Blue Corner and Dexter's Wall

Tuesday morning was a bit overcast, but with the sun poking through the clouds, it created a beautiful rainbow just outside my door. We gathered our equipment and went to Sam's for our second day of diving. This day, Katie and I were on the same boat as the day before and we were joined by Matt, Sara, Tiff, and Joedyn. They were completing their last day of open water certification. Brian, Matt, Jeff, and Tim also dove with us again joined by our dive guide JR and boat driver Jake. Once again, windy conditions slowed our trip, but Jake kept it tolerable. We were supposed to be diving Big Drop-off, but when we arrived it was too wavy. Instead, they took us out to Blue Corner. While Katie and I had been there the day before, it was neat that the others got to dive a world class dive site during their certification. The three of them went with Joedyn, leaving Katie and I with the rest of the group. You can read about their experience diving here. We descended down alongside the reef and drifted for while. For this dive, Tiff had given me a 35mm underwater camera a coworker had lent her. It was easy to use except for the manual focus that I had to guess and adjust the distance. I entertained myself during the dive taking pictures and got up close to a few sharks to get some good pictures. Katie also had the underwater digital camera they had brought. We left the edge of the reef and crossed the top where the current was stronger. JR kept us close to the bottom as we swam against the current. Along the way, we passed our friends with Joedyn and waved. We continued along until it was time to ascend. Brian had gotten separated because he could not keep up with us in the current with his big camera and had already ascended. We made fun of him and called him Bob. We tied up for lunch close to one of the islands. Unfortunately, the rocking boat made Tiff feel ill and she was a little green until the Dramamine kicked in.

Our second dive of the day was Dexter's Wall, a coral wall near Blue Corner named for a Palauan dive master. For this dive, Katie and I joined Matt, Sara, and Tiff. It was a lot of fun all diving together. We saw a few turtles swimming along and Katie got up close to one. Matt and Tiff ran low on air first, but we wanted a picture before they ascended. Tiff had brought along a Michigan flag that I carried with me on the dive. I unfurled the flag and we gathered together holding the flag. Joedyn took three pictures of us and they all turned out pretty good, but the third time was the charm. Matt, Tiff, and Sara went off with Joedyn to do their final skill, a controlled emergency ascent. Meanwhile, Katie and I hung out on the reef. Not knowing if we should continue, we fooled around a little by doing back flips underwater. We both still had a lot of air, so we decided to continue along the reef. Joedyn later caught up with us and finished the dive with us. We saw a huge school of giant trevally and a large group of wrasse. We made it all the way to Blue Corner before our time was up and we ascended. That dive was my most efficient air consumption dive to date because I am feeling a lot more comfortable and in control underwater the more experience I gain.

An Australian girl is staying as a tourist on one of the outer rock islands near Blue Corner and she needed a ride back there so she accompanied us on our dive. We had picked her up at the island on our way home yesterday. To get there, Jake drove us through this small shallow area between the islands. Today, we dropped her off on the way home. The island was the Southern Chief's island and was absolutely gorgeous. We all took the opportunity to get off the boat to take some pictures as the beach and the surrounding islands seemed unreal in their beauty. On our return to Sam's, Matt, Sara, and Tiff completed their certification paperwork. They are now certified divers.

To celebrate, we went to PPR for a tropical beverage and to watch the sunset. We played a little cards and had some nachos as we enjoyed the cool ocean breeze. While not a horizon sunset, it was pretty nonetheless. Afterwards, we returned home to clean up. Tiff was to tired to dinner, but the other four of us headed to Krämer's. Katie enjoyed the blackened sashimi and Sara and I had tuna. Matt opted out of fish and had chicken. By the end of the meal, the long day at sea had clearly worn us out and we returned home to get some sleep.

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