tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69190855654006148942024-03-13T06:38:21.905-07:00Cold Water KittyIt's about diving. And cats.Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.comBlogger756125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-32085680075786161262022-10-03T17:33:00.036-07:002023-04-16T21:41:57.693-07:00Cordell 2022<div class="separator"><br /></div><p></p>
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<p>We haven't been to Cordell Bank since 2016, and it wasn't for lack of trying. Every year except 2020, we had a weather window set up for the project, but we never managed to have a long enough period of good weather to get the boat up to Bodega Bay, dive, and get the boat back to Monterey. So this year, we did things a bit differently. Instead of looking for a period of 4-ish days of consecutive good weather, we had a weather window on the longer side (4 weeks), and we moved the boat on the first day that the weather was good enough to move it -- making the assumption that within the rest of the 4 weeks, in the worst case, we'd have at least one day to get the boat back, and in all likelihood several good weather days to allow for diving and getting the boat back. This approach was very successful. We ended up moving the boat in the first week of the weather window, keeping the boat in Bodega Bay for two and a half weeks, and getting in 5 days of diving! <div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhokSOrkPL-cdrXRT7-iYdrK91YgtnybH6vmcJxugA04g7VOhV1EpTFA1VoiL1zsUMfV_4yxNNk868iHs8MWstg9bFI-5YGRsprufpw__6FCRL51gX3OUE2Rp0Hqnw9D3DYgH2ie0xY-7XGDy1GCB8ZsIjwIzE_xHO9KsACdm2GX2QG9t9Qv6sfaS4r/s2048/DSC_5496.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhokSOrkPL-cdrXRT7-iYdrK91YgtnybH6vmcJxugA04g7VOhV1EpTFA1VoiL1zsUMfV_4yxNNk868iHs8MWstg9bFI-5YGRsprufpw__6FCRL51gX3OUE2Rp0Hqnw9D3DYgH2ie0xY-7XGDy1GCB8ZsIjwIzE_xHO9KsACdm2GX2QG9t9Qv6sfaS4r/s320/DSC_5496.jpeg" width="320" /></a>So I'd call the new approach a success. The downside was that there was a lot of driving up and back from Bodega Bay -- I had a total of 4 trips, including the trip to pick up Rob and Jim after they delivered the boat. Also, since we were staying a couple days at a time, we didn't stay in the Bodega Bay Marine Lab Housing, and instead got AirBnb's just-in-time. This resulted in some variation in the quality of the accommodations -- the first weekend we stayed in an awesome house, the second weekend we stayed in a much less nice place, and the third weekend (which didn't end up generating any diving, due to fog), we stayed at a pretty nice place. But I think we will definitely go the AirBnb route in the future, though next time I will remember to bring my own sheep.<p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7XaL2RtlBP1JROzdQ9_Ie81ROgGW3nR5-D2gHjf4pa9dsSou6Q-Zl0j8y7tXdFHhz-jTEcTIzstwF8otLlciMUUw1JQeZIYyP8IRqEfE9elplnepNnb6if6XxxKBv9QXUi7WU3ceXKOgVldOtsI35LLeWpOkasPGwtC7-dlNsdUf0cz0teurq7byV/s2048/DSC_4993.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7XaL2RtlBP1JROzdQ9_Ie81ROgGW3nR5-D2gHjf4pa9dsSou6Q-Zl0j8y7tXdFHhz-jTEcTIzstwF8otLlciMUUw1JQeZIYyP8IRqEfE9elplnepNnb6if6XxxKBv9QXUi7WU3ceXKOgVldOtsI35LLeWpOkasPGwtC7-dlNsdUf0cz0teurq7byV/s320/DSC_4993.jpeg" width="320" /></a>This year, we were toting some extra gear on the dive. The Office of Marine Sanctuaries has been doing this project where they create 360 degree VR videos of marine sanctuaries, so they wanted us to gather footage using their camera ("the Boxfish"). The camera is a beast, and is somewhat complex to use. Nick, the NOAA keeper of the camera, came out to Monterey for a few days in August to show us how to use it.</p><p>Anyhoo, here are the reports day by day:</p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/09/cordell-2022-day-1-northern-west-ridge.html">Day 1: Northern West Ridge</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/09/cordell-2022-day-2-quillback-ridge.html">Day 2: Quillback Ridge</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/09/cordell-2022-day-3-craines-point.html">Day 3: Craine's Point</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/10/cordell-2022-day-4-back-to-northern.html">Day 4: Back to Northern West Ridge</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/10/cordell-2022-day-5-northern-east-ridge.html">Day 5: Northern East Ridge</a></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-18682649204419659122022-10-02T10:46:00.018-07:002023-04-16T21:33:33.664-07:00Cordell 2022 Day 5: Northern East Ridge<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Cdr9oHQZo9pd7vQ0Zr1CI5j8zrhqb62uod91ZpVZbx7Nh2sZL0YM35eO4zZECZBLa3cMYA-jueOdeq70VBEbX6GrpPb1jJzxLB2dDawW4t54EQCLZAImcTf_jLOyB6evs22cbMUxoQgZvllAXY-X0xiSD6YzSM9GWfGOU50F9fOX3SvsM4DsSatU/s2048/DSC_5614.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Cdr9oHQZo9pd7vQ0Zr1CI5j8zrhqb62uod91ZpVZbx7Nh2sZL0YM35eO4zZECZBLa3cMYA-jueOdeq70VBEbX6GrpPb1jJzxLB2dDawW4t54EQCLZAImcTf_jLOyB6evs22cbMUxoQgZvllAXY-X0xiSD6YzSM9GWfGOU50F9fOX3SvsM4DsSatU/s320/DSC_5614.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Today was supposed to be the flattest day of the year (by my definition anyway) according to the forecast. As we first headed out, it was flat but not spectacularly flat, and it improved as we got out to the Bank. But still not really flattest day of the year conditions. As we were setting the down line, apparently they had trouble finding the top of the structure because of a big school of fish on the depth sounder. So I was expecting that. The water looked clear from the top, and as we headed down, it was warm but not murky, but also not quite as clear as it was midwater on yesterday’s dive.<p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3oNiuOrACCryLtcGZUVHfZLiiX49XtKMmUzCL1EWCU2h0cQ43DgY_kAdKAxRbgTXviDOdJro4-OSc27gSMSj4rUR3vDPtsZob6FtQ8uhAfU5IXqiMND8eTRXof-IpJZlBDlissGHkBq14kmX0y401roug6XJE7d1BbcB-766Z3C4QFxsbJqpZGq9/s2048/DSC_5659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ3oNiuOrACCryLtcGZUVHfZLiiX49XtKMmUzCL1EWCU2h0cQ43DgY_kAdKAxRbgTXviDOdJro4-OSc27gSMSj4rUR3vDPtsZob6FtQ8uhAfU5IXqiMND8eTRXof-IpJZlBDlissGHkBq14kmX0y401roug6XJE7d1BbcB-766Z3C4QFxsbJqpZGq9/s320/DSC_5659.jpg" width="320" /></a>As we approached the structure I was a bit disappointed by the lack of schooling fish. But the viz was great and the reef was as encrusted as I remembered it. One thing I like about this spot is it has bigger heads of pink hydrocoral than the other sites on the bank. Plus tons of elephant ear sponges and corynactis. There was a bit more dark red algae than I remembered. This dive reinforced my belief that the unnamed site from last weekend was most similar to this spot. I spent a bunch of time video’ing the area around where we dropped, mostly on top of the structure. There were tons and tons of rosy rockfish, a few big yelloweyes and lots of young ones, and quite a few not-that-big lingcod.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-6-aBUy9ojxAmP_VolhtyZ_JH3mjrx-agrcgPyPfY-ntPTP5SFZ2hdWqvO0LsXve0OCoFwnKcWVdO51ZlrrChC1LDTRjQSE-aivFMg6wZTygeQgz8irzvpWTvMdsP_dDlg3jsfb9e6Hv9bGmJnP0QiLzgE1XXHBc1ha2e4T-T5YZlAmJiO0otPV1/s2048/DSC_5588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX-6-aBUy9ojxAmP_VolhtyZ_JH3mjrx-agrcgPyPfY-ntPTP5SFZ2hdWqvO0LsXve0OCoFwnKcWVdO51ZlrrChC1LDTRjQSE-aivFMg6wZTygeQgz8irzvpWTvMdsP_dDlg3jsfb9e6Hv9bGmJnP0QiLzgE1XXHBc1ha2e4T-T5YZlAmJiO0otPV1/s320/DSC_5588.jpg" width="320" /></a>At some point I followed Rob and Kevin to a different ridge to the East. On the north end, there was a big school of rockfish. Actually two schools, one of adults, one of young of year. The adult school was mostly blues, which was different. In addition to being fishy, this part of the reef was prettier. More densely covered, plus less algae. I think this is the spot we have dived previously, or at least the one I have a picture of in my head.</p><p>We had left the boxfish over on the first ridge, so at some point Rob signaled that he was going to get it. We followed him over, and only at this point did I really appreciate how insanely good the viz was! You could see the light from the boxfish across the sand channel and down the ridge. Rob picked up the boxfish and moved it to the other ridge, where I think it got some great fishy footage.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE1mKBsq3vMiGzRyUePNv8wRm-aneBISZqrrNSA9hW8gwVdKkQ9_jIxPnA6DPzyjyf2zYSD63evdgFWkBhNU86bmBoECjQZ4UA9O0h4RGDx2_FR3dTO8JiJ-N1jKkKLzYCcpSwqkt3F_HEGyWefFp09TrGbrrOjRZEQnwaTFWwQPDUpUiBi89zO6W/s2048/DSC_5621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkE1mKBsq3vMiGzRyUePNv8wRm-aneBISZqrrNSA9hW8gwVdKkQ9_jIxPnA6DPzyjyf2zYSD63evdgFWkBhNU86bmBoECjQZ4UA9O0h4RGDx2_FR3dTO8JiJ-N1jKkKLzYCcpSwqkt3F_HEGyWefFp09TrGbrrOjRZEQnwaTFWwQPDUpUiBi89zO6W/s320/DSC_5621.jpg" width="320" /></a>When it was time to go, the two teams left in pretty close proximity, in time and location. Right as we were getting ready to leave, I heard whale song and Rob signaled that he heard it too. Kevin popped the bag, and squirrellyness ensued. It was like Kevin was flying a kite, or maybe the kite was flying him. I was worried his bag was caught on the downline or the other team’s line, but there was just a strange, strong current in midwater. The other team had a similar experience. Deco was fine, but I think this was a bit annoying for Kevin. The viz wasn’t quite as crazy good on deco, so it wasn’t like you could see everything in all directions, like yesterday. There were also fewer deco critters, but there were some nice sea nettles at 20’. Rob got his camera out to take some pics (which is always nerve wracking to watch!). Unfortunately the whales that we heard did not make an appearance today.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJqVxNS9JMm7m_aRsB8FDP4ZTzXdMR9lf2co5JXBNo0eRB0m9HIBn5RVkZmwluow7B6eRdV3dHG3DTSwQm2LUKcQjrPQeOGCyCrpohMBpbbTb-0f1oNsDvLoQcPK6D2QOvZvypa7lodWL_gw6EkF87UsQUoMTMLAMGO1wYmIV7g1TeY-H1OKj2kQjH/s2048/DSC_5603.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJqVxNS9JMm7m_aRsB8FDP4ZTzXdMR9lf2co5JXBNo0eRB0m9HIBn5RVkZmwluow7B6eRdV3dHG3DTSwQm2LUKcQjrPQeOGCyCrpohMBpbbTb-0f1oNsDvLoQcPK6D2QOvZvypa7lodWL_gw6EkF87UsQUoMTMLAMGO1wYmIV7g1TeY-H1OKj2kQjH/s320/DSC_5603.jpg" width="320" /></a>At the 20’ stop I could see the water on the surface near us that was a bit stirred up from the boat. I thought that was a little strange but sometimes when it’s really flat, the boat will stay really close. When it was time to leave 20’, I looked up and realized just how calm the water was. It was so flat that we did a 5’ stop, much to Kevin and Rob’s surprise. When we hit the surface, it was definitely calmest day of the year conditions, and the boat was like 50 feet from us, just hanging out.</p><p>While we didn’t know it at time, this was our last dive at Cordell for the year, and I would say we ended on a high note!</p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihASgZpPgix-ztW13LKyQmqqfq-r19H3EVznf4gGOMwPavmssgDeHK1hWNrj8PAN6tvxde3W6eCPiOvUMp91uNYLCL38v7Zm47DBVo1JLRBKVU5LIXWXbPSRSoeSROIBuI4PDwKyvWTUTLGfsi_s974WWXo3-6w4VZQV51JaOyq61sP_WaMx2U4a01/s2048/DSC_5623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihASgZpPgix-ztW13LKyQmqqfq-r19H3EVznf4gGOMwPavmssgDeHK1hWNrj8PAN6tvxde3W6eCPiOvUMp91uNYLCL38v7Zm47DBVo1JLRBKVU5LIXWXbPSRSoeSROIBuI4PDwKyvWTUTLGfsi_s974WWXo3-6w4VZQV51JaOyq61sP_WaMx2U4a01/s320/DSC_5623.jpg" width="320" /></a>The following weekend, we attempted to dive one last day, and figured if we couldn't dive, Jim and Rob would bring the boat back, and I would bring the van back (Jim rode up in the van with us). We met up on Friday night again, and it was foggy. Saturday morning was just as foggy, and we didn't really want to try to wait it out, because if we waited too long, it would be too late to move the boat. So we called it on fog, Rob and Jim headed back to Monterey in the boat, and John, Clinton, and I went to breakfast and then hiked at Bodega Head, and then got lunch. The fog finally cleared around 1pm, so we definitely made the right call not to try to wait it out to dive. I had to drive the van back by myself (ugh), and Jim and Rob actually beat me back to Monterey!</div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-49661010397843112152022-10-01T10:37:00.022-07:002023-04-16T21:33:28.955-07:00Cordell 2022 Day 4: Back to Northern West Ridge<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_bVK60dMeq2d5PMPzjVnstJBfQWESVkDR2BdbGU6q85I-U3-HORm2X4bQCeEpnRMAigwXHWon_fV-H-VwD124UJ12MwfAKFqvruv9mCHWM5gCs5cgBYmkPQqb1r4fQj2_KtJTcPS0lQMWEPkNfDSZ7BbA-f-lJa2bTWoSfghaAHj-GoZenAu-Nco/s2048/DSC_5496.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_bVK60dMeq2d5PMPzjVnstJBfQWESVkDR2BdbGU6q85I-U3-HORm2X4bQCeEpnRMAigwXHWon_fV-H-VwD124UJ12MwfAKFqvruv9mCHWM5gCs5cgBYmkPQqb1r4fQj2_KtJTcPS0lQMWEPkNfDSZ7BbA-f-lJa2bTWoSfghaAHj-GoZenAu-Nco/s320/DSC_5496.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></div>Rather conveniently, the next flat days in the forecast was the following weekend, which made it a lot easier for everyone to make the dives. So we reconvened in Bodega Bay on Friday evening. With three successful dives under our belt this year, we decided it was okay to repeat our favorite dive site :). The water was a little swell-y on the way out but it flattened out enough by the time we got to the site. It was overcast (and cold) again, but no fog. Before we even left the surface, I could see that the viz was very good and I could see various kinds of jellyfish (sea nettles, moon jellies) quite a bit down in the water column. We headed down the line, and I was kind of expecting it to get murky at some point, but it didn’t. The water was bright and blue, and surprisingly warm, the whole way down. There was a bunch of scope on the line and at some point it flattened out and started to vibrate… a good sign that we were about to hit some current.<p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3g9TUWQ8o9Kh3QPEFNjiNZFrf1SUstvvwHof7FHRrOb9iINMTbdvL9CV2pFHlyO7tZ7NeCakSe1TLsZY9Pgn-9wAdGeBnCMceXhnl565Xox7n55sBG2-oYoXVLeAWMfVitTEyxSRWA74_d0licmv4hDhBtot1a3P5hpdIgUokIqRRQk2G5_NJCHy/s1500/DSC_5314.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3g9TUWQ8o9Kh3QPEFNjiNZFrf1SUstvvwHof7FHRrOb9iINMTbdvL9CV2pFHlyO7tZ7NeCakSe1TLsZY9Pgn-9wAdGeBnCMceXhnl565Xox7n55sBG2-oYoXVLeAWMfVitTEyxSRWA74_d0licmv4hDhBtot1a3P5hpdIgUokIqRRQk2G5_NJCHy/s320/DSC_5314.jpeg" width="213" /></a>When we got to the pinnacle, I was like… where are the fish? Uh oh. But I hopped over the first little peak, and phew, there they were. The water seemed a little chunkier than last week, but it was still very clear and very bright. In addition to the huge school of widows, there was a smaller school of juveniles. It also seemed liked there were more blues than in years past, but like years past, there were some really big blues.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmyk6B6oGj7CX56J5bjrMgn__ZyOP6I7mFek_tjaepiPzPJRZjcrnhxd3c0OfHyB8YkzZKVCQnRX9MllgQHeyGYLaU1Z0PZfLmdhUvUrR9ny7JE2VVaTQeHHGy4II8Qk5jPLoukKySNuNbd-0g_rb2uoZN4ri5VNHQmoXT2XKrUyZjc9nESDoQfmo/s1500/DSC_5288.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmyk6B6oGj7CX56J5bjrMgn__ZyOP6I7mFek_tjaepiPzPJRZjcrnhxd3c0OfHyB8YkzZKVCQnRX9MllgQHeyGYLaU1Z0PZfLmdhUvUrR9ny7JE2VVaTQeHHGy4II8Qk5jPLoukKySNuNbd-0g_rb2uoZN4ri5VNHQmoXT2XKrUyZjc9nESDoQfmo/s320/DSC_5288.jpeg" width="213" /></a>Since I felt like I got a lot of footage of the school of fish last week, I spent more time trying to capture the reef today. I can’t say I saw much that was different from last week, but a few observations… Kevin found a GPO in a crack again, and it was a huge one. But he wasn’t coming out. There were a lot of big lingcod and a lot of big yelloweyes (and plenty of little ones too!). I was thinking it’s really nice how if you just hang out on any part of the reef and want to look at a big yelloweye, you can find one :). I saw several Boccaccio but not as many big ones. I also had some fun letting the current drag me across the reef and then scootering back.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXYBEfKGeFdoi7CgF2PRj_LRJI9BmXf2IQ8Cgp9ovf5x149ZsSgVCeLaxsUKT-u8ddRCvFq0Hs9AX4EziIkeKzxj2CeM-bwMXm3_r_A3T9XlqRn5upeDzM3nh5EHUS0Psfr4HG3rvjS4EdsgB9dK8yJaZt5yknwLGTiwXpWSgfq9PiTN_1ykxqkqiS/s2048/DSC_5358.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXYBEfKGeFdoi7CgF2PRj_LRJI9BmXf2IQ8Cgp9ovf5x149ZsSgVCeLaxsUKT-u8ddRCvFq0Hs9AX4EziIkeKzxj2CeM-bwMXm3_r_A3T9XlqRn5upeDzM3nh5EHUS0Psfr4HG3rvjS4EdsgB9dK8yJaZt5yknwLGTiwXpWSgfq9PiTN_1ykxqkqiS/s320/DSC_5358.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Rob and Clinton had said they saw some mystery black and white fish on the previous dive here, and I saw what I was sure they must have seen. And I was sure it was a blue rockfish with some weird fin rot. Well maybe not fin rot, but something weird. Clinton and Rob got some pics, and I got some video, and Clinton dispatched a message to Milton and Tom about it. They both agreed it was a strangely pigmented blue or deacon rockfish. This also reminded me that there is this relatively newly described "deacon rockfish" (which I don't really know how to distinguish from a blue) and said that some of the fish in our pictures were deacon rockfish. So I will have to study the photos and videos to see some. Going to get right on that ;)</p><p>The deco was pretty chill (and warm). You could see so far and there were some interesting jellies, so Rob whipped out the boxfish and video’d for a bit.</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-12300343922430427672022-09-26T10:29:00.006-07:002023-04-16T21:33:23.746-07:00Cordell 2022 Day 3: Craine's Point<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxOUhF18AMAhZzCc767kK6RTAe5_IQzcK3CFLPQ2L1UI4RnEvBqHaTR6X0EoMw7dKZw9So069FCXjaNjRXdYE7WGqx0HGVqhaplqXZq7wn02oxuS2eKDJ-fF3xlhN7525ypWM7calraGPsuR9J283e44jM7SG7DjHROHbH9VhKn_qSib5Zywp-iDT/s2048/DSC_5232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlxOUhF18AMAhZzCc767kK6RTAe5_IQzcK3CFLPQ2L1UI4RnEvBqHaTR6X0EoMw7dKZw9So069FCXjaNjRXdYE7WGqx0HGVqhaplqXZq7wn02oxuS2eKDJ-fF3xlhN7525ypWM7calraGPsuR9J283e44jM7SG7DjHROHbH9VhKn_qSib5Zywp-iDT/s320/DSC_5232.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Today only Rob and I were diving, since the other divers had to work :(. We decided to go back to Craines Point, which was the first site we visited on the first trip to <span class="il">Cordell</span>, and we haven’t been back since. On the first visit, it was kind of dark and green, but viz was reasonably good, and there was a big school of widows. It was completely overcast but no sign of fog. It was a cold ride out.<p></p><div>When we got into the water, the viz was very good. But as we headed down the line, it very quickly got murky, and then very murky and warm. As we continued down, it was getting so murky and dark that I thought we might have to thumb the dive when we got to the bottom. Then we popped out of the layer, and it was crackling clear (but dark as night) and freezing. It felt like someone threw ice water on my face. It reminded me of a cave dive because it was so dark and clear. And there was no school of fish. We initially continued down to the wall, to around 160’, but then I headed up and over the lip to look for a spot to put the boxfish. As soon as I came over the top, I saw that there was a school of widows over the peak. I signaled to Rob and suggested he move the camera over here. He seemed to be having trouble getting it to stay where he was trying to put it, so he abandoned that spot and moved to the school of fish.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of the most notable things about this dive was the intense whale song that was going on for most of the dive. It had a sort of spooky quality to it, which went along with the dark darkness of the dive. Another notable thing — there was quite a bit of current.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYYzWLxrLdYkQ9PTdGloSkt5F2IKTUCmoxcscE0LRCRU1Q67mbjveTkg1e9a88H0yIz_b6nqDuEbIORfNI-FvToyHxCG4PjfSFaFTYl0SiohkOGag-vZp9sfLYcK2WCD8sglzPGgo_xt3Y0Y9gFCI-2RyADMyhoad440jYpmh-yDAks0bwvBW1YxY/s2048/DSC_5218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYYzWLxrLdYkQ9PTdGloSkt5F2IKTUCmoxcscE0LRCRU1Q67mbjveTkg1e9a88H0yIz_b6nqDuEbIORfNI-FvToyHxCG4PjfSFaFTYl0SiohkOGag-vZp9sfLYcK2WCD8sglzPGgo_xt3Y0Y9gFCI-2RyADMyhoad440jYpmh-yDAks0bwvBW1YxY/s320/DSC_5218.jpg" width="320" /></a>The fish did not like the light. Whether it was the boxfish or my video lights, they were just very skittish. So I had no success getting video of them. I decided to focus on getting video of the encrusting life on the reef instead. The site is kind of a plateau, with little ups and downs, which are very well encrusted, but subjectively not as pretty as the other sites at <span class="il">Cordell</span>. I think this is at least in part because the reef is more brown and less pink. There corynactis seems to be more orange, there’s a lot of that golden hydroid, and also some kind of red algae that is not very pretty. But it is still quite impressive how encrusted it is! In addition to the school of widows, there were a fair number of rosy rockfish skittering about.