The Diving and Whales

What can I say, The diving at Salt Cay is fantastic. Except for he H.M.S. Endymion wreck, It's all wall diving. Salt Cay lies on the edge of the Turks Wall. A few hundred yards off shore, the bottom drops away from 40 feet to a few thousand feet, straight down. This draws all kinds of marine life, some of it big. Add to that a tiny human population, and you have fabulous diving. The dive drill is simple: short boat ride, short briefing, roll into the water, and go over the wall. I call this part underwater bungee jumping. The sensation of swimming over the edge looking out into the bluest blue and sinking away into it is really cool. Stop at the desired depth, 80 feet 1st dive less on 2nd and 3rd. Good buoyancy control is a plus, the bottom is a long way down. Swim along the wall into the tiny current until someone is down to 1500psi. Go up to the top of the wall and swim back to the boat. All along the way check out the sights: turtles, groupers and snappers, barracuda, Moray Eels, reef fish, cleaning stations, lobsters and crabs, sponges and corals. Keep an eye out into the blue, you never know what might swim by...

Now about the Whales. We really didn't see many. The water was "rough" and "cold" (3-4 ft seas outside the shelter of the island and 76 F water) so the whales were content to stay close to the calving grounds 75 miles out to sea. On a whale watching trip one afternoon we saw a few breeches, but too far away to approach. On the trip to the Endymion wreck, we saw a mother and calf in range but they swam away when we tried to approach. On the first dive my last day, I heard some faint strange sounds. Was I leaking air from my tank valve or BC? No, was anybody else? No. Ollie looked at me and pointed to his ear. Was he asking me if I was having trouble equalizing? A diver missed a dive the night before because he could not clear his ears, I cleared my ears and shot the OK sign to Ollie. No, that doesn't seem to be it, he's still pointing to his ear. Was Ollie having trouble clearing his ears? Were his sinuses making that noise? With a puzzled look on my face I pointed at my ear and then at him. I could now see his eyes laughing as he made the Dolphin/Whale sign with his arm. DUH. John, that's a whale singing you hear! The sights of the rest of the dive were even more spectacular with the ever increasing soundtrack. When we surfaced we scanned to horizon for whales but didn't see any. The song of the Humpback Whale can travel for miles underwater, they could be anywhere. Between the two morning dives, the dive boat docks for about a half hour to unload the empty tanks, and everyone usually goes to get something to drink. I had a water bottle, so I hung out at the dock with another diver. Suddenly she yells "WHALE!" About 800 - 1000 yards out, I saw a whale breeching. There were three whales doing acrobatics. It's an incredible sight to see an animal the size of a SEPTA bus jump clear out of the water multiple times. They stayed and played for about 15 minutes. By the time everyone got to the dock there was no chance that we could chase them. I enjoyed the next dive immensely. Swimming along the Turks Wall watching a grouper being cleaned by tiny fish at a large sponge listing to the songs of whales I thought "life could really be a lot worse".

	Two of Salt Cay divers fleet of three boats. Yep, that's it. They are perfect for the 10 minute max. ride to almost all of the dive sites. E-Z on, (just be careful not to step on the flounders in the harbor!) E-Z off, (just a little back roll over the side) No Problem.
	Divemaster Ollie pilots our boat away from lovely Sand Cay on our way to the H.M.S. Endymion wreck. I buddyed up with Ollie all week, since Heike doesn't dive and never will. I enjoyed ever second of diving around Salt Cay.
	Two of the H.M.S Endymion's anchors and a cannon. Out of view to the left, rows of bronze pins stick out of the sand marking the outline of the hull of the British warship. The ship struck the rock (right) in 1793 which now bears its name. In addition, a 19th century wreck is on the other side of the rock. A large Jewfish calls the boiler home. The wreck was discovered in the early 1980's by the original owner of Mt. Pleasant, Bryan Sheedy. It has never been salvaged. The wreck lies about over 10 miles south of Salt Cay. What was he doing out there?