This is definitely a snorkel adventure, for scuba is too
slow and ponderous for these capricious and fleet marine
mammals. When they choose to engage a snorkeler,
it is on their own terms and usually with significant
enthusiasm. They tend to lose patience with those who
aren’t willing to swim, dive and play with them, but for
those able to be an amusing diversion for a while, close
encounters are quite probable.
THE ABACOS
In the Abacos I was fortunate to visit two destinations
that provided surprisingly significant differences both
topside and underwater despite their relative proximity:
Green Turtle Cay and Man-O-War Cay.
The new airport at Marsh Harbour is the first stop
for the water-taxi rides that take you to either of these
dive destinations. I was familiar with
Green Turtle Cay
,
having dived there several times previously and enjoying
my time with Bahamas dive icon Brendal Stevens, who
with his wife runs a popular dive operation that offers
packaged accommodations with a variety of small hotels
and guest homes.
Brendal and I started out on the Civil War wreck
San
Jacinto
, a gunboat that struck a reef while chasing a
blockade runner in January 1865. I photographed the
huge boilers of the steamship and the massive propeller,
barely perceptible amid the flattened wreckage of the
stern. As shipwrecks tend to do, this one held big
schools of grunt and a few photogenic green morays, all
in just 25 feet of water.
Our next stop was
Coral Caverns
, a site dotted with
swim-throughs and cathedral light piercing through
from above. Caribbean reef sharks have clearly been fed
here, enough so that they promptly appear at the sound
of an anchor drop. But this day the attractions were the
friendly Nassau grouper that clearly knew Brendal as
friend and protector and the massive concentrations of
silversides clogging the reef canyons.
While motoring to the next site I looked over the
side and was amazed at the elkhorn coral garden visible
just below in water of 100-foot visibility. I have seen
elkhorn come and regrettably go on more islands than
I could name; to see it here so healthy and pristine was
absolutely inspirational. When the sharks and grouper
from Coral Canyons followed us to the elkhorn forest, it
made for a meaningful photo opportunity.
The next day was a good one for critters at opposite
ends of the evolutionary spectrum. In the morning
we went to a secluded beach where Brendal has made
a habit of feeding friendly stingrays. In an encounter
reminiscent of other stingray feeds I’ve seen on Bimini
and Grand Turk (as well as Stingray City and Sandbar
on Grand Cayman), the rays swim along the shallow
beach, eager to hoover up whatever bit of fish or conch
might be offered. In the afternoon I shot over/unders of,
oddly enough, pigs in the shallows of No Name Cay.
I enjoyed the hospitality of Michael Sherratt of
DiveTime Abaco while on
Man-O-War Cay
, a tiny
island of only about 300 residents. The island has a
strong boat-building legacy and tends to be quiet. No
liquor is served on the island; you can have a drink in
your guesthouse, but you can’t buy it on the island. The
island is only 2 miles long and very narrow, so the roads
are better suited for golf carts than cars. The wide-open
spaces are underwater, and that’s where we headed early
the next day.
The reefs of Abaco are relatively shallow, with most
dives to less than 60 feet. Our first dive was at
Mini Wall
within the Fowl Cays National Park. The abundance and
easy familiarity that Michael had with the Nassau grouper
here made it obvious this was a marine preserve, with no
hook and line or spearfishing allowed. The reef canyons
held plenty of yellowtail, a species becoming more rare
due to overfishing in other places.
At
Tunnels
, also known as Tombstone Reef, there
is a fabulous stand of elkhorn in the shallows, but most
divers are likely captivated by the play of light shafts that
pierce the swim-throughs 25 feet below. We also visited
French Grunt Reef
and
Fish Bowl
, each presenting a
different variety of lovely hard corals and seafans as well
as friendly tropical fish.
Maritime-history enthusiasts must visit the wreck
of the
USS Adirondack
off the northeast point of the
island. This Union ship ran aground in August 1862
while preventing blockade running by the Confederacy.
The scattered remains lie in 10 to 30 feet of water, but
the most prominent artifacts are two immense cannons,
each 12 feet long and weighing 10,000 pounds.
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Brendal Stevens feeds stingrays
at Green Turtle Cay
Large schools of grunt populate the
wreckage of the San Jacinto.
