mitsugirly

So after showing our dive instructor what had happened and explaining that the GoPro is somewhere in the area (he had hoped) and attached to a very long stick, the instructor said he would look around the area for it. Now the hubby had absolutely no idea at what point he no longer had it on his arm. I know that when I swim with it (or the camera's) I never let go of it. It never dangles from my arm trusting the arm brace. I'm always holding onto it even when swimming. I'm also constantly checking to make sure everything is still tightly screwed. The last video he had taken was all the way over by the rock/cave area with the abundance amount of fish. However, I do know that I seen him with it when we stopped to take a picture together (when I effectively cut his head out of the picture and didn't know it in the picture above). So, that meant it had to be fairly close to us? But, that water was really moving back and forth so there was no telling. Our instructor went down and I can tell you he was moving at a very fast pace. We could see his bubbles at the surface and we watched him go a pretty far distance and he was circling around, to the left, by the rocks, to the right and then through the middle and circled around again. When I seen him go around that second time, my heart sunk. I was losing hope. We could see him heading back toward the boat. The bubbles were getting closer and closer. He popped his head up. I held my breath. Then up came the GoPro on the stick. WHEW!!! OMG!! It was like Christmas to me! You would have thought I won a brand new car! I'm pretty sure I squealed and maybe even shed a tear. He said it was "All the way over there!" as he pointed over to the rock mountain and to the right....but we weren't even over in the area he pointed to so we were very lucky he had found it because the water had carried it that far. It was time to head back now. The hubby and I couldn't stop talking about all the fish we had seen and showing pictures to Sakari and Karl. I really really wished she would have foregone her loving, caring status for at least this one time and been a mean girl and came with us. It was by far the best scuba I could have imagined!!! On the ride back, we spotted a whale again. However, it went under and we never did see it come back up so that I could get a picture of it. It was the perfect opportunity to get some good pictures of this beauty we called transportation for 8 days. No sea lions, but there were plenty of pelicans.

Yea, it was a big oh nooooo! My heart dropped when he came up without it. That's exactly how I felt at the time when he was looking down to see if it was on the bottom somewhere.

Well lookie there...I found another ZEBRA EEL! It had some friends (SPOTTED PUFFERS) with it. This Damsel was getting in my way with everything I tried to take a picture of. First the eel and now it was blocking me trying to get a picture of these two Starry Groupers. Damsels are such a pain in the arse but I'm giving it a hall pass since the Damsels here in the Mexican Riviera are so pretty. At least I managed to get a picture of this one as we headed back. Now that was a lot of BANDED BUTTERLY FISH! I have never seen them grouped together like this before. Usually you will find two to three of them swimming along, but this many??? As we headed back, the water got colder and greener. I was reminded that I was probably on the verge of hypothermia at this point, but I didn't care after everything we had just seen down there. I probably could have spent another 30 minutes down there and still been excited to see the same fish over and over. I will say that I did miss something.... the hubby told me him and the instructor found (in the video I will be doing) but I was busy off in my own little world. So my first picture that I took when we started this dive compared to the last picture I took before we surfaced...which was this picture: We were down there around 37+ minutes. Not long enough AT ALL. Seriously...we could have stayed down so much longer. I REALLY wished that this would have been the only place they took us to and let us do 2 dives there. This should have been the place they took Karl to. If he's anything like me, seeing all the fish and unique things you would never get to see by snorkeling might have calmed him down enough to do the swim (or at least a little longer). I honestly don't even understand why they took us to the other dive area. There really wasn't much to see there and nothing that was like WOW (other than us saying we seen something new that we have never seen before). Like this dive site was AMAZING! If I go back to PV, I would do it all again in a heartbeat! AND request that we ONLY go to this area. So once we surfaced Sakari was above to take our picture. She had said that since she was staying on the boat with Karl, "they" might get in and him try to snorkel. I told her if she did, take the other camera with her and see if she could get it to turn on and take some pictures of us diving below. When I ask her if she got in, she said "yes, only for a minute...I had to use the bathroom" 🤣 But he did not get in nor did they snorkel. So here's where things went downhill. She took the picture of me and the hubby. I climbed back onto the boat. I look down and see the hubby. He didn't really have the excitement on his face of someone that just had an amazing dive and seen things we've never seen before as he did a few minutes ago. I had no idea what is going on. He sat on the steps. He brings his hands up in the water and he's starring. Do you notice anything? Do you see around his wrist the little black things that are fanned out? Well, our GoPro has a built in stand. You just flip them over and 3 little flaps come out and you can sit the GoPro down to take videos. Well....THAT'S ALL THAT'S AROUND HIS WRIST!! WHERE IS MY GOPRO???? OMG!! He's looking all over the place and looking really worried. He's showing our instructor. He climbs out of the water and onto the boat in shame. He knows how much this GoPro means to me. It has all of our video on it...other that what was taken with the camera's. I wasn't sure if it had downloaded to our GoPro account or not yet. I was devastated.

