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Daily Photos by Dave Volkert

Spotted Morray

Dive #1 Coral Stairway - This site is named for the plate corals that create a stairway down into the depths just off the wall. The wall is composed of buttresses and deep narrow cracks that shelter all kinds of life. The top of the wall teams with schooling fish and is a forest of soft coral. An eagle rays swam by, as well as two sharks. The big coral head close to the mooring is home to a resident population of clinging crabs - today we saw just 2 -that do a great job of packing themselves into every little space they can find.
Dive #2 Black Coral Forest - The beginning of this dive takes you over steps of plate coral and around a point that is covered with deep water gorgonians and tons of black coral. The nooks and crannies were hiding six giant channel clinging crabs, and a spotted morray. A huge eagle ray swam by and we saw another reef shark - no critter complaints today!

Foureye Butterfly Fish

Dive #1 Cathedral - We know there are big pelagics around here - but today assured us "they" are out there! A huge, estimated 16 foot, Tiger shark was down in the Cathedral today. Had us looking twice to make sure we were believing our eyes!
Dive #2 Crocodile - Of course after the first dive, this one seemed somewhat boring!  The spur and grove formations are home to tons of little critters and today was no exception.  Puffer fish, goat fish rooting around in the sand, flamingo tongues, gobbies and blennies were just a few of the things we saw.

Lobster and Basslets

Dive #1 The Gulley - Aaahhh back at West Caicos finally! The edge of the wall is around 50 feet and had very dense coral with many cleaning stations.
Dive #2 Whiteface - One of our all time favorites - the large, over 300 year old anchor is embedded at 70 foot in the crack just north of the boat mooring. "Stanley" the resident reef shark made his usual appearance.  The cleaning stations were quite active at this site today - must be a day for getting cleaned!

Honeycomb Cowfish

Dive #1 Amo's Alley - Sandbore Channel always promises sightings of such critters like eagle rays, sharks, turtles and stingrays.  A roughtail stingray lay in the sand taking a snooze just under the boat. We also so two rare reef butterfly fish. The plate formations along the wall are just fabulous!
Dive #2 Tons O'Sponge - Giant barrel sponges litter this site giving it's name true meaning.  An eagle ray cruised by and then we saw a couple of reef sharks - the viz was extremely good today giving extra light to the reef.

Reef Shark

Dive #1 Mystery Reef - We saw a rare, 4 foot large rainbow parrot fish - we don't usually have them that large!  A large eagle ray cruised by very close and then a shark - what a great dive!
Dive #2 Vince's Secret - More sharks! Two reef sharks cruised by and then another eagle ray!  The plate and soft corals are a real treat to see at this site!

Divers on top of the wall

Dive #1 Flower Garden - The sun filtering through from the surface creates an unreal dive site - it truly looks like a flower garden.  Add a few hundred fish and you have an exotic underwater garden that is like nothing else you've ever seen!
Dive #2 Tons O'Sponge - Reef sharks and eagle rays were seen numerous times on our second dive of the day.  A giant green moray was hiding under a coral head near the back of the boat - poking his head out for visitors.

Red Spotted Hawkfish

Dive #1 Grand Canyon - We headed north from the boat and just over the wall until the start of the canyon. Cruising along the rim was a reef shark, and then an eagle ray.  We cruised along the top of the wall on the way back overlooking the beautiful plate coral formations.
Dive #2 Eel Garden - The sheer vertical walls of Eel Garden, provide nooks and crannies for giant channel clinging crab and huge lobsters - today was no exception. At the beginning of the dive, a large reef shark swam by providing a photo opportunity for those with cameras. We finished up in the shallows where tons of garden eels make their homes in the sandy bottom.  We spent some time at the coral heads and found a red spotted hawkfish.

Feather Dusters

Dive #1 Two Step Wall - The coral formations are outstanding at this site. There are some wonderful pillar corals here, including the one that cleverly disguises a very old anchor up in the shallows just to the right of the mooring.  Tons of small critters including a golden tail moray were the special finds today.
Dive #2 Amphitheatre - The black coral at the is site grows as shallow as 30 feet in big bushy groupings, all up and down the wall. Along the top of the wall are soft corals and clusters of feather dusters.  A Hawksbill turtle surprised us on the way back to the boat - he was hidden down in the coral munching on a sponge! He watched us out of the corner of his eye as he continued his snack.

Nassau Grouper

Just outside of Turtle Cove Marina, we spotted the famous dolphin JoJo with his mate and their baby.  For those of you that ask, he is still around - estimated to be in his late 20's now, and he has a mate and a baby around 9 months old. He was first seen with his mate about 3 years ago. 
Dive #1 Grouper Hole - As it's name suggests, this site is always home to many different kinds of groupers from yellow fin, tiger, Nassau and blacks.  We saw them all today.  A shark swam by towards the end of the dive.
Dive #2 Cathedral - We don't usually do repeats, but due to popular demand, we once again found ourselves at Cathedral.  The visibility was outstanding and with the sun high in the sky, there were rays of sunshine filtering down to the bottom of this site at 100 feet.  The garden eels were scattered over the sandy bottom and after looking at them, you could glance up to the surface and get the spiritual effect of this site with the rays of sunshine filtering down.  Aaaahhhhh what a great dive!

Coral Formations

Dive #1 Eagle Ray Pass - With a high tide, this site usually promises an eagle ray or two. Sure enough, two eagle rays flying in perfect formation along the wall made their promised appearance.  Cleaning stations were full of groupers and tangs in for a bath.
Dive #2 Cathedral - It doesn't matter how many times you dive this site - it's always a treat to find another cool coral formation or see some fantastic fish life.  A finger print cyphoma was found just under the boat. What a fabulous dive!

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