Sea Horses!

Sarah looking for fish

We did two more dives this afternoon. On the first dive, the girls did different adventure dives. Sarah wanted to do a Fish ID dive while Emily decided on Search and Recovery. Sarah's job was to swim around and look for interesting fish to identify in a book later. Emily used a compass to practice search patterns while looking for sea horses. She ended up finding five--three while she was doing the patterns and another two while we were swimming around later in the dive. She also used a lift bag to raise a weight belt from the bottom. 

The second dive was Peak Performance Buoyancy. They practiced skills like fin pivots and hovering and then had some fun while practicing further. We set up PVC squares with a weight in the middle to form an obstacle course. They had to swim through the first hoop, drop down to the sand to knock over a weight with their regulator, and then swim through the second. After that, they did it on their backs. Finally, everyone took off their fins and had a race along the sand before the activities switched to underwater ballet and slow-motion fights. 

Upside-down Jellyfish

Aside from the sea horses, my favorite find was Upside-down Jellyfish. These lie on the bottom with their bells against the sand their tentacles pointing up. At first glance, I thought it was an anemone or maybe a soft coral. I was excited! I've seen these in aquariums but never in the wild. 

Lined Seahorse

Long-snout Seahorse

An enchanting echinoderm!

More of the obstacle course

Emily doing the obstacle course on her back

Not an efficient way to travel underwater, in case
you're wondering

Sarah doing her own stunts