My Daughter's Experience in St. Croix

[johndo88]

I am posting my daughter's experience. She is currently in St. Croix and just got certified. The following is from her final certification dive:

"Dana, my friend and scuba instructor, and I went out on my third dive to 60ft. Immediately I was noticing the differences in colors and sizes on the reef. We went to The Wall, which is an underwater cliff that reaches down 2,000ft. I'll let that sink in for a moment.

There we were, kneeling on the edge of The Wall, looking out into the blue abyss that is the magnificent Caribbean sea. and we heard them,,,, Humpback songs. Whales. Singing! We were being hit by whale song sound waves! Whales that were miles away.

I could have cried it was so magical. I hadn't been able to think about much else for the remainder of the dive."

Her mother and I think she's hooked. It's going to be a dramatic change when she experiences NW diving for the first time.

[Norris]

I am posting my daughter's experience. She is currently in St. Croix and just got certified. The following is from her final certification dive:

"Dana, my friend and scuba instructor, and I went out on my third dive to 60ft. Immediately I was noticing the differences in colors and sizes on the reef. We went to The Wall, which is an underwater cliff that reaches down 2,000ft. I'll let that sink in for a moment.

There we were, kneeling on the edge of The Wall, looking out into the blue abyss that is the magnificent Caribbean sea. and we heard them,,,, Humpback songs. Whales. Singing! We were being hit by whale song sound waves! Whales that were miles away.

I could have cried it was so magical. I hadn't been able to think about much else for the remainder of the dive."

Her mother and I think she's hooked. It's going to be a dramatic change when she experiences NW diving for the first time.

Thats just great. I bet it was AWESOME! I have yet to hear whale song underwater.

[seattlepaul1975]

That is awesome!

I hope to be so lucky with my dives in Thailand in a couple of weeks.

[Bric Martin]

Great story! That will be one of the magical moments in her life, one of many more come!

[Bric Martin]

Great story! That will be one of the magical moments in her life, one of many more come!

[Gdog]

You can say that again.......

[LCF]

That's a beautiful story. But can I bit a bit of a curmudgeon and say I would have liked it better had she not said she was KNEELING on the edge of the reef?

If she gets hooked, there's plenty of time to cure that, though The most important thing is the joy.

[Jeff Kruse]

We hear humbacks on most dives in February here in PR but diving in St Croix is much nicer! The reefs from shore here in NW PR are mostly dead but the whales are realy a treat.

[johndo88]

...I would have liked it better had she not said she was KNEELING on the edge of the reef?...

Excellent point. My daughter (Karie) is very concerned about the environment. The PADI instructor she was diving with studied "biological, marine, and environmental sciences" then went on to study "...in South Caicos, TCI for half a year looking at correlations of urchins, conch, and lobster in relation to hard corals and algae, while falling in love with the Caribbean." Last year "..she began working on her Masters in Biological Sciences at Long Island University, and found the opportunity to do research on stony coral depth profiles and disease identification in St. Croix."

All this to say you bring up an excellent point and I agree with you; I hope Karie made a poor choice in choosing her words and was only kneeling on sand. If not, it's GUE for her when she gets back later this year.

(P.S. Just because she's 27 doesn't mean I give up the right to check up on her from time to time. Gotta love the Internet.)

[Tom Nic]

Wonderful story!

I heard whale song underwater for the first time a few weeks ago when diving in Sitka Alaska. Amazing and magical!

Oh, and BTW, you can be an excellent, non coral destroying, non kneeling on the bottom diver without GUE training. Just saying.

[H20doctor]

...I would have liked it better had she not said she was KNEELING on the edge of the reef?...

Excellent point. My daughter (Karie) is very concerned about the environment. The PADI instructor she was diving with studied "biological, marine, and environmental sciences" then went on to study "...in South Caicos, TCI for half a year looking at correlations of urchins, conch, and lobster in relation to hard corals and algae, while falling in love with the Caribbean." Last year "..she began working on her Masters in Biological Sciences at Long Island University, and found the opportunity to do research on stony coral depth profiles and disease identification in St. Croix."