</div><div><br /></div><div>Given the darkness and the current (and a minor camera issue — floppy strobe arm), I only video’d for like 15 minutes and then put it away and enjoyed the dive. We eventually went down the wall a bit and explored the structure a bit. It was rather convenient to have the boxfish on top of the plateau as a beacon to return to. We could see it as we scootered around the wall, which turned out to be shaped like a horseshoe. Also, we briefly visited a little side pinnacle across a sand channel. I saw a quillback rockfish and more roseys along the side of the wall. There were also some of those holes, but less distinctly holey at the bottom of the wall in one spot.</div><div><br /></div><div>When it was time to start the ascent, I was shocked by how warm and murky the water was as soon as we got to 120’. Apparently the current also calmed down because we barely drifted on deco according to the boat crew. There weren’t any interesting sightings on deco, since the viz was terrible. A whale would have had to swim right into us for us to see it :)</div><div><br /></div><div>Although this wasn't the prettiest dive, it was quite memorable due to the whale song.</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-11130718841263150152022-09-25T10:25:00.014-07:002023-04-16T21:33:17.259-07:00Cordell 2022 Day 2: Quillback Ridge<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vMRKHXIZjLyCEEv3cwo5SrdDaVxe_SJ4XYWSqWvqPr5LKZLoKwJl7XSvGdouUg4wJVk861vONG2KqyL0UYQdJU8Lz1nPnL58y-KcG7jsLwUDHkAvE22FVBx17jNOgQKMtwmNudEOLuxSS7ZB0tXxgnq6qGJoIxRhIf0gCzV4RFCWgbYwFU-D-XBz/s2048/DSC_5085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vMRKHXIZjLyCEEv3cwo5SrdDaVxe_SJ4XYWSqWvqPr5LKZLoKwJl7XSvGdouUg4wJVk861vONG2KqyL0UYQdJU8Lz1nPnL58y-KcG7jsLwUDHkAvE22FVBx17jNOgQKMtwmNudEOLuxSS7ZB0tXxgnq6qGJoIxRhIf0gCzV4RFCWgbYwFU-D-XBz/s320/DSC_5085.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div>For the second day, we checked out a new site that Rob found on the bathymetry, and that he and Kevin did a short recon dive on the previous day. It looked big on the map, and was a sort of crescent shaped ridge coming up to 140’ or so, and dropping to a bit over 200’. It was not too far from Northern East Ridge. On the way down, the water did not seem as warm. It was pretty clear and blue on the bottom, but not as bright as the previous dive. The water was also a little schmutzy. There was a little bit of current, which seemed variable as you moved around the site. The site was more like a plateau than a pinnacle. I spent pretty much the entire dive on the plateau, with just a very brief foray down the side to about 170’.<p></p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilFPteDb7WgmUbpf_712nAIabdlETJaRNOb6Pw5F67kfe6KTmYJJff35diiCv12tt-ckusnVVSLrRPILfzdP9XG5OMKeS2dNGZH6jwl-n11uacqd3YDhtU_tjKcNZwUesxXLYaTyCf_p2cTbGgMaVeqSZnFnmTxrx5jRVhL9cTcW6-9Me6BNDSrk2b/s2048/DSC_5066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilFPteDb7WgmUbpf_712nAIabdlETJaRNOb6Pw5F67kfe6KTmYJJff35diiCv12tt-ckusnVVSLrRPILfzdP9XG5OMKeS2dNGZH6jwl-n11uacqd3YDhtU_tjKcNZwUesxXLYaTyCf_p2cTbGgMaVeqSZnFnmTxrx5jRVhL9cTcW6-9Me6BNDSrk2b/s320/DSC_5066.jpg" width="320" /></a>The first thing we noticed when we got to the structure was the lack of fish. Or at least, no big schools of fish. There was a little school of young of year around, but nothing nearly as impressive as northern west ridge. The other thing that I noticed right away was that this spot really reminded me of Northern East Ridge — different shades of pink corynactis with lots of white elephant ears sponges (covered in brown hydroids) and some biggish heads of light pink hydrocoral. There is a picture that Rob took our first year at Northern East Ridge, which is the picture in my head of that sight, and it looked so much like that.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZRYskWy_jfpag54GTpMW941HngdOmuXaLJNlT4VpMgphXrG23LN862cctFDk0w4bJnFFCAecPw7MNgYL-zMnw5T3934j_ZTMYKCCLn82Wg-SpJ_miQKwxUmZ8w4l7htsJANgCxsR11F-z6BfEh9vGCgoK0i3_UOEnRB3yJqghhhtaZdE6_rnOkQM/s2048/DSC_5101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ZRYskWy_jfpag54GTpMW941HngdOmuXaLJNlT4VpMgphXrG23LN862cctFDk0w4bJnFFCAecPw7MNgYL-zMnw5T3934j_ZTMYKCCLn82Wg-SpJ_miQKwxUmZ8w4l7htsJANgCxsR11F-z6BfEh9vGCgoK0i3_UOEnRB3yJqghhhtaZdE6_rnOkQM/s320/DSC_5101.jpg" width="320" /></a>Although there was no big impressive school of fish, there was some notable fish life. There were quite a few lingcod, though they were all relatively small. There were tons of rosy rockfish. Clinton got a picture of like twenty of them piled up in a crack. But the coolest fish pile was a group of around ten quillback rockfish hanging out in an otherwise boring flat open area. They blended in so well, it seemed like there were one or two but then your eyes would adjust to the background and more and more would appear. Definitely the most quillbacks I’ve ever seen at once!</div><div><br /></div><div>At some point, Rob pointed out one of those holes in the reef. We also briefly headed down the side to look at another quillback perched on a little ledge on the wall. The wall drop off was very vertical below us but probably only dropped another 50 feet to the sand. One other nice sighting was a siphonophore with its head attached.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBx0isUJ2PGGXstKKmMESAKTBFcPr2FIh3JVeQseFgv6sYD6cQ_khcYh_dkPTEMW5ev-cgYyn0PClWkZb6YLPdXm7bnUvimx3CBEsXJrQ-ODfL7Z7QMr6ABHdPn_CUuRdXh8En9yWn9MH_CRcPJC_AE4H_1jeM0AVnN-ibxvx1TuwVfNAjzDIrY75/s2048/DSC_5126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBx0isUJ2PGGXstKKmMESAKTBFcPr2FIh3JVeQseFgv6sYD6cQ_khcYh_dkPTEMW5ev-cgYyn0PClWkZb6YLPdXm7bnUvimx3CBEsXJrQ-ODfL7Z7QMr6ABHdPn_CUuRdXh8En9yWn9MH_CRcPJC_AE4H_1jeM0AVnN-ibxvx1TuwVfNAjzDIrY75/s320/DSC_5126.jpg" width="320" /></a>The deco did not have as dramatic of a warm layer, which was a bummer since I had a leak in my left arm. A mola passed us once on deco. It was a very nice fly by but he didn’t stick around. When we surfaced and I was scanning around looking for the boat, I saw a whale less than 100’ away. Apparently there were five whales swimming very close to our bag for most of deco. Sigh.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was Sunday, and Monday's forecast looked promising, but unfortunately several of the divers had to head back to work, and Nick had to head home. But Rob and I stuck around with Jim to try to eek out another dive on Monday.</div><div><br /></div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-24891083465960582982022-09-24T17:07:00.045-07:002023-04-16T21:33:10.473-07:00Cordell 2022 Day 1: Northern West Ridge + a Recon Dive<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LFQs9uqit0YSQLyVdj1LPseOZ6LR109DOVEspcRMjqzCd1T5vuFm71_vmrWJ9tmXIcxssrpq27xu7EjcrIAeDPN5g6mmoSyZ3V7Y9Uh2T9Th0DALk5aWHCbw97Boh397V5C4COina9fHXouPIj8jHzH1IXP1VxjruAZZzb_7FvSrkMQnszWcL8Z6/s2048/DSC_4952-Edit.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2LFQs9uqit0YSQLyVdj1LPseOZ6LR109DOVEspcRMjqzCd1T5vuFm71_vmrWJ9tmXIcxssrpq27xu7EjcrIAeDPN5g6mmoSyZ3V7Y9Uh2T9Th0DALk5aWHCbw97Boh397V5C4COina9fHXouPIj8jHzH1IXP1VxjruAZZzb_7FvSrkMQnszWcL8Z6/s320/DSC_4952-Edit.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Conveniently, the weather opened up for diving over the weekend. We all drove up on Friday afternoon, arriving at various times, and met at the AirBnB that we were sharing, which was really nice and really close to the marina. Nick from NOAA (the keeper of the Boxfish) flew out to join us for the first weekend, which was fun. I was hungry by the time we got there, and stuff closes early in Bodega Bay, so we headed back to the Fishetarian Fish Market before it closed. It was busy, full of people that didn't understand the concept of figuring out what they wanted to eat while they stood in line for 15 minutes, and had passable food (but not very good french fries). <p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJV1tLPicUDgvdUOaRXxQA1n1GDRxDfbGJxx4iTGayD0PzVx49VlqQMVeiBH1zECnal0FRBYpjtMLvcrUqk8uzN6huFd4_OrZXhKtGH5DVnV3EYg64UAYnbkWIWEx4ke4XMTmioSwHg585KTUvtduiCe_d-ioyuoYO1SOVRT57t_DkZxhwB5ihF-K/s2048/DSC_5021.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJV1tLPicUDgvdUOaRXxQA1n1GDRxDfbGJxx4iTGayD0PzVx49VlqQMVeiBH1zECnal0FRBYpjtMLvcrUqk8uzN6huFd4_OrZXhKtGH5DVnV3EYg64UAYnbkWIWEx4ke4XMTmioSwHg585KTUvtduiCe_d-ioyuoYO1SOVRT57t_DkZxhwB5ihF-K/s320/DSC_5021.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Anyway, I digress, this is not the day this post is supposed to be about! So the ride out to Cordell Bank on this day was interesting, because it was relatively rough in terms of swell. It wasn't really rough, but since we only go at Cordell when the forecast is really flat, AND we usually use the first day to move the boat, it means that by the time we get out there, we are on day 2 of a 4 day window of flat weather. So, I guess it's obvious, but the way we did it this year means that it might not be quite so flat flat when we get out there. It was still perfectly diveable, and it actually flattened out while we were in the water and was quite flat on the way in. </p><p>Since we hadn't made it to Cordell Bank in 6 years, we of course kicked off the trip at our favorite site, which is Northern West Ridge. Every time we have dived it, it has had "fish-limited visibility" at the top of the pinnacle. Aside from the little bit of swell, the conditions looked great when we got there -- no discernible current, and the viz looked great from the surface. The water was pretty warm on the way down. On the way down the line, the viz got a little murkier, from about 20 feet. At 80 or 90 feet, the line flattened out due to a little bit of current. We continued along the line and suddenly I saw a wall of brown ahead of me. As I got closer, I realized it was a huge, dense school of widow rockfish. The visibility opened up and the water felt colder (it was 49 on the bottom) as we came through the school of fish. At the top of the pinnacle, the water was super clear blue, probably around 100 feet of viz, and it was quite bright.</p><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIw1ZtV9Lnk-IreOdOdvsfg9it8_i4Vub3s9316L9NAtw-g-rU-tiQ5BYsUfKW_fI1jiUUyQVdd-AoIBYcbD4JGK7A8uY3na1CbJ8g70sdWHD3FhoD0iJlKht92UJmWp7bosHYDTfmA5TM11fGGPXMQeh9iHNc_1vh78ovoG9LPSruHa_8pvBZQTaJ/s2048/DSC_4993.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIw1ZtV9Lnk-IreOdOdvsfg9it8_i4Vub3s9316L9NAtw-g-rU-tiQ5BYsUfKW_fI1jiUUyQVdd-AoIBYcbD4JGK7A8uY3na1CbJ8g70sdWHD3FhoD0iJlKht92UJmWp7bosHYDTfmA5TM11fGGPXMQeh9iHNc_1vh78ovoG9LPSruHa_8pvBZQTaJ/s320/DSC_4993.jpeg" width="320" /></a>Rob set up the 360 camera and I got my video camera mounted on my scooter, and got some footage of the fish at the top of the reef. The top of the reef was completely engulfed in rockfish, and they did not seem bothered by the video lights. The fish were primarily widow rockfish, with the occasional olive or blue mixed in. After my camera was set up, I headed down the pinnacle to join Rob and Kevin. Kevin was at the bottom of the pinnacle, because he had followed a giant pacific octopus down there. T give an idea of the viz, I could very clearly see his tanks from 100 feet above. I passed Rob on the way down and joined Kevin at approximately 250’. I saw a quillback rockfish down there, but my camera couldn’t start running at that depth so didn’t get any footage. We headed back up to join Rob with the school of fish shallower.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rob moved the box fish several times during the dive, to different spots near the top of the pinnacle. I spent a lot of time video’ing the school of rockfish, and also did several passes around the pinnacle to document the dense invertebrate life all over it, including several different shades of corynactis, and lots of yellow and white sponges. John and Clinton found a second giant pacific octopus in a crack along the side of the pinnacle. It was not coming out, but you could clearly see it and it looked huge!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhSjt_yHU1ZCKruG5k2_W790RDeeL8uTtUPUGYxW_fW2NGKKpGEZcHzOocbQuBqXl5x9YUX-9Blgo61JcJyU-eUcHYnKdHXkvIuMI76n8OzoUbcKm5v-Ix2cH_ecfDrBJ0n1_QRoRBHq5sZekpZ4Uy5GA9zo7a7tbn9N3Jhcbp7kxakmDSUofA1TxO/s2048/DSC_4939.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhSjt_yHU1ZCKruG5k2_W790RDeeL8uTtUPUGYxW_fW2NGKKpGEZcHzOocbQuBqXl5x9YUX-9Blgo61JcJyU-eUcHYnKdHXkvIuMI76n8OzoUbcKm5v-Ix2cH_ecfDrBJ0n1_QRoRBHq5sZekpZ4Uy5GA9zo7a7tbn9N3Jhcbp7kxakmDSUofA1TxO/s320/DSC_4939.jpeg" width="320" /></a>In addition to the schooling rockfish, there were some nice bigger fish around. I saw several very big yelloweyes and big Boccaccio. There is a crack that goes down one side of the reef starting from the top where two really big Boccaccio were hanging out. I remember the same crack from previously years, also being a spot where some of the bigger fish hung out. One of the Boccaccio had a black splotch on its side, which we have seen before at Italian Ledge (and Tom Laidig explained to us… I think it’s some kind of fungus). Anyhoo, I made sure to get some video of that. I saw one other big big fish by that crack. It was silver and not a rockfish. It was tall and skinny. Kevin saw it too and described it as a tuna-looking thing. For some reason I did not get video of it, which was dumb. Maybe the box fish caught it. There were some relatively big lingcod around too.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVPeVm4qkQ05o34QNiH8j12p5i7bx81_tKgo4FVkgcVFent4nlyRDK3KTN6yskpcQ5zBVYM6v4Av4VYEc1lSMys4opNUayyvH-Oec4yWyyQQZBh6X0HLioZHLHwQ3_mOFnMshxtU5zbWO7HIray_ziEla6iBIdt1UX92i_vLulMTjmE-E-R58UEHb/s2048/DSC_4897.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVPeVm4qkQ05o34QNiH8j12p5i7bx81_tKgo4FVkgcVFent4nlyRDK3KTN6yskpcQ5zBVYM6v4Av4VYEc1lSMys4opNUayyvH-Oec4yWyyQQZBh6X0HLioZHLHwQ3_mOFnMshxtU5zbWO7HIray_ziEla6iBIdt1UX92i_vLulMTjmE-E-R58UEHb/s320/DSC_4897.jpeg" width="320" /></a>When it was time to go, we shot our bag and headed up. From about 70’ up, the water was noticeably warmer, and got to 57 degrees at some point. We didn’t see too much on deco, but there were a few <i>Leucothea pulchra</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>After the first dive, Rob and Kevin did a short recon dive on a new potential site, which they said looked good, so we decided to dive it tomorrow.</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div><div>The ride back in was flatter than the ride out. After we got back to the dock, we headed to <a href="http://fishermanscovebodegabay.com">Fisherman's Cove</a> for lunch, which is pretty much where we always go for lunch after a dive at Cordell.</div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-76610511626961175232022-03-20T22:26:00.001-07:002022-12-28T22:57:28.280-08:00Winter Big Sur Diving<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/682675954" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></div>
<p>We had a crazy good winter diving season, which included 4 tech trips to Big Sur, of which 3 were back to back weekends. It was really unusual, and because we made it down there so many times in such a short period, we were more willing to take a chance on something new. On one trip (to Sur 20), Rob and Kevin did a short second dive to check out a mark that Rob found on the bathymetry. They found a site that was actually worth diving, so the following weekend, we went back. The structure there had really interesting formations that caused us to name the site Funnel Cakes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/671523720" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></div>
<p>Anyhoo, since I also got new video lights relatively recently, I was actually shooting video on all four dives, and I put together not one, but two videos from these dives -- at Sur 19, Sur 20, Funnel Cakes, and Sur 19 again.</p><p>In addition to making it down to Big Sur a lot this winter, it was also a great winter in the sense that we only cancelled one boat due to weather, and I think I did not dive in the bay at all!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1-GfCFC2FZzyagXnrbkfLfMgdZ6Wx5vU2nYl4uIBSuf2pmlXflYQ5OW-aNOWDD07QDBen5jjvBzlYV4piJHmkDjU8C8bDSQ5Q1h43cuNc5b_U2jYPrNAL3KJkWNGN2ObuyhtubvYXSY0ROYOtTeqeQZ4EFaiCRe3ZTpIZHCAi-ZkRfHep3T6yqxS/s4032/funnel-cake-rock-formations.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC1-GfCFC2FZzyagXnrbkfLfMgdZ6Wx5vU2nYl4uIBSuf2pmlXflYQ5OW-aNOWDD07QDBen5jjvBzlYV4piJHmkDjU8C8bDSQ5Q1h43cuNc5b_U2jYPrNAL3KJkWNGN2ObuyhtubvYXSY0ROYOtTeqeQZ4EFaiCRe3ZTpIZHCAi-ZkRfHep3T6yqxS/s320/funnel-cake-rock-formations.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div>At the time of the dive at Funnel Cakes, the formations seemed really unusual to me; it was like nothing that I'd seen underwater before. But then a week or so later, Rob and I were heading down to Garrapata State Park for. a hike, which we do *all the time* when I noticed that these kinds of formations appear all along the coast down there, and all along the side of highway 1 as you are approaching that area. So okay, maybe not that unusual :)<p></p><div><br /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-14288424750325154912022-01-05T13:31:00.029-08:002022-02-20T21:02:35.603-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: New Year's 2022<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL9fj3oJyGNPsnazCaKueh1n_GkpFjh8sduDZOM5JBhAgAF0q2tplafx_bdOVRjJ-n_k7XgdatOHQIOuerIo3fd373fl9GHpaLAQktPVdl4dwaRGH_RJwOWwgHyk3UMSo6iYJVADRK6Ck4xQtKiWIqBMyIa4fyoJVGwKnDyz-yzDsPa1o_qKsYiA2d=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL9fj3oJyGNPsnazCaKueh1n_GkpFjh8sduDZOM5JBhAgAF0q2tplafx_bdOVRjJ-n_k7XgdatOHQIOuerIo3fd373fl9GHpaLAQktPVdl4dwaRGH_RJwOWwgHyk3UMSo6iYJVADRK6Ck4xQtKiWIqBMyIa4fyoJVGwKnDyz-yzDsPa1o_qKsYiA2d=s320" width="320" /></a></div>When we heard that Fiji was reopening in December, we almost immediately booked a trip there for over New Year's. It was the one place we had most closely been waiting to reopen so we could go there and dive. After our last trip to Fiji, I decided that the ideal next trip would be a week on the Nai'a and then a week land-based on Taveuni (so we could dive Rainbow Reef a lot). Since the Nai'a wasn't reopened yet, we had to settle for just the week on Taveuni :). Based on (not that) extensive internet research and the limited selection that was available, we stayed at Paradise Taveuni, which was very nice. Details are in the play-by-play posts below.