For Saturday, Tim (netmage) and I booked the entire day with Captain Dave on the Little Deeper and planned to return Sunday a.m. to do the Palm Beach County reef clean-up, which ended up being postponed to Oct. 7th.
Here's how it all actually happened:
Captain Dave (aka Captain Obvious) is the captain any diver will like. He's personable, he let's you do your own thing as long as it's safe, and he's funny in very colorful way. Saturday morning rolled in and only Tim and I were booked but Captain Dave still wants to take us out out. Not only that, it's our choice on the sites. I'm still a Palm Beach county rookie in the big picture but I do like this area we call "the fingers", a big spur and groove reef system near the Castor, so that's our first drop. Tim's got the gun, I've got the snare. Tim takes his first shot (ever I think) and pretty much stones a nice hogfish a fair distance in front of him. The boy is a natural born killer I think.... He's having some issues getting the line back on correctly and I'm kinda chuckling to myself thinking he needs to start freeshafting. Meanwhile I see a nice slipper lobster's tail creased between two rock formations and well, he's going home to meet butter, end of story. It turns out to be a pretty good size slipper. We didn't see anything else on this dive that belonged on the dinner table but I have to say, the Fingers are a great dive just to sightsee on. Average depth 60' w/ a BT of 75 minutes and a 10 minute ascent.
Back onboard, we're shooting the breeze w/ Dave and it hits Tim that he's going to need a cooler with some ice, which Capt. Dave was more than happy to reiterate (aka Capt. Obvious I tell ya). Luckily, Dave's got some fresh trash bags in the cabin so we ice the fish and bug down on some "borrowed" ice and start setting up for dive #2. Capt. Obvious also showed Tim how the line was supposed to be routed, problem
solved.
Dive #2 was on a nice ledge system but I didn't catch the name. I caught a nice Caribbean lobster here and Tim bagged a nice mangrove snapper with another distance shot while aggressively swimming the fish down. BT was 58 with a 10 minute ascent.
It was upon surfacing we split the namby pambies from the rufty tufties. Captain Dave informs us the hydraulic helm has blown a gasket and the afternoon trip is going to get scrubbed. In the meantime, he's already called another boat to see if they'll have room for Tim, myself and a 3rd diver from Tampa that's meeting us for the afternoon dives. Kudos to Captain Dave for taking the initiative to make sure we stayed wet according to plan. He got no answer but we came up behind the other boat (UW Explorer) as we motored down the Intracoastal headed back to the dock. We're in business, their six-pack has three open spots for the afternoon. Once at the dock, we meet up with Susie (aka Skuba_girl) from Tampa and move the tanks two boats down and throw the empties from morning trip into her car. Somehow, I missed our sixth tank and Captain Obvious is yelling, whose tank with the initials "BP" is this??? I guess I stopped moving tanks when I ran out of fingers on my right hand......
We went for the afternoon with UW Explorer and they ran a great trip for us even with the seas rapidly deteriorating. Tim and I didn't have time to grab lunch so we ate all the peanut butter crackers onboard. We dove the "Black Condo" (two bugs for me on this dive) and then "Kevin's Reef" (formerly known as Lynn's Reef but I've officially changed the name now).
All totaled, five hours and two minutes of BT over the course of four dives.
Afterward, the UW Explorer crew and our crew met at Hurricane Alley for dinner and beverages. After three hours and three rain squalls, it was time and call it a day.
Unfortunately, seas on Sunday were a true 6' to 9' and no boats ran.
Here's how it all actually happened:
Captain Dave (aka Captain Obvious) is the captain any diver will like. He's personable, he let's you do your own thing as long as it's safe, and he's funny in very colorful way. Saturday morning rolled in and only Tim and I were booked but Captain Dave still wants to take us out out. Not only that, it's our choice on the sites. I'm still a Palm Beach county rookie in the big picture but I do like this area we call "the fingers", a big spur and groove reef system near the Castor, so that's our first drop. Tim's got the gun, I've got the snare. Tim takes his first shot (ever I think) and pretty much stones a nice hogfish a fair distance in front of him. The boy is a natural born killer I think.... He's having some issues getting the line back on correctly and I'm kinda chuckling to myself thinking he needs to start freeshafting. Meanwhile I see a nice slipper lobster's tail creased between two rock formations and well, he's going home to meet butter, end of story. It turns out to be a pretty good size slipper. We didn't see anything else on this dive that belonged on the dinner table but I have to say, the Fingers are a great dive just to sightsee on. Average depth 60' w/ a BT of 75 minutes and a 10 minute ascent.
Back onboard, we're shooting the breeze w/ Dave and it hits Tim that he's going to need a cooler with some ice, which Capt. Dave was more than happy to reiterate (aka Capt. Obvious I tell ya). Luckily, Dave's got some fresh trash bags in the cabin so we ice the fish and bug down on some "borrowed" ice and start setting up for dive #2. Capt. Obvious also showed Tim how the line was supposed to be routed, problem
solved.
Dive #2 was on a nice ledge system but I didn't catch the name. I caught a nice Caribbean lobster here and Tim bagged a nice mangrove snapper with another distance shot while aggressively swimming the fish down. BT was 58 with a 10 minute ascent.
It was upon surfacing we split the namby pambies from the rufty tufties. Captain Dave informs us the hydraulic helm has blown a gasket and the afternoon trip is going to get scrubbed. In the meantime, he's already called another boat to see if they'll have room for Tim, myself and a 3rd diver from Tampa that's meeting us for the afternoon dives. Kudos to Captain Dave for taking the initiative to make sure we stayed wet according to plan. He got no answer but we came up behind the other boat (UW Explorer) as we motored down the Intracoastal headed back to the dock. We're in business, their six-pack has three open spots for the afternoon. Once at the dock, we meet up with Susie (aka Skuba_girl) from Tampa and move the tanks two boats down and throw the empties from morning trip into her car. Somehow, I missed our sixth tank and Captain Obvious is yelling, whose tank with the initials "BP" is this??? I guess I stopped moving tanks when I ran out of fingers on my right hand......
We went for the afternoon with UW Explorer and they ran a great trip for us even with the seas rapidly deteriorating. Tim and I didn't have time to grab lunch so we ate all the peanut butter crackers onboard. We dove the "Black Condo" (two bugs for me on this dive) and then "Kevin's Reef" (formerly known as Lynn's Reef but I've officially changed the name now).
All totaled, five hours and two minutes of BT over the course of four dives.
Afterward, the UW Explorer crew and our crew met at Hurricane Alley for dinner and beverages. After three hours and three rain squalls, it was time and call it a day.
Unfortunately, seas on Sunday were a true 6' to 9' and no boats ran.
