St. Kitts - Statia - Saba (25 March - 01 April 2006)

Saba





Photo's from this dive trip can be found at the following link:

Underwater Photo Gallery

Trip Report:

Dive 195 has now been logged. My trip with Explorer Ventures aboard the Caribbean Explorer II went very well. I'll start by saying that the trip was wonderful as an overall experience.

Saturday, 25 March '06 - Of course this was a great day! Having already been packed for almost a week, the morning was filled with the last minute gathering of final items to toss into the bags. An 11AM flight meant no hurrying around in the wee hours of the morning. Our son was gracious enough to take us to the airport so I didn't have to lug around all the bags that contained dive gear, camera gear, clothes and various other carry on items. We arrived at St. Kitts on time - a bit early actually - and found a quaint little airport. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze and we found the Taxi Driver associated with Explorer Ventures waiting just outside - turns out his name is Perci and he serves as the Island Tour guide as well. A short $10 taxi ride and we were brought right up to the boat on the dock where we were greeted by several members of the crew. They assisted us with our belongings, showed us to our cabins, did a bit a briefing, and we selected our diving stations for the week - a wonderful start! After unpacking our dive gear and setting up, we made up our nest in the cabin and were set for a week of diving. Dinner was servered promptly at 18:00 - as we would find all meals were served promptly at their designated times - followed by a captains briefing and introduction of the crew. Our Captain - John - is a veteran boat captain and along with the crew call this area of the Caribbean their own backyard. Donna served as the purser on this trip due to a bit of an ear problem preventing her from diving. She was very pleasant and attentively went about her duties all week - in addition to several other supporting roles which demonstrated her knowledge of diving, the ship and her overall desire to ensure that all guests had a great trip.. Our diver masters/leaders/instructors were Mike, Jen, and Sean - all of whom knew the reefs and dive sites very well and were helpful in all aspects of the diving and shipboard experience. Our cook was Tony - who served wonderful meals all week long - in addition to snacks between each and every dive consisting of fresh baked cookies, cakes and misc treats. The engineer for the trip and new captain who will be taking over from John in the next couple of weeks was a great guy from South Africa named Grant. His friendly attitude and personal demeanor will make him a great asset to the operations of this boat - he is a pretty cool guy..

The bad news for the dive trip was that although parts had been ordered and delivered - I delivered them - the Nitrox compressor/Bladder thing wasn't working and therefore we would be diving on air all week. Not great news, but not the end of the world either. OK - so Day one was completed, we were snug in our cabin, versed in the boat, familiar with the crew and were set up to dive - now all we had to do was sleep and get ready for the first day of diving.

Sunday, 26 March '06 - Our first Day of diving was around St. Kitts. My first dive since September '05 - my first dive with my new camera setup which was way different than my previous - and to make matters worse I didn't use enough weight. For some reason I thought 4lbs would be enough - and it was, until my aluminum 80 tank began to empty out and then I got a little light. So needless to say the second half of my first dive was less than pleasant as I tried to take photographs being a little on the positive side of buoyant :-). First Dive site was a little wreck called the River Taw. Nice first acclimation dive. Action item - Double my weight to 8lbs..

Second dive site was a little spot called Coconuts (average) where we stayed for the 3rd dive as well.. 4th dive of the day was at Corinthian Reef which had a nice little Tug Wreck along with a neat crane. Highlights were a Turtle, several trumphet fish, and some very large Box Porcupine fish. Saw various marine life, but this part of St. Kitts was really "average" as far as diving went. Viz wasn't the greatest as we were near shore and we were a bit tired from our first day of diving, so we skipped the night dive.

Monday, 27 March '06 - The agenda for today is to move towards the north end of St. Kitts and dive an area known as Paradise Reef. There is also a land tour of St. Kitts which we'll take part in as well. Paradise Reef was a fantastic dive site. The water was clear and the reef was vibrant with color and marine life. A combination of deep and shallow water was available to provide for an excellent dive profile. I really liked this dive site. We also dove a nearby reef called Anchor Aweigh - not sure why as there were no anchors, but a nice site none-the-less. In the afternoon we took the land tour which visited a church and an old Fort which sat on a hill overlooking the sea. It was a nice change and I enjoyed the tour. Closed the day out with a great night dive on Paradise Reef - saw Flying Guinards, Several Squid, Lobsters, Crab, Large Cowfish, Box pufferfish and Southern Rays.. All in all a very good last day at St. Kitts.

