Mid-Winter Diving Dakar: Encounter With a Magic Carpet 2.5

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Photos (top to bottom): photo1: from MagicSeaWeed, showing swell heights by day, very small for this time of year; unfortunately, visibility is determined more by currents and wind direction than the surface conditions; photos 2-8: the magic carpet; photo9/17: Ayneric with torch; photo11: plankton tow at our 5 m safety stop (for class); photo18: we slowed the pace in the afternoon dive so two of us could shoot photos/video.

The mid-winter upwelling engine is on high, and sea temperatures have dropped 10 degrees in a week, dipping into the 50s F (15 C) this afternoon, cold enough to set Sam and Sebastian shivering.

Visibility is neither terrific nor terrible, as the images above indicate. The water was thick with particulates, both plankton and fine sand, which can give the water a green or brown cast. Clarity is determined much more by currents and wind direction than surface conditions.

The magic carpet alluded to in the blog title was a large ray we encountered in the morning, perhaps a meter and a half in width.

Note videos:

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I enjoyed a quiet, personal celebration this morning, having reached my 40th logged dive with the Nautilus Dive Center in N'Gor, all since last September. None of this was anticipated returning to Senegal last August, but it's been a tremendous pleasure, both with respect to the diving per se, and for the friendships made through the dive club.

Bravo to Philppe and Hilda!