The Diving

The water conditions were pretty good. The temperature was always in the 82 to 85 degree range. I dove in a .5mil full wetsuit but a couple people on the boat dove in bathing suits only the whole week and were fine. The main disappointment with the diving was that the visibility was rarely over 70'. I guess I'm spoiled by the Carribean.

Our first couple dives in the Bimini area at Turtle Rocks and the Rita Miami were a bit of a disapointement. I figured they were more to make sure we worked out any equipment and bouyancy issues before we got to the good stuff. Not that they were bad dives, we did some interesting things. Our first night at Orange Cay Reef was even worse. We nicknamed it the Dead Sea after the dive.

Fortunately the diving got 100% better the next day once we were in Cay Sal Bank!!! Our first dive at the Red Hole was a major improvement. Although we didn't see the sharks others saw on this dive our next dive at "The" Black Hole was among the best dives ever! Not only where there nearly as many sharks as at Blue Corner in Palau but there was a lot of other really cool stuff like large Stingrays, schools of Barracuda and my favorite was a pair of huge free swimming Remoras trying to attach themselves to my wife!! I was REALLY bummed my camera was acting up so I didn't catch any of it!

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I hope Mark doesn't hurt himself doing a Giant Stride like that! Viewed: 267 times. More: Dive 132	I don't think I've ever seen these Atlantic Spadefish anywhere else. Viewed: 291 times. More: Dive 130	James: A Gray Reef Shark. Viewed: 465 times. More: Dive 132
Melanie checks out the Pelagic Tunicate chain. Awesome! Viewed: 351 times. More: Dive 137	This is called Fire Demon Cave for the shafts of light that penetrate the cave from above. Viewed: 587 times. More: Dive 138	Dr. Bob reaching out to harass the wildlife. Viewed: 544 times. More: Dive 141

All told I did 23 dives in the 6 day liveaboard. I only skipped one possible dive because I was just too tired. The diving was quite varied and there was something for everybody. About the only structured dives were the drift dives since there is only one boat to pick people up they asked that people stay fairly close together. Otherwise the boat just attached to the mooring buoy or anchored and you could jump in whenever you were ready. In reality you could jump in whenever your tank was refilled but that was a minor annoyance most of the time.

We also did several wrecks, a couple of which were really good. The couple shore excursions such as the one at Muertos Cay were also a nice change of pace and a welcome opportunity to stand on a non-moving surface. If you didn't want to go ashore you could snorkel or take the sea kayaks for a spin.

All in all we had a great time. The crew did try hard to make sure we had a good experience. I only have one other liveaboard to compare to (Sun Dancer II in Palau) and this was definitely not as deluxe. We weren't given hot chocolate after our night dives nor handed hot towels after each dive. The other thing we did miss was the lack of a guide coming with us on most dives. The only time a member of the crew joined us was on the drift dives and he was there mostly just to hold the buoy flag.

Most the pictures below are frame grabs from my Canon Optura housed in an Amphibico MV1 housing. I brought my underwater still camera but it was so much easier to just use the video that I didn't even get it wet!

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There's that big Green Moray Eel. Viewed: 272 times. More: Dive 143	One of the Nurse Sharks got really agitated and decided it had enough of us. Viewed: 596 times. More: Dive 144	This is the first time we ran across the Hawksbill Turtle. Viewed: 227 times. More: Dive 145
It's always a pleasure to see a super colorful Queen Angelfish. Viewed: 205 times. More: Dive 146	Melanie hitches a ride on the underwater scooter. Viewed: 272 times. More: Dive 147	We've all got the Sea Fever. Viewed: 1,110 times. More: Dive 148
Close Encounters of the spongy kind? Viewed: 275 times. More: Dive 149	This still looks like something out of a science fiction movie. Viewed: 251 times. More: Dive 151

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Comments From People Like You! The Diving : Sea Fever & Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas 2001	add a comment
george&nancy 18-Apr-2007 17:51
We went to Cay Sal last spring and loved is great diving and vis. we are looking forward to returning to Cay Sal to Muertos Cay in the later month of April eairly May Great pictures thanks for sharing them.....
george&nancy ipock 18-Apr-2007 17:48
mary anne 12-May-2005 10:54
Greg-- Your pictures really showed my inner city kids what it is like on a Carribean Cay! I can't thank you enough for making them available. Even though these 7th graders live in Tampa, FL many of them have never seen the ocean. This really helped them gain some understanding.
Anonymous 21-Jan-2005 08:33
Don't go. Cay Sal sucks. There are too many bull sharks that have attacked on many occasions. Bring a shotgun. They are everywhere. Bring something to fix flesh. Shark attacks are often. Really.
Rich 11-Nov-2004 14:52
Thanks for the review on Cal Say Bank.  I'm headed out there next summer.  I hope I find more consistency in the quality of the dives than you found.  Great picts you had too!

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