<p></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-getting-there-and-back.html"></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrgYYpjw8nX7WU_5tMA02xG0VrN0ttqnZnWA8k-L-xhyjdZPnzSIzNXNOv8Lyk50pm3NAf5ZmX1F1J9M3gZWaLX8BrP_uoX_tTijeLeUkJPYHSNamSJzHPGsoRCOaqHLzduP_8TxmTaPmoX3b8VpL-L_YWfIOXmZoInwD-dxgOnLVs4x8yLAI8T-xh=s4032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrgYYpjw8nX7WU_5tMA02xG0VrN0ttqnZnWA8k-L-xhyjdZPnzSIzNXNOv8Lyk50pm3NAf5ZmX1F1J9M3gZWaLX8BrP_uoX_tTijeLeUkJPYHSNamSJzHPGsoRCOaqHLzduP_8TxmTaPmoX3b8VpL-L_YWfIOXmZoInwD-dxgOnLVs4x8yLAI8T-xh=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-getting-there-and-back.html">Taveuni: Getting There and Back</a><p></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-paradise-taveuni.html">Taveuni: Paradise Taveuni</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-day-1.html">Taveuni: Day 1</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-day-2.html">Taveuni: Day 2</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-day-3.html">Taveuni: Day 3</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2021/12/taveuni-fiji-day-4.html">Taveuni: Day 4</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/01/taveuni-fiji-day-5.html">Taveuni: Day 5</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/01/taveuni-fiji-day-6.html">Taveuni: Day 6</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2022/01/taveuni-fiji-day-7.html">Taveuni: Day 7</a></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-27876815363290865402022-01-03T20:10:00.025-08:002022-02-20T20:57:38.993-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 7<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDYkIxcyb0N4LnjbwUGFRh6tjunSKae74YbbZVnsFy1J4ykpbwPVKSEUVQu3P6Qo0aqNUDK0beJlEvfXx5T-XhZONQlpl0c1f2dbMLwnGUhP0D2RVz5IsgGCt9_SzHCdGBlRX7jyks7owaxH3-G6dUkTOs0t6zgqMoMS9wgWllzefpuCaIusVFbMW2=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDYkIxcyb0N4LnjbwUGFRh6tjunSKae74YbbZVnsFy1J4ykpbwPVKSEUVQu3P6Qo0aqNUDK0beJlEvfXx5T-XhZONQlpl0c1f2dbMLwnGUhP0D2RVz5IsgGCt9_SzHCdGBlRX7jyks7owaxH3-G6dUkTOs0t6zgqMoMS9wgWllzefpuCaIusVFbMW2=s320" width="213" /></a></div>We were supposed to do a 3 tank trip to Rainbow Reef on the small boat (there were just four of us), but for some reason the plan was changed to instead do two dives in the morning at Rainbow Reef and do a separate third dive in the afternoon. We were leaving at 7, so we had to get up a bit early, though in reality I've been waking up at like 5am all week anyway, so it just meant I had to actually get out of bed and leave the room earlier than usual. I had French toast for breakfast, which was predictably a mistake, because I was hungry while we were diving, due to the all-carb breakfast. On the plus side, there was mango AND coconut on the fruit plate this morning.<p></p><p>So we headed out to Rainbow Reef, and the water was dead flat, so we went very fast and made the best time we've made all week. It took like 20 or so minutes to get out there, and it was a very comfortable ride. As I mentioned, there were only 4 divers (Rob and me, plus two guys named Dave and Rick who we'd been on the boat with all week), and we posited that the fast ride was a combination of the flat seas, lighter load, and we had a different captain (Kim) who seemed more willing to use the full range of throttle positions :P Once we got out there, we discussed where to dive, and Dave (I think) mentioned Fish Factory, which was a site that had been discussed earlier in the week, which he'd dived on previous trips and really liked. Given the name, it seemed like a promising site.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi27EnjK1vYS6faDDzQEJDghbBCT8i2_Kycn9J5KdxA53mr-wwIxTfE81su99N9hYRRR2qYgljslC2fYjm1NxVa0OG9fdjtEyob4IC6BScStWru9AecAlTWtwPYO5bWLDGeROwTasdARL01kfcyj9KjX_nDga3r7Cobpqms0QNmJ_TbOMvUAFPs7vbu=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi27EnjK1vYS6faDDzQEJDghbBCT8i2_Kycn9J5KdxA53mr-wwIxTfE81su99N9hYRRR2qYgljslC2fYjm1NxVa0OG9fdjtEyob4IC6BScStWru9AecAlTWtwPYO5bWLDGeROwTasdARL01kfcyj9KjX_nDga3r7Cobpqms0QNmJ_TbOMvUAFPs7vbu=s320" width="320" /></a>We were diving with Christine as our guide today. She gave very clear, thorough briefin. Basically there was an area with a pinnacle from about 60 to 100+ feet with a lot of fish on it. She mentioned anthias of many colors, and anemonefish. And a combination of hard and soft corals. The site did have a ton of fish, but the coral was in pretty bad condition. I guess it was damaged in the last cyclone, as Dave said it used to be a completely different site. So while we did see huge schools of anthias, the backdrop was not that photogenic, so overall I thought it was kind of a dud of a dive.</p><p>After that dive, since it was our last day of diving and we really wanted to see more soft corals, we basically got to pick where to go. There were a couple of possibilities given the current state of the tide, and we decided to go back to Jerry's Jelly, since we really liked it last time. (Dave and Rick had both been on the previous dive there too, and did not have a great time due to the current, but they were kind enough to let us go there anyway. Christine again gave a very clear and thorough briefing and I think they both had a great time this time around, since there was more of a plan related to dealing with the current). One thing that Christine mentioned in the briefing was the possibility of down currents when we left the reef for our safety stop. She said if we saw our bubbles going down, not up, to swim away from the reef to get out of the down current. Cue foreboding music now.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj670bz3p32WBDc6W-ldF752jL5KkS_gXQ4gVj8c2gb7796AELCrV_Se43MZ8TfrwdorzGyLxbpdL4G1BU80xpMu7WpU75Iol0wvO5h5E15W2J_Vg_C8hlqmTcheCrO2mpmyXfN5qwDXYKvPJk_5ZzFLdJwJg2Inkx7yRYjwN-PP566A0rglLOPx_gI=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj670bz3p32WBDc6W-ldF752jL5KkS_gXQ4gVj8c2gb7796AELCrV_Se43MZ8TfrwdorzGyLxbpdL4G1BU80xpMu7WpU75Iol0wvO5h5E15W2J_Vg_C8hlqmTcheCrO2mpmyXfN5qwDXYKvPJk_5ZzFLdJwJg2Inkx7yRYjwN-PP566A0rglLOPx_gI=s320" width="320" /></a>The plan was to spend 15 minutes or so around the "jellyfish" bommie, then cross over to the other side of the reef and drift back along there, possibly ending up at Rainbow's End (I think we did in fact end up there, but I can't distinguish the various sites well enough to say... but it definitely had a similar look). I thought that the current at the bommies at the beginning of the dive was not as bad as it was on the previous dive, but Rob thought it was worse, and said there were spots he could photograph last time that he couldn't today. So who knows. But I spent more time on the main jellyfish bommie and less time on the other ones near it, because the other ones seemed to not have quite as much stuff going on (open soft corals, anthias). After maybe 20 minutes hanging out there, we headed to the crossover point.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgligRwu5ZR1lA5Astal9maWfKNtflsEzAuNJIaahhksRVZRx0h77BcIB7Z6r1V2RnrIm8FRpehRXOSAc4dAInVZlrDcdX5ghyctELs0jT0C_tZBfczhL5_JNcVQAuXOVTTLW5fOKUWwH63IOTh6FG_rDkFcQQY7kNaIjMviEOyBTYwFcwwEFHRHwDq=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgligRwu5ZR1lA5Astal9maWfKNtflsEzAuNJIaahhksRVZRx0h77BcIB7Z6r1V2RnrIm8FRpehRXOSAc4dAInVZlrDcdX5ghyctELs0jT0C_tZBfczhL5_JNcVQAuXOVTTLW5fOKUWwH63IOTh6FG_rDkFcQQY7kNaIjMviEOyBTYwFcwwEFHRHwDq=s320" width="320" /></a>This time around, I knew what was coming, so I got my camera out and just started videoing as we went flying across the reef. There was so much current that my light arm got pushed into a different position by the current, hehehe. Near the beginning of the crossover, we zoomed past a rock with some really nice, really open soft corals, which I managed to at least point my camera at, and which I knew Rob would not be able to resist trying to photograph. But there was no way I was going to hold station in that current, so I had to leave him behind :). The fish in that crossover section were hilarious, there was tons and tons of them streaming across the reef in a line and above the line of fish, there'd be a cloud of fish that got knocked back by the current. It was quite strange to watch. Eventually we made it to the other side of the reef and the ride settled down. Just on the other side of the reef, we saw a turtle. Yay! Last time, we saw a white tip shark there, so I guess it's a good spot to look for big stuff.</p><p>We then drifted back in the direction we'd come from, on the other side of the reef. I don't know if this section of reef is technically Rainbow's End, but it looks a lot like it, though we were going in reverse. There are scattered coral heads with tons of soft coral on them, and zillions and zillions of little fish all along the reef. It was a fun ride. At some point Rob hung back and was taking pictures, so I turned around and faced into the current and finned to stay where I was, while I waited, and waited, and waited. I finally (after 5+ minutes) signaled to Rob and told him we were moving. I wanted to enjoy the ride in the current, and Rob was annoying me. So I was hanging with Christine, with the others just a little bit in front of us, and once again, Rob fell behind (plus he was down at the bottom of the slope for some reason), and I had to swim into the current to find him. Eye roll.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8B1lMaxSwMbP90OmgfWoUOOd32tfW1cRUv_pndZcdHlY55lWq32k5g52wsw02hmbIzXjlxGUIFmHobk6y4GBH1Ix_-pTfSS88OVIULPz2i19l8jekruV-s9BRdykUuEfYpIkFCUtGOIOhIG28KK79oG2crGG0cCk74kmX0dVKLUPVnbGc-L9WphBg=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8B1lMaxSwMbP90OmgfWoUOOd32tfW1cRUv_pndZcdHlY55lWq32k5g52wsw02hmbIzXjlxGUIFmHobk6y4GBH1Ix_-pTfSS88OVIULPz2i19l8jekruV-s9BRdykUuEfYpIkFCUtGOIOhIG28KK79oG2crGG0cCk74kmX0dVKLUPVnbGc-L9WphBg=s320" width="320" /></a>It was past time to start our ascent, so Christine signaled to head to our safety stop and we swam off of the reef and headed up. Sort of. I wouldn't say that there was a dramatic downcurrent or anything, but I was definitely having trouble getting from 30 feet to 20 feet and when I looked Dave and Rick, their bubbles weren't going down, but they weren't going up either. They were sort of spiraling around in the 5 feet above and below them. It was intriguing. Just as I noticed that, I also noticed that I was no longer at 20 feet, hehe. It was nothing that a little air in the wing and attention to our depth couldn't solve. As we were ascending back up to 20 from our downward bobble, Rob swam over to me and gave me this "come here" hand signal and swam right up to me and was reaching out toward me. I thought he was trying to fix something on my gear, which annoyed me, because while trying to swim out of a downcurrent really did not seem to be the time for Rob to doink with my gear. So I kind of pushed his hand away, and after a brief exchange I realized he wanted my long hose. Ahhhh. Way to give an unambiguous sign that he needed to share gas! Okay so I deployed my long hose and we headed up from our 20 foot stop to 10 feet. As soon as I whipped out my long hose, Rick was practically on top of Rob to make sure everything was okay, which was very nice. Everything went fine, and when we finished our 10 foot stop and I signaled to ascend, Rob insisted on switching back onto his gas. This annoyed me, as it seemed to just make things more complicated for no reason. Of course right after he switched off of my long hose, he dropped to 15 feet, and I was like -- great, do I need to go down there and donate gas again (giant eye roll). We headed up to the surface, and Rob got an earful about both his ambiguous signal for my long hose and going off of it before we got to the surface. I think he needs a fundies refresher.</p><p>That all probably sounded pretty dramatic, but it was like 90 seconds of an hour long dive, and 60 seconds of it was us hanging out at 10 feet sharing gas.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgJ7E3d4iB27S8lggdd-FbVIGjZ6_SPDLe3WDpg3lGeLwJo-n2a-RDMgLpbyvGj1um5MHxXNlhu9nlk66wmgNeYfGSvDjOQ7YABojnVb89-q_41l0cmGU5iR97mHu70tD-3BTJ-R9u1dtG85SFA8hggAWIOtELRAIpE5NMXxaxLYnu1sG06-HBY0Ji=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgJ7E3d4iB27S8lggdd-FbVIGjZ6_SPDLe3WDpg3lGeLwJo-n2a-RDMgLpbyvGj1um5MHxXNlhu9nlk66wmgNeYfGSvDjOQ7YABojnVb89-q_41l0cmGU5iR97mHu70tD-3BTJ-R9u1dtG85SFA8hggAWIOtELRAIpE5NMXxaxLYnu1sG06-HBY0Ji=s320" width="213" /></a>After lunch, we headed back out to Vuna Reef, and got our pick of what site to go to. Since we really liked the mini white wall at The Stairs, we asked to go back there. I was kind of expecting this to be a disappointment of a dive after the awesome dive this morning, but it turned out to be a great dive! First, the mini white wall did not disappoint. We had fun hanging around in and under the ledge again. But more importantly, Christine made some very good macro finds. We saw both of the purple aeolids that I love, which was a nice way to wrap up the dive. But the find of the dive was... drum roll... a pygmy seahorse! She got my attention and I swam over and she was pointing to a little white coil on some hydroids. At first I thought it was nudibranch eggs, and was expecting there to be a nudibranch there. But it was actually the tail of the seahorse -- a tiny white pygmy seahorse. He flapped a bit in the moving water and unveiled himself. Then he took off swimming! By the time that Rob appeared, he had landed on some little green algae leaves, which I think are what the seahorses on the house reef supposedly lived on. Now I could see how one of those seahorses could hide in that algae. Considering that Rob had been looking for a pygmy seahorse the entire trip, it seemed like a good last dive of the trip.</p><p>After the dive, Rob said that the seahorse didn't look anything like what he was looking for. I told him that I knew that the pygmy seahorses in Fiji looked different than the ones in the Philippines and lived on different things, and since I couldn't remember what they looked like, I figured I had no hope of finding one, so wasn't even looking. Apparently he did not remember that they looked different. Doh. I think this one is Pontoh's pygmy seahorse (<i>Hippocampus pontohi</i>). There are some nice pictures of the various species <a href="https://oceanrealmimages.com/pygmy-seahorses/species/">here</a>. I think the ones in the Philippines are cuter (is that mean?).</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-47489672129872815662022-01-02T19:52:00.006-08:002022-02-20T21:17:40.580-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 6<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixHV0G3QZPcEUN_X121ZcH5uUk8XPm_55ujtVbufGRq7i5Gaco023DwgIvSqCpzc710FJgS_Xy5e6UYIfERIiB-sQbljHqUQiXaqxrdGj7U633AhhGDhLLP9XQRgETbKaWD-4Vy3UyPNu9We-iN1p-nEn-0W2myPBXrA-WiDQQTDdMdsoBEb0M74RS=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixHV0G3QZPcEUN_X121ZcH5uUk8XPm_55ujtVbufGRq7i5Gaco023DwgIvSqCpzc710FJgS_Xy5e6UYIfERIiB-sQbljHqUQiXaqxrdGj7U633AhhGDhLLP9XQRgETbKaWD-4Vy3UyPNu9We-iN1p-nEn-0W2myPBXrA-WiDQQTDdMdsoBEb0M74RS=s320" width="320" /></a>It was really windy in the morning, and there was talk of it being too rough to go out in the afternoon/evening, but it ended up being crazy flat on the water for all three dives. After breakfast, we headed over to Rainbow Reef on the big boat. I think we made the best time yet getting over there, because it was so flat. It was really cloudy over Taveuni, but over the reef and Vanua Levu, it was sunny. For our first dive, we went to Purple Wall. We dove in two teams, and Rob and I were diving alone with a guide (Dee). We'd been there before, but not when the current was running, so we saw the purple fans and gorgonians on the wall, but not a lot of the soft corals were open. Today, the current was running, so we should see the soft corals too. It was an awesome dive! I told Rob afterward that I thought it might have been the best dive yet of the trip (he begged to differ -- I think he liked yesterday's dive at Jerry's Jelly better).</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwdHzWyIkgTOOGANbAzEbx35PmtdsUBsecAivh8eceghv9x-hJps3e_rOEN4SAwir6VRZEva6AEt6k3wbxlpHs-ba83wavKRbmd3fYgoe09Y_hOY9MJk1bq5aGBrOsrp6yjJSMsXMrwuXOcMmdu5KxFlbTHv74cqh2UuuWRsyUxWXK7WssuReHyqxx=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwdHzWyIkgTOOGANbAzEbx35PmtdsUBsecAivh8eceghv9x-hJps3e_rOEN4SAwir6VRZEva6AEt6k3wbxlpHs-ba83wavKRbmd3fYgoe09Y_hOY9MJk1bq5aGBrOsrp6yjJSMsXMrwuXOcMmdu5KxFlbTHv74cqh2UuuWRsyUxWXK7WssuReHyqxx=s320" width="320" /></a>The current was quite strong and on the purple section of wall, near the top, there were tons of soft corals that were open. They were mostly purple with some white and the occasional pink. Some of the spots with soft coral had small reef fish darting around, but there weren't *that* many anthias and such (which is why Rob didn't think it was as good as Jerry's Jelly). We stayed on that section of the wall for almost 30 minutes, drifting down current, then swimming back to the beginning to get more photos and video. The current was strong, but there were little outcroppings that you could hide/rest behind when you needed to. Eventually I suggested to Rob that we go down the wall a little and drift past it one final time, and then we continued on from there. The reef kind of petered out and then we crossed over a finger sticking out in the deep (as discussed in our briefing). At this point, Dee thumbed the dive, earlier than expected. I didn't know if it was because she wanted us to ascend there or what. But once we got to our safety stop, we drifted over the rest of the group, who were still on the reef. Apparently there was another really cool section with some white and purple soft corals that we missed, grumble.</p><p>As I mentioned, I thought that was a super awesome dive. However, most of the other people on the boat were not as happy to dive in high current as we were, so we didn't get to do another awesome soft coral dive for the second dive (grumble). We went to a site which I think was called Nuku Reef, though I may have gotten the name wrong. This was described as having a combination of hard and soft corals. We'd go to the end and then circle back up the reef for our safety stop, before drifting off into the deep for the pickup. The reef here was really not that great, as Rainbow Reef dives go, though there were a lot of fish. The hard coral was in really bad shape in sections, and while there was the occasional soft coral, there weren't really any spots with tons of soft corals. There was also a decent amount of current, so I'm not sure why we couldn't have gone to a better site if we were going to dive in current anyway :). The fish life was impressive, tons of anthias, some barracudas off of the reef, but it was not my favorite dive.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZhodUb0C3MlLr90cathPxO0XbEsPX_2DfMenyKkit1wzS44QbK2HrYHGbDvrQ2ngVvPysl_hE37ppVolqW1DFHwa2Qpe_gsJUVQOhs9lKEkaEyEr-ySN4nypLKnus6n6DxToiLfRJ13_FOLdhNFilZrcqn5r52bxLX-yH8L_wUG3dmqt8wCQKhLsn=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZhodUb0C3MlLr90cathPxO0XbEsPX_2DfMenyKkit1wzS44QbK2HrYHGbDvrQ2ngVvPysl_hE37ppVolqW1DFHwa2Qpe_gsJUVQOhs9lKEkaEyEr-ySN4nypLKnus6n6DxToiLfRJ13_FOLdhNFilZrcqn5r52bxLX-yH8L_wUG3dmqt8wCQKhLsn=s320" width="320" /></a>After lunch (we both had kokoda, yum!) and a micro-nap, we headed back out to a site just north of the resort, whose name I didn't catch. Rob was shooting macro, so we were looking for critters. The site was described as three rock fingers pointing out into the deep, and the current was running south, so we'd just work our way over/around the fingers. It was a bit of a fail as far as macro dives go, but it was fun to look for stuff. We got separated from the group pretty quickly, and I found a whopping one nudibranch the whole dive (a bumpy dorid, and a boring one at that). Before we managed to get separated, one of the other divers, Rick, pointed out a green moray eel sticking out of a hole, and that may have been the highlight of the dive :P. Rob found a pretty big octopus in a hole, but it was really in a hole, so not photo or video worthy. When it was time to ascend, I shot a bag since we'd gotten separated and were drifting in current. It was my hot pink bag, which Kevin gave to me a while ago, but I have never actually shot before! It performed admirably.</p><p>We managed to find a guide to go night diving tonight, Oscar, so we headed out a little before sundown. We headed down the slope and of course Rob spent half of the dive looking for a Pygmy seahorse (more on that later). Well he didn't say that's what he was looking for, but I know that's what he was doing. We made some good finds on the dive. I made one *really* good find, which was a super exotic looking frog fish of some kind. He was scurrying across the reef and there is absolutely no way I would have been able to pick him out on the reef if he weren't moving. It was red and orange and really warty/frilly looking, and I wasn't even sure it was a frog fish until I saw it reach its spindly little frog leg out to step across the reef. But it was so cool! I looked at an ID book and my best guess is a freckled frogfish (<i>Antennarius coccineus</i>).