by Lazaro Ruda

May 10-15th, 2003

Having spent the previous day doing five dives and swimming with Dolphins, my early morning plans of going for an early dawn swim were substituted with a little extra sleep. Curious to see what was happening below the ocean surface during these early hours, I had decided I would give this a shot even if it was only at a shallow water anchorage. What I did awake for was Frank’s delicious double breakfast. Nibbling on some fresh fruits, some blue berry muffins and a tall glass of orange juice was only the appetizer to a warm and delicious hearty breakfast; the kind of meal that would sustain another long day of diving and swimming with dolphins.

Shortly after everyone awoke to Frank’s breakfast smell-alarm, the dining room table crowded with hungry mouths that finished every little scrap of Frank’s breakfast. Meanwhile, Capt Kurt navigated the Shear Water towards our first diving destination of the day – Mount Olympus. This well known dive site is a favorite of many divers who visit the Bahamas and is a very special place for Anna and Jim – for this is where Jim proposed marriage to Anna.

With everyone suited up and excited to begin the day’s diving, one by one we all splashed into the water and descended down the buoy line. As the name suggests, this Godly place overwhelmed me with its shear volume and its abundance of life. With high-profile corals starting at around 60ft, this reef runs north to south with a sandy bottom to the west at around 95ft and to the east at around 1500ft. Covered in a diversity of soft and hard corals, the uppermost areas of the reef are dominated by a variety soft corals that tremble in the current.

With over 100+ feet of visibility, I slowly descended down the side of the abyssal wall to 110 feet. Hovering alongside this coral-adorned wall, I slowly spun around in every direction while my mind indulged in the spectacle surrounding me. All the while my senses overloaded as I viewed the sun’s rays shimmering in every hue of blue above me. Looking below me, I could see this spectacular reef slowly fade into a dark blue abyss. Meanwhile a strange attraction beckoned me to descend deeper and deeper into this mysterious world. Finally stopping at 135ft., I paused for a moment and wished that I could descend, inch by inch, deeper into this abyss and in the process, wallow in the mysteries that our ocean planet hides so well.

As I slowly began my ascent, I took every opportunity to view both the large and small creatures that called this holy place their home.

As I reached the top of the reef again, I took a few moments to visit a plaque that was dedicated to a local Bahamian freediver who once descended many times down this same reef with a feeling of oneness with the ocean like only a freediver can experience. It was understandable to me why Mount Olympus would be so special to him – for even us air-assisted or recently-engaged individuals, this place is as close to God’s house as you can get.

On the slow way up the buoy line, I paused at 15ft for my safety stop with the rest of the group and, with plenty of air left in our tanks; Dave Haas and I hung around a little longer enjoying one of nature’s remarkable wonder – Mount Olympus.

Back up on the boat we shared with much enthusiasm the dive we had just done and with much regret, I had to tell Anna that I did not have any luck finding the plaque that Jimmy had dedicated to her. Unfortunately, it is thought that something must have happened that caused the plaque to possibly fall off the edge of the reef wall (hopefully not). (Note: Should you dive here and find it, please let Anna, Jim or myself know. There’s a special TheLivingSea.com reward if you do).

A little past noon and with plenty of extra food to fill our demanding energy levels stuffed in our bodies, we prepared for our next dive on Jew Fish Mount. Psyched about the day’s diving so far it didn’t take me long to go into hyper drive and be prepped and ready to jump in the water before most. Doing my giant stride into the crystal-clear water, I noticed a bit of a surface current as I returned to the platform to get my camera from Anna who was carefully handing it to me. As I swam towards the line in order to descend I could clearly see all the way to the bottom of the reef at around 75ft.

Suddenly my pulse quickened, my eyes widened and the adrenaline began rushing through my body as I could clearly see 6 or 7 sharks circling the reef below. Having very few and sparse shark encounters in the Florida Keys, I was hopeful they would stick around for a close encounter. With no food in the water, I was doubtful that they would stick around long enough and as I slowly reached the bottom it happened..

