What's that you say?  There's something in the water?  Big fish, big teeth?

I will just continue peering into sponges.  Never mind those roaming elasmobranchs.  Because there is a whole other world waiting inside your neighborhood sponge.  Take a look and you might find teeny tiny guppies, brittle stars, nudibranchs, gastropods, or yet... more sponge.  An easter egg hunt on every dive.

We had two enjoyable dives in Providencia.  It is very different to dive for fun rather than for work.  There's the guide, and the group of people, and the time limits, but you don't have to worry about carrying a bunch of tubes with you, counting creatures, or avoiding eels when working close to the reef.  It was fun.  However, again we were a bit sad to see that Caribbean, You've got an algae problem.  The stuff is everywhere.  The corals are not looking good.  There was, however, quite an abundance of big fish.  I have never dived with so many sharks.  Several times I almost bumped into one.  They seemed quite curious.  But the benthic fauna seems to be struggling.

Guppie and Brittle Star!!

That's one fine looking sponge...

turtle! 

I would just hug that sponge if he weren't so spiculey!

one fish two fish red fish blue fish...

sponge attacking coral!!

cleaner shrimp!

whelp, cya later!

We did get off the boat a few times...

...and when we did, what wonders did we see.  While collecting data, taking tissue samples, laying transects, and counting fish, all around us, was an upside down world filled with life.  We were circled by swarms of barracudas, startled by rays scurrying about and there were even a few sharks.  There were corals of every shape, color, and size.  Cucumbers, lionfish, and even nasty crown of thorns starfish.  There were fish of the swimming variety as well, though not very big ones as the fishermen have been quite successful with their nets and long lines and dynamite.  And in the southern region of the Red Sea there is more productivity in the water which means less visibility, more growth, and things sneaking up on your while you're diving.

barracuda/ shark video credits - Alex // blue spotted ray video and several photo credits - Remy

Yanbu Diving

Diving in Yanbu the other weekend was fun, though I still think Al Lith is my favorite dive spot.  At Yanbu, there were virtually no big fish and unfortunately, after the first dive I got a massive headache and had to sit out the second dive.  Its funny because diving seems so easy most of the time, just strap on a tank and swim around, but things can go bad very fast.  Dirty air, faulty regulators, forgetting to breath, too-tight-masks, not enough weight, staying too deep too long can turn a fun afternoon at sea into a nightmare.  Luckily, I just had a headache and all is fine now, perhaps I was just unconsciously holding my breath.  I will be more cautious the next time I go to 30 meters.

We had a fun time though, the wreck we dove around was really cool and had lots of interesting coral/ sponge cover.  There were many pretty little fish even if there weren't any big Mamas.  The group of us that went were mostly all from the same lab so it was nice to get away from the office and have some fun together.  We were joined, though, by our very own Psy and one of this year's Rolex Scholars.  For any budding Marine Scientists out there, this scholarship sounds pretty awesome.  More info on Yolly's blog found here.