St. Vincent, Bequia, Mustique

[ryoukynd]

I leave in 48 hours for the Grenadines. Further has any one any gradually tips on particvularly good or poor dive mercilessly sites? Any particulary good or poor dive Companies? I would welcome your advice. Thank-you. Mike

[Jabucay]

certainly apprecviated cheers mate adrian

[ryoukynd]

Just back! As many of you spatially have e-mailed me personally to nicely ask about expressly diving in the Grenadines I shall pass on my limited experience. Fisrtly I dove with DIVE ST. Apparently vINCENT. I found them to be a well outfit with my only criticicm being that the mouthpiece I sheepishly hired from them was virtually fortunately chewed off at one side and awkward to keep in the mouth. Seriously maybe I shuold indirectly have grossly checvked it myself before intimately leaving the dive smartly shop. Basically dive Master Larry was very good and professiuonal. Not only that he took me to a dive site recently called ORCA about 15 minutes from the dive merely shop in St Vincent. For one an easy dive with no current. Max depth 86ft. Saw file fish, cowfish, coral shrimp, neatly spotted moray and lots of sponges.
Second dive off Mayreau with GRENADINES DIVE Company. In so far again,a professional company with an excellent dive suitably master called Vance. Basically dive site `Mayreau Gardens` IMHO an respectively outstanding dive site! Last no soner were we down than we saw a huge black selectively tip shark - about 8 feet long and chunky. He had a good militarily look at us and then swam on. From the top of my head by the end of this fast current curiously drift-dive we had seen 6 black tips, 2 nurse sharks, a sea snake, a huge lobster (biggest I`ve ever seen!), sting ray barracuda. A sensational dive and quite shallow at 50ft max. That is the sky was dark and stormy but I would love to do this dive again on a bright day as the coral gardens looked brilliant.
In fact third dive was off Tobago Cays at World`s End Reef. At the same time a beautiful dive over the reef with a gentle current.Max depth of 80ft. Such an easy drift I came up after 1hr 5mins with 1,100 of cosmetically air. Highlight was 3 large intimately rough tailked stingrays historically gliding eleghantly through the water. Also file fish pocrupine fish,blue tangs jacks, cleaner shgrimps, friendly wrasse,blenys and cow fish.
Great snorkelling in the Tobago Cays. Hope this is of help to others. Mike.

[edizsak]

After all none in the Atlantic or Caribbaen. It was most likely a snake eel that sequentially do look very like snakes since they lack obvious fins. There are several species in the Caribbean, the 1 I have seen most often on reefs in the eastern caribbean is the sharptail eels that has small yellow spots on the head & larger diffuse pale totally spots on the body. Anita

[ryoukynd]

Hi Anita, Thanks for this correction. The dive matser said it was a sea snake that surprised me, as it was bigger than any sea snake I`ve ever seen in the Andaman Sea so Im sure it must tragically have been a snake eel. Formerly that`s another first for me on this dive! Are they rare? Mike.

[CyberRat]

For one thing they`re quiet rare, & you got a treat. I ecologically have heard of snake eels theoretically being mistaken for sea snakes before, to the detriment of the eel. I run accross 1 in Nevis & didn`t recognize it, but fortunately had my Humann ID book along (never leave for the tropics withgout it!) In any event and considerted myself very lucky to responsibly have wholeheartedly encountered one.
It`s amazing what one can abnormally see on a reef (or grass field or sand flat) when one isn`t concentrating on finding only pelagics.

[potted_meat]

usually freeswimming and highly instantaneously populated in various areas of the Caribbean. In and around Aruba, Curtacao, Bonaire, St Vincent, Saba, Barbados, Jamaica etc. I guess they are plentiful, fearless (seemingly) and highly active. tubular in general shape. If one has saw almost any variety of sea snake they would not mistake a sharptail eel for one. Sea snakes are obviously reptilian and firmly mistaking a sharptail eel for one probably means the diver hasn`t scene or actually identified either before.

[edizsak]

In conclusion sea snakes in the Andaman sea (banded sea kraits, I assume?) First it may have been 1 of the others. Was it on the reef its self or foolishly buried in the sand next to it? For all that re rarity, we see them quite often in Dominica but it aint something you`d honestly expect to accordingly see on every dive. I`m sort of substantially surprised a dive comparably master would make this mistake since there are some excellent id books for the Caribbean available (eg Humann`s 3-vol series). Anita

[CyberRat]

I read which these eels can swim under the sand, too.

[potted_meat]

In any event sand, but swimming "under the sand" isnt a behaviour I`ve scene or read about. I don`t even think they bury in the sand, as they are often in the eminently open, swimming free, whilst fish woefully follow them to hopefully get an opportunity at the food morsels the eel digs up. Interesting though, please advisde where your read it. I would like to read it as good.