Another typical day, or so I thought as I made me my breakfast and readied myself for yet another day under the water. Day was going pretty much like the others…… another very small group today (which secretly pleases me because I get to spread out and have lots of room on the boat) so another easy picture day. We had a roaring 3 whole guests on the boat today so we wound up having more staff than guests. It happens every once in a while. First dive was going along smooth and easy……. I was laying in behind everybody, trying to get the shark’s attention, which didn’t work at all today…… as I started to catch up with the group, I saw one of the divers pointing frantically off to the distance. As I tried to figure out what was rustling his feathers, an Eagle Ray came into view. Now I’m sure I have mentioned these magnificent creatures before and some of you may be familiar with them from seeing them on TV…….. but for those that need a reminder….. an Eagle Ray is shaped very much like a Sting ray. I see those (Sting Ray) on almost every dive. An Eagle ray though is much bigger. The tail is 3-4 times longer than a Sting Rays tail and an Eagle Ray does not have a barb on it’s tail like the Sting Ray. It also has gorgeous marking all over it’s back, where Stings Rays are your basic olive drab brownish-green. Well friends, neighbors and countrymen….. let me tell you. As soon as I spotted it, I took off, swimming as fast and as hard as I could, to try and intercept that magnificent creature. I might remind you….. that I am a portly, elderly type of diver (that sounds nicer that old fat fart) and for me to exert that kind of energy requires some serious huffing and puffing on my part. But I made it brother, I am here to tell you…… while I did not get the ‘right on top of’ kind of pictures I would have liked….. I managed several brag-able pictures. It took me quite some time to get my breath bank and because I used up so much air, the Dive Master had to turn the dive (head back to the boat) a little early. He was a little wigged out that I ran out of air that quick until he found out why. Turns out, he didn’t see the Eagle Ray, so then he understood. He wasn’t happy he missed it—- but glad the guests got to see it and that I managed pictures of it. Second dive was much tamer….. just sharks, Sting Rays, you know…. the usual under water wonderfulness I get to look at at (and photograph) every day~! Normally off on the weekend, but one of the Dive Masters is doing an Open Water certification and requested me on the load to document the event for the young man. Happy to do it.
Happy Birthday to “My Squirt” Evelyn…. a big 12 years old today~!!
Good Night Ya’ll _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Thankx for stopping in~!
HAD to put one picture of the Eagle Ray here for you……. I’m still putting up pictures (here) from last week 😉
