The Perfect Dive Trip
April 10-11, 2004

By: Merry Beth Vardeh

Ben and I arrived at Atlantis Dive Center and as soon as we stepped out of the car we knew that it was going to be an EXCELLENT dive day. The flags were limp and completely lifeless and the channel smooth as glass. We said "Hello" to Slate, Bruce, Justin and our other friends at ADC, the weather was so perfect they did not even place bets when they saw me. (Those of you who have dove with me understand the betting.) With releases signed and gear ready to go we headed out to sea aboard the Coral Princess VI. There were only 13 divers total, including Slate dressed as the Easter Bunny and his daughter Skye, so there was lots of extra room on board. We were having an underwater Easter egg hunt today.

The site of our first dive and egg hunt was the Train Wheels. The big bunny hopped on in to hide his eggs. Skye and I followed and gathered up as many eggs as we could find. When we were done collecting the eggs I set my basket at the bottom of the down line the Easter Bunny was holding and snapped a photo of Ben on the line with him. (Am I the only one who looks at this photo & sees The Tortoise and The Hare?) Ben and I continued on our dive and saw the usual cast of sea creatures: lots of yellow tails, parrotfish, hogfish, etc and lobster, lots of lobsters. After about 50 minutes I was getting cold and time was about up so I retrieved my basket of eggs and we got back on board.

Our second dive spot was the South-South Ledges. I took the Nestea plunge, Ben followed with a brilliant giant stride and we settled down to about 30 ft. There was no current this day so we had an easy cruise up and down the reef, stopping to explore the nooks and crannies and watch the fish. Ben found a lobster hiding under a ledge and tried to coax him out but he wouldn't budge. We considered using the "snorkel technique" but passed and we made our way back toward the boat. I was turning into a human Popsicle in the chilly 75' water so I made my ascent leaving Ben below to play with Boomer for a few more minutes.

With everyone back on board we headed back to dry land in the warm sunshine. What a morning!

Sunday we were greeted with the same miraculous weather conditions. I have heard tales of such dive trips but based on personal experience, have chalked it up to Atlantis folklore. You don't know how happy I was to be proven wrong! Our first stop was the shark feed/City of Washington. Frazier Nivens was first in followed by me and Ben. We barely hit the water and the sharks started to swarm below. We settled to the bottom and enjoyed the company of the sharks swimming around us while we waited. Once Boomer hit the water with his new bucket they were on him like "white on rice", I counted 8 but it was hard to tell with the way they were mobbing him. They were extra hungry today! Bruiser even showed up for a snack. We watched the sharks eat for a little bit then made off on our own to the wreck. I looked for the morays but all I found was a little spotted eel. We explored, got a few good pictures and made our way back. A great dive! Second stop-Anchor Chain. Ben and I split from the group and headed toward a mooring ball about 100 yds out to find Mike's Wreck. On the way we saw about 15 barracuda hanging out together, giving us their creepy Jimmie-eye stare and we found a big conch shell complete with critter. A couple minutes after we hit the wreck I spotted a huge spotted eagle ray circling the site. He was incredible! This was the first time we have been able to get close enough to one to really check it out. I can't wait to dive this site again! Time was running out so we headed back to group and a half dozen lobsters hiding in the reef under the boat. I was cold and tired so I reluctantly went up after poking around the reef for just a few more minutes. It was such a perfect dive weekend, I did not want it to end. These were the kind of dives that make it all worthwhile. Imagine a whole weekend of diving and I did not feed a single fish!!! It doesn't get much better than this!