Day 10 on Statia, Anchor Point (drift dive) and Double Wreck (again)

Up early again and still aching slightly from the longish hike on the previous day, however that's not enough to stop me getting up for diving!

I walked down to the dive shop again waving smiling, nodding and exchanging 'Good Morning's with everyone - a nice lift to start the day. I'm starting to see the same people around  and about now, which is some indication of the small size of the island's population.

Our first dive for the day turned out to be a drift dive, as when we reached our intended site (Hangover I think) the current was too strong for us to be able to swim back to the mooring line, so we moved across to Anchor Point with the intention of drifting in the direction of Hangover.

Again I had the GoPro and was keen to attempt to get even closer to my subject matter this time, this usually meant hanging upside-down or sideways to be able to get in really close, but the results showed that I was managed to get in close enough to the 'sweet spot'.

Getting closer to some sponge life

Today I was diving with Ingrid, who was incredibly adept at spotting and pointing out the smaller animals on the reef, which is the stuff I love most. First up was another tiny tiny trunkfish, bobbing around like a small pea between the sea fans and corals, then a tiny cleaner shrimp.

Another good sighting was a flamingo tongue, I'd seen a couple before but I got pretty close to this one but wasn't able to take a photo before the current moved me along.

What I'd also noticed about my improved diving was that the marine life was responding to me in a different way. I was much calmer, slower and breathing in a more controlled way, and this seemed to startle fish much less, I was able to get a good close look at some fan worms before they popped their feeding tentacles back in. I was also able to get some good footage of fish swimming by pretty close without them dashing away. 

Eventually our drift took us across to Hangover, there were plenty of Black Durgon here, as well as a couple of pretty huge French Angelfish, Rock Beauty and Queen Angelfish. The site is named because of the rock lava flows that hang over the water creating safe spots for fish like these Grunts and Sergeant Major.

Some grunts hanging out under a lava flow hangover

But the highlight of the dive for me was the baby Spotted Drumfish hiding under one of these ledges - this was a first for me, a beautiful little fish. At the end of the dive, Ingrid came up with a final amazing spot - a tiny Filefish (apparently adult size) hiding itself away in the fingers of a soft coral. I do have a photo, but its pretty well camouflaged so not much point posting it without first cropping it.

I had almost three hours to spare before my next dive, so I headed for lunch at Franky's Bar & Restaurant before taking a slow amble round the old town again and a longer look around the fort.

Canons at Fort Oranje, Statia

View across the Caribbean from Fort Oranje, Statia

For the afternoon dive Hannah joined me again as we dived Double Wreck, the second time for me. Marieke had promised Secretary Blennies, tiny little fish, so I was excited about that, and luckily I had remembered to put my lenses in that morning.

Double wreck is an old wreck site, so only the anchors and some of the bricks used as ballast now remain. The anchor is where the Secretary Blennies live and as it was at the other end of the dive site we were going to head straight there. As soon as we reached the bottom we were greeted by a turtle sleeping in a giant sponge. Off to a good start...

Green Turtle snoozing in a giant sponge

We headed straight for the anchor, and there in tiny holes in the coral, were a whole village of tiny bespectacled heads poking out of holes in the coral encrusted anchor. Their timid but curious nature meant they kept popping in an out for a look! No photo of them I'm afraid - that would have required a macro lens but here's one of me by the anchor instead.

Me and an anchor

The site is pretty shallow and flat, so its easy to skim over the bottom looking for interesting stuff. Also spotted on this dive were numerous Lobster, a Southern Stingray and a Spotted Moray. Marieke even pointed out the ballast bricks from the 18th century wrecks. These ballast bricks were often used on the island for building work and many structures around the old town are made from these flat yellow bricks.

Another great dive, but tomorrow would be my last on Statia for now. 

Diving is a tiring business so the evening was again a relaxed affair, Lali and I watched some TV while Hannah went to a PTA meeting, and I prepared myself for the next few days off-island by ensuring I had some clean clothes for the rest of my trip. Luckily laundry dries here in under an hour (unless it rains).

All set for the boat to St Kitts tomorrow...