Column: SCUBA

What is Under the Boat

By: Jon Symons

photo of Jon Symons taken by Jerry Symons

A fish swims by inches from my face, I wonder if it can see me. Right now, in the cold, dark water, there is an unsettling quiet. The illusion of being alone haunts everybody in an Iowa lake.  The water is so dark that you can’t see your hand in front of your face. Every year I have to go out to a lake an hour or so from my house to do an open-water dive with the new divers. There is a feeling of tension around the new divers as they are preparing for the certifying dive.

In sunlight everything is visible. I am about 300 meters from the dive boat and I can see it perfectly. The coral is glistening with the shine from all of the fish scales. The water is peaceful, and I can see my dive buddies. There is a weightlessness of being underwater that makes you forget about all your problems on the surface, because underwater nothing seems to matter. The warm salt water running through your hair makes it feel gelled. When you get out and feel the cool ocean spray hitting the dive boat and smell the fresh fruit or freshly baked cookies, all the sound that you were missing underwater comes rushing back and before you know it everyone is talking about all the rare or interesting fish that was seen on the dive, reality hits you once again and you want to go back in for more.

There are many factors to be taken into account when determining a good dive site. For example, current, reef conditions, number of species, what kind of fish there are, and many more. It also depends on what kind of life you are wanting to see there are many things to be seen on a dive and the more you know about what you want to see the more fun you will have and you will be able to find it more often. It is hard for me to pick a particular dive site as my favorite because there are so many types of dives and types of reefs that it is easier for me to pick my favorite from every type of dive.

The most popular sites aren’t always the best spots because they become over dove and people start to actually hurt the health of the reef. The best dive sites in the Pacific Ocean are in either in the Bahamas (in a part called the Exumas where there are no cruise ships), Cozumel, and Bonaire (a small island off the coast of Venezuela). These are all good places to go because they offer the most life variety with little human traffic. There are many types of dives to do in each place. If you are looking for a lot of color on a reef and lots of fish variety then go to big open reefs that range from 30-60 feet deep. Wreck dives do not have all the variety of life that reefs have but they are home to a specific set fish and they are also to look at the wreck itself.  There are drift dives, which are where there is such a strong current that you just stay buoyant and relax and it takes you along for a ride.  Wall dives are also special because it is just a wall in the ocean full of different corals and life. Night dives are an incredible experience because you get to see life that you don’t get to see during the day.

In my 11 years as a diver I have come across only one drift dive that I liked. The name of the site was The Wash Machine it is located in the Bahamas. There is a giant creator in the ocean floor about 40 feet deep and about 100 feet in diameter and the current forms a vortex that once you go in it you get flipped and spun around. There are the same species of fish on a drift dive as an open reef but in a drift dive you just go by a bunch of reefs.

One of my favorite reefs in the ocean is called Periwinkle Reef, although it is near Nassau, Bahamas, it does not get dove often and there is great life. It is also and easy dive. When I’m on that dive I like to find a nice sand patch, lay on my back, and blow ring bubbles. It is a way for me to relax after a good day of diving.

In the Bahamas there is a wreck named The Sapona. It is a wreck from the 1930’s and 40’s that was sunk by the US navy for bomb target practice. It sits in about 15 to 20 feet of water. When you get into the wreck there is coral growing on the walls of the ship and it makes for a very different feel being surrounded by coral. One the out side of the wreck you can find bullets, bullet casings, and one person even found a dummy bomb.

                                                                  the Sapona photo by Jon Symons

Bonaire is famous for its wall dives. There are many beautiful walls located there and there are very many dives with different forms of life on each dive. I don’t have a favorite wall dive. They generally range from about 30 feet to however deep the ocean is.  My favorite is Salt Pier. This is site is by a pier that they mine salt from so it is a unique dive site in that there are fish there that you wouldn’t see very often anywhere else.

When you shut your light off in a night dive, and move your hand around fast, there are bioluminescence in the water that turn it green for a split second. It is also a special feeding time for a lot of animals. You can see different life that doesn’t come out during the day. For example octopus do not come out during the day so you can see them during the night. For a night dive you just go to any dive site.

Spending interval time on a dive boat is also a special thing that you can’t get anywhere else. You make friends that last a lifetime.   During the interval time there is always something to be learned. You can have very in-depth conversation. There are peaceful debates going on all the time about what the government is doing, what is wrong about the way people are cleaning up the environment, but there is always a subtle tension of the anticipation of the next dive. On the dive deck you teach just as much as you learn whether it’s a dive technique or a concept on how to be a better person. No matter what is going on everyone has a smile on his or her face.

At the end of the day everyone goes out to eat. They talk about all the good things they saw, or they talk about some difficulties they encountered. At the end of the trip sometimes we all get together, get a projector, eat chips and dip, and watch a slide show of the dives and all the things that got captured on camera above water. People will put photos up of the joke of the week (which wouldn’t be funny unless you were part of the group).

Scuba diving is a unique sport in which life-long friends are mad between dives and under water is where they save your life. There are many factors when choosing a trip for a group. There has to be many like-minded people to have it be a successful and enjoyable trip. They all have to like the same kind of dives while also like a little variety in dive types.