Then I spotted this large beauty: BLUE TRIGGERFISH PANAMA PORKFISH: SPOTTED BOXFISH

Wow this area was loaded with the Orange Cup Coral. I had really wished that Sakari would have been with us because she would have been getting all the macro shots of them. Her photography always turns out so good.

Ok, that black and white spotted boxfish I just showed you....well it's time to meet the male version of it. Absolutely gorgeous with the black and white spots on the top, blue and black spots along the side, and also orange mixed around the edges. We would see several of them during this dive. Ready for something new yet? I was....so we found a WHITE SPOTTED PUFFERFISH now. There were a lot in the area. LOOK!!! It's Gill from Finding Nemo!! OMGosh....another new fish for us. MOORISH IDOL: The Moorish Idol got their name from The Moors who thought they brought happiness. They have a maximum length of a little over 9". Their extremely long dorsal fins actually shorten with age. They can be found alone or in groups but most juveniles are more likely to swim in schools together. Adults mate for life. They are found from the Gulf of California down to Peru (and also other places like Japan, Hawaii and Africa). They eat sponges, tunicates, invertebrates and algae. And most of all I loved them!!!! When I got back to the boat and showed Sakari my pictures she yells "You found Gill" Yep, I bet you now wished you had went with us. Here we have a SPOTFIN PORCUPINEFISH. A little different than the Long spine porcupinefish that you normally see. They have spots without the large spots. SPOTTED BOXFISH WHITE SPOTTED PUFFERFISH Look at the guy on the left bottom corner photo bombing my picture of the SPOTTED BOXFISH Ok, I'll get a picture of you too! Ok, here's what I'm talking about with the Pufferfish. A lot of them would have very long skinny bodies. It looked weird. They reminded me of a tadpole.

Now I want to say that we went under the arch rock, that is where we found the most fish. I honestly couldn't believe how much warmer it was under that area as well. Plus, the pictures turned out so much better too. It was so weird. Inside this cave area, the temps were 74.4° and it was usually between 8.2' to 12' deep in that area. Then I seen my first SPOTTED BOXFISH! Oh my gosh so pretty and cute! A little Boxfish facts for you: They protect themselves with a deadly poison on their skin when they feel threatened by a predator. They lay lots of eggs and can lay every day for 1 month They blow the sand in search for prey There are 23 species of boxfish: These spotted boxfish are located in the Pacific off the coast of Mexico...which is why we have not seen them before. They are slow swimmers and like to hover They can grow to 18" long They live for around 4 years on average We seen quite a few of these too! BANDED BUTTERFLY FISH: There was an area that was like a swim through and the water was rushing in and it swayed back and forth. It was a little difficult to swim over to the other side, but in this area were quite a few of what I thought were Trumpet Fish at first. They were pretty big. But I believe they ended up being PIPEFISH.

Here's another first for us...and it was a beauty!!! Just look at the markings on it. CORTEZ ANGELFISH: KING ANGELFISH: GROUPER The amount of fish in this area was just amazing! So many of them. I was really wishing that I had made Sakari come with us. Karl would have gotten over her leaving him. She was really missing out! Not to mention...all the new fish we seen here as well.

GIANT DAMSELFISH (I still cannot believe just how big these things are! I didn't even know they existed). MEXICAN HOGFISH: Then I spotted some ORANGE CUP CORAL. I get so excited when I see these because I've been told they are hard and rare to find (although they were not open or "blooming" like a flower). Also, right beside it was a black and white spotted fish (hard to see because of all the sediment floating around) and I have no idea what it was. KING ANGELFISH: And another one: BARBERFISH: And more: I have located YELLOW!

