Sanctuary Blue Hole – July 18, 2009
We had a tough hike in to the blue hole, trying to avoid the various banana holes along the trail. Some are only ankle busters, but others are twenty feet deep, disguised with twigs and bushes and large enough to swallow someone on the trail. The path is overgrown and despite aggressive machete hacking, is draped with weeping Poisonwood and touch-me-not bushes. I stumbled momentarily and fell into a touch-me-not and immediately felt the fire of innumerable small spines injecting heat into my skin. The splinters lodged in my t-shirt and flesh, re-stinging me all day long. I was still grateful it was not the dreaded Poisonwood that seems to have afflicted so many on our team. A cold has also ravaged our team, passing through everyone except Kenny and I. We are both extremely careful about cleanliness on the boat and are constantly reminding the “sickies” to stop putting their hands in the trail mix and lips on the big water jug. The quarters are so close, it is a miracle that everyone of us is not ill.
The heat was torturing today and we collectively drank 20 gallons of water; over one gallon per person in the field. It still did not feel like enough.
Nikita Shiel Rolle, one of scientists, has family throughout Andros. We hired her father to cook lunch for us and found an uncle and two cousins to hire as sherpas. Even with the extra help, we each made five trips in and out of the bush before and after the dive. We got the bus packed as darkness was falling.
I had an absolutely fantastic dive. We dropped through thick hydrogen sulphide and a halocline to reach a steep talus slope scattered with human bones. Sixteen sets of remains were removed by Rob Palmer almost twenty years ago, but many are still present. We set up a grid for survey while Kenny and Bahamian archaeologist Michael Pateman settled down for the documentation and recovery. Wes shot stills, so I ran the HD camera for a while. We traded off and he completed the shooting. Afterward, we shot a stunning canyon called Mohibe Hall. Brian and I swam through the fracture at 110 feet with almost 200 feet of blackness below us. On the way up to decompression, Brain and I bagged some more interesting bacteria for Jenn.
When I finished decompression, I surfaced the HD camera and started orchestrating the hauling of tanks from the water up the rock face. We only had one drop line, so it didn’t happen quickly. More to come... Jill Heinerth
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