Dawdling behind the other divers in my group, I turn around to see a curious black- tip shark following us. I tug at the arm of my dive buddy and point, but the beautiful little shark has already turned tail.
About two dozen of us are on the scuba and snorkel picnic offered by Brendal's Dive Center (242-365-4411) on Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos. We're split into two groups divers and snorkelers and take separate boats to the area known as Coral Caverns. The snorkelers jump in and fin along the shallow part of the reef, while we divers submerge and follow Stevens, a Bahamian who has lived on Green Turtle for about 30 years.
Underwater, we're immediately approached by several Nassau groupers that have come to know Stevens and his handfuls of food. The groupers swim so close they brush against us. Nurse sharks are the next to arrive, and Stevens pulls them to him, inviting us to feel their sandpapery skin. After snack time, we cruise slowly behind Stevens. He finds an arrow crab, a small alien-looking creature with spindly legs, and passes the crab from diver to diver, giving everyone a chance to hold it. On the rest of the dive we see everything from parrotfish to tarpon, and even a green moray eel.
Back on the boat, Stevens cranks up the music and breaks out gallon jugs of rum punch. We head for Man Jack Cay, a small uninhabited island, where we meet up with the snorkelers for a Bahamian picnic. Stevens whips up some conch salad with some help from a few volunteers, then prepares fresh snapper, tossing it with tomato, green peppers and Italian dressing and cooking it over an open fire. Green salad and Bahama bread round out the menu, and after the hearty lunch and some more punch, we move down to the beach. Kids toss a Frisbee, and the more ambitious in the group try windsurfing, but we're perfectly content to hang out in the 3-foot-deep water just deep enough to keep cool under the hot sun and just shallow enough that we don't have to struggle to keep our drinks above water.
Posted online 12/20/01.