I managed to catch an adult CORTEZ RAINBOW FISH!! (toward the bottom of the picture) So pretty! Of course...another first for us. A bunch of baby (initial phase) CHAMELEON WRASSE. (Another first). They are a pretty pink in color. The one color you did see a lot of is RED! (And purple) PUFFERFISH Finally a close up of the pretty RAZOR SURGEONFISH. You can now see the blade like spine at the tail. These are used for defense and are as sharp as a surgeons scalpel, which is why they are named surgeonfish. They usually swim in groups and there were A LOT of them. They were so pretty to watch.

I just wanted to give you a few "stats" on the air and water this day. The air temps were 86° today, so yes, it did get nice out for us and the nicest it had been the entire cruise. The water would be freezing cold, then you'd hit a warm area, then back to cold again. According to the camera's, the deepest we went in this area was only 23'. The coldest was 63° and the warmest area was 72.1° Now as we sat on the boat and told Karl about the fish we seen down there I noticed our instructor was removing our tanks we used and putting new tanks on. Um...what are we doing? He said "We're going to switch out the tanks for your second dive". Second dive? I had no idea we were doing a second dive. "Where are we going for the second dive?" He points "over there" Wait, we're actually going over there? That's where I wanted to dive in the first place! I was getting super excited now. I was hoping to see the things I've seen in pictures and video's. Sakari had already peeled off her wetsuit and was comforting Karl. The instructor told her to gear up. She looked at Karl and looked at me and said "I don't think I'm going to go." I kept telling her "This is the place you DO want to go...so I've heard." She just kept looking at Karl and I know she felt sorry for him. She's very caring and does not like people to feel left out and she did not want for him to feel left behind. She just kept saying no, she was staying behind. Well, I can't force her so...I guess it's just me and the hubs. You didn't have to tell me twice, I double back flipped and stuck my landing into the water. First off the boat this time!!! The hubby followed. Back into the freezing cold water. UGH! Gosh it was cold. It was somewhat deep in this area, so of course all you could see was the green. We swam under the ropes and headed toward the arch. The roped off area is so that boats cannot go into that area because that's where the snorkelers area is located. As we swam, the water got warmer, then colder, then warmer, the colder. I'm not gonna lie, I found a way to warm myself up every time I got cold...I'll let you use your imagination on that one. I showed no shame in it either! Just saying... So I will show you what kind of pictures you get in this type of water. No color correction done. They are horrid. These are a few that I color corrected. Not the best... The instructor was making bubble rings with his hands. Oh how I wished Sakari was here. She likes to do this. Three Banded Butterfly fish: This picture I was trying to get a photo of an eel that was hiding in the rocks. It was a Zebra Moray Eel (Another first for me). It was so pretty with the black and white stripes! I only wished that it would have came out enough to get a better picture. Can you see it to the left of the purple coral? Then before long, we were at the rocks by the arch and IT WAS SUPER CLEAR!!! And it was WARM!!! Things got a lot more colorful in area's as well. However, you won't find all the pretty colors and coral you will find in the Caribbean. Giant Damselfish: Spottail Grunt: LOOK AT THIS!!! Another new fish for us! A Barberfish! It is a type of Butterfly fish.

So here's a very short video of our dive. Remember, the water clarity was terrible and there was so much stuff floating in the water. Also, it was VERY green. I've tried to color correct a bunch of it so it's not so hideous to watch, but it still isn't the great work I've done before...just saying. *Pats self on back for making it even visible* You're gonna witness Karl's first flip off a boat into icy cold water, losing his fin and being led by the instructor. Ha ha...good times. A little information about Los Arcos: It is located 7 miles south of Puerto Vallarta in a Marine National Park. When we went diving, we were within the park, just not at the arch. It's the perfect depth for beginning divers and ranges from 10-90 feet. "El Acuario" (which is over by the arches) is a shallow site of 30-40 feet. It's a great place to see a variety of fish and especially schools of Angelfish, Pufferfish, Butterfly fish, Parrotfish, seahorses (wait...where were the seahorses???), Trumpetfish, Sea Turtles and large Manta Rays are usually spotted there.