Tuesday, 28 March '06 - The agenda for today, besides the dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat routine had us moving over to Statia in the morning before/during breakfast. Statia was interesting to me from a couple of perspectives. First, it was a much busier place than I had expected it to be. There were tankers "parked" all around the north end of the island. There was a pipeline that extended out from the island for what looked like a mile and tankers were offloading there petroleum cargos and/or taking on cargo. Seems that Statia is a transfer or switching station for tankers in the Caribbean. There are numerous large holding tanks on the island as well.. In addition to that, Statia takes its reef system fairly serious as well. A marine park ranger stayed on the boat with us all day and went on our dives with us as well. He gave a briefing at the beginning of the day - which he read from a piece of paper - but after that was very friendly and informative about the island and the reef system. Our first dive of the day was on a wreck named the Chien Tong - this is a recent wreck that they should not dive for the next 5 years or so until something grows on it. A very boring dive. Nice wreck, but not developed yet. We then dove a site named Barracuda Reef was a nice dive along a small wall which had a "field" full of Sea Whips, Sea Fans, and soft corals. It was a macro heaven and yielded a lot of photo's.. After lunch our next dive site was a place called Humps and would have been an excellent dive site if the viz had been a little better. ot's of soft coral, fan coral and sea whips hosting lot's of juvenile sealife. The late afternoon dive site was at Double Wreck. It had nice little patches of coral teaming with life. Nice large southern sting ray photo on this dive. Night Dive was at Wreck City - The Viz on this dive was very poor. Couldn't have actually done this dive if it had not been guided. Did get to see a Barracuda eat a soldier fish! That was pretty cool...

Wednesday, 29 March '06 - Todays agenda is to move on over to Saba!! This is what I booked this particular trip for! Our first dive of the morning is at a site called Third Encounter. It is a dive to a beautiful pinnacle whose top is at 28 meters and goes down beyond recreational limits.. The water was crystal clear and the pinnacle was indeed lush with coral growth and beauty. As it was a fairly deep dive it was also fairly short. On the way back to the boat there is a reef to look at - and I spotted a couple of Nurse Sharks napping.. Certainly a great intro to Saba diving! Next dive was at a site named Tent Wall. It is a nice wall dive with lots of soft coral and tube sponges. Our next couple of dives were at a site called Ladder Labyrinth. It's a nice set of finger reefs with sand chutes between them. Lush corals and lot's a marine life inhabit this reef system and it has a diversity of habitat. On the afternoon dive we saw squid, nurse shark, tarpon, cowfish and southern stingray. The night dive was done at the same site. My buddy and I went on the night dive alone, which was cool because I dove with both my DS125 strobes on without diffusers which finally let me get some good night shots. All in all a pretty cool day of diving at Saba. The Captain had tried to get us up to Diamond Rock in the afternoon, but there was a bit of swell and wind so we'll try again tomorrow.

Thursday, 30 March '06 - Man O'War Schoals and Big Rock Market were the two morning dive sites. Both were very nice, with vibrant coral and macro/juvenile life throughout. We took the afternoon off from diving and did a land tour of Saba. Saba is a really cool little island which is very clean and tidy. We visited a place where they made special beads, visited a little town on the island towards the top, saw an overlook of the tiny airport, and visited a little church with very nice ceiling paintings made by a local artist. Again, a nice change of scenery and pace.. On this evening we did a dusk dive at Tent Reef where we were able to see the transition from day to night. Saw several Eel, Lobster, and other critters. Had a large Red Snapper follow us around during the dive hoping we'd light up an easy meal for him - no such luck!!

Friday, 31 March '06 - Last two dives of the trip will be this morning - bummer!! But the good news is the bi-directional swells we've seen the past two days are now gone and Diamond Rock diving is a go! This is a lovely site, both above the water and below. The site sits in about 25 meters of water, although my max depth was 20.1 on this dive. With the twin pinnacles - one you can see on the surface and other sitting about 15 feet below the surface - you do a lazy figure 8 dive. Dive it right and the profile will maximize your bottom time and leave an easy 2 minute swim back to the boat/mooring if you are moored between Diamond Rock and Man O'War Schoals. Our last dive of the trip was at Man O'War Schoals which is a pinnacle with lush corals, sponges, vibrant marine life, and on this dive a sleeping nurse shark on the north face.

After the diving was done we settled in for the 3 hour crossing (~23 miles) from Saba to St. Maarten where the Caribbean Explorer II docks. After arriving at about 13:30 we took the opportunity to walk around St. Maarten near where the Cruise ships dock, visit some of the shops, have a drink and just relax while watching people do their thing. Later we joined up with the other divers on the trip for a nice dinner at a local restaraunt with the Captain. 2 for 1 drink specials made for a nice evening.

Saturday, April 1 '06 - After breakfast we finished packing and got our stuff off the boat and out of the way so the crew could go about their business of cleaning evening and preparing for the next round of guests who would be arriving later in the afternoon. As our flight was not until later in the day, we made our way to a local coffee shop and waited for the shops to open. I had spotted a lens I wanted to buy the day before but didn't have time to haggle with them before dinner. So after a bit of negotiation I completed my purchase of my new 16-35MM L series EF Canon Lens.. While I was very pleased withthe photo's I had taken with the 50mm Macro lens this trip, I was dissapointed with the wide anlge lens, so I decided to prepare for my next dive trip with this new lens. Now all I need is the 8" port and 4"dioplar and I'll be all set!!

One bit of advice. If you are flying out of St. Maarten on a Saturday afternoon - get to the airport about 3.5 hours before your flight and be ready to wait in line for at least 2 hours (outdoors).. It's a small airport, with several concurrent flights, and they hand-search all checked baggage. All three combined make for a long process.. So be chillin'!

Till next time,

Monty
www.montychandler.com
http://www.montychandler.com/Underwater%20Gallery.htm