Scuba-dooba-doo!

We did our first scuba dive of 2024 this morning! It was at a reef called Tarpon Alley, on the west side of Soldier Bay in Norman Island, BVIs. We were joined by our friends Karen and John on SV "Estrela do Mar", as well as Markus on SV "Dream On".

The dive site was just one bay west of where we are, so we piled 5 people and associated gear into 2 dinghies and made our way over there. It was a little breezy and lumpy, but not too bad.

The water was kind of cloudy due to wind and swell stirring things up, so we "only" had 40-50 feet of visibility. Yes we are spoiled, we have grown accustomed to 100+ feet of visibility.

The reef was tall! We dropped in from the dinghy and quickly got down to 50 feet. We swam south along the base of the reef until we were about half way through our tanks, then turned around and came back drifting in the light current along the top of the reef at 15-20 feet.

This reef is amazing! Easily in the top 5 dives we have done, maybe top 3. Very healthy, lots of color, lots of fish, very little bleaching.

It's going to take a bit to process the video we got, but I wanted to share a fish that really stood out: the Whitespotted Filefish.

Karen said that they had seen this kind of fish before, but for Lynda and me, it was a first!

By the time we got back to the dinghies, the wind had picked up a lot, and the sea state was really rough. The sky looked rather menacing. Getting us and our gear back in the dinghy was a challenge, but we got it done. It was a super splashy ride back to the boat, with rain and wind pelting us and waves breaking over the bow, but it was such a great experience. 10/10 would recommend!