Our first dive today was at a site called Blue Holes which featured some swim-through caverns. We dropped down through some holes into the cavern below. There we found hermit crabs housed in holes in the sand at the bottom of the cave. When we placed sea grass over their holes they would reach out and pull the blade of grass into their hole; a funny experience since the crabs were just trying to keep the entrance to their home clear and maybe snack on the algae on the grass. The cave also featured a number of eels and (as always) lots of fish.
After Blue Holes, I took a break while the rest of the group dove Blue Corner again. On the first dive, I had a little trouble clearing my ears and they continued to ache a bit so I thought I’d give them a break.
I rejoined for the next dive which was Ngdebus Coral Garden. There we saw a couple purple leaf scorpion fish which I would never have picked out on my own. They indeed looked like a leaf stuck in a bit of coral. I also saw a pretty cool black and white lionfish. Beyond that, lots of coral and other fish.
Next, we dove Big Drop Off; a dive site adjacent to Ngemelis Wall that featured a lot of the same meandering wall structure. There we saw giant fan corals, some eels, nudibranch, and at the very end a sea turtle.
After a delicious dinner, we returned for one more dive at the German Channel, this time at night. Instead of visiting the cleaning stations, we explored the coral gardens and came across a sea turtle resting under a rock. I also tried turning off my dive light so I could see more of the bioluminescence which was pretty fun to play with. I would wave my hands around in the water and watch as tiny points of light would swirl around.
All in all a good day of diving!