July 10^th 2010 was Providenciales’ first annual Race for the Conch 1 mile eco sea swim. There was a huge turnout on Grace Bay beach near Flamingo Bar, with international and local participants. Big Blue Unlimited were a proud sponsor of the race, providing kayak and
paddleboard support during the race, complimentary biodegradable reef-safe sunblock for competitors, and had staff competing in the race.
Staff member Lynn Robinson manned the Big Blue tent and photographed the event, while members Ben Zirin, Cardi Ewing and Will Pollock supported the swimmers from the water on their kayaks and stand up paddleboards. Big Blue racers included Laura Ricketts, Jackie Walker and Alizee Zimmerman. Next year’s race will include both a 1 mile and 2.5 mile event, training begins now!
This week’s Good Friday “Edge of the Banks” snorkel safari had a special and rare guest. A 25 foot whale shark off Molasses Reef. Moving to our second stop at the end of Molasses Reef, Lynn spotted what she thought at first were dolphins then realised it was much bigger and actually a whale shark, about 25 ft long. Jackie and a few of our guests snorkeled with it for a short while before it swam away. Cruising along the edge of reef while looking for it again Lynn was just about to give up when she saw it out of the corner of her eye on the far West end of the reef….Lynn and Jackie got in along with a couple of other guests and got some amazing video footage (on Facebook already!)….they followed it for quite a long time…..all the guests got in to snorkel with it…..bloody amazing!!
Check out the video!
Good Friday Whale Shark on Molasses Reef.
Filed under: Diving,Team — Tags: Diving, Team — wordpress @ 9:23 am March 28, 2010
The cooler waters of the winter season have brought exceptional pelagic encounters. With lots of reef sharks and eagle rays seen daily the recent highlight had to be a Great Hammerhead, 12 foot long, off the Gulley at West Caicos. Both Lynn and Chris caught sight of this beauty on separate days and it goes without saying that their ancient and perfect symmetry is spelling binding. Guests and dive masters were left buzzing!
The Humpback whales of the North Atlantic have returned. The last week of January saw the first big wave of their annual migration. Numerous sightings were made on the surface between North West Point, Grace Bay and Pine Cay. By far the best encounter had to be Jim and crew from the Yukon, who marked his return to the TCI and to Big Blue after 8 years with an stunning in water encounter on scuba at the Football field off Pine Cay! Welcome back Jim. More recently Chris, one of new our instructors and captains, has had the rub of the blue on arriving in the TCI with numerous sightings and then coming face to face with 4 whales at G-Spot off French Cay on Wednesday. Epic! The season is in full swing and the whales should provide us with encounters right until April.
In November 2009, Aaron Sales of Kiteboarding Magazine, Sam Light, the UK # 1 and top watersports photographer, Bill Doster joined our team for 10 days on a memorable adventure over and under the water. What we got was magical. Even though the wind was un cooperative, through sheer persistence and hard work we nailed the cover shot with Sam on it and an 8 page spread in the magazine. Big shout out to Wes, Hope, Jackie and Philip for a strong team effort. Pick up the Kiteboarding magazine Feb/ March Issue.
Last week a 12 foot long hammerhead shark was seen by Jackie and a couple of her guests while they were snorkeling in only 8 feet of water at French Cay on the ‘Edge of the banks’ snorkel trip.
