Today is day 1 of a 3 day weekend stay over after a business trip up north in Ocala, FL.
Got out diving this morning for a 2 tank reef trip with Loggerhead Dive Center. I arrived at the appointed weekday time of 8:30am for a 9am departure. I anticipated 4 other divers to also be on the boat that had made their reservations.
The group of 4 called at 8:45am and said they were running late due to "car problems" and would be there in 15 minutes. 25 minutes later they hadn't arrived and Captain Jim called and they said they had another issue and would be there in 15 minutes. We waited. At 9:25am, they still hadn't arrived, so one more call was made and they said, "another 20 minutes" - to which Captain Jim said, "Sorry, the boat is leaving."
Unbelievable! I came to learn that they had called yesterday and asked for the boat to leave later because they didn't want to get up and leave so early. Kind of doubt the whole "car problem" excuse.
Anyway, as it turned out, Jim felt bad about leaving me hanging and couldn't put me on another boat at that point, so off I went on a private charter with Captain Alex and deckhand Chris.
The first dive was at Tumble Rocks. Water temp was 77 and the visibility was 65 feet and a clear blue. What current there was, and it was minimal was running north. I cruised along the inner ledge poking about for an hour. It was nice to be back in Florida waters. Last trip was last summer. I came across 2 good sized lemon sharks about 40 minutes into the dive. One of them hung about and did 3 passes around me. Saw a few large adult spotted drums, big french angelfish, a couple of scorpion fish and a small lion fish + all the other regular reef fish. It was a nice opener before what would come next.
Dive 2 was at Lynn's Reef, up closer to Boynton. I dropped into clear water, just like dive 1 and the water ticked up a degree to 78. No sooner did I hit the reef than a large Lemon shark came cruising by with a remora in tow. Then a big green moray, then a massive school of hundreds of Spadefish dancing and hanging together in 40 feet of water with the sunlight shining down upon them. Current was basically nothing, so I was able to just hang and watch them and enjoy the experience. Finally, I went about my way heading north by NW. Suddenly and a bit startling, I felt something bump my left hand and I looked down and it was a juvenile or young Loggerhead. He had a bit a chunk taken out of his forehead. Looked like a shark had taken a nibble. He was like a little puppy dog and just wanted to hang around me and followed me for quite a while doing circles and coming underneath my belly like he wanted a rub. He eventually wandered south and I continued north and came across a very large and white- Albino like looking nurse shark. I had never seen such a color. He stayed around for a while also. Then 5 minutes later, another good sized Lemon Shark appeared and then the little Loggerhead returned to find me once again and bumped up against me. It was amazing behavior. I came to the end of the reef and still had some air and jumped across a bunch of sand over to one last little island of reef where I encountered dozens of Sargent Majors all busy laying and aerating eggs. It was a sight.
I slowly made my ascent while looking all around me in hopes of yet some other encounter. It was not to be and I came up beaming and thrilled from the dive. It was so peaceful to meander along at my own pace without a care. Felt like I was back in Bonaire.
Seas were about 2 feet with easy entry and reentry off the boat and back in. Captain Alex was his usual stellar self with the awesome drops and pickups.
Loggerhead has been fully booked this weekend for the last 6 weeks or so. So, I will be out tomorrow for 2 morning and 2 afternoon dives with Splashdown Divers, also out of the Boynton Marina and just a few slips down from Loggerhead. It will be my first time diving with them, so I will have a new experience to recount. Sunday will be 2 morning dives before cleaning up and drying the gear and returning back to the great NW on Monday afternoon. A bit bummed I decided to leave the camera home this trip. With the current being so slow and all the close encounters, I could have had some excellent photo opportunities.
I will be sure to post on the next 2 days diving. Cheers!
Got out diving this morning for a 2 tank reef trip with Loggerhead Dive Center. I arrived at the appointed weekday time of 8:30am for a 9am departure. I anticipated 4 other divers to also be on the boat that had made their reservations.
The group of 4 called at 8:45am and said they were running late due to "car problems" and would be there in 15 minutes. 25 minutes later they hadn't arrived and Captain Jim called and they said they had another issue and would be there in 15 minutes. We waited. At 9:25am, they still hadn't arrived, so one more call was made and they said, "another 20 minutes" - to which Captain Jim said, "Sorry, the boat is leaving."
Unbelievable! I came to learn that they had called yesterday and asked for the boat to leave later because they didn't want to get up and leave so early. Kind of doubt the whole "car problem" excuse.
Anyway, as it turned out, Jim felt bad about leaving me hanging and couldn't put me on another boat at that point, so off I went on a private charter with Captain Alex and deckhand Chris.
The first dive was at Tumble Rocks. Water temp was 77 and the visibility was 65 feet and a clear blue. What current there was, and it was minimal was running north. I cruised along the inner ledge poking about for an hour. It was nice to be back in Florida waters. Last trip was last summer. I came across 2 good sized lemon sharks about 40 minutes into the dive. One of them hung about and did 3 passes around me. Saw a few large adult spotted drums, big french angelfish, a couple of scorpion fish and a small lion fish + all the other regular reef fish. It was a nice opener before what would come next.
Dive 2 was at Lynn's Reef, up closer to Boynton. I dropped into clear water, just like dive 1 and the water ticked up a degree to 78. No sooner did I hit the reef than a large Lemon shark came cruising by with a remora in tow. Then a big green moray, then a massive school of hundreds of Spadefish dancing and hanging together in 40 feet of water with the sunlight shining down upon them. Current was basically nothing, so I was able to just hang and watch them and enjoy the experience. Finally, I went about my way heading north by NW. Suddenly and a bit startling, I felt something bump my left hand and I looked down and it was a juvenile or young Loggerhead. He had a bit a chunk taken out of his forehead. Looked like a shark had taken a nibble. He was like a little puppy dog and just wanted to hang around me and followed me for quite a while doing circles and coming underneath my belly like he wanted a rub. He eventually wandered south and I continued north and came across a very large and white- Albino like looking nurse shark. I had never seen such a color. He stayed around for a while also. Then 5 minutes later, another good sized Lemon Shark appeared and then the little Loggerhead returned to find me once again and bumped up against me. It was amazing behavior. I came to the end of the reef and still had some air and jumped across a bunch of sand over to one last little island of reef where I encountered dozens of Sargent Majors all busy laying and aerating eggs. It was a sight.
I slowly made my ascent while looking all around me in hopes of yet some other encounter. It was not to be and I came up beaming and thrilled from the dive. It was so peaceful to meander along at my own pace without a care. Felt like I was back in Bonaire.
Seas were about 2 feet with easy entry and reentry off the boat and back in. Captain Alex was his usual stellar self with the awesome drops and pickups.
Loggerhead has been fully booked this weekend for the last 6 weeks or so. So, I will be out tomorrow for 2 morning and 2 afternoon dives with Splashdown Divers, also out of the Boynton Marina and just a few slips down from Loggerhead. It will be my first time diving with them, so I will have a new experience to recount. Sunday will be 2 morning dives before cleaning up and drying the gear and returning back to the great NW on Monday afternoon. A bit bummed I decided to leave the camera home this trip. With the current being so slow and all the close encounters, I could have had some excellent photo opportunities.
I will be sure to post on the next 2 days diving. Cheers!