They came in close! One by one they circled around me and my dive buddy, Mike. We settled in the sand on the outside of a group of large pinnacles of coral that made up Jewfish Mount and the thrill and excitement of having these close encounters with these amazing creatures really showed on our faces and in the number of strobe lights firing. Soon there after the rest of the dive group showed up and followed suit. As we moved to the center sand area surrounded by the coral pinnacles, we sat in wonder as these beautiful creatures moved around us in almost slow motion.

After spending over 15 minutes on the sand enjoying the company of these graceful creatures, we slowly began to move about the reef to explore all its beauty. The coral-encrusted pinnacles were covered in an amazement of colors and marine life. One of the things that mostly captured my vision were the rainbow-colored overhangs containing a variety of corals, fish and sponges including some very large orange elephant ear sponges.

Taking in all this beauty while beautiful and sleek gray reef sharks circled in the background (or sometimes closer) made for a terrific dive. Slowly ascending the line to my safety stop, I decided to stay down a little longer enjoying the scenery with every breath of air. Once again, I found myself on the line with Dave Haas and with what can only be described as residual nitrogen narcoses; we initiated what would turn out to be a whole new meaning to safety stops.

With two fairly deep dives under our belt we took some time to relax and enjoy a delicious lunch prepared by Frank. Some of us were busy transferring files from our digital cameras, changing batteries and doing the plethora of work necessary in order to sustain this addictive and expensive hobby. Meanwhile the sanest of the group who would rather not get involved in this ludicrous hobby enjoyed a relaxing siesta or tanned in the afternoon sun on the front deck of the boat.

At around 4 o’clock as we motored to the dolphin’s stomping grounds, Capt Kurt stopped at a shallow patch reef near the sand banks called “By Accident” (this is how he had found it) for a little diving and hopefully a little seafood dinner too. With my camera in-hand, I descended to the bottom of the reef and almost instantaneously I felt some connection with this reef. Swimming around a bit I couldn’t help but notice that it was very similar to reefs in the Florida Keys and sure enough who I found next made it undeniable..

Circling around a small coral was this cute Queen Angelfish whose friendliness was very similar to that of my Angelfish friends back home. Flirting her rainbow-colored body, she had my attention like that of Milla Jovovich striding down the catwalk. Every once in a while she would come in close and give me a little wink.

Waving Mike over, I introduced him to this little beauty queen and that little flirt showed off to Mike too! Shheesh! Girls, I tell ya! ?

We continued diving and as I roamed the isolated patches of reef out on the sandy areas, I settled in the sand to photograph a couple of little critters who, like the Queen Angel, were showing off their best sides to me.

Meanwhile, I noticed Mike a couple of feet away laying motionless in the sand with his arms extended outward and his camera in his hand. Watching him from a far I knew that action all too well as I have many times spent an entire dive laying as quietly as possible in the sand waiting for a very special little fish – the Yellowhead Jawfish. These amusing and beautiful little fish burrow in the sand and will occasionally come out to feed on drifting plankton. At the slightest sign of danger, they will rush back underground tail first not to be seen for a few minutes. As Mike waited anxiously for the little fish to pop out of its burrow, I could see trouble coming up behind me. Two divers (who will remain anonymous), were apparently concerned with Mike’s well-being or allowed their curiosity to get the best of them as they approached Motionless Mike. Needless to say, a couple of noisy and dark, scary shadows hovering about the Jawfish’s lair and Mike’s hope and patience to photograph the elusive Yellowhead Jawfish was crushed. Sympathizing with Mike for having the same thing happen to me numerous times while trying to photograph these little fish, I made a mental note to offer Mike the chance to photograph two very friendly Yellowhead Jawfish back home that would help him produce some outstanding photographs.

As we continued diving, those anonymous divers waved me over and after a quick glance to make sure I wasn’t being setup (LOL!) I approached them carefully. Turns out they had a beautiful helmet conch to show me. We took turns photographing it..

