Hard coral fiesta!

Today we headed the other direction to Utwe harbor where the Nautilus keeps their other dive boat as Doug and Josh wanted to show me the other side of the island.  We went through Tofol and Malem on our way to Utwe.  Doug pointed out all of the government offices in Tofol including the building my sister worked in when she worked after the Peace Corps.  Arrived in Utwe with lots of activity for no reason other than a normal Friday morning I guess.  Probably some of Shary, Luke and Danny's family were among them.  The harbor is just before her family's house so I wasn't able to see it but will when I join them for dinner next week.  We then loaded up the boat and prepared to head out......

Dive Five

Site:  Hiroshi Point - Buoy 16

Dive Buddy:  Josh Beitz

Other divers:  n/a

Duration:  60 minutes

Max Depth:  62 feet

Visibility:  70 feet

Outside temp:  83.1 degrees F

Water temp: range from 82.4 - 84.6 degrees 

Josh and I had a nice first dive this morning - my first at Hiroshi point where sometimes the viz can push 200 feet.  Not so today with all the rain we've had and the wave surge.  The waves were quite high at the buoy - I'd estimate 5-6 foot swells but the boat rides nice and now that I'm comfortable in the water and with Josh and Doug - we roll off the boat backwards and head straight down.  Several beautiful anemone with their resident clown fish and pink anemone-fish (like the pic I posted yesterday). We happened upon a turtle chillin' on top of one of the coral heads and we chilled with it for a good three minutes before he got bored with us and slowly swam off into the blue.  I spotted another lion fish (confirming again that they aren't rare here) and a brittle star.  Josh then grabbed my leg as I was clearing my mask and pointed and I saw the most massive turtle ever.  We estimated his shell alone to be about 5-6 feet long!  And apparently, while back on the boat, Josh said it swam right in front of me but I missed that part as I was clearing.  But I did see him.  (Carrie - later confirmed that it was indeed a loggerhead turtle - you know your tortoises babe!)  Then, just as the dive ended, my head was down looking at macro stuff and Josh got my attention again but I missed a spotted eagle ray swooping through the coral heads.  Darnit - that one is on my list!  Oh well - hopefully another day and a new mental note to decide before each dive whether or not I'm going to seek out micro stuff or big animals - can't do both because then I'll be in between and won't see either.  

Dive Six

Site:  Hiroshi Point - Buoy 15

Dive Buddy:  Doug Beitz

Other divers:  n/a

Duration:  63 minutes

Max Depth:  50 feet

Visibility:  75 feet

Outside temp:  86.7 degrees F

Water temp: range from 82.4 - 86.7 degrees

The viz was a bit better on the second dive and the coral even more massive.  It's hard to even comprehend.  Going down here is loads (lol, "loads" - I'm picking up some Australian) of fun as you descend down onto a completely different world with massive coral heads getting bigger the closer you get to the bottom.  I mean - some of these things would engulf my living room!  Carrie - I saw a beautiful brain coral today that would dwarf our dining room table, with it fully extended!  And healthy!  Sheesh - I don't have much to compare to but apparently Kosrae is known for the healthiest and biggest hard coral anywhere on the planet.  And I'm lucky enough to see it.  Thank you God!  Doug spotted a territorial bat fish that was just beautiful.  A bit fish is like a huge version of Dory from Finding Nemo.  Not much else in the way of rare fish life but please understand that there are still thousands of other "common" reef fish swimming around us at all times.  Great dive.

The weather is a bit cloudy today with some high clouds and here I sit on a lounger at the pool and am hot and need to jump in again so I'll sign off for now.  Tentatively going to Bully's treelodge bar and restaurant for happy hour so if I hop on later - don't hold anything I type against me because I might be a little bit sauced. :-)

Cheers (those darn Aussies)