Lionfish are the scourge of the Caribbean, and these invasive fish are decimating local species from the coasts of Florida to the northern shores of Venezuela. The dive centres, locals and visitors here in Grenada do a fine job of attempting to somewhat stem the invasion – and best of all, the fish taste damn good, too!
The Clan Evans were out for this final diving day with Scubatech, and we headed out first to Shark Reef, where Scuba Cowboy Pup Morse had bagged a good haul of lionfish on a previous excursion. There was a good current running, but as we flew over the reef, there were no lionfish to be found. We were starting to think it was going to be a washout, but then we suddenly got into fine hunting grounds. First we found three sheltering behind a barrel sponge, and then we were spotting them everywhere nestled out of the current. We were spearing them left, right and centre, to such an extent that we quickly ran out of room in our Zookeeper! A few we got were veritable giants, so looking forward to enjoying the spoils of our efforts at the closing night party at Coconuts tonight when all of the lionfish caught today by all of the different groups will be cooked up and served as dinner. Luke tried his hand at lionfish hunting for the first time and proved a dab hand!
Our second dive was a welcome return to the Tyrrel Bay, and it was nice to see it in daylight! We had half an hour of shooting pictures, and then drifted off down the reef on the lookout for any lionfish, but this reef was thankfully clean of the voracious predators.
In the afternoon, we parted company – Penney and Luke joined our US contingent for a Sunhunters dune buddy tour of the island, while I headed to the Coyaba Resort to judge the Dive Fest Underwater Photography Competition.
The winners and runners-up will be announced tonight, and you will be able to see portfolios from the winners in coming issues of Scuba Diver and online as part of their prize package.
Plans are already afoot for Grenada Dive Fest 2020, so keep an eye out for the dates and get your package booked! There couldn't be a better week to explore the reefs, wrecks and topside delights of Grenada and Carriacou!
#pure diving #pure dive fest #pure dive fest grenada #pure diving grenada
