Sergeant Majors are a popular reef fish. I took this picture in the Sea Aquarium in the Exuma Land and Sea Park. They were nibbling at my arms hoping for soggy bread crumbs.
We saw this small stingray snorkelling at Pipe Creek in the Exumas.
One sees quite a few large stingrays buried in sand for warmth. This one was resting along a reef in our Bell Island anchorage.
Rocky Dundas is part of the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Rob took this picture of Christine in one of the grottos.
Rob caught this clown fish being inquisitive.
The colours can change with the sunshine.
This green turtle is sleeping. We were able to get quite close to him without disturbing him. We found a gorgeous reef within swimming distance in our anchorage at Bell Island.
Rob dives down and takes most of our underwater pictures. I stay on the surface because of my ears and only occasionally have a camera.
Parrot fish are so pretty. If you follow them around you can watch them bite off pieces of coral and if you are very lucky you will see it come out the other end as sand...recyling so to speak?!
Lionfish are spectacular fish to look at but divers are encouraged to kill them all over the Caribbean. They are a tropical tank fish with poisonous barbs; evidently good eating but you have to get by the poisonous barbs. They have invaded the reefs in The Bahamas and elsewhere in the Caribbean and they kill off many of the indiginous reef fish. No one knows for sure how they got south but many believe it was the dumping of fish tanks in the ocean that started the problem. We saw them most everywhere we dove so they are thriving.
One sees schools of yellow grunts on most reefs.
This Sergeant Major almost came up and kissed me at the Sea Aquarium, a snorkelling spot in Exuma Park. I have a theory that the fish are less afraid of divers in the park because they know that they are safe. We do see far more fish, turtles, rays and nurse sharks in the park than elsewhere so the conservation is working. I have also seen my one and only lobster in the park.
This is the airplane that missed the runway at Norman's Cay during the Carlos Lehder drug heyday. This plane would have been flying in illegal cocaine from Columbia. At Norman's it was made into crack cocaine and flown in small airplanes to Florida.
The airplane has turned into a nice reef for fish as it has been underwater for over 30 years. It is within swimming distance of the anchorage in Norman's Cay so it is a great spot to go. We often see stingrays around the wreck too.
The Bahamas has some of the best diving in the Caribbean because the water is so clear and relatively warm; although a wet suit is desirable if you are going to be more than a few minutes in the water. We thoroughly enjoyed our diving this past winter and look forward to seeing some new reefs next season.