And while I waited my turn I noticed a local resident checking out what all the bubble-racket was about..

Back up on the boat, we continued motoring towards the sand banks where we were hopeful to find some dolphins to play with again. Sitting near the bow of the boat while it moved through the shallow, crystal-clear waters, it wasn’t long before our friendly little aquatic playmates caught up with us. Once again the game began – watching the Dolphins swim and play on the boat’s bow wake as they spun around, jumped out or veered off to the side to jump in some of the boats larger wake – I wished I could be there to join them. Instead, I cheered them on and was rewarded as they would turn on their side to look at all of us on the deck of the boat screaming, applauding and making every high-pitch noise that the human body can make.

Wanting to take a photograph of the Dolphins to frame at home and (especially) at work to help induce hundreds of hours of day dreaming until my next visit, I took my camera with me. Excited to jump in the water with them, Anna was already prepped and ready with her scooter in hand as the boat stopped and, like a group of Penguins in the Artic, we all dived in one right after the other.

As soon as the bubbles cleared my first vision of them and Anna appeared..

With the crystal-clear blue water fading in the background and the arcs of light from the sun playing along every surface – the powder white sand below, the skin of the dolphins, the divers and the top of the water – right away I fell into a trance-like state.

Diving with the Dolphins, reaching out to them in hopes of a second’s worth of contact (but a lifetime memory), or tumbling in every way possible to watch them blissfully excited to swim with us made each millisecond in the water the kind of experience that could not be described with words. What would most strike me was that in the middle of all this fun and commotion, at the moment when I would least expect it, the Dolphins would slow down and regroup as they swam next to us in a very tranquil manner.

It was at that moment that I could best gaze with wonder into their eyes and realize what an incredible soul these animals have. It was easy to see that, just like us, they were puzzled but enchanted by each others presence. Although we spoke different languages, there was a bond between us that was not only easy to see but to feel if you only stopped for a second and opened your heart.

Describing the encounter with these incredible beings is impossible to do for there is no word in the dictionary that can even begin to describe the feelings one goes through. You can be bursting with excitement one second; flooding your mask with happiness another and laughing till the tears come out the next. And so it happened to me – in the middle of all this playing and laughing, I dived down to the bottom of the sand and stirred it up a bit and IT HAPPENED..

One of the Dolphins reached down and, in a tumbling manner, used her fluke to lift the sand beside me. As if almost to say, “I understand. I can play that game too!” My jaw dropped, my heart stopped, and I realized at that moment just how special these encounters are and how very lucky I was to have them.

Thirty minutes later the Dolphins were gone and as we all climbed back into the boat, I looked at Anna and we nodded our heads from side to side in amazement. The smile on our faces grew even larger and without being able to describe it in words, it was evident just how special those 30 minutes were.

After relaxing for close to two hours after our energy-draining Dolphin encounter, a couple of us took advantage of a peaceful late afternoon dive on Triggerfish Reef. With night closely approaching and a nonworking flashlight (flashlights batteries need some charging love too-woops!), I pushed the limits of my camera’s low-light focusing capabilities. As we descended upon the reef we watched with much humor as a group of school masters swam in panic around and around a small coral mound in search of a place to hide. All the while the more placid denizens of the reef watched these fish crowd the coral mound like rush hour in California.

Right smack in the middle of all the action was Kung Fu Crab prepping for the night’s action..

As the light faded and the temperature of the water dropped, these two conditions must have induced that surplus amount of nitrogen narcosis as Dave Haas and I found ourselves alone on the reefs blowing bubble rings or simply goofing around..

Deciding not to do a night dive, we sat for a great dinner and shared some of the photographs we had taken, watched some of the videos of the day and shared the special moments we had experienced. With plenty of laughs bursting out continuously and amazement twinkling in our eyes, we eventually gave into the stillness and quietness of the ocean as it gently rocked us to sleep.

Day 4 - Click Here

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