Highlights from the trip on the Estrella del Mar include whale sharks, hammerhead sharks and a seahorse.

Caribbean Explorer II left St. Maarten on Saturday night with everyone safely onboard.  They got to Customs House at Saba just before midnight.  The first dives of the day were at Customs House and the rest were done at Ladder Lab.  Luckily Tropical Storm Bertha decided to go north of Caribbean Explorer II.  There was some rain early in the morning and it’s a good thing no one minded getting wet!  The rest of the day was beautiful.   

 

Monday and Tuesday were also spent diving at Saba, visiting Diamond Rock, Tent Wall, 3^rd Encounter, Big Rock Market and Tent Reef.  There were flying gunards at Customs House and Spotted Drums at several different sites at Saba.  Both are unusual finds at Saba.  There was also a “VERY friendly 3-foot nurse-shark that actually wanted to cuddle up with guests at Ladder’s Lab.”  Captain Dave suggested that perhaps it had separation anxiety!   The turtles were quite curious and playful this week as well. 

 

On Wednesday at Statia, dives were done at Barracuda Reef, the Ledges, Double Wreck and Wreck City.  Unfortunately the visibility was a bit cloudy, but luckily the marine life more than made up for the poor vis.  Of note was the monster loggerhead turtle who was hanging out at Barracuda Reef and tons of spotted eels. 

 

The week finished off in St. Kitts with dives at Anchors Aweigh, Paradise Reef, and River Taw.  The visibility was much better at St. Kitts and by the end of the week the weather was beautiful! 

 

My favorite comment from the week was “Our youngest guest this week was 12, the oldest 70.  They spent an evening together; she showed him photos of fish on her computer and helped with identification, he showed her how to fix the computer!”

 

Thanks everyone for a wonderful week!

Recent sightings from the Turks and Caicos Explorer II include the biggest green moray that anyone has seen in a long time at Rock Garden Interlude, a purple crowned sea goddess, an octopus at Amphitheater, two pipehorses at Elephant Ear Canyon, a seahorse at G-spot and at Double D, a 4ft hammerhead at Double D and a very large (estimated to be about 10ft) nurse shark.

 

Quite the exciting week it seems like!

“We were looking for seahorses, but there were too many turtles in the way!”

 

What a rough life!!!

There were some great sightings on the Turks and Caicos Explorer II this week!  The biggest green moray that the crew has ever seen at RGI at West Caicos, a purple crowned sea goddess, an octopus at Amphitheater, and two pipehorses at Elephant Ear Canyon.  

Crystal Hatten’s daughter, Teyonna, cannot wait until she is old enough to dive!  Until then, she has decided to wear her mask and snorkel in the kitchen and in the hot tub! 

We are inviting people to share their underwater adventures in celebration of the beauty and excitement that reefs provide to us. There are three categories in which people can participate; best underwater photo, best topside photo and best trip commentary. The competition is free to enter.

For more information visit http://explorerventures.com/common/contest.html or email contest@explorerventures.com

Although it is still early for minkes to be sighted in large numbers, guests on Nimrod Explorer were treated to an in-water encounter with two minke whales at Ruby Reef. 

The Turks and Caicos Explorer II left the Caicos Marina at 14:00 with the high tide on Saturday and left for Northwest Point once everyone was on board.  The first dives of the week were at The Dome.  During lunch Captain Mark Fernandez took the boat over to West Caicos and the afternoon and evening dives were taken at The Gully.  Monday morning was also spent at West Caicos at Spanish Anchor.  Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday morning were spent at French Cay and Thursday and Friday were spent back at West Caicos.  The current water temperature in Turks and Caicos waters is 82F.

 

The diving was great at French Cay this week with many critter sightings.  At Rock ‘n’ Roll there was a 10ft hammerhead shark spotted and a 5ft hammerhead was seen at Double-D.  The friendly octopus, which has been named “Ollie” was there again. Pursor Donna wrote “Ollie our friendly octopus is still out at Double D, trying his hardest to climb inside of a conch, we keep telling him he won’t fit!!!”

 

At Half Mile Reef three eagle rays visited the divers.  Rare fingerprint cypohmas (Cyphoma signatum) were spotted at Double-D.   Fingerprint cyphomas are related to the more commonly seen Flamingo Tongues (Cyphoma gibbosum) and both mollusks are carnivorous and feed on the soft gorgonian corals.  The pattern on their mantle is very different however: flamingo tongues have rectangularish patterns on their mantel while fingerprints have designs that look like, well, fingerprints!  The patterns are not on their shell, which is actually white, but is on the animal’s mantel which is actually a part of the animal’s body.  If you see a fingerprint cyphoma, you are very lucky!  Just remember to be careful not to knock them off the coral!

 

 

 

Caribbean Explorer I left Georgetown and headed out to do the first two dives of the week at Long Island.  They visited Hog Cay and Joe’s Reef.  Over lunch they crossed to Conception Island to dive at Missing Link and Grouper Ledge.  They left Conception Island after the fourth dive so that they could get out to San Salvador.  Monday and Tuesday were both spent diving at San Salvador, visiting the sites Double Caves, Sandy Cliff, Devils’ Grotto, Sear Garden, Pyramid, Devil’s Claw, Great Cut, Telephone Pole, La Crevasse, Hole-in-the-Wall, Humps and Runway 10.  On Thursday it was back to the beautiful walls of Conception Island to dive Hocus Pocus and Chutes and Ladders.  Captain Lowel took Caribbean Explorer I back to Long Island in the afternoon to dive the Comberback Wreck and Flamingo Tongue on Thursday afternoon and evening.  The last dive of the week was at Shark Reef on Friday morning. 

 

The current water temperature in the Exumas is 77F.