</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiva_YfYNIIpUr6GU3WxcR_dIm3xsvstm6SQdlFSL1ut-6wLopuqhty1YJU9kIdHg-xryJSmbPa-qFJvZTVccuKkeEwh3fJ2NUL_QjyaUv7ylbnDKAbitMz1nsi7hnbGZF6VQjE_6gsw39XI13LyZQi9zZP-wDBr_8eppoH8DBBiEaIwZPN1azgqdke=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiva_YfYNIIpUr6GU3WxcR_dIm3xsvstm6SQdlFSL1ut-6wLopuqhty1YJU9kIdHg-xryJSmbPa-qFJvZTVccuKkeEwh3fJ2NUL_QjyaUv7ylbnDKAbitMz1nsi7hnbGZF6VQjE_6gsw39XI13LyZQi9zZP-wDBr_8eppoH8DBBiEaIwZPN1azgqdke=s320" width="320" /></a>But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before I made the find of the day (maybe the trip), we did see some other nice critters. First, we saw a few of these weird lionfish variants that have these long nostril poker thingies sticking out in from of them. I think it is a twinspot lionfish (<i>Dendrochirus biocellatus</i>). We saw one on our other night dive (but it was in a hole, so I didn't get an unobstructed view) and I could tell it was super awesome but didn't know what it was. Rob said he thought it was some kind of lionfish (or maybe a baby lionfish, I can't remember). On this dive, we saw at least three and at least two of them were out in full view; one was the first thing that Oscar found after we descended. I asked Oscar after the dive what they were and he said some kind of lion fish, maybe people call them "butterfly lionfish" but googling didn't really turn anything up by that name. But perusing an ID book, it looks very much like, and only like, the twinspot lionfish.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjccDsGDCEqtO3w7iw3fGWfk6MxNWLss8iCM4StsqnUEAZ5tDadPmCzrPPGmMJSV2DCQV8ItFAGMi3ytOvGU9jUFhb4TEApLt9m9f451w1730BD3gfce59IWiOIkF0gK57W-48dct0IjpSaFh3FgdE488ZKfqgPzjwvtEftVVIywcSs5yvBzl2u-4G7=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjccDsGDCEqtO3w7iw3fGWfk6MxNWLss8iCM4StsqnUEAZ5tDadPmCzrPPGmMJSV2DCQV8ItFAGMi3ytOvGU9jUFhb4TEApLt9m9f451w1730BD3gfce59IWiOIkF0gK57W-48dct0IjpSaFh3FgdE488ZKfqgPzjwvtEftVVIywcSs5yvBzl2u-4G7=s320" width="320" /></a></div>Other than that, I made one other nice find, which was an itty bitty slug. It was so small that while I was pretty sure it was a slug, I wasn't sure if it was a nudibranch or not, I could basically just discern what I thought were black rhinophores on a mostly white body. Rob got a picture of it and thinks it is some kind of sap sucking slug. So probably a non-nudibranch slug. It looks a bit disheveled in the picture, possibly due to my double-ender inspection to determine if it was really a slug. Whoops. Aside from that, we saw one of the blue ribbon eels, a couple of nudis of varying coolness, and lots of shrimps.<p></p><p>After the dive we headed to dinner. It was "roast night" which entailed a plate of various meats (pork, beef, chicken), a baked potato and a big pile of veggies. Yum. I was least excited about the chicken but I think it was actually the tastiest of the meats. But they were all tasty. For dessert, we had chocolate mousse, which was more like a dense chocolate pudding than a mousse, but in any case it was delicious!</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-56061531573257332502022-01-01T12:10:00.002-08:002022-02-20T20:57:35.527-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 5<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgazRijTzhUuNnBtcJyzWrgoGxgGtLt6sQejnyRDwi59AqyrG6Ha_MASu0OZwgolb3dxFOOwg5VnSqHlJhFS39nAK0TsuXFQPNM1RbZQD7dR7nFoul7zCyRZxBXzr3MoPMqisfx9b-GWUOHgUpLDT3dXtzXw8FEIg27x6NZd9H9eVCdjmFher4a0KGg=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgazRijTzhUuNnBtcJyzWrgoGxgGtLt6sQejnyRDwi59AqyrG6Ha_MASu0OZwgolb3dxFOOwg5VnSqHlJhFS39nAK0TsuXFQPNM1RbZQD7dR7nFoul7zCyRZxBXzr3MoPMqisfx9b-GWUOHgUpLDT3dXtzXw8FEIg27x6NZd9H9eVCdjmFher4a0KGg=s320" width="320" /></a></div></div>I was too lazy to write about this day on the same day (but I did take notes), so you get a somewhat abbreviated post for today. I had muesli for breakfast, which was actually a bit sweet for my tastes.<p></p><p>In the morning, we did two dives at Rainbow Reef. The first dive was awesome, one of my favorite dives of the trip. It was at Jerry's Jelly, which is named because if a bommie that looks like a jellyfish. It is dome shaped with a horizontal cutoff going through it, and white soft corals hanging down over the opening. The site had crazy current, but of course that also meant amazing soft corals and tons of little fish darting around on top of the soft corals. At the beginning of the dive, in addition to the jellyfish bommie, there were a couple of other reasonably-sized structures that were just downcurrent of the jellyfish bommie. We spent probably like 30 minutes in that area, hiding behind the structures to get a break from the current, then swimming upcurrent to enjoy the soft corals and anthias again, and then drifting back behind them.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3OOZg0O-HNdkGSdmeNAmisxV4qKTDqSZs6akd14oOPlX6FvHeZ-haU4m-RtiG3qsGVzxJNXBw5wni74f_eZNwaKbkKJKk5uoYLNLEYw7LSYGVz1X8GH-1elW8sUWd9F30mkqMJbbOEhQBwS6NH2Y1FiDGkRRbrrlnNlx_g9AiU5zpOqa8gcMnldMs=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3OOZg0O-HNdkGSdmeNAmisxV4qKTDqSZs6akd14oOPlX6FvHeZ-haU4m-RtiG3qsGVzxJNXBw5wni74f_eZNwaKbkKJKk5uoYLNLEYw7LSYGVz1X8GH-1elW8sUWd9F30mkqMJbbOEhQBwS6NH2Y1FiDGkRRbrrlnNlx_g9AiU5zpOqa8gcMnldMs=s320" width="320" /></a>While we were in that area, Soni was hanging around on some smaller outlying rocks, and he found two leaf scorpionfish and a blue ribbon eel. Nice finds in general, but especially in crazy current! When we finished up in that area, we drifted down the reef a bit and then not too far from the bommies, we crossed over the top of the reef, which was a wild ride, with tons of little fish everywhere. We got spit out on the other side of the reef, in the relative calm. A whitetip reef shark swam by right on the other side of the reef. By this point, it was about time to go, so we didn't really explore the other side of the reef.</p><p>The other group on the boat was a bit traumatized by the current on the dive, and so they wanted to do a lower current dive for the second dive. (Boo!). We went to The Zoo, which we'd been to earlier in the week. For the first half of the dive, I was a bit annoyed that we were wasting a dive on Rainbow Reef at this site because people don't like current. Why would you go to Rainbow Reef if you don't want to dive in current? Anyway, the site does have good variety overall. There were some nice soft corals along the top of the wall near the beginning, and we saw a lot of barracuda, including some really big ones. We also saw a big tuna swim by along the wall.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDBpgjLNZFTTYKv-kCb_Z8CeRCAHIRl73ZcxaeLpt9wHHAwCKEyZ7soAUmsqjahUYh_isYYa7u-opKg0_pHE7iSkEyhQEjokK4VGpdogrWhegEKV3qk7-pUQAg02Sfr96LMdNhnQXcfKSfXRnRgAPDrbzGYVrYhelRMZyBKlMKTHRyhNxEbxx4nv6o=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDBpgjLNZFTTYKv-kCb_Z8CeRCAHIRl73ZcxaeLpt9wHHAwCKEyZ7soAUmsqjahUYh_isYYa7u-opKg0_pHE7iSkEyhQEjokK4VGpdogrWhegEKV3qk7-pUQAg02Sfr96LMdNhnQXcfKSfXRnRgAPDrbzGYVrYhelRMZyBKlMKTHRyhNxEbxx4nv6o=s320" width="213" /></a>After lunch (chicken and veggie chow mein), we did an afternoon dive at Vuna Reef. It was actually a really awesome dive, at a site called "The Stairs". This site has a swimthrough from about 40 feet to 70 feet, and right after you pop out of the swimthrough, there's a little ledge that is covered (above and below) by white soft corals. It's like a mini great white wall. We hung out there for quite some time getting pictures of it.</p><p>We were going to do a night dive, but apparently we aren't supposed to go unguided (even though we had earlier in the week), so we had to postpone that to tomorrow, because it was too late to find a guide.</p><p>It rained like crazy starting around 6. We tried to wait it out for the walk over to dinner, but eventually made a run for it during a lull. I had beef satay skewers for dinner and banana fritters with ice cream for dessert, which were both super yummy! It rained really hard off and on all night.</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-23371465568091382952021-12-31T11:45:00.002-08:002022-02-20T20:57:32.878-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 4<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiv1NLHHZQnln3IcAtz95hqIFt-dyaI2Yoj9Jx2ILlTzF80uGIfRpkog-Xg7m5yEltX1xbsqDeE6u5adofUFfXpycRdzBKw7G-sqLxCnKJyHsK113OYADsNzFyLKEW3kzlsU25rJWBdEJOTljui05FgfXmne_l17hJnhS9r5e-wddh1ca-0lwM1BYu=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiv1NLHHZQnln3IcAtz95hqIFt-dyaI2Yoj9Jx2ILlTzF80uGIfRpkog-Xg7m5yEltX1xbsqDeE6u5adofUFfXpycRdzBKw7G-sqLxCnKJyHsK113OYADsNzFyLKEW3kzlsU25rJWBdEJOTljui05FgfXmne_l17hJnhS9r5e-wddh1ca-0lwM1BYu=s320" width="213" /></a></div></div>Today I had eggs Benedict for breakfast, which was very tasty. I'm always skeptical, because it's easy to overcook poached eggs, and seems to sometimes happen even at good breakfast places, but that was not the case here. The resort had some sort of New Year's Eve festivities planned, so we had to order lunch and dinner (a festive 5 course affair) in the morning.<p></p><div>For the morning dive trip, we went back to Vuna Reef. The first dive was at the same site that we went to on our first day (Orgasm). I spent a lot of the dive with my head in the reef, looking for nudibranchs and other small things, and I can't say that I was very rewarded for my efforts :P. Apparently I missed some bigger swimming things go by, like barracuda, as a result of having my head stuck in the reef. Anyway, since we were just at this dive site earlier in the week, I don't have a ton to say about it -- nice hard corals, nice steep wall in parts, etc.</div><div><br /></div><div>After that, we headed to a site whose name I didn't catch. It was a spot that they used to dive before Cyclone Winston, but had not dived since then, so they didn't know what state it was in. It was in pretty good shape! The top had tons of healthy looking hard corals of all different kinds, though a lot of them were small. So I'm guessing it got pretty wiped out by the cyclone, and this was what had grown back. Aside from the hard corals, there were areas that had a bunch of anthias skittering around, so overall it was a nice site. There was a slope, but I thought that the top of the reef was the nicest part of the dive.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7VzOrWgbIPBgRQzym6EfxYACIg-5RJGa9RfECWL3OIzMInWJj4nAy7ZXYIlm7qu711mLAhrvUG5UwDiO1Jo-Kbf883VeKPcKbOwuw-G6mK01q0MNoIzFi8cLYPcBk1EtaoPzVzhW6UZ51TVY8qA-10wu6im2yHJaJVR_aUogLlCsDs5LP8iYzG1-c=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh7VzOrWgbIPBgRQzym6EfxYACIg-5RJGa9RfECWL3OIzMInWJj4nAy7ZXYIlm7qu711mLAhrvUG5UwDiO1Jo-Kbf883VeKPcKbOwuw-G6mK01q0MNoIzFi8cLYPcBk1EtaoPzVzhW6UZ51TVY8qA-10wu6im2yHJaJVR_aUogLlCsDs5LP8iYzG1-c=s320" width="320" /></a>For lunch, I had an Indian roti wrap with chicken and veggies. It was good, and again seemed like the sort of thing that's not ideal to eat before diving :)</div><div><br /></div><div>For the afternoon dive, we did a macro dive at a site just north of the resort whose name I did not catch. The site is really close to land; there's a little cliff there that the boat pulls right up to to drop you in (and at the end, we had to swim away from the site so the boat could get us). On one hand, I was a bit disappointed with this macro dive, as we didn't find any super awesome nudibranchs (e.g. aeolids) or Pygmy seahorses. But overall, it was a pretty productive macro dive. We saw several different kinds of bumpy dorids. I don't know if there is a technical term for those kinds of dorids, or a class or an order or a family that they all belong to, but they are... bumpy. I think we saw 3 or 4 different kinds. We saw gazillions of the white with blue striped dorids (Chromodoris lochi). And a couple of other dorids that were more interesting. We also saw several scorpionfish (I found two, Soni found one), though for some reason, Rob wasn't interested in photographing them. I'm sure we saw a few other things, but those were the best things in my mind.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhesjpRWGRSUetKfEhtRg9SBsvdYK2Icr6ATzBoEiFl66JfZYymge6OzKKUruv5vtOnR3YXAJ_RwTKu6c7suL3rR_FMkGwao9zy8iAWUk_bCEq9zAJ3gY4qVtJny1H_tUWZATDZrceazQJxpkeN3HB0LI7T5Mce0G5yaancZ-68akJihzjH96-ySN97=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhesjpRWGRSUetKfEhtRg9SBsvdYK2Icr6ATzBoEiFl66JfZYymge6OzKKUruv5vtOnR3YXAJ_RwTKu6c7suL3rR_FMkGwao9zy8iAWUk_bCEq9zAJ3gY4qVtJny1H_tUWZATDZrceazQJxpkeN3HB0LI7T5Mce0G5yaancZ-68akJihzjH96-ySN97=s320" width="320" /></a>We did not do a night dive, because of the festive New Year's Eve plans. The plan was a cocktail hour with drinks and snacks from 6:30 to 7:30, then a 5-course meal at 8pm, with entertainment, and partying until midnight (in theory). We were planning to go over to the bar and get a drink around 5:30 when Terri showed up at our door. Apparently another guest had tested positive for covid, so they were re-testing everyone at the resort (and isolating anyone that was positive). So we got our noses swabbed for the second time in two days, and waited around for 15 or so minutes to see that we did not have covid. Then we meandered over to the bar and got some drinks. The festivities were obviously a bit dampened as a result of the news that someone had covid. I think the plan was originally to have a communal table for dinner, but they split it up into separate tables, and only the resort guests attended.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyhoo, I went to the bar to order cocktails for us (a pina colada for me and a pineapple mojito for Rob) and was offered some free beer and wine (from the cocktail hour) while we waited. So I ended up double fisting a pina colada and white wine. The cocktail hour snacks were meatballs and fish balls, which we ate way too many of while we were drinking our drinks. Eventually dinner was served, after we were already getting sleepy. I was still very jet-lagged and though I managed to stay up all the way until 10:30 the previous night, I woke up around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnxcomWUMEcLD5_lp003YdkrH8BcDsG9hP5cnxDeVKcJubDoERQFvvGaMYJcoKOepeKUvbnShhGHxVhrPaFrPadEkv_Ja7WJXYbwwkyGoFQ1l1HaaHKTZQ_nOOdWi8tjyPXEkyC_hxKe5HWQz-AsfcHTB7dztcQ1oT7T28zciAy_-L9fzXebpZ4dpA=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnxcomWUMEcLD5_lp003YdkrH8BcDsG9hP5cnxDeVKcJubDoERQFvvGaMYJcoKOepeKUvbnShhGHxVhrPaFrPadEkv_Ja7WJXYbwwkyGoFQ1l1HaaHKTZQ_nOOdWi8tjyPXEkyC_hxKe5HWQz-AsfcHTB7dztcQ1oT7T28zciAy_-L9fzXebpZ4dpA=s320" width="240" /></a></div><br />Dinner was very good, or what we managed to make it through. There was a coconut lime fish soup (so good, I need to morph my coconut fish chowder recipe into something more like that), then lobster cakes, and then surf and turf -- sirloin and lobster. There was a whole lobster tail and a giant piece of steak, plus mashed potatoes, some delicious sauce, and veggies. The lobster was super tasty, and I barely touched the steak. It was just way too much food. But oh man was everything that I ate tasty! It pains me to say that I didn't even finish my lobster tail! At this point, we were both stuffed and exhausted, so we called it a night. How sad that we missed 2 of the 5 courses for dinner (but mostly I'm sad that we missed the espresso cheesecake). During dinner, there was a performance by a dancer who did some fire dancing and some other Fijian dance.</div><div><br /></div><div>So we headed back to our room and fell asleep almost immediately while watching something on Rob's iPad. Then a bit later (a little after 10, I think), we woke to the sound of fireworks. There was a fireworks display! That was pretty cool, but a bit scary because the fireworks were so close, hehe.</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-17062084821617778112021-12-30T11:34:00.022-08:002022-02-20T21:16:50.662-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 3<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjErJLeP4ZNOH3jjEgI8k_yJW_YVq--lmbPu4xlJBm_IkJCFnU82TAeM3wtJBmhj7_zsgB2vLSji4uyc62sRuLgUGRpjgiyLTRtjAoHZDVOgzw7fmjXklLnM1JmiX2fwD_4_t_54DkZ9AsrLhGIxH2fowWCWO9IEQTYqqj8FM7TwL1Vl24ZSngE08_r=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjErJLeP4ZNOH3jjEgI8k_yJW_YVq--lmbPu4xlJBm_IkJCFnU82TAeM3wtJBmhj7_zsgB2vLSji4uyc62sRuLgUGRpjgiyLTRtjAoHZDVOgzw7fmjXklLnM1JmiX2fwD_4_t_54DkZ9AsrLhGIxH2fowWCWO9IEQTYqqj8FM7TwL1Vl24ZSngE08_r=s320" width="213" /></a>I started with an interesting breakfast wrap that consisted of scrambled eggs wrapped in a roti with tomato chutney and cheese on top, with a side of sautéed veggies. It was quite tasty, though the chutney was a little heavily spiced for a pre-dive meal :P</p><p>The big boat was back in commission and so we did a 3-dive trip to Rainbow Reef. The conditions were much better today, but we were cruising over there pretty slowly, so I'm not sure the trip was any faster. But it was a very nice day to be on the boat, and the bigger boat is really stable. For the first dive, we went to a site whose name I don't recall, which featured *huge* sea fans. That's not how the dive site was advertised, necessarily, but that was the highlight of it for me. There was a wall, which was quite vertical in some parts, and at some point, big sea fans started to appear, going all the way down to 150 feet or so. There were also some big spindly-looking gorgonian-type creatures at the bottom in a slightly shallower area. The site had nice hard corals as well, and the occasional soft coral. I also saw a white tip reef shark cruising the wall at some point.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdH1telMfAAjZUIMIri7w12fXBlZshpinwxbs5MhY4pDZ2G5cunQ-CoZNUhJF8Fhq4FYudpaIagSWUbibxSNmMuDMXgMi0STdsMXpU5aPzYElA3qil_uMniGXM4BsPQ4pNQiM1GXiPw8dqkVzlb_mesppP11mud_PkMFx9OK_uKAnOvMekW0vgzkEG=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdH1telMfAAjZUIMIri7w12fXBlZshpinwxbs5MhY4pDZ2G5cunQ-CoZNUhJF8Fhq4FYudpaIagSWUbibxSNmMuDMXgMi0STdsMXpU5aPzYElA3qil_uMniGXM4BsPQ4pNQiM1GXiPw8dqkVzlb_mesppP11mud_PkMFx9OK_uKAnOvMekW0vgzkEG=s320" width="320" /></a>Another highlight of the dive were the (other) purple aeolids that I love. At some point, Soni showed us 3 in a patch of hydroids. This was super useful because I had been looking at every hydroid I came across for this slug, but they live on a particular hydroid, so now I know where to find them. After Soni showed those to us, I found a few more not too far away, and then later in the dive, Rob found a big patch of those hydroids and 3 very big slugs on them.</p><p>After a surface interval (and cinnamon rolls), we got back in at Purple Wall. The name of this site seemed familiar, so it's possible that we've been there before, though I didn't really remember it once I did the dive. Anyway, as you might guess from the name, this site has a wall with lots of purple soft corals. But there are also tons and tons of purple sea fans and gorgonians. The soft corals were not really open, because there wasn't that much current, but the wall was still quite purple in the early sections. The purple fans and gorgonians are a really pretty shade of purple! Later in the dive, when we were beyond the purple zone, Rob made a really good find of a slug on a small black sea fan. It was some kind of aeolid that I don't think I've ever seen before, and there were two egg masses on the fan. The egg masses were light purple</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0bjD4Xkffd8n0dAeg8sJEdtOo-CcOBBoMGx6qXUkdDnoyhIOPVtLfbpGZDXKv8MpaUsTTFdZUFc-2d1u_P7TBvWPgDyg6ZVh8jgkC2ELpi5wzi09qC2ZSLXghFYZvqOltyzS7KtqHRmAfogH2yCGijp-qU_C9oDPuXH8r1Rf8dmKqMkFAcTXa0TCQ=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0bjD4Xkffd8n0dAeg8sJEdtOo-CcOBBoMGx6qXUkdDnoyhIOPVtLfbpGZDXKv8MpaUsTTFdZUFc-2d1u_P7TBvWPgDyg6ZVh8jgkC2ELpi5wzi09qC2ZSLXghFYZvqOltyzS7KtqHRmAfogH2yCGijp-qU_C9oDPuXH8r1Rf8dmKqMkFAcTXa0TCQ=s320" width="213" /></a>After that dive, we had lunch (sandwiches) on the boat, anchored in a cove near a beach. We got back in the water and snorkeled a bit and Rob worked on getting some over/under shots. We swam over to really close to the beach, and I was really impressed by the hard corals that you could see from snorkeling. There were a bunch of different kinds of coral, and they were in good shape.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRnlp-IUe1jthWNKOLZ-66ECXMlcrLprCdcQ-BFtwO8pvPeXxmZKMomcSA71wIGhtLzEzkRwJdCrJT0y9kKmEiPGNA2ke8a-uwlCPqAEIXqCzqsh7ADa0j1AwtIq0RKNHxmj_y7jN9THWU90Eh7JaofZzhhIajQBBti91sYIDdA9SZ0s5EQtAXtrAo=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRnlp-IUe1jthWNKOLZ-66ECXMlcrLprCdcQ-BFtwO8pvPeXxmZKMomcSA71wIGhtLzEzkRwJdCrJT0y9kKmEiPGNA2ke8a-uwlCPqAEIXqCzqsh7ADa0j1AwtIq0RKNHxmj_y7jN9THWU90Eh7JaofZzhhIajQBBti91sYIDdA9SZ0s5EQtAXtrAo=s320" width="320" /></a>For the third dive, we went to Rainbow's End, which is a site I am sure I have been to at least once, and that I really liked in the past. It was a drift dive, and I guess we didn't drop in exactly the right place, so in the beginning there was a bit of fighting the current. I don't think we were exactly swimming up-current, but sort of at an angle to the current, which still made it quite a pain. But eventually we got to a point where we were riding the current for nearly all of the rest of the dive. It was a pretty wild ride. There were *so many* fish all throughout this dive. Zillions of little colorful tropical fish all over the place as we zoomed along the reef, passing little outcroppings with lush soft corals of a variety of colors. It was a great dive.