This is an old story, but comes to mind as I’m scheming to acquire a boat capable of taking me back to this place. Enjoy the story and wish me luck on the boat.
I was alone in the water, doing one of the things I love best, drifting slowly with the current, along side the dingy and over bottom I’d never seen before. It was in the Exumas, part of the Bahama Islands, in a pass between several small cays. Vis was maybe 100 feet, water temp about 85 F. About as good as it gets in a very "low key" sort of way. The bottom was only maybe 5 or 6 feet down, yellowish colored rock with lots of sea fans and small coral heads, juvenile lobster heaven. Dinner was already in the dingy.
As I drifted along, totally relaxed and at peace with the world, I noticed that the current was picking up, the bottom getting deeper under me. The channel was growing narrower as the little islands closed in. Head underwater, I looked up current and saw a very strange thing. There was a distinct dark blue patch of something in the water in front of me. The color looked for all the world like deep water, but I was drifting inshore, away from the deep. There should not have been anything in front but grass beds and sand banks. That color had no business being there. All of a sudden I wasn’t so relaxed. Something weird was going on. The current was really picking up now, 4 or 5 knots, channel getting narrower, the bottom flashing by, forming a deepening V underneath me, the blue spot getting bigger and darker just beyond where the current squeezed between two rock islands maybe 75 feet apart. Now I could see where the bottom ended and everything fell off into blue/black blankness. It felt like the world was being sucked up by a giant underwater vacuum cleaner, and me with it. Death Grip on the dingy, heart rate hits 200 and my head is screaming. "get out of the water RIGHT NOW!"
Well, there was no time to get out of the water before the current spit me out over a pit, 60 feet or so deep, 70 or 80 feet wide and I couldn’t see the far end. WOW! Fish everywhere, A bunch of big jacks swirled up from mid-water, a shark doing the same thing, checking me out. Right behind him came a huge green turtle who swam by real close, eyeing me with curiosity, and beyond was another turtle. Schools of snapper and grunt swarmed around the edges while big parrot fish nosed along the bottom far below. What a spot! As I looked back and down, I could see the dark maw of a cave extending into blackness with more jacks flowing out. The place was a king sized blue hole in the middle of nowhere.
We stayed near the hole for a couple of days and dove it on both tides and in between. One of my most favorite places and in a part of the Exuma’s not much visited. Never meet anyone else who knew about it, other than a couple of local fishermen. I’m looking forward to getting there again.
Connor
I was alone in the water, doing one of the things I love best, drifting slowly with the current, along side the dingy and over bottom I’d never seen before. It was in the Exumas, part of the Bahama Islands, in a pass between several small cays. Vis was maybe 100 feet, water temp about 85 F. About as good as it gets in a very "low key" sort of way. The bottom was only maybe 5 or 6 feet down, yellowish colored rock with lots of sea fans and small coral heads, juvenile lobster heaven. Dinner was already in the dingy.
As I drifted along, totally relaxed and at peace with the world, I noticed that the current was picking up, the bottom getting deeper under me. The channel was growing narrower as the little islands closed in. Head underwater, I looked up current and saw a very strange thing. There was a distinct dark blue patch of something in the water in front of me. The color looked for all the world like deep water, but I was drifting inshore, away from the deep. There should not have been anything in front but grass beds and sand banks. That color had no business being there. All of a sudden I wasn’t so relaxed. Something weird was going on. The current was really picking up now, 4 or 5 knots, channel getting narrower, the bottom flashing by, forming a deepening V underneath me, the blue spot getting bigger and darker just beyond where the current squeezed between two rock islands maybe 75 feet apart. Now I could see where the bottom ended and everything fell off into blue/black blankness. It felt like the world was being sucked up by a giant underwater vacuum cleaner, and me with it. Death Grip on the dingy, heart rate hits 200 and my head is screaming. "get out of the water RIGHT NOW!"
Well, there was no time to get out of the water before the current spit me out over a pit, 60 feet or so deep, 70 or 80 feet wide and I couldn’t see the far end. WOW! Fish everywhere, A bunch of big jacks swirled up from mid-water, a shark doing the same thing, checking me out. Right behind him came a huge green turtle who swam by real close, eyeing me with curiosity, and beyond was another turtle. Schools of snapper and grunt swarmed around the edges while big parrot fish nosed along the bottom far below. What a spot! As I looked back and down, I could see the dark maw of a cave extending into blackness with more jacks flowing out. The place was a king sized blue hole in the middle of nowhere.
We stayed near the hole for a couple of days and dove it on both tides and in between. One of my most favorite places and in a part of the Exuma’s not much visited. Never meet anyone else who knew about it, other than a couple of local fishermen. I’m looking forward to getting there again.
Connor