So, just a few more things before this dive is over with. I totally forgot to mention...when the hubby and Sakari got into the water first, I was still on the boat preparing to do my acrobatic dismount from the boat when the instructor goes LOOK DOWN!! I guess there was a large group of stingrays going by. Of course I missed it and Sakari looked down just in time to catch them going by. Now...since she had the camera (which I highly recommend NOT taking video's with it because video on the Olympus Tough is NOT great and very grainy, especially if you are far away) but...it's all that we got of them (included in my video). Here's a screen shot from the video of the stingrays going by. I have taken a few other screen shots from the video I'm about to post, so not the greatest, but I wanted to share a few fish we seen. Here is a picture of that eel that I said I seen about 5' from the other eel that Sakari missed. We did get it on video. It was a Jewel Moray Eel. A Juvenile Queen Angelfish. I think I shared a picture of one already, but I'm doing it again because I just love the colors on them. We also managed to see another new fish that we've never seen before: A King Angelfish! A couple of Yellow Goatfish hanging out under the rock. This must be one of the moma's to all those Mexican Hogfish we kept seeing. We did end up seeing several of them. I did want to mention that it was really odd, first of all, to see SO MANY Porcupine Puffer Fish. It was also odd that many of them were EXTREMELY L-O-N-G and skinny. Usually they are big and fat but there were so many of them that were long and skinny. Are they not eating good? Dieting? Hibernating because they think it is winter in these freezing cold temps? I'm not sure. I also forgot to mention, after I did all that I could with trying to get my camera back on when it went caput, I went over to the hubby and handed it to him and gave him the signal to give me the GoPro. He had no idea what was going on because I've been letting him take the video's every time we dive for quite some time now. I guess he thought I wanted to change things up. He would quickly learn, I pulled a fast one on him and he got the faulty equipment. 😄 I guess that meant he could just enjoy the dive and not have to worry about being in charge of anything.

At least he knows (kinda) what to expect the next time. I hope he has a better experience. We're going to work on him! He will become a fish when we are done with him. Next segment coming right up... Sooo many new experiences for sure! Aww thanks so much.

Another unique looking starfish: Phataria unifascialis in a tan/whitish color. These are sometimes blue. Then we would come across a school of fish: Another puffer...just because they were everywhere!! You can't begin to imagine just how many there were here. A large school of Razor Surgeonfish: Now it's hard to tell in those pictures above, but Razor Surgeonfish are a new experience for us as well. They are actually light in color with a yellow tail. They have moderately large teeth that are close together with flattened serrated edges. The dorsal fin has 7-8 spines and the anal fin contains 3 spines. There are 3 bony plates along each side of the back of the fish, close to the tail, that stick out. They have black spots and a dark bar through the eye and through the shoulder. They can get close to 2' in length. We started to head back up to the surface and I was kinda glad at this point. I was so cold and just wanted to wrap up in a towel and sit in the sun. It wasn't the dive experience I had hoped for and we definitely didn't see the same things that I've seen in other videos. However, it was a new experience for us and tons of new fish and starfish that we've never seen in the past. That made the dive worth it I guess. $149/pp worth it...ehhh, I doubt that. But those puffer fish!!! Awww...so cute! The time stamps from the beginning of the dive until the end show it was 30 minutes. However, it would be even longer if you add on from the time we went under and down and coming back up. Over there is where I expected to be... We found Karl sitting on the boat and embarrassed about not being able to go far in the dive. We know he made it to at least 22' according to the camera and picture we had taken of him being led along by the dive instructor. He was at least proud of that moment. He did inform us that he had been just hanging out on the boat while we were diving...and yep, you guessed it...his head was hanging over the side of the boat several times getting sick. We let him know it was not entirely his fault he wasn't able to do the dive. It wasn't really a good place for a beginner. The water was just too cold. The water was just too cloudy and greenish...visibility sucked unless you were right up on something. And going off a boat into deep water for your first time probably wasn't the best choice. We assured him that if he would have went from a beach, in the Caribbean, in warm water that was crystal clear and got a chance to get used to the breathing before just taking off (not to mention doing the skills) he probably would have done much better and not panicked. He said "Oh, I'm definitely going to try it again for sure! I will be able to do this!" I was glad it didn't scare him so bad that he would never try again.