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXUa7Yl8dq6F6WDjV-ZkdbDvW0RlZh7B6LgWdswa0mKHPmxj3zeOtq84V-bx3UbH6JwlSymTOCZrFUCFfGJJn0DtZOf5HwW7qzTCOXUPcBFMlN7jG7K3d7WTINXvBClmMgcdkBBObRdg4i0MWSbJa-YLhoKleaswoKW6wYocPwlVOsC3uJFPuEu59Q=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXUa7Yl8dq6F6WDjV-ZkdbDvW0RlZh7B6LgWdswa0mKHPmxj3zeOtq84V-bx3UbH6JwlSymTOCZrFUCFfGJJn0DtZOf5HwW7qzTCOXUPcBFMlN7jG7K3d7WTINXvBClmMgcdkBBObRdg4i0MWSbJa-YLhoKleaswoKW6wYocPwlVOsC3uJFPuEu59Q=s320" width="213" /></a>Eventually we came up and over the reef to the other side, and when we got to the top, the current kind of shot us across this wide swath of staghorn(-ish) coral with tons of anthias on top. I wish I had known this is what the current was going to do, so I could have video'd the ride :). We somehow got separated from the group on the ascent (in the 1 minute it took to go from 30 feet to 20 feet... still a mystery how that happened), and so Rob shot a bag. That may have been the highlight of the dive for him ;)</p><p>The ride back was very slow, not because of weather or anything, the boat was just going slowly. Rob and I laid on the bow for a while, which is a very nice place to ride on that boat, but eventually I decided it was too sunny and I would probably get sunburned if we stayed out there, so we retreated to the shade on the back of the boat.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXZn3rsr6vdjUwxcyv0u56RBZPq8_aYNQ5DuJl5wrl5SIGERGbKvyxVo_2vFcipxztVpbvKYn2YH7szeSvj3IDZqM6hh78HVHWJ1NJt-2p4sIUrosR0SAQ4XbVaexvw-iin983rDQHmBVrwStLn3IncVCy5--5ec7G-96ZBhoRm8fuGiPweeV2n7sS=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjXZn3rsr6vdjUwxcyv0u56RBZPq8_aYNQ5DuJl5wrl5SIGERGbKvyxVo_2vFcipxztVpbvKYn2YH7szeSvj3IDZqM6hh78HVHWJ1NJt-2p4sIUrosR0SAQ4XbVaexvw-iin983rDQHmBVrwStLn3IncVCy5--5ec7G-96ZBhoRm8fuGiPweeV2n7sS=s320" width="320" /></a></div>We got back around 4, and after a bit of loafing around, and taking our 2 day post-arrival covid test, and a bit more loafing, we then did a dusk/night dive on the house reef. We got in around 6:15 (sunset was at 6:30). We didn't see too many particularly notable things, but it was a solidly entertaining night dive. We saw a couple of scorpion fish, a ton of lion fish, a couple of boring slugs (bumpy dorids), a tiny octopus, and the biggest starfish we have ever seen, by a huge huge margin. It was probably 2 to 3 feet tip to tip, and it was one of those "pencil" type starfish and each arm was huge around! I saw a lobster but it scurried back into its hole before Rob could see it. Rob had a similar eel encounter (I didn't see the eel). Anyway, a fun night dive overall.<p></p><p>It was actually kind of cold when we got out! I wore the one long sleeve shirt that I brought over my t-shirt when we went to dinner. For dinner, I had coconut crusted plantains to start (Rob had coconut fish soup), and we both had the coconut (I think?) crusted fish entree, which was really tasty. Dessert was sorbet, which was kind of strange, but came with fruit, which I liked.</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-17858101256516862922021-12-29T11:22:00.008-08:002022-02-20T20:57:29.488-08:00Taveuni Fiji: Day 2<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJnx2HfTj1YAzajb5S_XOah2_MwgppCQskkz3sIzYvauabIBpldojFHlGpHfeX1TqiojG-g1HKCzvWZ4D8YJK5X1qGwhomNo2HibhIzt2ayDW41ZZ4ZkZy0WVPRCRj1Fy7sNSKAodppfsCkJ5PzVuKER5sHU9FbeZ_87mGXJ6jbe95X7WsL-0D2uAA=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJnx2HfTj1YAzajb5S_XOah2_MwgppCQskkz3sIzYvauabIBpldojFHlGpHfeX1TqiojG-g1HKCzvWZ4D8YJK5X1qGwhomNo2HibhIzt2ayDW41ZZ4ZkZy0WVPRCRj1Fy7sNSKAodppfsCkJ5PzVuKER5sHU9FbeZ_87mGXJ6jbe95X7WsL-0D2uAA=s320" width="213" /></a></div></div>On our first full day of diving, we got an early start. The boat was leaving at 6am, which was not too bad since I was still on California time. We got up at 5, went to breakfast around 5:15, and started getting ready to go around 5:45. The sun came up around 5:30, so it was nice and sunny by the time we left. It was crazy windy though, big, mean whitecaps, and there was talk of whether we'd be able to make it to Rainbow Reef in these conditions. We kind of got our butts kicked on the first half of the trip. Well not really, but it was quite wet in the front of the boat (where we were) and quite a few bumps. But there was no swell at all under the wind waves, so it was alright. After about halfway there (when I guess we got across the channel/strait), it smoothed out.<p></p><p>The first dive was at the Great White Wall. We've dived here at least once before (Rob thinks more than once, I think once). The time I remember diving, there were a ton of divers on the boat, and at the start of the dive, there wasn't enough current for the soft corals to be that open, and at the end of the dive, the current was howling so it was a pain to get back onto the (anchored) boat. Today's dive was way way better. There was a little current, enough for the soft corals to be open more, but not so much that it made diving difficult. We hung back from the group around the top of the wall when we first got to it, and as a result, we missed the first swim through. All of a sudden everyone was gone and then a minute later, there were bubbles coming up from below us. Oh well, it was nice to have time to photograph/video without a lot of people around.</p>We hung back from the group in general, so by the time we got to the really white part of the wall, we were really by ourselves, which was great. I actually went ahead of Rob to get some video, and then swam back against the current to pose for some pictures. The white part of the wall was really neat, much fluffier with open soft corals than the previous dive. The viz was really good, you could look down the wall and the white soft corals just went on and on and on.<p></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO4cbMR-l5pweAv-NTCV84Ipo1SbFaujkN_p4K3kUPmZi3gg4UqusiRDTpTLD3hU1_s5XTdgWCFMA0eIfOQJ4RS3vJFSeDE3dh3-piLmAp-iGUMv8clTQp-OE7FySMH1CcZVniXjo53a2MSFn6Qelm8x9WzgCOrb8qDr_4eJ8ui1dgYOGU1vH7JYWp=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhO4cbMR-l5pweAv-NTCV84Ipo1SbFaujkN_p4K3kUPmZi3gg4UqusiRDTpTLD3hU1_s5XTdgWCFMA0eIfOQJ4RS3vJFSeDE3dh3-piLmAp-iGUMv8clTQp-OE7FySMH1CcZVniXjo53a2MSFn6Qelm8x9WzgCOrb8qDr_4eJ8ui1dgYOGU1vH7JYWp=s320" width="320" /></a>Eventually we made our way up the wall and went through a small swim through from about 55 feet up to about 40 feet, where you are on top of the wall, and there is some nice, more colorful soft coral on a structure right near where you pop out, in 30-ish feet of water. I remembered this area from last time, and remember thinking it was the nicest part of that dive. On this dive, both the wall and that area were very nice.</p><p>Around 35 minutes, the DMs led the rest of the group off to an area that I couldn't really see but didn't look as good, so we stayed where we were and I bobbed around in the current while Rob was taking pictures. You could kind of swim halfway around the structure and then ride the current around the back of it, which was pretty fun :P.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipOwXToeD5Z0O-I9GEDdoSHkb13KS_bPKhSKLdpQcpiyrGmgTMpf29rFqHNPR_t_dKDyALi7_bh0RBKxNcklZPAzNPV3n9h-_z3h9wMEGf0oaVVMNUz3YsetG4zbqNaWgPs4eHna3afja259at1Zks2EEHbVC0Q7dWLmuzxYjmbcBgk3Z565ITKkAb=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipOwXToeD5Z0O-I9GEDdoSHkb13KS_bPKhSKLdpQcpiyrGmgTMpf29rFqHNPR_t_dKDyALi7_bh0RBKxNcklZPAzNPV3n9h-_z3h9wMEGf0oaVVMNUz3YsetG4zbqNaWgPs4eHna3afja259at1Zks2EEHbVC0Q7dWLmuzxYjmbcBgk3Z565ITKkAb=s320" width="213" /></a>At some point earlier than expected (40-ish minutes), the DM called everyone to head to their safety stop. Of course Rob talked back, because we were supposed to have until 45 minutes. I guess the others were low on gas. So Soni (the DM) told us we could go back off to the wall just the two of us since we had a bunch of gas left. So we went back down to about 80 feet, where we saw a white tip shark cruising below us. After a few more minutes there, we headed up to do our safety stop and met back up with Soni there and then headed up together</p><p>It was an awesome dive, which definitely changed my tune on the Great White Wall. Later in the day, Soni asked Rob if he would share pictures with him, because he said this was probably the best dive conditions he's ever seen there, in terms of how far down/along the wall you could see the white corals.</p><p>We had some papaya and cinnamon rolls on the boat during the surface interval. Yum. We tried to go to a spot that has a lot of yellow soft corals, but the conditions didn't allow us to go there. So instead we went to "The Zoo" which was a spot that sloped down to a little wall, with mostly hard coral. It was not the most amazing site, but we found some cool critters. I found a tiny white Aeolid which of course I lost while trying to get Rob's attention. We searched around for a bit, but no luck. Next, I found what is one of my favorite Fiji slugs (so far), which is a bigger purple aeolid with orange rhinophores and cream-tipped cerata. There is a different purple aeolid around here, and I'd been looking all over for it yesterday, on hydroids (where I saw it once before), and now I finally this one just hauling ass across a section of the wall. So now I know there are at least two cool purple aeolids to look for. Rob also found an octopus which was in a hole for almost the entire time I saw it, but it was quite big. Just from its eye you could tell it was big! It was squirming around in this hole and stuck a tentacle out briefl</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPt6wwyi54c7dj5e55vRuVnNEYqBi9vfDonXCzltbqnQqi2YiRoCEbotirZngAPhbYK4TtL7QGz_KcUFMcLPWk-zrePsEnZpLJQtYJQ51M4wBlDEK_6Q3XVBb6taJOK0FuYpFRfIPP3C0btm7NHQHUY8I1KHxi2Cq1LCMxZfKWfwIHGbGXSjiWiID5=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjPt6wwyi54c7dj5e55vRuVnNEYqBi9vfDonXCzltbqnQqi2YiRoCEbotirZngAPhbYK4TtL7QGz_KcUFMcLPWk-zrePsEnZpLJQtYJQ51M4wBlDEK_6Q3XVBb6taJOK0FuYpFRfIPP3C0btm7NHQHUY8I1KHxi2Cq1LCMxZfKWfwIHGbGXSjiWiID5=s320" width="213" /></a>Near the end of the dive, after we came up shallower, there were a few white tip sharks hanging around. I heard that there were three, but I only saw two. They were swimming around in the area for a while.</p><p>After that dive, we headed back in much calmer waters, and it took only about 30 minutes to get back to the resort.</p><p>For lunch, I had the veggie chow mein, which was delish. Rob was a bit jealous of what I got, I think, which was somewhat predictable. After lunch, I had my welcome massage, which was excellent. The "spa" is a 3-sided hut along the water with the water-facing side open.</p><p>Due to weather, the boat wasn't able to go out in the afternoon. We were going to go for a shore dive, but I called it because it was too rough. Rob went without me, though, and managed to get back out of the water without getting trashed at the ladder.</p>We had drinks and then dinner with our new next door neighbors, who were also from the Bay Area. Rob got a really good chili pork appetizer (which we shared), I had so-so meatballs, and we shared a very tasty dessert of cheesecake with coffee ice cream.<p></p><p></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-32248129231252663002021-12-28T11:03:00.026-08:002022-02-20T20:57:28.203-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Day 1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvC0HnYwvG7T3QcbF4JXQA9AJi1HDe5aieIABCnquKtK2j2XEG7_Oww_MGEmft1jeqQ1pz2GwDgmBh-TkOMGVOjsMEm6ErUmt_qWvJSboSLw4J1EfQ7fpZk_Fs0R3lYOyg9ktDZ3bSGg19M7HukKUe3x4htzMQKHqPi245nnfewlqVrjAWdrHy_g8F=s2048" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhvC0HnYwvG7T3QcbF4JXQA9AJi1HDe5aieIABCnquKtK2j2XEG7_Oww_MGEmft1jeqQ1pz2GwDgmBh-TkOMGVOjsMEm6ErUmt_qWvJSboSLw4J1EfQ7fpZk_Fs0R3lYOyg9ktDZ3bSGg19M7HukKUe3x4htzMQKHqPi245nnfewlqVrjAWdrHy_g8F=s320" width="213" /></a></div>We got to the resort just a little after 11. After getting checked in and to our room, Rob was of course very eager to go diving, but the dive crew was all out on the boat at the moment. When the boat got back, Rob talked to someone there and they said we could go out diving at 3. Rob had to sweet-talk our way into diving that day, because they generally want to see a checkout dive. But they asked when our last dive was and we said Thursday, so they allowed us to skip the checkout dive :P<p></p><div>So we headed to lunch (Rob had fried chicken and I had chicken and pineapple pizza) and figured we'd kill some time afterward and then go diving. I guess there was some kind of misunderstanding, though, because just as we were finishing lunch, Flo came by and told us that the boat was leaving in 15 minutes. I think the 3pm dive suggestion had been for a shore dive. I'm not really sure, but we basically rushed back to the room, got all of our gear over to the shop, got into our wetsuits, and were on the boat in like 15 minutes. Phew.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were diving a spot that was around the point on the southern end of Taveuni, about 20 minutes away, in an area called Vuna Reef. It was a little sporty for some of the ride, but nice and calm near the actual site. I wasn't necessarily expecting a lot out of this dive, since it was a "local" site, but I was pleasantly surprised. The site consisted mostly of hard coral, but it was very dense, healthy-looking hard coral. I'm not a huge fan of hard coral, but it was a nice looking site. It sloped down to a wall starting around 50 or 60 feet, and at some points, the wall was very vertical.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNtQJtay1y-7G3SEDw4gaD4jJ5KQ6Y8RkpO_ciTw1BjVH428T5kImOI1vZJa-G_8A338EskkCo4nlWVMnhbHFHLFfCD8p8QhtXm903ObnwsYqmFSjL2f5W5bxBwZtlkragBLvJwyEFYutDxutnH6kun1xue2ujISiXMH1xKf_x_xmp8kCKaHEiYSYA=s2048" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiNtQJtay1y-7G3SEDw4gaD4jJ5KQ6Y8RkpO_ciTw1BjVH428T5kImOI1vZJa-G_8A338EskkCo4nlWVMnhbHFHLFfCD8p8QhtXm903ObnwsYqmFSjL2f5W5bxBwZtlkragBLvJwyEFYutDxutnH6kun1xue2ujISiXMH1xKf_x_xmp8kCKaHEiYSYA=s320" width="320" /></a>There was barely any current, but there were some spots where there were soft corals that were pretty open. There was this one spot on the wall right around 100 feet that had some big soft corals that were open. So of course we went down there to hang out, and Rob went a little deeper than I thought was prudent ;). (We were diving air because they couldn't get us nitrox in the last minute scramble to get us on the boat.). Before the dive, the DM had said that the max depth was 70 feet, but for us, we could go to 100 feet since this was our first dive of the day :)</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually we came up a bit shallower and I was searching and searching for nudibranchs, without finding much (other than those boring white with blue stripe dorids). Eventually I was rewarded though, because I found a yellow and black slug with a frilly border (I think it was <i><a href="https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Doriprismatica+sibogae">Doriprismatica sibogae</a></i>). This was probably the highlight of the dive for me, but Rob really liked the soft coral.</div><div><br /></div><div>After we got back to the resort, Rob enquired about the house reef and got some details on where to find some critters. We were given directions for a spot with two blue ribbon eels and possibly as many as three Pygmy seahorses. I was not super optimistic about our ability to find any of these things :). The directions were something along the lines of... swim to that mooring ball, descend there, look in that direction and you will see a bommie with lots of tiny fish on it. The eels are just below that bommie. So we swam to the mooring ball and started our descent. I somehow had it in my mind based on how far we swam out, that the bottom would be like 30 feet deep, but in fact it was like 60 feet deep, and my ears were *not* cooperating. Rob got down to the mooring block and for like the next 5 minutes, I was slowly working my way down. Okay maybe it didn't take me quite that long.</div><div><br /></div><div>When we got to the bottom, we were looking all around the mooring block for a bit, then I decided to look in "that" direction and see if there was some obvious other bommie to look at. And I noticed all these tiny fish on one, and swam over and right at the bottom, there were two blue ribbon eels. Woot! So we got some photo and video (attempts) of them, and then we scoured that bommie looking for Pygmy seahorses. We never did find any. After the dive, we were told that the seahorses are on the bommie below the eels, not above it, but that they also may no longer be there. So we will have to try again later.</div><div><br /></div><div>We didn't find a ton of other macro critters. A few of those yellow and black nudibranchs that look like flat worms, an actual small white flatworm, and a brown with blue tips Dorid. But those last two things we found on the way up after we'd decided to head in, so overall it didn't feel like a super productive dive. But it's definitely a legitimate "house reef" that they have here, which is good.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqCyDCUszeYkXONiDmoqSSMd2abjVkDNtcu1eo5c4Tbk0b0m3p7MuEQHpgYT5Rbd7MHuZwu8XX_62e-hdRJiforUmRfhSpnqiNg8YMDWallGzaE9ttTtvzg_RI_5mtal6HRIcsj4xlXgZ4a9isXavHkjeZMIbRsuYCdTCuxj4VIjr-bjS-8tUKcvZV=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqCyDCUszeYkXONiDmoqSSMd2abjVkDNtcu1eo5c4Tbk0b0m3p7MuEQHpgYT5Rbd7MHuZwu8XX_62e-hdRJiforUmRfhSpnqiNg8YMDWallGzaE9ttTtvzg_RI_5mtal6HRIcsj4xlXgZ4a9isXavHkjeZMIbRsuYCdTCuxj4VIjr-bjS-8tUKcvZV=s320" width="320" /></a></div>It was a little after 5 when we got back from the dive, so after a bit of loafing around, we headed to the bar to get pina coladas before dinner. We sat overlooking the water by the pool and drank them, then eventually headed to dinner. We both had the Osso bucca which seemed like way too much food when they brought it, but I ended up being glad, because I was hungry! For dessert we got some sort of chocolate cake and ice cream. I was exhausted at this point, and insisted that we head back to our room so we could go to bed early. I think I fell asleep before 9 :)</div><div><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-8760046909432197892021-12-27T17:36:00.033-08:002022-02-20T20:57:27.010-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Paradise Taveuni<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjF7QWBU5e7UL2z00KT8lFPuZ6hm1aQUtBbNpM-lphzc8d1z-CCzsOrgDqpc-8mwJ12W1lzhFbSvBEl8WXW26n0DDGbiZlVh3VkVe4j-CrLuD6ttLpgrYa2X2A0vV_5tjmxjLS7pukUOXlPTdWbuF49mfDIMu08TVXkM4x6U6kzLuBFtRApq0rvL-89=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjF7QWBU5e7UL2z00KT8lFPuZ6hm1aQUtBbNpM-lphzc8d1z-CCzsOrgDqpc-8mwJ12W1lzhFbSvBEl8WXW26n0DDGbiZlVh3VkVe4j-CrLuD6ttLpgrYa2X2A0vV_5tjmxjLS7pukUOXlPTdWbuF49mfDIMu08TVXkM4x6U6kzLuBFtRApq0rvL-89=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our patio</td></tr></tbody></table></div>We stayed at Paradise Taveuni, based mostly on what we read about the diving at Paradise. Our primary goal was to find a place that would maximize diving at Rainbow Reef, and then the next goal was to stay at the nicest place possible. There were some places that were more luxurious, but the diving options did not seem as good. There were also some places that were further north on the island, making them closer to both the airport and Rainbow Reef. But Paradise has a house reef so you can shore dive in the afternoons/evenings, and there are also local sites for afternoon boat dives. So these were the main reasons that we picked Paradise.