Dive #252 - Rich Torkington's Dive Log

An uncommonly close encounter with a spotted eagle ray
Videocap by Rich Torkington in the USVIs 2006

A mondo lobster - see the regular-sized one behind him for reference?
Videocap by Rich Torkington in the USVIs 2006

Dive Journal: We’re doing yet another shallow reef dive as is the pattern for our second dives, and we really enjoy them.

Immediately off the mooring ball, we encounter a beautiful spotted eagle ray. He is soaring slowly over the reef next to us as we descend with video running. As he gets closer to us, he finally senses our presence and flinches once, then picks up his pace. But not so fast that we aren’t dazzled with a wonderful view of him.

The remainder of this dive is spent milling around coral heads, inspecting for critters. I spent most of the time looking for eels and didn’t find a single one. Instead, I found a few boxfish and schools of fry and tried to cull some decent video out of it.

Our final dive in St. Croix. The diving here has been great, distinctly Caribbean, and yet with its own unique character. I’d recommend N2 The Blue Dive Shop to anyone – excellent friendly operations in a very personal fashion. The shore diving from Cane Bay and points both east and west was excellent – with a little bit of effort it is there for the taking whenever you want.