We went diving in Laje de Santos over the
weekend. Laje de Santos is a whale-shaped island, 40 kilometres off the coast
of Santos. From São Paulo, it is possible to drive there and back on the same
day – we left the city at around 6:00 AM on Sunday and were back by around 6:30
PM.
The speedboat ride to Laje takes around 1h30min,
crossing the main shipping route in the country, and we were welcomed by
dolphins, who played around our boat, leapt out of the water and gave us a
beautiful display.
On arrival, we quickly got dressed for our
dive. We spent some 50 minutes in the water, at a temperature of approximately 20°C,
with colder pockets. It was interesting to notice that you could see the changes
in water temperature before hitting them. When the cold and warm waters mix, it
seems like there is oil the sea. You see tiny wave – or turbulence – patterns under
the water!
We had been warned by the organizer of our
trip, Armando, from Nautilus Dive, that we might have a visibility problem – large
schools of fish would get in our way, as the visibility was around 20 metres!
One of the divers even said that he saw a turtle slapping fish out of its way
so that it could swim in peace! We saw several kinds of colourful fish and
turtles. Not to mention the seagulls and frigates seen on the island.
In the second dive, also around 50 minutes
long, there was a little more sediment in the water (visibility down to some 15
metres or so) and the water was slightly colder. The current was also stronger than
in the first dive. Despite a slight problem with goggle misting – we forgot to
rub baby shampoo on our masks before the second dive – the same schools of fish
and turtles could be seen in one more amazing dive!
