Dive Snapshots from President's Day Weekend

So I kicked off my 4 day weekend with an afternoon dive with Harry at the Grotto. Funny how it doesn't take much convincing for Harry to get wet. He got a new camera and has been dying to test it out.





The grotto is probably my most favorite dive spot in Saipan. Its just so unique and I feel like I'm in heaven going through the exit holes.






The visibility was unbelievable! Probably about 50 meters across the way. We spotted a huge Napolean Wrasse much like the one that was recently caught. He didn't wait too long for us to catch up with him because he just took off! Here's a picture of Harry below me taking pictures of this turtle. Check out his blog for beautiful close up pictures.







Here's a creature that I am definitely intrigued by but too scared to get too close. The Spotted Morey Eel has really sharp teeth and I just don't want get in its face.







I was actually really surprised to see this Parrotfish. It's either a Bumphead Parrotfish or a Steephead Parrotfish. If someone knows . . . let me know!







I'm so happy that I get to share my love for scuba diving with so many people in Saipan. There is always someone to go diving with on the weekends. This afternoon Sean, Mai, Jessica, Rikki, Mark and Tammy James, Dr. Hunt, Atsuko, and I rode the Aqua Jet out to two dive sites.


This was the SDA Teacher's first dive boat experience in Saipan and they did really well! Of course they had great instructor, Judy and Dennis. Here's a picture of Sean, Riki, and Jessica Crusin' into the deep blue.






I'm going to be dreaming of Pyramid Butterfly fish tonight! Plenty in the water. Mai is surrounded by them!















You know what we were all hoping to see-Eagle Rays! And we did! Five of them! We sat perched ontop of the Ice Cream Dive site and watched the Eagle Rays come swoop into the cleaning station. They were soo close to me! It was amazing! I think one of them winked at me!





















This Hawksbill Turtle dropped right in front of us and I didn't even notice him at first until Atsuko pointed him out. I was looking for Nudibranchs and realized he was dropping right in front of me!




I found Nemo! Here's a Duske Anemone Fish.











Here's a picture of an Orange Fin Anemone Fish

Into The Deep Blue

At it again! We took a diveboat out and dove three dive sites this past Saturday: the Grotto, Ice Cream, and Shipwreck. Ken and Crystal's friends, the Ordelheide's and the Fly's were visiting from Guam so we had a full crew on board. Eleven to be exact. We rented a dive boat through AquaJet and Scott Eck was our captain.





I really enjoy diving with large groups of people. It just seems so much more fun to share moments like seeing Spotted Eagle Rays, turtles, and White Tip Reef sharks together. Before taking a dive boat out, our day started out by diving the Grotto at 6am. Well, we were suppose to be there at 6 am but we ended up diving around 7am instead. It was still really early.




Diving the Grotto is ALWAYS amazing! I don't think i'll ever get sick of the swimthroughs or exploring the caves. I'm feeling alot more comfortable underwater these days. When i first started diving I was always concerned about my breathing rate, buyouncy, drowning . . . I guess I was just overly cautious and I couldn't really enjoy the dive. But now its different. It feels incredible to be underwater and I am just really blown away by the underwater world. During the Grotto Dive we saw a couple of white tip reef sharks resting on the bottom, a barracuda, and schools of fish. We were hoping to see some turtles but no luck.







In the afternoon we took the dive boat out to the shipwreck site. The current was pretty strong that day. I was searching the wreckage for Nudibranchs. I found a couple and went to go get Ken. Whenever I would bring Ken back I would forget exactly where I found them=( They're so hard to locate sometimes because they are so cute and small.







After diving the shipwreck site we headed out to Eagle Ray City to see if there were any Spotted Eagle Rays. We voted Chad to jump in and snorkel above to see if there were any. He saw five large Spotted Eagle Rays but we decided to take a chance and go to Ice Cream to see more Eagle Rays. So off we went to Ice Cream.





Diving Ice Cream was amazing! When there is current, there are usually eagle rays swimming along the top of the seamount. The name Ice Cream comes from the formations similarity to a scoop of ice cream. At Ice Cream we saw ten Spotted Eagle Rays, Barracudas, Nudibranch's, a Morey Eel . . . It was our most eventful dive of the day and well worth the trip. Hope you enjoy the pics. The underpictures were taken by Ken Pierson, Chad Ordelheide, and Eric Fly. Btw, I finally got my underwater housing for my camara and I will be able to take my own underwater pics!=)

Ever seen the movie "The Guardian"??

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Hoo-Rah!!!!=) Just having fun as always.