<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGV6a4qa7b37py17i3gjmlaIPw4b4oOJB4N1WL0StLIPaI17Eb2GK4mZE76TQYZexupftYT9Yft7-sxq1K3oHCi8qOl0V7jbn2DvppF6FifnT3ZSwqDIjRHGdWm-JKfgeZpJ_ldhhRn48hispxaGxBvtC9kuP1hsNwaQFE5wFpeX-B-mxYFGEXVTBo=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjGV6a4qa7b37py17i3gjmlaIPw4b4oOJB4N1WL0StLIPaI17Eb2GK4mZE76TQYZexupftYT9Yft7-sxq1K3oHCi8qOl0V7jbn2DvppF6FifnT3ZSwqDIjRHGdWm-JKfgeZpJ_ldhhRn48hispxaGxBvtC9kuP1hsNwaQFE5wFpeX-B-mxYFGEXVTBo=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tasty fruit bowl</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Overall I was very happy with Paradise. We made it to Rainbow Reef every day but one, plus there were several nice "local" dive sites, and we did several dives on the house reef. The room was nice, though a little cramped (there were no ocean view suites available, so we went with an ocean view room). The view from our patio and around the resort was very nice. The food and drinks were fine, some days the food was really good, some days it was just okay.</p><p>When I was researching places to stay, I found some differing information about how long the boat ride was to Rainbow Reef, ranging from 20 minutes to an hour. The reality was anywhere in-between, depending on the weather and which boat we were on (and probably the specific site we were going to). In any case, it was "close enough" that the rides over there were not too far, and we made it over there even on some days when it was pretty rough crossing the channel.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXV6KeI2o3etmxZsA_2UEWn3UzE4f0mc5r6S7BlydDh8hKggKvL350F7jPbY5uAnf-VpAONNM8HSCq7sYZd2KKrPByqJ5QsOV-gArUqi-eO4Yh55TMtKHHas6SdVkGfBRRrhesjjOJYV8fxyK-OJqt6dFSn-oqKtuZfpva5kY-zGl8g-GYuY3fFueI=s6000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2496" data-original-width="6000" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiXV6KeI2o3etmxZsA_2UEWn3UzE4f0mc5r6S7BlydDh8hKggKvL350F7jPbY5uAnf-VpAONNM8HSCq7sYZd2KKrPByqJ5QsOV-gArUqi-eO4Yh55TMtKHHas6SdVkGfBRRrhesjjOJYV8fxyK-OJqt6dFSn-oqKtuZfpva5kY-zGl8g-GYuY3fFueI=w400-h166" width="400" /></a></div><br />The dive operations were pretty standard and convenient. If we were diving nitrox, we had to analyze tanks before they loaded them onto the boat. Otherwise, we each had a gear bin that we kept all of our gear in, and it was moved between the boat and the dive shop as necessary. We just carried our cameras and sometimes our lights on and off of the boat. The dive guides did a good job of guiding us without being hovery :). I would have liked to do more high current (soft coral) dives, though this was more related to the other people on the boat than the dive guides' choice. But we generally got at least one really good high current soft coral dive per day. There were also some nice macro critter finds by several of the dive guides, though generally not when Rob was shooting macro :P<p></p><p>So overall, I'd recommend Paradise, and considering going there again in the future.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWiWqptUdFinxjKxC2wLuBGt79Z6HQ060jYKI-MUIzQLHLqxKKry4kmrtJXaz7zqDLuey0y2OJqmv7pt_vJAO2UBkj1kd_205tb3pnTJvnIGkIbYp5Cfh15maUX26rccVgKesAMQCyJLFuKOvKE1DC3Ft9LCMfKo8TRlLyImOTWWbh_BTB-CGfJN5-=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWiWqptUdFinxjKxC2wLuBGt79Z6HQ060jYKI-MUIzQLHLqxKKry4kmrtJXaz7zqDLuey0y2OJqmv7pt_vJAO2UBkj1kd_205tb3pnTJvnIGkIbYp5Cfh15maUX26rccVgKesAMQCyJLFuKOvKE1DC3Ft9LCMfKo8TRlLyImOTWWbh_BTB-CGfJN5-=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toad on our patio</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Oh one last thing... there are these adorable toads all over the place around dusk. They are so cute! You have to be careful to avoid stepping on them in the lawn. Other notable (cute) fauna includes crabs and lizards. We found a crab in our (indoor) shower one day.</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-18544624985050068022021-12-27T13:48:00.009-08:002022-02-20T20:57:24.512-08:00Taveuni, Fiji: Getting There and Back<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfRpoVqLJxmJMxS6K7uPlyL8hdd7U65M5TPgXXeFsLqLOn84jmQCZXZ7Q57m4XE9iWahhbNk8JcqXNKD-LF0RfrQi-DM2q7JKsXLa-cCZa9PD2n2QQXU6DGYZfdzuBJb2zJZCVGpChD7EO4qZKmQ-eDa5ZBwutBjELtjWkAdeq0K5KguK7juo7Zxzf=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfRpoVqLJxmJMxS6K7uPlyL8hdd7U65M5TPgXXeFsLqLOn84jmQCZXZ7Q57m4XE9iWahhbNk8JcqXNKD-LF0RfrQi-DM2q7JKsXLa-cCZa9PD2n2QQXU6DGYZfdzuBJb2zJZCVGpChD7EO4qZKmQ-eDa5ZBwutBjELtjWkAdeq0K5KguK7juo7Zxzf=s320" width="320" /></a></div>I was glad to see that when Fiji reopened, there was still a direct flight from SFO to Nadi. This greatly simplifies going to Fiji. We still had to get to Taveuni, though it seemed relatively straightforward as flights to other islands in Fiji go. There were two or three flights a day that lined up reasonably nicely with the flights from/to SFO. The flight to Taveuni took about an hour and a half, and then we were picked up in a pickup truck for the hour-long drive to the resort. The second half of the drive is over a bumpy road, but it was not too bad.<p></p><p>On the way there, the hop over to Taveuni was a bit delayed, and the communication of what was going on was pretty terrible. But everyone on any of the small flights leaving Nadi was sitting in one room, and they kept claiming they were going to get us all out of there shortly, and every now and then they'd call a flight number, and eventually they did get us all out of there. It was a little stormy on the flight over, which was a tiny bit terrifying, but Rob slept through the whole thing.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaZeGPdKogJhlaLXpMKltQQIU3VCZlbVlDIQ36MZPMOTyCb-EqH_NYDJO_ozf1ysmzRuGeQTIIxqZgNYKbrarXO8yHKYXh_4_iYP2ESouRvuYz4dxzMHebOSczUk2Ac-vlYdIyls4qj-jHvxCSkw6i8G-xnxk367hJQXIuFt_KhZct3sEtTLNpiCaE=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgaZeGPdKogJhlaLXpMKltQQIU3VCZlbVlDIQ36MZPMOTyCb-EqH_NYDJO_ozf1ysmzRuGeQTIIxqZgNYKbrarXO8yHKYXh_4_iYP2ESouRvuYz4dxzMHebOSczUk2Ac-vlYdIyls4qj-jHvxCSkw6i8G-xnxk367hJQXIuFt_KhZct3sEtTLNpiCaE=s320" width="240" /></a>Aside from that, the travel itself was pretty uneventful in both directions. On the way back, we moved our flight to Nadi earlier in the morning, because we had to get COVID tests at the airport in Nadi, and we could not get a straight answer on when the test facility was open. So we flew back to Nadi in the morning, got our tests (which were miraculously negative), and then had to hang out at the airport all day. But it was not too bad of a place to hang around all day. Unfortunately we could not checkin more than 4 hours before the flight, so we couldn't go to the lounge.</p><p>The one other hitch in our travel was that when we got back to SFO, it took 3 hours for the bags from our plane to make it out to the carousel. This is not an exaggeration, it was literally 3 hours. Apparently the shitty little contractor that Fiji Airways uses to unload luggage had covid-related staffing problems.</p><p>Anyhoo, the travel was not too painful overall. The long haul flight on the way there had excellent service (and the one on the way back was just fine).</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-65725334046044703502021-11-01T20:38:00.001-07:002022-12-28T21:57:27.158-08:00Kittens! (Introducing Poppy and Sesame)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEt5LwSe_rzOt8nXckA6LgmnQk2LqTxBpdf27Q0cnl46dqE3hHeSY9vHWq5uCgsVD90fxoqM6QdQfdL4SAHlNZ49nSaZ1ye0FqJpyKzddgHjMyzQbC2WAKiqhZ3Yc3-yQ4aGQa3OB0QsNHBgty05kqtLS2PyuVlqtHAgD-GeL5pAE2NySv2cVVBpd/s4032/3-cats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaEt5LwSe_rzOt8nXckA6LgmnQk2LqTxBpdf27Q0cnl46dqE3hHeSY9vHWq5uCgsVD90fxoqM6QdQfdL4SAHlNZ49nSaZ1ye0FqJpyKzddgHjMyzQbC2WAKiqhZ3Yc3-yQ4aGQa3OB0QsNHBgty05kqtLS2PyuVlqtHAgD-GeL5pAE2NySv2cVVBpd/s320/3-cats.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rare pic of all three kitties</td></tr></tbody></table>We weren't initially in a hurry to get another cat after Oreo died, since none would be as awesome as Oreo was, but it very quickly became clear that Pepper was not very happy as an only cat. I don't know if she was lonely exactly, or if she was just bored. But she was noticeably needy with us, especially when we left her home alone, even for only a few hours! So we decided pretty quickly that we'd need to find her a new friend. (To be fair, Rob and I were also super needy with Pepper -- often competing for Pepper's affections, and lap presence.)<p></p><p></p><div class="separator"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLUb0U-kZS0aZdKN0gG69Y_iqcUancVgx2lp1j8gjcNBqC4waHvSQI3mUbKIAVTeVPDJ3W_MkjV84eBsSLthnelKmBh0kqMysIN2v1coVsWdaFLnzHq2OoHKu4SfxEDSLqQohUCeHmnhQ8dEO6XWnM9FfW9h3pnntXRVZvKzy3noCidk30HfI2aKY/s4032/poppy-and-sesame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLUb0U-kZS0aZdKN0gG69Y_iqcUancVgx2lp1j8gjcNBqC4waHvSQI3mUbKIAVTeVPDJ3W_MkjV84eBsSLthnelKmBh0kqMysIN2v1coVsWdaFLnzHq2OoHKu4SfxEDSLqQohUCeHmnhQ8dEO6XWnM9FfW9h3pnntXRVZvKzy3noCidk30HfI2aKY/s320/poppy-and-sesame.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poppy and Sesame</td></tr></tbody></table>We figured at Pepper's age, getting one young cat would be a recipe for annoyance. So we decided to get two kittens, who could annoy each other, but still keep Pepper company. So we started looking around at various rescues and shelters to see what we could find. We weren't particularly looking for more black and white cats, but boy are there are a lot of black cats (and tuxedo cats) out there to adopt! And then Rob fell in love with "Bonnie and Belle" -- but mostly Bonnie, a very pipsqueaky looking black kitten.<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHm2lwb2IqGbnIsrrwbCVLgCtfYGBEakpfrRuHCbWB_ggCbme88gnbrC511uVrGb4FHqg57eL9H9Dsmjtf_w3EoyJMR63RM_bQ-JNvyOQgRQYHBDSoqHm7TmdRPB_-O31fbLBxMpz8uhyT4eZt6eNpuhxq33ayMW5YNscv8jQJ-YwvTOC0xSbxxOEN/s4032/poppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHm2lwb2IqGbnIsrrwbCVLgCtfYGBEakpfrRuHCbWB_ggCbme88gnbrC511uVrGb4FHqg57eL9H9Dsmjtf_w3EoyJMR63RM_bQ-JNvyOQgRQYHBDSoqHm7TmdRPB_-O31fbLBxMpz8uhyT4eZt6eNpuhxq33ayMW5YNscv8jQJ-YwvTOC0xSbxxOEN/s320/poppy.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poppy in a hammock in my office</td></tr></tbody></table><p>When we went to meet Bonnie and Belle, we also met their sister, Hobbes. Bonnie was the smallest one, who Rob was obsessed with. We couldn't really decide how to pick between Hobbes and Belle, but Hobbes seemed kind of into Rob, so we broke the tie like that. When we picked out Pepper and Oreo, Rob picked Oreo and Pepper picked Rob. So this seemed similar, and that worked out well. (If it sounds terrible to take two out of the three sisters, don't worry -- they had a brother too, who Belle was eventually adopted with.)</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzJa0vqhltsQe5q8xMRrNw5OV8Aqp6b_xYbZLfGDNzuvtOgr-96fimuIRuxhxIy1y_8dLpv3KFwZ9FHGT5mSsOKzBhiDAzxs-__cFQ5Z0rJe9lYTK-XNqeR3SRz3OKuF6o3a87Tyc-n7Su8HZTrEdH1jBE3HLAwL4YE2yl2olVp1SrTM6GJnlDWUr/s4032/sesame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzJa0vqhltsQe5q8xMRrNw5OV8Aqp6b_xYbZLfGDNzuvtOgr-96fimuIRuxhxIy1y_8dLpv3KFwZ9FHGT5mSsOKzBhiDAzxs-__cFQ5Z0rJe9lYTK-XNqeR3SRz3OKuF6o3a87Tyc-n7Su8HZTrEdH1jBE3HLAwL4YE2yl2olVp1SrTM6GJnlDWUr/s320/sesame.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sesame keeping the cable modem warm</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I'm not really into cats with people names, so of course, we had to pick some new names. We stuck with the food theme, and after considering quite a few black food words, we finally settled on Poppy (for Bonnie) and Sesame (for Hobbes) -- also known as "the seeds". Pepper also got a new nickname -- the Giant, because she looked huge compared to the little teeny kittens!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ShgMpkLux4rK5Upq42vun6a02Gr0c1bZSx_Kxdj88QEqx5vG5soCU7rlxuGUFCMpWcTaMxmnjOcCA3l-px9EhwvvtQyWyCN61FF9tuhcftOKz5lJ2Uk60dn7yZzySD_V_pS3ep9X4bj6N66o_1XemSz0QYIXV1eQVwC0AR4GFdsJkNkd-6Ir89AW/s4032/pepper-giant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ShgMpkLux4rK5Upq42vun6a02Gr0c1bZSx_Kxdj88QEqx5vG5soCU7rlxuGUFCMpWcTaMxmnjOcCA3l-px9EhwvvtQyWyCN61FF9tuhcftOKz5lJ2Uk60dn7yZzySD_V_pS3ep9X4bj6N66o_1XemSz0QYIXV1eQVwC0AR4GFdsJkNkd-6Ir89AW/s320/pepper-giant.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pepper the Giant</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ow6O6NDBMESAGFx824cFqJAtmKDhvgLO6VMN3nrG7r9kk2240Kb-RixBPRjhbopG37ZFCF7heKl08gMp57qupuoCweCcGofpZ_tBOfbfhrcB88RVrh0uK-df3bOdGxGcuYQ3VRht7N1kMg4stdH1M05XKAiBM96ZsoCMelVNTYV8e1IrOItLcvpN/s4032/peps-pops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ow6O6NDBMESAGFx824cFqJAtmKDhvgLO6VMN3nrG7r9kk2240Kb-RixBPRjhbopG37ZFCF7heKl08gMp57qupuoCweCcGofpZ_tBOfbfhrcB88RVrh0uK-df3bOdGxGcuYQ3VRht7N1kMg4stdH1M05XKAiBM96ZsoCMelVNTYV8e1IrOItLcvpN/s320/peps-pops.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What we refer to as a "Peps-Pops pile"</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-44967896645023647032021-10-15T21:33:00.002-07:002022-11-17T20:38:09.566-08:00RIP Oreo, 2005-2021<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9uLqj9PRsSB1zVC1EiB2CUz0gJoO5VAvnL6CcWvmOg8OCb5ajO--_LKoD_yva_rzAqb03QFncf20onTBuL47qbvEKEq-8FITqP7YVs0jXaZrA6wZWuRUJG6PUIsesE6zRjncyxuE04wN7cmg8URsffQtUU0gGpWbPsuDnVAN597QogbR6MhAJeFq/s640/IMG_4222.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9uLqj9PRsSB1zVC1EiB2CUz0gJoO5VAvnL6CcWvmOg8OCb5ajO--_LKoD_yva_rzAqb03QFncf20onTBuL47qbvEKEq-8FITqP7YVs0jXaZrA6wZWuRUJG6PUIsesE6zRjncyxuE04wN7cmg8URsffQtUU0gGpWbPsuDnVAN597QogbR6MhAJeFq/s320/IMG_4222.jpg" width="320" /></a> I'm very sad to report that Oreo passed away after a short illness. We miss her terribly, but we had a great ~16 years with her, and she was an awesome cat! Oreo had some health problems over the years, but she had been doing great for the past year or so, aside from some arthritis. She was back to her fighting weight, enjoying her retirement in Monterey, where she had many many sunny perches. Here are some recent pictures of her.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNthJS9lMlmgTDehSF417BfkINAEVR74N316XMHMaNt2Rte_bJLbNB27uDZYPf9vRvjyZShjTdTTcAjIll053j8MkW7BOfm7LC0QOBgo2zbBgK21-IwpjKZgk2yV5De85CCdoqDnNqWx-TMUDYayEdTXMFaW15a_AcniiaIyv4GX5-rVZWMTp-vPxk/s640/IMG_4087.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNthJS9lMlmgTDehSF417BfkINAEVR74N316XMHMaNt2Rte_bJLbNB27uDZYPf9vRvjyZShjTdTTcAjIll053j8MkW7BOfm7LC0QOBgo2zbBgK21-IwpjKZgk2yV5De85CCdoqDnNqWx-TMUDYayEdTXMFaW15a_AcniiaIyv4GX5-rVZWMTp-vPxk/s640/IMG_4087.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguK2Mxoq6Lj7IPvK02diqRz36U1lhwLwCYdqLEo4HwdhKB9-m4IqvedORwj5bP_ShnL_nl2kMzNUTqByhQXGTL05yFyijDoiTwa2H-kl4GAaWxgMiJyC0FH_pMl1gi-lp66SVh3V7Xu5ZzGEgxQpAGzK5nb747Hcc7F54qlyJ3Z-FBjw7rZPk90VH-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguK2Mxoq6Lj7IPvK02diqRz36U1lhwLwCYdqLEo4HwdhKB9-m4IqvedORwj5bP_ShnL_nl2kMzNUTqByhQXGTL05yFyijDoiTwa2H-kl4GAaWxgMiJyC0FH_pMl1gi-lp66SVh3V7Xu5ZzGEgxQpAGzK5nb747Hcc7F54qlyJ3Z-FBjw7rZPk90VH-" width="320" /></a></div><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNthJS9lMlmgTDehSF417BfkINAEVR74N316XMHMaNt2Rte_bJLbNB27uDZYPf9vRvjyZShjTdTTcAjIll053j8MkW7BOfm7LC0QOBgo2zbBgK21-IwpjKZgk2yV5De85CCdoqDnNqWx-TMUDYayEdTXMFaW15a_AcniiaIyv4GX5-rVZWMTp-vPxk/s320/IMG_4087.jpg" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18UfM9FkVf5LwsqtGDG23YxMJLLtDxWEVyGa_H-WcakID3Y6xfYDqYAJ2qzVWBLH8Pxj17IIYuxA4RzlFcYVy37ntE-JqJ6R9Th9qVmL4fv3YfV227VZ7PDfR89CLFL67WXS6ss5HIhn6wEmT5Rvy6YvWiAW0d2i-qTgRZXBI8QoVi1GLVAVd7uYU/s640/IMG_4238.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj18UfM9FkVf5LwsqtGDG23YxMJLLtDxWEVyGa_H-WcakID3Y6xfYDqYAJ2qzVWBLH8Pxj17IIYuxA4RzlFcYVy37ntE-JqJ6R9Th9qVmL4fv3YfV227VZ7PDfR89CLFL67WXS6ss5HIhn6wEmT5Rvy6YvWiAW0d2i-qTgRZXBI8QoVi1GLVAVd7uYU/s320/IMG_4238.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-10809436188658038242021-07-31T14:14:00.057-07:002022-11-16T21:32:53.902-08:00Bonaire 2021<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRoGEGKKnfjFpKMmB7AfF6lkSfnSKaByD0lIyBauUYWSKIwciYEhL4A3ri_mkst06WvKUNHmCMslgPcHYqoXxgyzZbfNkpEkkVcWtwYq9tjKo-J4il6pOf0fOkwIQaKUTmmTmH_8aCZlTwOCSPB1v6zH2nTii9xZl2pItdxMNW1WYpwOc64JXtcVYJ/s1498/stovepipes.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1498" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRoGEGKKnfjFpKMmB7AfF6lkSfnSKaByD0lIyBauUYWSKIwciYEhL4A3ri_mkst06WvKUNHmCMslgPcHYqoXxgyzZbfNkpEkkVcWtwYq9tjKo-J4il6pOf0fOkwIQaKUTmmTmH_8aCZlTwOCSPB1v6zH2nTii9xZl2pItdxMNW1WYpwOc64JXtcVYJ/s320/stovepipes.jpeg" width="214" /></a></div>We went to Bonaire for Rob's big birthday in July. We came up with Bonaire as a destination by intersecting places that were open for travel with places we would want to dive. There were a couple of other places in the running (like Maldives) but none of our favorites (Fiji, Philippines) or places on our list of places to go soon (PNG, Indonesia) were open. But we figured something was better than nothing. This was my first flight since before the pandemic, so that was exciting. We were traveling with our friends John and Cookie (who are "vacation divers"). Rob continuously reminded me that Bonaire is a Tier 2 (or did he call it Tier 3?) dive destination and we were only there because of the pandemic.<p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Accommodations</h3><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfDGZ-_YjsBKkv_wiANa7U3gMovZVGsNPnJXJT3UcXWsH0CQH47SCK3U-fKZBFXexGv_52I2tQHb3UKIn35lPKVUynLZRumLKTWe4lzHuwKg-VxCmEXEYt8t3NK0A5pHlIjA7bWF1QodTFfyGiv3ukoGdQB3mGi1fMFnDmYQkQ285BwhDOuplSe2X/s2048/moray.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKfDGZ-_YjsBKkv_wiANa7U3gMovZVGsNPnJXJT3UcXWsH0CQH47SCK3U-fKZBFXexGv_52I2tQHb3UKIn35lPKVUynLZRumLKTWe4lzHuwKg-VxCmEXEYt8t3NK0A5pHlIjA7bWF1QodTFfyGiv3ukoGdQB3mGi1fMFnDmYQkQ285BwhDOuplSe2X/s320/moray.jpeg" width="320" /></a>We stayed at <a href="https://denlaman.com/">Den Laman Condiminiums</a>, which is where we stayed on our previous two trips. They no longer rent them out directly, but there are a couple rental agencies that rent several of the condos each, so finding two condos there was no problem; and you can still do a combination deal with a condo plus a dive package. When we first stayed there ~15 years ago, it was all shiny and new. It's still nice, but the furniture in at least our condo was definitely looking worn out. Also, they repainted the outside of the building which used to be 3 shades of Dutch island pastels, to 3 shades of grey, and I must admit, this makes me like the place less :). On the plus side, there were some resident kitties that hung out near the dive shop.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmNfhPFCMo95vS6XkrjS4fd_gPosZW7LoDAEgAR2Cf2vHc4C72mAHHsF8gCE4nHVBvO9nGRmBGeiLYVkbpiECJVuCMcUjNxeaxfnklXFRBN5nuNr07afAMPuxh5o-V2wILa9yRB24VWYeicFSqIkYbaD23Ua9PPEtqdwhbyxqg50MbgDy-73S3x2_/s640/cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVmNfhPFCMo95vS6XkrjS4fd_gPosZW7LoDAEgAR2Cf2vHc4C72mAHHsF8gCE4nHVBvO9nGRmBGeiLYVkbpiECJVuCMcUjNxeaxfnklXFRBN5nuNr07afAMPuxh5o-V2wILa9yRB24VWYeicFSqIkYbaD23Ua9PPEtqdwhbyxqg50MbgDy-73S3x2_/s320/cat.jpg" width="240" /></a>Bonaire is way way more developed than it was when we were last there, both north and south of town. I'm guessing there are tons of nice houses/condos that you could rent there now, though the proximity to the dive shop and the excellent house reef is still a good reason to stay at one of the dive resort/condos closer to town. On the topic of the dive shops... the dive shop by Den Laman is now <a href="https://www.divefriendsbonaire.com/">Dive Friends Bonaire</a>, which seems to have a near-monopoly on dive shops on the island. This is great, because if you have a package with them, you can get tanks from any of their (eight) locations. We took advantage of this at least once on the trip. </p><p>One other development since our last trip to Bonaire is that the trucks are now automatics (good for me, disappointing for Rob).</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Food</h3><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDBwMaTGPSrpE5QX7SBDx_wBPt0lQo70EWhBu9xwiKTTmvXbKSWjpqBgMnzl3K5nltWawYlji8WMgPT1AETLFLh-z52vJdLm938fybWjZeoqC3FZVb4ZdtpvlfOOCbX-Oy5sjJWuh9AJVh98pznvKBaCfDvQRu5ufjSII7MiN_tF_e55YtRXmQ96o/s640/rob-drink.