Dive #172 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

Black grouper at a cleaning station
Photograph by Rob in Belize 2004

Dive Journal: A few rats have abandoned ship. They’re jumping off Linda’s faster than mine.

We’re psyched about doing this morning’s dive because the Elbow is probably the best known dive at Turneffe Atoll. It is a place of currents at the southern tip of the atoll and is a place to see big stuff, rays, sharks, permits, jacks, etc.

We immediately like all the creole wrasses again.

The sun is behind a cloud this morning, and even though the water is very clear, the visibility could be better. The terrain here is a beautiful sloping wall but it is fairly deep, so after a while exploring it, we’re forced up into mid-water due to no-deco limits.

It seems like we end up drifting mid-water for almost half the dive, with the visibility only so-so. Nearing the end of our air, we do come across a school of horse-eye jacks and a small school of permits. There are also some always pretty midnight and rainbow parrotfish. And way below us, about 100’, we see quite a few large black groupers at cleaning stations.