Neptune's Garden

"We have to wear life jackets?"
We were motoring to the Coast Guard Station on our way out of the harbor, having to check out and in again on return from our boat dive trip.
Obviously a new rule never having encountered this before.
Officialdom must have had some mishap recently leading to this new dictum.
It was May and already getting hot, into the high 30's and low 40's C and humid, not a time for our life jackets with a lack of breeze this morning, getting to a sauna like condition. We needed the boat to move, to create a breeze, not to sit at the Coast Guard dock.
The life jackets themselves were obviously from the time of the Ark, each commercial vessel required to carry enough life jackets for the number of passengers. Not only did we have to sit and wait dutifully wearing these antiques, while the official came on board to "inspect us and our cargo", but made us wonder looking about how much use they would be if we actually took a plunge.

Obviously once "cleared" these relics came off so we could enjoy the breeze created by the boat finally underway.

This trip we were to visit one sunken ship wreck and two coral reefs, for three dives in all. Neptune's Garden awaited. Although all divers wish to see the bigger or predatory examples of sea life (eg. sharks, barracuda, large groupers, rays, etc) these are seen sporadically. However exploring coral reefs themselves, and seeing the development of sea life on the surfaces of wrecks, are in my mind extremely rewarding, essentially gardens under the sea.

First set of images are diving on a ship wreck, the "Chicken Wreck".

The image above reveals the heavy coral growth on the steel hull of the wreck - this took place over the last 30 to 40 years since it sank on the reef.

We subsequently explored two separate reefs, relatively shallow and going down to 40 to 50 feet deep. Many varieties of hard & soft corals, sponges, giant clams, anemonies and small reef fish.

All in all a great day offshore. Although hot not to same degree as when we reached shore.
On entering the harbor, and after being checked in by the Coast Guard again, meanwhile all of us dutifully wearing our life jackets at the station, we noted several Sea Doos jumping off our wake after leaving the dock. None of the Sea Doo operators were wearing life jackets. They were all ignored by a passing Coast Guard boat ......... go figure.