We started the day with a generous home cooked meal from Diane Martino of LumbaDive. Who would have imagined that we would have Canadian Maple Syrup and Gourmet Crepes so far from home? She knows the way to my heart! Diane is an artist in the kitchen as well as a professional singer and talented designer of original jewelry made from lion fish fins. The toxin dissipates in the course of a couple of hours, but just to be safe she uses only the fins that are not venomous. She transforms the delicate pieces into beautiful necklaces, earrings and other masterpieces…oh and she also runs the dive shop with her husband Richard!
Georg Schmitt and Connie Hagen of Arawak Divers took me on a spectacular private dive. Their luxury service, like Lumba Dive includes taking care of all your gear, loading and unloading and everything you could possibly need. We returned to the Atlantic side of the Sister Rocks. Georg has done over 1000 dives on these rocks and can never get enough. I can understand. He has seen everything form seahorses to a humpback whale. On the second dive at Sharky’s Hideaway at Mabouya Island (a former leper colony), we had a dive that I will never forget. We swam beneath a cloud of bait fish and spent 15 minutes watching them undulate and twist above and around us. It was pure zen.
Sharky’s Hideaway
The underwater landscape starts with reef slope and ends up in a rock garden with canyons. Big rocks offer up schools of chubs, glassy sweeper and nurse sharks hiding beneath ledges, with giant moray eels, porcupine fish, angels and the glorious ceiling of bait fish interspersed with chub, jacks and barracuda.
Sisters Rock
The current swirls between the two rocks and intermittent runs of good strength mean you should be advanced for this dive. But with the currents come endless fish, lobsters, hawksbill turtles and almost anything you could imagine. The offshore location brings in a diversity, so expect the unexpected.
Lunch was a tight squeeze, so Sally O’Reagan at the Gallery Cafe was quick to pack me a gourmet bagged lunch for the island tour in the afternoon. The gallery shows off the work of local artists including Diane Martino.
Linkey from Linkey’s Island Tours and Rental Cars took Joe and I around the island and shared stories of geography, history and culture of Carriacou.
