Today I dove twice. This morning at Tarpon City and this afternoon at Marie Pampun. At both sites the visibility was not what we are used to. And there were jellies in the water.
Normally we dive on the wreck of the Mediator on Sundays but currently this is not allowed when there is a US or British cruise ship in the harbour. And because most cruise ships have a fixed schedule during the season most probably there will not be much diving on this wreck during this winter. As an alternative Karel organized a dive to the Blue Room, a dive site on the plantation of San Nicolaas. Meeting point was the dive shop Trukdivers on Sunday morning at 9:30. That is where the problems started.
Jaap, one of the divers that would attend this dive called just before 9:30 that he was involved in a small accident and that he had to wait for the police to arrive and handle the paperwork. When he arrived at the dive shop it was more than an hour later than planned. Luckily there were no personal injuries and the damage to his carr was also small.
Baya is one of my most favorite dive sites in Curaçao. This site had a lot to offer. There is of course the wreck of the Tugboat in shallow water, even accessible for snorklers; there is the steep wall and there is the pier. I normally end each dive at this location under the pier. It is is very close to the beach, so you can use almost all your air here, and I never can get enough of the beauty of all the sponges and corals on the underwater structure. Diving under the pier is like walking through a forrest. It is a bit mysterious. Your buouncy control needs to be perfect because not only are there vertical structures but there are also horizontal ones and even sharp objects pointing downward. So be careful. But it is a rewarding experience.
During the hurricane season the normal wind will change direction of will quiet down completely. That is the only time of the year the dive sites along the Northern shore are accessible for diving. It is still a dangerous undertaking, so don't do this if you are not experienced enough, never do it if you don't feel comfortable with the circumstances and don't do this without a dive guide with experience at these dive sites. All these conditions were met on Saturday September 20 when we decided to give the Tunnel of Doom a try.
Here are some pictures of a special dive. The location is Lagun, Curaçao, the watertemperature is 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit). The pictures are taken with my Nikonos camera with Nikonos 105 flash on Fuji color film, 200 ASA. This dive was special, because it was the third time we went diving to see the Black Sea Hare snails. This time I had the camera with me (the first time I did not) and this time everything went well (the second dive my film did not transport).
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