We were planning to be on our way packed for camping and diving before seven. The morning didn't quite go as planned and after getting the kayak, dive gear, food / cooking, and our personal stuff in the truck it was 8:00. After the hour drive we stopped at the Village to dump our gear before going in to town to finish shopping for food. While unloading Stacy discovered that she didn't have her bag - she'd left it back at PATS. We talked about what we could do, but in the end it was just too far, we can't afford two more hours of driving, it would just be to late to leave for Ant. So she decided she could make do. We rushed in to town for a quick shopping trip and by the time we got back and had loaded up the boat we were only running an hour late. On the ride out I was exhausted and just couldn't keep my eyes open so I slept most of the hour and a half ride out to the atoll.
Our first dive was on the inside edge of the only channel leading into the atoll lagoon. Visibility wasn't great, and the dive was pretty unexciting for me - though Stacy saw a reef shark and a Napoleon I missed both. After the dive we went to our camp site to leave our gear and have lunch. The site is called "Piknik Resort", and is really beautiful. It's right on a beach, fishing nets, buoys, and hammocks hang from the trees, huts are scattered around a very clean clearing and there is a small sheltered kitchen area with a gas lamp and stove - luxury!
The second dive was at the channel again, but this time we started outside the atoll reef and worked our way back in. The visibility was a lot better - and seemed even more so since there was little sediment in the water. The deep water on the outside looking towards the open sea had that fantastic blue color. I still didn't see anything that exciting, The highlight was a little white tip reef shark that kept coming around to check us out. There were also some nice coral, anemones, and clams. Back on shore we said goodbye to the boat and they promised to be back in two days to pick us up. Stacy and I set out to walk around the island - it only took about 20 minutes. We spent the evening playing cards and talking with Philip, the island's caretaker. We watched the sunset from the sand, it was a bit too cloudy for it to be really good, but the idealic setting made up for the lack of fire. We made burritos for diner and Philip ate with us - he's been out on Ant Atoll for the last two years - he seemed very lonely. When it started to rain hard we went to our little cabin thing. It rained on and off all night, and there was some maneuvering of the beds to find spots that weren't too wet. I also got woken up a couple times to chase the rats out - first time we moved food into the cooler outside, but it didn't seem to stop them.