All this to say you bring up an excellent point and I agree with you; I hope Karie made a poor choice in choosing her words and was only kneeling on sand. If not, it's GUE for her when she gets back later this year.

(P.S. Just because she's 27 doesn't mean I give up the right to check up on her from time to time. Gotta love the Internet.)

im sure the Boat anchors from the dive charter boats do more damage to reefs than divers Kneeling on reefs... give me a break people

[Nwbrewer]

im sure the Boat anchors from the dive charter boats do more damage to reefs than divers Kneeling on reefs... give me a break people

Chris, no doubt the severity if the damage from a boat anchor may be worse, but it's a point impact. (small area) Divers with poor buoyancy/situational awareness can impact a much wider area of the reef. In addition to that the 2 WW charters I've done either tied into existing moorings, or anchored in the sand off the reef.

John it sounds like your daughter had an amazing experience.

[johndo88]

My daughter is now back from St. Croix.
She accumulated 11 dives in St. Croix. And I can finally answer the question, was she and her DM sitting on coral. The answer is NO. They were sitting in what Karie describes as a sandy channel. Still, a good discussion.
Cheers

[johndo88]

My daughter is home for Christmas this year and she and I did a NW dive. Quite a shock for her, first dive since St. Croix. 56 degree water was a shock, but she did really well. She was cold wearing a semi-dry suit, and didn't want to get out after 26 minutes in Cove 2. She did get to see the GPO under the Honey Bear. Father and Daughter getting to dive together for the first time on Christmas. Doesn't get much better.

[mpenders]

Father and Daughter getting to dive together for the first time on Christmas. Doesn't get much better.

[CaptnJack]

im sure the Boat anchors from the dive charter boats do more damage to reefs than divers Kneeling on reefs... give me a break people

The charters in the Bahamas (for instance) all use established moorings, the people cause all the damage - and its widespread and extensive too.

I have never been to St. Croix.

[Jeremy]

My daughter is home for Christmas this year and she and I did a NW dive. Quite a shock for her, first dive since St. Croix. 56 degree water was a shock, but she did really well. She was cold wearing a semi-dry suit, and didn't want to get out after 26 minutes in Cove 2. She did get to see the GPO under the Honey Bear. Father and Daughter getting to dive together for the first time on Christmas. Doesn't get much better.

That's awesome!

[LCF]

That's a fabulous story (and that's one big octo, too!)

[Grateful Diver]

Wonderful stories ... but where are you finding 56 degree water in Cove 2 this time of year? My computer's registering more like 46 ... which is really cold for someone in a semi-dry. Tip my hat to the young lady ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Jaksonbrown]

If you ever go to Maui, whale song can be heard from Dec- May. If you listen carefully, whale song can be heard most every dive. Indeed, magical.

[LowDrag]

Her log entry is very cool...I wish I hadn't missed this one last year. I looked forward to hearing whale song some day.

[johndo88]

Wonderful stories ... but where are you finding 56 degree water in Cove 2 this time of year... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Atomic dive computer. I have no reason to think it's not accurate, but then I've never checked. Hmmm....

[johndo88]

...My computer's registering more like 46 ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Okay, looks like my Cobalt can't read temperatures well. Two days ago it read 59 degrees at Cove 1. When I downloaded the dive to the Logbook software, the data in the logbook says it was 41 degrees. I then updated the DiveOS firmware on the Cobalt to the latest release, and now the temperature display is way off (6 degrees in my living room) and the atmospheric pressure now reads 0 mBars. By comparison, my wife's Cobalt (which I have NOT updated) reads 72 degrees and 986 mBars. I have an email in to Tech Support today. Looks like your computer is more accurate than mine.

[kasi]

Its good that your daughter is got the certificate after the last dive and i am also make plan for the dive in St.Croix in the December i have plan for the tour of St.Croix...