Now I can finally say, "Been here. Done that!" :-)
The psychological preparation to the coldest dive I've done
since my ice-diving certification in 1990 was much more
challenging than the preparation for any of the dare-devil
WARM water dives I've done since, such as the 10 knot current
(briefed) that realized only 5-6 knots in the Fakarava Passes
of the Tuamotu islands of French Polynesia.
I did my dive with the ORCA Diving Center:
http://www.seemorca.cl/
I don't have any picture to show of the UW world, because I
didn't expect to see anything Sue couldn't take with her
digital camera. Unfortunately, her digital camera went
with her to the gigantic stone statues (moais) of Ahu Tahai,
Ahu Akivi, and other sites, and I was left with what divers
are only supposed to take with from the sea, their memories. :-)
You can see a few pictures from the ORCA webpage above and
its links and one picture of the giant moai.
After weeks of anticipation and 7 days at sea, the ship finally
weighed anchor at 8 am in Easter Island. It was a beautiful
sunny day! The Pacific Princess passenger capacity is about 730.
Probably 729 of them were on one of the three sightseeing tours
to the various moai sites to gawk at the moais for which Easter
Island is noted.
The 730th passenger, me, was on my own, more or less.
Trixie, the tour director of the cruiseship, who had dived Easter
Island once before, was instrumental in piquing my interest in
the dive and making the dive arrangements for me. We were to
meet at the Orca Diving Center, a short taxi ride from where the
tenders drop off passengers from the ship. We were to meet at
the dive shop at 10:30 am. She was working with the ship's crew
in directing the traffic of the 729 passengers to their respective
tour leaders and busses.
I was at the dive shop by 9 am, making SURE that I find a fitting
wetsuit that is 3 mil or less, because I have NEVER dived in any
wetsuit thicker than 3 mil and I didn't think this was the time or
place to try to look like a Goodyear blimp, venture into a bouyancy-
control territory never stepped into before -- especially because
I had brought my ultra-lightweight BC which has a MAXIMUM lift of
16 lbs, for the WARM water diving in Tahiti. :-)
I asked the DM what the water temp was. "22 to 22.5 C," or about
72 degres F! The dive center webpage was even more encouraging,
"Although the temperature of the sea is over 24 degree C you can
find some coral species similar to those on other Polynesian
islands." 24C is almost 76F!
Both temperature estimates were higher than I expected, and I was
happy to see some children swimming without ANY suit. :-) After
all, I recently dived in Bali (on the mola mola dive) in 75F
water with only a 1 mil suit. So, I tried on what looked more
like a 2-mil surfing suit than a 3-mil scuba wetsuit, and was
contented that I was doing to be able to do the unexpected
(Easter Island) frigid dive!
I might as well get to the SURPRISE part now! It turned out the
DM was a tad off his 22C estimate. My ReefNet (independently
verified by my HyperAqualand) recorded a dive of AVERAGE temp of
66F, with minimum 65F. :-) But I survived the 53-minute dive
in flying colors in the 3-mil wetsuit.
The dive itself was actually more or less expected -- lots of
small to medium fish, nothing as big as a titan triggerfish, of
which there was none. Because of the isolation of Easter Island
(1900 km to the NEAREST island, Pitcairn), about 25 percent of
its 160 species of fish is endemic (you can find them ONLY in
Easter Island).
Except for the dive boat, which is an uncovered wooden panga with
a Johnson motor, the shop is very well equipped with a large
number of nearly new steel tanks, and other equipments all of
which are included in the price of $50 for a 1-tank dive.
(see http://www.seermorea.el/ingles/euipos_y_tarifas.htm),
The boat was plenty spacious for the two of us, and the dive site
was within sight of the cruiseship, in the Hanga Roa Cove area.
When we hit the water, besides the jolt of the 66-degree water
which actually felt, in my 3-mil suit, more like 74F in a 1-mil
suit in Bali :-), I was immediately struck by the awesome
VISIBILITY! I estimate it to be at least 200 feet, possibly
300 because if there is a shark 300 or more feet away, I would
have easily identified it. The nearest comparable vis I had
seen was at times in Coco's Island, but here the high vis was
explained this way on the webpage:
This clarity is due to low plankton levels and the
absence of river, port, sewage system and industrial
residue, it is easier to keep the water crystalline
and clean.
The topography of the site is an endless flat sand/rock bottom
of about 80 fsw, once one is sufficiently away from the coral
formations off the shore. Those are easily the healthiest corals
one will ever see anywhere in the world. Although not the one
titled "Kare Nui/Giant Coral" in
http://www.seemorea.el/ingles/mundo_submarino.htm
we saw one of nearly the same shape and size during the dive.
The marine life is DIFFERENT! That's the best way to describe
it. Nothing big. But a great variety of wrasses and butterflyfish
in small packages, many look different from those in Polynesia
or elsewhere in the Pacific. I presume those are the ones
endemic to Easter Island.
One unmistable one was something shaped and colored like a
Spanish hogfish of the Caribbean, but with a varied markings like
those of a Piccaso triggerfish!
Another one, rather common there, was a butterflyfish that is
solid black except for a single white square on the main body.
I was barely able to make out two very colorful fishes that was
pointed out to me by the DM, that they looked like a larger
version of the Mandarinfish I had seen in Palau.
We saw only ONE moray eel during the dive, but it had a yellowish
body, brownish spots, with a purple colored mouth.
There were at least half dozen different species of trumpetfish,
from the solid-golden variety to others that are not very different
from other trumpetfishes elsewhere in the world.
Throughout the dive, these ARFs (Assorted Reef Fishes) were too
numerous to describe or distinguish from their cousins in the
Pacific or the Caribbean.
Our entire dive was near the bottom of the ocean, between 60 fsw
and 70 fsw. It was scheduled to be 40 minutes in duration, but
when the DM was that I still had half a tank of air left at that
point, he extended the dive a bit longer, and after a safety stop,
our dive terminated at 53 minutes.
It was an invigorating, hi-vis, frigid (to any WWW), one-of-a-kind,
enjoyable dive worth of the world's MOST REMOTE populated island
(1900 km from the nearest nowhere)!
Da Feeesh.
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