Have I said lately that I love my job? Yeah, I think I said
it like, 2 days ago, but I don't care. Today, we had the best tour I've been on
yet. And I say that mostly because of the weather nerd in me. We have had
several great tours that included easy-going and excited guests, new species I
hadn't seen before, new experiences (like plane-boarding), and of course,
DOLPHINS (which never get old). But today........WE SAW A WATERSPOUT!!!! I HAVE
ALWAYS WANTED TO SEE ONE!!! For those of you who know me well....I LOVE
WEATHER, and this was just the icing on the cake today.
So it happened like this. Although it's "dry
season", we've been having some odd weather around here lately. Last week
got painfully, oppressively hot....The kind of hot that makes you feel sick and
feverish even though you are only trying to exist. Moving away from the fan is
like tearing a toddler away from his favorite toy: IMPOSSIBLE. In my
experience, when it gets hot like that, it rains soon after....Sure enough,
after 3-4 days of this heat, it decided to rain. And it's rained every
afternoon for 2-3 days. Last night, it even ventured to storm, and it was
fantastic. This morning, for the first time since I've been here, I woke up to
a cloudy sky. Whew, maybe it'd be cooler. And it was. It also meant that more
storms were rolling in. While I waited on the boat for our guests to arrive at
the pier, I could see them coming from the north. Heavy rains, black clouds,
but no lightening, so we were good to go.
After helping passengers aboard, I turned to assess our
weather situation. The storm was moving fast. Flat-bottom towering cumulus,
heavy and gray with rain, were rolling in. But what was that tail hanging
down?! Normally, I'd think it was just the way the cloud was, but it was coming
almost perpendicular out of those straight-lined clouds. A WATERSPOUT OVER THE
GULF!!! I honestly couldn't control my excitement, being the aforementioned
weather nerd that I am...I lunged for my camera as the guests giggled at my
overwhelming excitement. Look, don't judge me, okay? It was cool, and even my
guests agreed. We slowly trolled in awe as we watched the spout slowly dip
down, closer and closer to the surface of the water. It took its time, and
never really touched down all the way, but it still stirred up the water on the
surface much like a tornado stirs up a dust cloud even if it doesn't touchdown.
It grew wider before it eventually roped out and dissipated. What an awesome
sight! I can now cross that one off my bucket list. :)
After our storm chase, we went on the hunt for dolphins...and unfortunately, found none. Would this be the tour that we didn't find any dolphins!? Tino (the captain) and I were nervous...After a while, we decided to take a snorkeling break. We cruised the coast until we found our favorite spot, and in the water we went. Last time I dove here, it was high tide, and you had to really dive down to see the fish and reef. Luckily, this time, it was low tide, and the water was so shallow in some point that I could barely float over the reef. AND, we were there earlier than usual (thanks to the absence of dolphins) so no boats had been there yet to stir it up.
Tino went in first, and AS USUAL, finds all the good stuff....Today, it was a moray eel hiding under a rock. Some of the guests even squealed with excitement. Once it was my turn, I was determined to see something good. And I did! I saw.....
Clearly, I am having fun playing with my new GoPro...These pictures are snapshots from some of the footage I got. And wanna know my secret? I have fashioned a cheap accessory....Ok so I already have the floaty on my camera so that it wont sink. But the problem was, I was using the Chesty (a chest strap), but this allowed me to capture video handsfree, but from only one angle - above. Reefs are filled with crevices that the fish all swim away and hide in, but the Chesty did not allow me to chase them, so to say. So, a few tours ago, I came up with a solution. I grabbed an extra snorkel and used the only thing I had - a twisted up grocery bag - to "tie" my camera to the mouthpiece of the snorkel. Hey, make fun all you want, but it worked. This time though, I took some hemp cord, which of course worked even better. Now, I was able to stick my patent pending (haha NOT) "snorkel-cam" down INTO the reef instead of just cruising OVER it! Tino got a total kick out of my contraption, and my guests probably thought I was nuts, but the proof is in the pudding folks. These are among some of the coolest pictures I've ever captured! :)
After snorkeling, we decided to give the dolphin hunt another try. We cruised around for a while, and finally another boat radioed us with good news - they had found a pod way up in the gulf! Whoohoo! What a relief!
Once we found the pod, we watched them play and jump and come up for air. Pantropical spotted dolphins travel in pods of around 250-300, so when you find a pod, you are literally surrounded. Even though you can't see all 300 at one time, they come up in groups of around 40 at a time, and they're constantly trading in and out and you feel surrounded! It's so cool!