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDBwMaTGPSrpE5QX7SBDx_wBPt0lQo70EWhBu9xwiKTTmvXbKSWjpqBgMnzl3K5nltWawYlji8WMgPT1AETLFLh-z52vJdLm938fybWjZeoqC3FZVb4ZdtpvlfOOCbX-Oy5sjJWuh9AJVh98pznvKBaCfDvQRu5ufjSII7MiN_tF_e55YtRXmQ96o/s320/rob-drink.jpg" width="240" /></a>On our previous trips to Bonaire, finding places to eat each night was not a thing that really required much advance thought. We found out the hard way that this is no longer the case. Maybe it's because stuff was just re-opening after the pandemic and not at full capacity, or maybe this is just the way it is now. But the first night we wandered around looking for a table at several restaurants and could not get one. So after that we got a bit more organized and made reservations. On the plus side (maybe), it seems that there are a lot more upscale places to eat in Bonaire now. I guess this goes along with the new development. </p><p>We ended up eating at the following places:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><br /><li>Lunch</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147267-d15215270-Reviews-Irie_Jamaican_Cuisine-Bonaire.html">IRIE Jamaican Cuisine</a>: We went here for lunch one day. It was great. We liked it enough that I think we wanted to go here a second day, but it was closed that day of the week.</li><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/epicfoodsbonaire/">Stoked Food Truck</a>: Food trucks are a thing on Bonaire now, which I'm a fan of. I had the pulled rib sandwich, which was good. And the mango punch was a hit with everyone. The food truck is a double decker bus, and in theory there is seating on the second deck, but it was closed (not sure if that was pandemic-related or what). </li><li><a href="https://www.posadaparamira.com/">Posada Para Mira</a>: This is supposed to be authentic local food on the north side of the island. We had trouble finding it, and in fact a local kid (on his bike) kind of led us part of the way until we were back on the scent. I think some of the things we had (goat stew) were good and others (iguana stew) were less well-liked. The service was also pretty slow. It seemed like we were there forever.</li><li><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g2199697-d14025741-Reviews-Doner_Station-Hato_Bonaire.html">Doner Station</a>: Kebab place right across the rotary from Den Laman. It was awesome.</li><li><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147268-d1751858-Reviews-Mi_Banana-Kralendijk_Bonaire.html">Mi Banana</a>: We got very different advice on whether to go here or not. It was a very local/authentic place that was kind of like a taqueria vibe but with Caribbean food. I liked it.</li><li><a href="https://between2bunsbonaire.com/">Between 2 Buns</a>. We went here for breakfast the last day. It was good. They had very good looking desserts, but we didn't try any.</li></ul><li>Drinks/Snacks</li><ul><li><a href="https://m.facebook.com/giosbonaire/#_=_">Gio's Gelateria & Caffe</a>. We ate a lot of gelato -- my usual goal on vacation is to eat ice cream everyday. I ate at least the following flavors: cheesecake, salted caramel, marzipan, coffee, snickers, hazelnut, and pistachio.</li><li><a href="https://breezenbites.com/">Breezes n Bites</a> (the restaurant at Den Laman). We went here for drinks and snacks before dinner a couple of times. It was perfectly adequate for that purpose.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8647Q_7JCJi1AKyg5OA6ty6CKY7NpDXxO9KKc-PNeycaczlOufauE1Yc-we2Iw5IVyDFqqLXDoreThF515Mmd1_PYOxfbV98BYmYubqRVMyveRHVhgv_S5S_lbVw_yRiZ7BmKwDAio22VmmXA-sE4mbUyUxepeiNwHepRGN9YBoGEmWhASb1JHNEV/s640/food2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8647Q_7JCJi1AKyg5OA6ty6CKY7NpDXxO9KKc-PNeycaczlOufauE1Yc-we2Iw5IVyDFqqLXDoreThF515Mmd1_PYOxfbV98BYmYubqRVMyveRHVhgv_S5S_lbVw_yRiZ7BmKwDAio22VmmXA-sE4mbUyUxepeiNwHepRGN9YBoGEmWhASb1JHNEV/s320/food2.jpg" width="240" /></a></li><li><a href="https://www.habitatbonaire.com/dining">The Bar at Captain Don's</a>. We went here before dinner the last night. The drinks were fine. Some of the customers were obnoxious.</li></ul><li>Dinner</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147268-d13082718-Reviews-La_Terrazza_Bonaire-Kralendijk_Bonaire.html">La Terrazza</a>: We ate here the first night, when we couldn't find any other place. It's an interesting concept; they don't have a menu, you just say what your allergies/preferences are and courses start coming until you say you don't want any more. It was delicious -- we had wahoo ceviche, shrimp skewers, and chicken stew. And wine pairings with some of those. We went here a second time later in the week.</li><li><a href="https://www.atseabonaire.com/">At Sea</a>: This place is an example of how there are more upscale restaurants in Bonaire now. We did the 4 or 5 course surprise menu, and it was good, but it kind of seemed like the restaurant was trying too hard to be fancy.</li><li><a href="https://bluegardenpizza.com/#specialties">Blue Garden</a>: Brazilian place that is more down to earth than the previous two dinner places. I can't remember exactly what we got here, but it was some mixed grill sort of thing. I remember there was a ton of food, the table was totally packed with stuff, and it was good. But we still managed a night dive afterward!</li><li><a href="https://sebastiansrestaurantbonaire.com/">Sebastian's</a>: This was a fancy place. It was really good, had a nice view, and they had good cocktails, but it was SO slow.</li><li><a href="https://lacantinabonaire.com/">La Cantina</a>: Another more down to earth dinner place. I thought it was pretty cute inside, and had some interesting things on the menu. We were doing a night dive, so sadly we could not sample their cocktails.</li><li><a href="https://www.brassboer.com/">Brass Boer</a>: We went here for Rob's birthday, and did the tasting menu, and it was very good; a good choice for the big night.</li></ul></ul><h3 style="text-align: left;">Diving</h3><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRfYfoEPNuEN-eZdvDCbJLQ5tvspkisUXM-U6h4kV3FNa2SpXTB5olC1UtUWLWqLuDZdNjE1Zn8geHBmHes7aJdn7YADs3mjpOpr9xO5DDA5jM_98HozP350_0t7Tl4XjIpyzNb_hecvnbYQy7ysIqj7wHvVN--lDyDmW2ww3RUhvj-PlQDnVGC_eK/s2048/flamingo-tongue.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRfYfoEPNuEN-eZdvDCbJLQ5tvspkisUXM-U6h4kV3FNa2SpXTB5olC1UtUWLWqLuDZdNjE1Zn8geHBmHes7aJdn7YADs3mjpOpr9xO5DDA5jM_98HozP350_0t7Tl4XjIpyzNb_hecvnbYQy7ysIqj7wHvVN--lDyDmW2ww3RUhvj-PlQDnVGC_eK/s320/flamingo-tongue.jpeg" width="320" /></a>And last but not least, the diving! We did 3 or 4 dives a day. I am not going to do a full blown dive report for each dive, but will summarize the places that we went:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Bari Reef (House Reef). This was a big reason that we stayed at Den Laman, and it did not disappoint. I believe that we did six dives here, including two night dives. There were tons of eels, and at least two resident frogfish (one of which we were able to find over and over again). At night, there were lots of lobsters, basket stars, and huge tarpon.</li><li>Hilma Hooker (twice). Big tarpon and lots of barracuda.</li><li>Andrea I and II (once each). Lots of lettuce sea slugs, and these shaggy jelly creatures all over the place on one of the dives.</li><li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9KAqqiRE_bAieRuaXzpiJSxnUSZhDoN_Cv8WDJzMSQV6e2QG4Wh2vGAcuqzzc-FwxpVaquRb1cH8n5ToR0MMKJ_z2h6npJaz4wM9XxJtv28KgcPPHPV_5VlvD0Axt-d-SnTE-IXaInb48l2A5b2LM1OvxnmZtNd6oOtwnoFfBi8g1zE31sElyvaz/s1498/hilma-hooker.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1498" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9KAqqiRE_bAieRuaXzpiJSxnUSZhDoN_Cv8WDJzMSQV6e2QG4Wh2vGAcuqzzc-FwxpVaquRb1cH8n5ToR0MMKJ_z2h6npJaz4wM9XxJtv28KgcPPHPV_5VlvD0Axt-d-SnTE-IXaInb48l2A5b2LM1OvxnmZtNd6oOtwnoFfBi8g1zE31sElyvaz/s320/hilma-hooker.jpeg" width="214" /></a>Salt Pier (twice). Really good viz, tarpon, barracudas, huge green morays. We were hoping for turtles but never found them.</li><li>Alice in Wonderland.</li><li>Captain Don's Reef (Klein Bonaire). Nice sloping reef, with a sand slide with lots of soft (and non-soft) corals along the side of it.</li><li>Mi Dushi (Klein Bonaire). Rob saw a turtle and squid but I didn’t :( John found an eel out in the open, it was light grey with white spots. Tons of soft corals right on the edge of the drop off. </li><li>The Invisibles (twice). Neat sand chutes on both inner and outer reefs. Tons of fish.</li><li>Oil Slick Leap. It was a little sporty on the surface/getting out, but the jump in is always fun :)</li><li>Tolo (Ol Blue). This seemed more like a real beach dive than most sites in Bonaire.</li><li>Cliff. This is the house reef at Hamlet Oasis, but there is a Dive Friends here, so we could access it (and even use their tanks). There is a section with a very vertical wall, which has a lot of whip corals on it. Worth a visit.</li><li>Something Special. This is the easiest shore entry on the island. Rob found a really cool slug here.</li><li>Margate Bay. Tons of soft corals along the top edge of the drop off.</li><li>Tori's Reef. We tried to go here earlier in the week, and went to Invisibles instead, because we couldn't figure out the entry. Well we were looking in the wrong place (wrong side of the bridge). You walk down rocks that kind of make steps. Tons of orange elephant ears. Drop off is a little deeper. Finally saw a turtle.</li></ul><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhziPaQnKODP5wRWzfrznRddAGMkJfAw8uYor846IOa0C3AwIW9x_oNETD0WWVscTaED_ihUgwjI16lVc8W8Zt1h_SMOXYw-as02tsNDdgDMrwKLMABxCtFD0YkBpMtjf1G0TTkmLzFqs0llZLTH8x4ThBuZr8-rtgUv07Thy3Zwyyka2EWn4RK8wb/s2048/frogfish.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhziPaQnKODP5wRWzfrznRddAGMkJfAw8uYor846IOa0C3AwIW9x_oNETD0WWVscTaED_ihUgwjI16lVc8W8Zt1h_SMOXYw-as02tsNDdgDMrwKLMABxCtFD0YkBpMtjf1G0TTkmLzFqs0llZLTH8x4ThBuZr8-rtgUv07Thy3Zwyyka2EWn4RK8wb/s320/frogfish.jpeg" width="320" /></a>We went to a lot of places that we hadn't been before, and it was a good variety. Only doing 3 or 4 dives a day gave us more time to go further afield for some of the dives. We only went out on the boat once, and we probably would have gone out at least once more, but it turned out that it was hard to get spots on the boat. I wish we had been told this when we first showed up; we would have reserved spots earlier in the trip if we had known.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Even though Rob claimed Bonaire is a Tier N dive destination, he got a lot of nice photos, and I had trouble choosing which ones to post here. Check all of them out on <a href="https://www.roberthlee.com/blog/2021/8/1/bonaire">his blog</a>.</div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-55623156332372417622021-01-21T19:13:00.001-08:002021-02-01T19:56:31.754-08:00Weeknight Dive<p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuLCf_Ai-vk/YBjM7BzG19I/AAAAAAAAG2A/4ko1qVF8HSoFVI8YmnRjUdVPWHUrfxxRwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1391.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fuLCf_Ai-vk/YBjM7BzG19I/AAAAAAAAG2A/4ko1qVF8HSoFVI8YmnRjUdVPWHUrfxxRwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1391.jpg" width="320" /><br /></a>One of my goals for the holiday break was to do a night dive. I figured it was the perfect time for a night dive, considering the proximity to the shortest day of the year. We did a bunch of night dives last spring, but once the days started to get longer, my intolerance for waiting until 8PM to get into the water kicked in, and we hadn't done any night dives since. So I figured there had to be a few nights of good weather to get a night dive in. Early in the first week, there was a night that looked promising, but my laziness and the fact that it was really cold out led me to think there would surely be another night during the break when we could do a night dive! And then for like three straight weeks, there was 10+ foot swell. Okay, it's possible that's not exactly true, but literally every night since then that we could go on a night dive, the swell forecast was either really big or really long (or often both).</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yaz7Bamk1RE/YBjM5aiiW0I/AAAAAAAAG1w/aCAGaT6xTOo85QK3800rOgLqAW09AumtACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yaz7Bamk1RE/YBjM5aiiW0I/AAAAAAAAG1w/aCAGaT6xTOo85QK3800rOgLqAW09AumtACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1289.jpg" width="320" /></a>So finally this week, Wednesday and Thursday looked good. Rob was just getting back from the bay area on Wednesday night, so we decided on Thursday. It was kind of chilly during the day on Thursday and for some reason (I think it was the walk down to the beach on Thursday morning), I was freezing cold all day. So cold that the idea of going diving seemed really unappealing to me. Rob was finishing up a meeting until 6:00, when we were supposed to head out, and I was literally laying in bed under the covers, cuddling with Oreo, trying to warm up. I really did not want to go diving. But I reminded myself that I'd been watching the forecast for literally weeks, and the next several days in the forecast looked once again pretty big. So I dragged myself down to the Breakwater, and boy am I glad that I did!</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1usUVNJN3Uk/YBjM5KL7EII/AAAAAAAAG1s/CdUtQfxYJqQOXFLf16kI-JUkA5cjbHSDgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1269.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1usUVNJN3Uk/YBjM5KL7EII/AAAAAAAAG1s/CdUtQfxYJqQOXFLf16kI-JUkA5cjbHSDgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1269.jpg" width="320" /></a>When we drove up, we saw another team getting ready to go into the water. And we could see lights underwater from at least one more team already in the water. As we were finishing up our gear check, a team came out of the water and said conditions were pretty good. And they were not lying. As we got into the water, when I bent over to put my fins on, the water in the surf zone looked really clear. As we swam out, I realized I had not tested my light (I tested it in the garage, but not right before we got in). So I flipped the switch and... nothing. Then I realized my E/O cord had popped off. I plugged it back in and... my light worked again. Phew. We continued swimming out until we were a bit past the bathrooms. When we first started the swim, the moon was totally obscured by the clouds, but then they cleared a bit so we could actually kind of see by the time we dropped. I stuck my face under the water before I'd turned my light back on, and I could see the bottom. Without any light! Rob pointed out that there was bioluminescence in the water, so we flapped around for a bit on the surface without our lights on to entertain ourselves. We dropped in about 18 feet of water and the viz was great. I think it was really as good as it gets at the Breakwater, and you could see as far as the lights would allow.</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1E9CYfpDJA/YBjM5e4XIgI/AAAAAAAAG10/LQZ_5ydBs8QqnuFGFyRUCDxDMOvcMM52QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1E9CYfpDJA/YBjM5e4XIgI/AAAAAAAAG10/LQZ_5ydBs8QqnuFGFyRUCDxDMOvcMM52QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1254.jpg" width="320" /></a>We spent most of the dive meandering out over the sand. In the first 5 minutes, we saw like 5 little octopuses. Some were tiny! Throughout the dive, we saw tons more of them, and many of them were quite active, out climbing around on things. Basically anywhere that we stopped to look around, I could find at least one! Aside from that, I found a bunch of <i>Limacia</i>s. They were all in one area. I found one and showed it to Rob, and by the time he came over to take its pic, I'd found another. Then while he was taking pics of them, I found a bunch more. We also saw a single sea hare. So pokeable.</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B6Q6Nox4Pq0/YBjM6jVV0jI/AAAAAAAAG18/VHO5jMydpOMCpTc6Z_75A6FQwsDgPbQjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1381.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B6Q6Nox4Pq0/YBjM6jVV0jI/AAAAAAAAG18/VHO5jMydpOMCpTc6Z_75A6FQwsDgPbQjwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1381.jpg" width="320" /></a>There were two good finds on the dive. One, which Rob found, was a <i>Tritonia diomedea</i>. That was super exciting, because I think this is only like the third time I've ever seen one in Monterey. Definitely less than the tenth time :P The other good find was a couple of squid. We found them as we were (finally) headed back to the wall. Rob managed to get some shots of one, which was surprisingly not that annoyed by Rob's strobes. I did feel bad for the little guy though.</p><p>And about that swim back to the wall... at some point, maybe 45 minutes into the dive, I suggested to Rob that we head toward the wall. So Rob starts swimming, and I follow. And we are headed southeast. And we are swimming and swimming and I keep kind of correcting us to the right. And we stop a couple of times and when we start going, Rob keeps heading southeast. Finally I had to tell Rob we were going *this* way instead. As a result, when we finally made it to the wall, we were really far out, and it was like 45 feet or so at the bottom. So at that point, we had to head pretty directly in, because gas was actually getting low. There was not a lot of time to lollygag. Along the swim in, we picked up a whiskery friend. A very rotund harbor seal. He followed along with us for pretty much the rest of the dive. He was very cute. I would never rub a marine mammal on its tummy, but I can't say the same for my dive buddy.</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr47B000Es4/YBjM6OI7kYI/AAAAAAAAG14/SILJirWDMUUbgapcRb_JoChXbL1KYwdxgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yr47B000Es4/YBjM6OI7kYI/AAAAAAAAG14/SILJirWDMUUbgapcRb_JoChXbL1KYwdxgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1376.jpg" width="320" /></a>As usual, we surfaced from like 7 feet and I was annoyed that we surfaced too far out :P Every time I dive the breakwater and don't swim in until I can stand, I end up annoyed when I surface and its further out than expected.</p><p>But it was a nice night for a short surface swim. We didn't make it out in time for Little Chicken Hut, so we settled for In N Out for dinner. There was an astoundingly short line. The last time we did a night dive and went to In N Out afterward (sometime in the spring), the line was all the way to the edge of the parking lot! That was shortly after the miracle of takeout restaurants reopening.</p><p><br /></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-77314213001472606542020-12-26T20:23:00.018-08:002021-01-24T21:08:27.510-08:00Italian Christmas<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zVcuIfsXOZU/YA5R5BFhPhI/AAAAAAAAG0w/D1x_kFdd0fYeQ_OGFNPrbUV3mYZGKgpEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1025.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zVcuIfsXOZU/YA5R5BFhPhI/AAAAAAAAG0w/D1x_kFdd0fYeQ_OGFNPrbUV3mYZGKgpEQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1025.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></div>For obvious reasons, we didn't go anywhere for Christmas or New Year's this year. But my company had off for a full week and a half (and I added two days, too make it a nice round 2 weeks off), and Rob rather ambitiously scheduled several days of diving over that period. Ambitious in the sense that, well, it's December, so the likelihood of cooperative weather is low. We've done some great dives over the Christmas holidays in past years, but we've also been blown out a lot. Well I can't say we were totally successful in our diving efforts over the holiday (more on that in a future post), but our most ambitious plan of all was to go back to Italian Ledge the day after Christmas.<p></p><p>As I mentioned <a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2019/07/robs-birthday-weekend-part-1-italian.html">the last (and only) time we went to Italian Ledge</a>, it took quite a few tries before we managed to get there. We've been trying to get back ever since; I think we made a serious attempt last year in September and then again over the summer this year. Well December 26th seemed like an unlikely day to be able to go there. And the weather forecast did not look so good in the run up to the date. We'd rescheduled our Christmas dinner to Christmas Eve, which I regretted when I saw that forecast. There was supposed to be big scary swell and some wind. But it seemed like there might be a window in the morning before it actually got big. The day before the dive, I told Rob that if it was borderline at all, we were not diving. We had once before made it out to the dive site and had an argument about whether it was diveable (it was not!) and I didn't want a repeat of that.