Great Lameshur Bay is one of two bays located close to VIERS. This is where the lab is located and also where the somewhat dilapidated dock is (The dock was damaged in a hurricane a few years ago). It differs from Little Lameshur bay in the sense that the entry to the water is rocky Vs sandy. It is also different in the respect that there is more marine life in this bay. One of the local inhabitants is the Diadiema Sea Urchin. These urchins live under the rocks during the day, but they come out and roam on top of the rocks at night, they are everywhere. They present a challenge getting in and out of the water to potential scuba divers and snorkelers.	Greater Lameshur Bay
Diadiema Sea Urchins	As Sean Werle found out during a night scuba dive these guys can pack quite a wallop. He accidentally put his hand down on one of them and got spines deeply imbedded in his hand, right through his glove. Luckily, there is a remedy for Sea Urchin spines. The trick is to soak the afflicted tissue in vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar destroys the toxins on the spines and actually dissolves the spines themselves. Other than Sean's incident no one else had a problem with the urchins on the trip and the sights we saw in the bay were incredible.
Everyone carefully entered the water and we swam out a ways. We followed the shoreline to our right as that was where most of the coral was and most of the really interesting wildlife was living. The highlight of that snorkel was getting to see a Sea Turtle. We came across him as he was resting on the bottom. A few people got a chance to get a close look at him before he decided that he had had enough of us. One thing we learned is that Sea Turtles are much more adept at swimming than humans are. Multiple people tried to keep up with him, but no one ever had a chance.	Everybody in the pool!
Close encounter with a Sea Turtle	Everyone saw a great variety of fish, coral, and other reef creatures on this dive. At the end of this page I will make a list of all the creatures I saw personally. On my way back in to the dock. My buddy and I ran across two of the resident Barracuda. They were both roughly about 5 to 5 and a half feet long, two of the biggest fish we had seen on that dive. As a group of us watched them they turned slowly watching each other. Suddenly one darted at the other and the next thing I knew they were both heading straight at us full speed. I know that Barracuda rarely if ever attack people, but I was wondering for a second. They whizzed right by me about a foot away and disappeared. It was very exciting to say the least.
Creature List
Reef Butterflyfish	Yellowtail Damselfish (Juvenile)
Rainbow Runner	Great Barracuda
Stoplight Parrotfish	Bluehead Wrasse
Squirrelfish	Bluestripped Lizardfish
Southern Lugworm	Tower Coral
Fire Coral	Christmas Tree Worms
Sea Turtle