Soon, we offered our guests the chance to plane-board. Plane boarding is kind of hard to explain without seeing it, but basically we pull 2 people at a time behind the boat when we see a big pod of dolphins traveling. They hang on to a flat wooden board that has a front handle and a back handle in the middle line of the board. When you push down on the front handle of the board, it makes you dive. Then, you push down on the back handle, and you come back up. Essentially, you are diving with dolphins.
Our guests' faces lit up like it was Christmas, and I am not exaggerating! They were so thrilled, and honestly, so was I. I had tried plane boarding only once before, but did not see any dolphins, so I was ready for another try. All the guests that wanted to went, and each one was clearly super pumped as they climbed back into the boat. They had all seen the dolphins swimming under and around them!!! So cool!
Finally it was my turn. I was so excited and hopeful that I'd see the dolphins like the rest of our guests had. With my first dive, I could not see any, but I could HEAR them!! I could tell that the shrill whistles and trills we coming from a few different directions, and they were ALL AROUND ME! Check out this sound clip:
http://neptune.atlantis-intl.com/dolphins/sounds/sf.mp3 (it's not mine...but it's very similar to what I heard)
A few dive later, I saw my first dolphin underwater! A few dive after that, one even began to swim along with me, about 10 feet below me! I was diving deep, but the water clarity was still decent, and I could see its spots and white belly and it twisted and zig-zagged under me! It continued this for a dive or two, and I was THRILLED! I climbed back onto the boat just as elated as my guests had.
What a COOL DAY! I told Paco on the way out the door earlier that morning that I had a feeling today's tour was going to be a good one, and I was SO, SOOO right. Have I said lately that I love my job?! ;)
Clearly, I am having fun playing with my new GoPro...These pictures are snapshots from some of the footage I got. And wanna know my secret? I have fashioned a cheap accessory....Ok so I already have the floaty on my camera so that it wont sink. But the problem was, I was using the Chesty (a chest strap), but this allowed me to capture video handsfree, but from only one angle - above. Reefs are filled with crevices that the fish all swim away and hide in, but the Chesty did not allow me to chase them, so to say. So, a few tours ago, I came up with a solution. I grabbed an extra snorkel and used the only thing I had - a twisted up grocery bag - to "tie" my camera to the mouthpiece of the snorkel. Hey, make fun all you want, but it worked. This time though, I took some hemp cord, which of course worked even better. Now, I was able to stick my patent pending (haha NOT) "snorkel-cam" down INTO the reef instead of just cruising OVER it! Tino got a total kick out of my contraption, and my guests probably thought I was nuts, but the proof is in the pudding folks. These are among some of the coolest pictures I've ever captured! :)
After snorkeling, we decided to give the dolphin hunt another try. We cruised around for a while, and finally another boat radioed us with good news - they had found a pod way up in the gulf! Whoohoo! What a relief!
Once we found the pod, we watched them play and jump and come up for air. Pantropical spotted dolphins travel in pods of around 250-300, so when you find a pod, you are literally surrounded. Even though you can't see all 300 at one time, they come up in groups of around 40 at a time, and they're constantly trading in and out and you feel surrounded! It's so cool!
Soon, we offered our guests the chance to plane-board. Plane boarding is kind of hard to explain without seeing it, but basically we pull 2 people at a time behind the boat when we see a big pod of dolphins traveling. They hang on to a flat wooden board that has a front handle and a back handle in the middle line of the board. When you push down on the front handle of the board, it makes you dive. Then, you push down on the back handle, and you come back up. Essentially, you are diving with dolphins.
Our guests' faces lit up like it was Christmas, and I am not exaggerating! They were so thrilled, and honestly, so was I. I had tried plane boarding only once before, but did not see any dolphins, so I was ready for another try. All the guests that wanted to went, and each one was clearly super pumped as they climbed back into the boat. They had all seen the dolphins swimming under and around them!!! So cool!
Finally it was my turn. I was so excited and hopeful that I'd see the dolphins like the rest of our guests had. With my first dive, I could not see any, but I could HEAR them!! I could tell that the shrill whistles and trills we coming from a few different directions, and they were ALL AROUND ME! Check out this sound clip:
http://neptune.atlantis-intl.com/dolphins/sounds/sf.mp3 (it's not mine...but it's very similar to what I heard)
A few dive later, I saw my first dolphin underwater! A few dive after that, one even began to swim along with me, about 10 feet below me! I was diving deep, but the water clarity was still decent, and I could see its spots and white belly and it twisted and zig-zagged under me! It continued this for a dive or two, and I was THRILLED! I climbed back onto the boat just as elated as my guests had.
What a COOL DAY! I told Paco on the way out the door earlier that morning that I had a feeling today's tour was going to be a good one, and I was SO, SOOO right. Have I said lately that I love my job?! ;)
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