The August 8/9 certification trip was simply fantastic. The weather cooperated as did the visibility in both the Gulf of Mexico and Vortex Springs. See pictures here.Eighteen new divers learned a bit about what lies beneath the surface in the Gulf of Mexico — a body of water rich and alive with marine life. At times, there were so many baitfish that we simply could not see 5 feet in front of us. At other times, the baitfish balled up and zipped to and fro as though in a dance of life set to music.
On our way out to the dive site, we were informed by radio that a whale shark was cruising the immediate area. We chose to take our chances and go to where the giant animal was reported to be. Unfortunately, we did not get to see the whale shark but we did get to see more fish in a single dive than most people will ever see in a lifetime.
In addition to the numerous fish, we saw a Loggerhead Turtle accompanied by remoras, a Goliath Grouper, Spanish Mackerel, Bonita, young Amberjack, and lastly, but most certainly not least, we saw and photographed a frogfish — not a toadfish.
When we arrived at Vortex on Sunday morning, we were the only folks there. That was testament to the beautiful conditions in the Gulf: Dive boats took all the divers out thereby leaving us alone to enjoy the crisp and "gin clear" waters to ourselves. The water was so nice and the crowd so small that we elected to do a night dive. That was fantastic too. The eels came out looking for us to feed them.
Skills were completed and divers left happy and wanting more.
Congratulations to Emily, Alex, Russell, Leson, Brett, Megan, Blair, David H., David M., Tyler, Orr, Paul, Tucker, Mark, Maria, Lindsay, Cheney, and Art.
