I've dove so far. Not as pretty as the halocline filled, white walled, heavily decorated rooms in the systems on the mainland, but I really liked them. A bit like diving a New Jersey wreck after a Caribbean reef.
German is an excellent dive guide, very chilled and easy to dive with, also very experienced, which I like in a dive buddy. Hoping to do some more diving with him soon.

Majahual

Before starting work a group of friends and I decided to go to Majahual for a long weekend. Majahual is on Mexico's east coast just north of Belize. The reef is part of the same barrier reef as that off the coast of Belize. We were on a much smaller boat but we had to exit the barrier with the same caution as we did in Belize. The waves crash over a belt of shallow coral and rocks and the captain has to navigate through a gap in the rocks with the help of a mate sitting at the boat's bow. The boat almost catches a wave and surfs over the barrier on the way in. We hit rocks both days. Out boat was a fishing boat and I'm not sure how used the Captain was to steaming over the reef.
Majahual's reef is one of the healthiest reefs I recall seeing. This site is not frequently dove, primarily because Majahual is a 5 hour drive from the nearest airport (Cancun and Merida are about the same distance). The reef is in finger formation, much the same a Belize and the ridges of reef are festooned with more variety of sponges than I've seen anywhere. I remember seeing a barrel sponge that must have been 5ft tall. It was like a small town, every inch of its exterior was full of life. Some of my favorite inhabitants were banded coral shrimp and the little purple, translucent, cleaner shrimp. There were also more types on anemone than I have ever seen in the Caribbean. Not like the large colorful anemones in Indonesia. Many of these were flat against coral, deep colors and no more than 7inch wide. I wished my camera was working - but then I would have slowed the group taking pictures. The reef resembled layered cakes, with ornate icing or fairy castles. I enjoyed just floating on my back looking towards the surface over the reef scape.
Lots of macro stuff. We saw a decorator crab:

Ours were much like this one but decorated with red sponge. I'd only seen this type of decorator crab once before. They are very cute:) They shuffled around 'you can't see me, I'm not there, right?'
Anyone looking for pristine reef and a peaceful vacation should head to Majahual. I kind of hope the place remains undiscovered for some time to come. It is also possible to take trips by boat to the reef's off San Pedro Belieze from Majahual.

FULL CAVE DIVER - yeah baby

I spent Sunday running lines all over the cavern section of Taj Mahal with Hans. I practiced finning backwards while tying in, over and over again. The visability was pretty messed up when we were done, but I got a lot of practice to build on my obsessive swimming backwards in the ocean.
Yesterday was Taj Mahal again with Steve - we went off to the Chinese Garden room off the left cave line. Thank the lord, everything went smoothly. No dropping my knees at tie offs - some successful backing off of tie ins. Believe me, there is still room for improvement, but overall it showed that I'd been practicing my ass off. Those with a keen eye will have seen, from Miguel's video, that my trim is still a little knees down, this gives my frog kick a little rock. Steve informed me that this fault is referred to as 'a braying donkey' - nice:) His overall appraisal of the video was 'good videographer, nice fish'. In other words my fin strokes still leave a lot to be desired. Without knowing what the current was doing he was unable to draw conclusions on the skill of my backwards finning (Buggar! - worth a try though).
Anyway after much gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair, and cursing at myself underwater I am now a FULLY CERTIFIED CAVE diver.
Steve pronounced his verdicts after the first dive of the day and offered to dive a second dive with us. I decided to end on a high note for fear of doing something stupid during a second dive which might cause him to rethink his decision. Excited about doing some more dives now.
As a side note the Chinese Garden Room in Taj is beautiful. I would like to do that dive again with less pressure.