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GpL_thGCmfc/YA5R5K-tzvI/AAAAAAAAG00/xFB6zo8Wl8cb2WEnd7alxrME2nMjcTtvQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1037.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GpL_thGCmfc/YA5R5K-tzvI/AAAAAAAAG00/xFB6zo8Wl8cb2WEnd7alxrME2nMjcTtvQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1037.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>When we got out to the site, it was dead calm -- definitely not borderline! The color of the water also looked pretty good! We took our time dropping the line and getting geared up, and then we jumped in and started the long scooter ride down to the bottom. The water was clear and bright quite a ways down the line. Around 150 feet, the line went from being pretty much straight vertical to bending at a slight angle. There was a teeny bit of current from that point down. When we finally got to the bottom, it seemed like we had landed on a relatively barren section, compared to our previous dive. The viz was 30 to 40 feet. So we followed the structure down to the bottom and around it, and eventually we found some crinoids. Phew, finally something worth coming to see :)<p></p><p>We ambled around on the bottom, and came back around the structure to find a school of Bocaccio hanging out above the structure (with a bunch of olive rockfish mixed in). While we were watching them, I suddenly heard a noise, like a very loud humming noise, and then after a moment I realized it was whale song. I asked Rob if he heard it and if that's what it was. It was quite intense and we could hear it on and off for the rest of the dive and throughout deco. I could not believe how loud it was. I felt like a whale must be about to swim by at any moment!</p><p><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CRBKszVOrVE/YA5R5JyUQRI/AAAAAAAAG0s/ZCIOOYhkV64njc0AXMy5jRg3Q6X6r1t_QCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1022.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CRBKszVOrVE/YA5R5JyUQRI/AAAAAAAAG0s/ZCIOOYhkV64njc0AXMy5jRg3Q6X6r1t_QCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1022.jpeg" width="320" /></a>When we came around the structure, we saw a monster cowcod. I would have estimated it to be like 4 feet long, though Wikipedia says they only get to 39 inches :) Maybe it was because I was under the influence oof whalesong. But seriously, even more impressive than the length of the cowcod was how tall it was. It was just enormous. Later in the dive, we saw two more cowcods, which were just normal sized. Still exciting to see, since I've only seen them once or twice before!</p><p>We also saw some big yelloweyes and one flag rockfish. Last time we saw several flag rockfish. This time we didn't find the one until pretty late in the dive, so I was just glad to see one at that point. Overall, this was not as much of a star-studded dive in terms of all of these exotic "deep" rockfish, but I suppose it was a pretty good showing overall. One super bummer was that Rob had some kind of camera problem that caused a button to stick on, preventing him from changing the focus on his camera. So he got just a few photos early in the dive, but none of the exciting fish that we found later in the dive :( Luckily you have my excellent description of the dive to paint a picture of that ;)</p><p>When we headed up the structure before starting our ascent, we passed some sections that were more encrusted with corynactis. This was like the prettier spot where we happened to land on the way down last time. Rob whipped out the reel and put the bag up and we started our ascent.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fXqMWzzWMxY/YA5R5rmK-yI/AAAAAAAAG04/lEuqeETj5P016uEApTuDJ-e5YRIEx72XwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/DSC_1041.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fXqMWzzWMxY/YA5R5rmK-yI/AAAAAAAAG04/lEuqeETj5P016uEApTuDJ-e5YRIEx72XwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/DSC_1041.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>We had a very long deco, but it was not that boring. First of all, the viz was crazy good. The water was super blue and clear and bright. And there were lots of deco critters. No sea nettles, but lots of random singleton jellies and salps and stuff. Just a steady stream of things drifting by that we could swim over to and look at to pass the time. I really don't know how the time passed so quickly, but it really wasn't a bad deco at all.<p></p><p>The highlight of the deco was at 30 feet, when a school of bonito swam by. I couldn't believe it when I saw them just as we were approaching the 30 foot stop. I wish I had my GoPro for that! They circled us a couple of times. So cool!</p><p>When we got to the surface, it was still nice and flat. Phew, we timed it perfectly!</p><p>According to Greg and crew, they didn't see any whale spouts at all the entire time that we were down. So I guess there wasn't a whale about to swim past us during the dive.</p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-67736889414564337582020-09-27T21:44:00.002-07:002020-12-12T21:52:30.621-08:00Road Trip to "Idaho": A Non-Dive Trip<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1k8tWIVG4JQ/X9WqGq5UdcI/AAAAAAAAGy4/P10VzNgOqz8eFHiyimRAaKNJSUjqJxxCwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/red-castle.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1k8tWIVG4JQ/X9WqGq5UdcI/AAAAAAAAGy4/P10VzNgOqz8eFHiyimRAaKNJSUjqJxxCwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/red-castle.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We were getting a bit restless having not traveled anywhere for 6 months, and I was very grumpy that my plans to go somewhere awesome for my birthday had been thwarted. So we wanted to go somewhere, and since flying somewhere seemed like a bad idea, we decided it was a good chance for a road trip, and hence a good chance for a non-diving trip. I somehow got the idea to go to Idaho. I think I got the idea when I did a google search for road trips from California :) and started to zero in on some hiking and backpacking in the Sawtooth Mountains in Idaho. Coincidentally, one of my coworkers went on a "bikepacking" trip to the Sawtooths a few weeks later, and when I saw his pictures, that sealed the deal. So I spent quite a bit of time researching where to go and where to hike, and I even bought a paper map (quaint, huh?) of the trails around the area. Then a couple of things happened. I had a company event, so we had to delay the trip by a week, and the entire west coast went up in flames. Well enough of it to make half of the country smokey anyway. So by the time we were headed to Idaho, the air quality there was quite bad. We devised a plan B of going to Utah, since it was still looking nice and green on the air quality map.<p></p><p>Oh, one extra interesting kink in the trip plan. Rob recently got a Tesla. So this makes long distance travel extra interesting to plan. I was rather worried about ending up somewhere in the middle of nowhere, with a dead car and no charger in sight, and having to have the car towed to somewhere with a charger :P</p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-drive-to-twin-falls-idaho.html">Drive to Twin Falls, Idaho</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-twin-falls-to-sun-valley-id.html">Sun Valley, Idaho</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-evanston-wy.html">Evanston, Wyoming</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-red-castle-lake.html">Red Castle Lake, Utah</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-antelope-island-and-salt-lake.html">Antelope Island and Salt Lake City, Utah</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-alta-utah.html">Alta, Utah</a></p><p><a href="http://coldwaterkitty.blogspot.com/2020/09/road-trip-back-to-salt-lake-city.html">Back to Salt Lake City</a></p>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-2026099103903399652020-09-26T21:13:00.008-07:002020-12-12T21:49:41.700-08:00Road Trip: Back to Salt Lake City<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIVUQERUwR4/X8XSMOUoyeI/AAAAAAAAGuc/nOq-vIAvsgA087fLk-OE6YsaAJDglJZQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/utah-capitol.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tIVUQERUwR4/X8XSMOUoyeI/AAAAAAAAGuc/nOq-vIAvsgA087fLk-OE6YsaAJDglJZQgCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/utah-capitol.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>After that, we headed back to Salt Lake City and checked into our hotel, the <a href="https://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/utah/hilton-salt-lake-city-center-SLCCCHH/about/amenities.html">Hilton Salt Lake City Center</a>. We stayed at the Hilton this time because they have a Tesla destination charger, and because it's like one block closer to places you would go for dinner in Salt Lake City. After lazing about for a bit, we decided to go for a walk to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Square">Temple Square</a> and then up to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_State_Capitol">Utah state capitol</a>. The temple was undergoing some extreme construction, but we walked around the square and looked at some gardens, a statue of a sea gull, and talked to a few different young Mormon ladies, one of whom explained to us why there is a statue of a sea gull. Rob tried to avoid talking to the Mormon ladies, but I think this is part of the experience with going to Temple Square. After that we walked up to the capitol, looked very briefly at it (it was hot and sunny), and then headed back to the hotel, for more lazing about.<p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyN3EHRFxuQ/X8XSSXJ_RuI/AAAAAAAAGug/UDezosfR6x0gF9x6KQ5TUU2AvPkCejXTACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/sea-gull-monument.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyN3EHRFxuQ/X8XSSXJ_RuI/AAAAAAAAGug/UDezosfR6x0gF9x6KQ5TUU2AvPkCejXTACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/sea-gull-monument.jpeg" /></a></div>For dinner, we went to <a href="https://marketstreetgrill.com/menus/">Market Street Grill</a>, which is right next to Takashi, and which Rob had been to before. It really reminded me of an east coast style seafood restaurant. We had oysters and I had surf and turf. And key lime pie. Yum.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next morning, we headed home. It was a pretty uneventful drive. We spent part of the really boring drive across Utah debating the merits of motorhomes, and looking at pictures of crazy luxury motorhomes online. Turns out that while you can't watch Netflix on the Tesla while you are driving, you *can* search the internet. Good to know.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our last stop to charge was at Donner Summit, which was the biggest and most crowded supercharger that we saw on the entire trip. It was in the parking lot of a shopping center with a grocery store. We went into the grocery store to use the bathrooms, and it was without a doubt, the most crowded grocery store I'd been in since March. I guess everyone is going to Tahoe, since they can't go on a real trip.</div><div><br /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6919085565400614894.post-37739276735217703682020-09-24T21:12:00.028-07:002020-12-12T21:49:23.455-08:00Road Trip: Alta, Utah<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koORfMQr5wI/X9WoSt5cp_I/AAAAAAAAGx0/YjTAo_aZ41kILf7hQmiZSFvwp5axl6ASACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/camping-stream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-koORfMQr5wI/X9WoSt5cp_I/AAAAAAAAGx0/YjTAo_aZ41kILf7hQmiZSFvwp5axl6ASACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/camping-stream.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>We decided to do some car camping the next night. We found some hiking spots that seemed worth hiking and not too hard :P around Alta, and the nearest camping spot that was open this late in the season was Tanners Flat Campground (in Sandy, UT). The area is really close to Salt Lake City, so you could just go and do day hikes in the area, but we wanted to camp. We stopped at a Target on the way out of town, to get provisions (marshmallows and graham crackers) and then headed to the campground. It was first come, first serve so we drove around a bit and found a site right next to the creek. We setup our tent (and moved it several times, until it was juuust right), got some fire wood, and lamented that we hadn't brought any food to grill (or charcoal to grill with) since there was a grill at our campsite. Then we headed to Alta to hike to <a href="https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/utah/cecret-lake-trail">Cecret Lake</a>, which looked like a nice easy hike.<p></p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_MsrBvswB8/X9Wof9qDOqI/AAAAAAAAGx4/-QHTJE6-TzUEL9DzEen1vgxDsOhOrkjgwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/cecret-lake.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L_MsrBvswB8/X9Wof9qDOqI/AAAAAAAAGx4/-QHTJE6-TzUEL9DzEen1vgxDsOhOrkjgwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/cecret-lake.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>The hike up is indeed pretty easy. It gets steep and kind of rocky near the top, but it was fine. Theere were some big smooth rocks in places, which would probably be annoying if it was at all wet. Once we got up to the lake, we found a nice rock to sit on and hung out for a while, watching the little chipmunks dart around. It started to get windy so we decided to head down. But first we wanted to poke around a bit and see where the trail went if we continued to the left. It seemed to continue. So we followed that, and looking at a map, it looked like we could follow it a bit longer and eventually make our way back down a different route. We figured in the worst case, we'd have to turn back and go back the way we came. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixu45nxHWjE/X9Wo2yzlHTI/AAAAAAAAGyE/HFGymLNLRGIzmx_KsM9cKTUBZ9ELMlxhQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/rob-hiking.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ixu45nxHWjE/X9Wo2yzlHTI/AAAAAAAAGyE/HFGymLNLRGIzmx_KsM9cKTUBZ9ELMlxhQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/rob-hiking.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>This part of the trail was more in the woods and less rocky. We were following our little dot on Rob's Avenza map (which showed trails that didn't exactly line up with the trail map I had, but were pretty close). We had to make a few educated guesses of which way to go at Ts, and eventually it became clear we'd gone the wrong way, but we could see the trail that we thought we wanted to be on, to our left, down a big hill. Rob tried to talk me into climbing (sliding?) down the big hill and I refused and insisted we return to the last T and go the other way. You can imagine how Rob felt about that. So for most of the rest of the hike down, Rob was annoyed at me, but well, we found our way down without a hitch once we got back to that T. From the map in the Apple Fitness app and the AllTrails map, it's pretty obvious where we went wrong. Though you can also see that if we had kept going, we would have eventually come to another T where we could have made it down. By the way, I liked the path that we took down, and would recommend doing the hike as a loop (which also makes it a longer, slightly more respectable hike).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FreUyJ8nVHM/X9WpSTyxdDI/AAAAAAAAGyQ/jqNraOdu20YxGu0On9nNSLB0g85so5LwACNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/camping-beer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FreUyJ8nVHM/X9WpSTyxdDI/AAAAAAAAGyQ/jqNraOdu20YxGu0On9nNSLB0g85so5LwACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/camping-beer.jpeg" /></a></div>On the way back to our camp site, we stopped at the little grocery store at Snowbird, hoping to find beer/wine and/or some food for dinner that would be better than a dehydrated meal. We struck out on food (due to our lack of charcoal) but we did manage to each find a can of beer to our liking.</div><div><br /></div><div>After that, we headed back to our camp site and checked our the creek/stream next to it. There were some little waterfalls along the stream, which Rob attempted to take pictures of. The fact that neither he nor his camera ended up in the stream is a small miracle.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IndDT8DVRDI/X9WpYiGfB_I/AAAAAAAAGyU/JPR1J8CB4TcbtNB9_yTGEh-RkM_C0sJvwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/camp-fire.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IndDT8DVRDI/X9WpYiGfB_I/AAAAAAAAGyU/JPR1J8CB4TcbtNB9_yTGEh-RkM_C0sJvwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/camp-fire.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>For dinner, we made a little noodle appetizer (using our amazing discovery that ramen plus cold water makes an awesome noodle dish) to go with our beers and then we had dehydrated chicken and dumplings for the main event. This time we managed to get boiling water from our burner, which made the chicken and dumplings significantly tastier. We built a fire and sat around it for a while, making s'mores and nursing our beers. Yum.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yQdajAUTatk/X9Wpr1nDKgI/AAAAAAAAGyg/BFg2_PSl7i8Cp27Z2MlkjpvhPADAeWIkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/rob-over-the-stream.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yQdajAUTatk/X9Wpr1nDKgI/AAAAAAAAGyg/BFg2_PSl7i8Cp27Z2MlkjpvhPADAeWIkQCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/rob-over-the-stream.jpeg" /></a></div>The next morning, we packed up our camp site, and headed to Gloria Falls for a hike. By the time we got there, a little before 9am, the parking lot was full and we had to park on the road, kind of a ways away from the trailhead. Oh well. So the hike to Gloria Falls is about a mile and a half. After an initial not too long flat section, it's a pretty steady uphill (but not too uphill) walk. It's an easy, civilized trail. Right near the very end, there are some steep sections that require a bit of thought to decide which way to go. I think it's highly likely we were technically off-trail at that point, though, since on the way down, we found a less steep path down in that area.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-_0khd3cfw/X9WpxRFEDsI/AAAAAAAAGyk/Vxy0Sj9ZmBAkDkaxOyypwOhvmydwRT2GwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/two-moose.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w-_0khd3cfw/X9WpxRFEDsI/AAAAAAAAGyk/Vxy0Sj9ZmBAkDkaxOyypwOhvmydwRT2GwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/two-moose.jpeg" /></a></div>Anyhoo, I got ahead of myself. The most important thing to know about this hike is that on the way up, in a meadow (or something) off to the right of the trail, we saw two moose! Yay! Unfortunately neither of them had antlers. Very disappointing.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j_gBCl2TJXg/X9Wp1wYNA0I/AAAAAAAAGyo/tbARMx4uUigfxVRJWwoYXVuS3a2EPAaFwCNcBGAsYHQ/s2048/gloria-falls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j_gBCl2TJXg/X9Wp1wYNA0I/AAAAAAAAGyo/tbARMx4uUigfxVRJWwoYXVuS3a2EPAaFwCNcBGAsYHQ/s320/gloria-falls.jpg" /></a></div>When we got to the waterfall, it was quite obvious that we were at the waterfall; I say that only because there were a couple of tiny waterfalls that we saw on the way, where we were like "is this the waterfall?". And they were not. Also, when we got to the waterfall, omigod were there a lot of screaming kids. It was kind of intense. There was basically no way to get a picture of the whole waterfall without a lot of people in the frame. But the waterfall consisted of many small cascades, so Rob managed to get some shots of parts of the waterfall, without any screaming kids in the frame. We were there for maybe 20 or 30 minutes and then headed back down.</div><div><br /></div><div>From there, we were headed back to Salt Lake City (eventually) but we wanted to get lunch (late breakfast) first. Fancy-pants Rob suggested we go Park City, since he'd been there (for dinner, I think) before. We went to <a href="https://www.thebridgecafeandgrill.com/menu">The Bridge</a>, where I had a very tasty breakfast burrito.</div><div><br /></div>Allisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08837490222550210393noreply@blogger.com0