Can it be Lemon Shark Time Now??

[jupitermermaid]

Think its the Rep. VII 9AM . . . does this mean that I am going to have the blessing of being there for #500? From the posts I've read I'm not sure if I should bring you party streamers and balloons or pasties and tassels ;-).

LOL.....no, it'll actually be my 503rd and 504th dive, as some brave souls defied the angry ocean, and the caption of the ship mastered the rolling waves, so I made my 500th dive on Sun. See: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-conch-divers/320075-dive-500-coming-up-2.html

Saturday night JDC is having a night dive by the light of the full moon, so I'll be joining them then for #501 and 502. My gear will still be wet for the Sun. morning dive, but that's pretty much the norm for me....lol.

I'll see you Sunday morning! I'm probably on the Rep. VII also, but not sure. Make yourself known while we're loading up. I'm Sandy.

 

[CosmoKramerOfTheDeep]

Will do! My name's Joe. . . and I'm not forgetting my gloves this time because that coral rash has FINALLY all but gone away now.

The Rep. VII is doing the 2 tank and I guess the IV is doing the 3 tank . . . I'm definitely on the VII doing the 2 tank. . .

I'll be the sleepy one that rode from Orlando that morning with my dad.

 

[jupitermermaid]

Then I'll be on the VII also, because I'm going out both morning and afternoon. It's going to be a good time! Hope the weather holds out and the seas are kind to us.

 

[CosmoKramerOfTheDeep]

There is also a very slight possibility that we may do BHB the day before and then stay somewhere in the area so we don't have to get up ridiculously early on Sunday. I found out that I will actually be with at least 4 others in my group. . . my dad and 2 of his coworkers as well as one of their sons who I believe was just very recently certified.

Out of curiosity, which of the dive sites that they have descriptions of have you been doing recently when you've seen the lemons? Seems like the most lemon pictures are on the Captain Mikes reef.

When I dove Pompano about a month back the weather was ridiculously cold, think the air temp was hovering around 60, maybe even a bit below. . . the positive to that was it was a pretty open boat, got to stretch out pretty good. As I'm sure you read in that coral rash thread of mine, I got pretty nervous as it was my first boat dive and the deepest I had ever gone . .. but after the initial part of being scared of being out in the open ocean off the back of a boat I felt really comfortable and am planning on this weekend to be as relaxing as possible despite the sharks. I also plan on doing some bouyancy practice, do you normally hang a bit off the bottom as the lemons are skimming the sand?

 

[jupitermermaid]

If you dive the BHB, make sure you do it during slack high tide. You'll find some amazing critters there. I'm sure you've visited the thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-conch-divers/279974-continuing-sagas-blue-heron-bridge.html and looked at the pics of what you may see while there.

We've seen the majority of lemon sharks at the MG-111 site lately, but they're also on the sandy patches of reefs, also. If you get too close to them, the lemons will swim away from you, as they're not very social. The sand area where we'll probably go may hit 80' or so if you lay on the sand and jam your computer into it, but you don't have to dive that deep. You'll see lots at 65'-70' feet and even shallower. Enjoy your dive at the depth you're comfortable with. Don't worry about how deep you HAVE to go.......there is no minimum except for what you choose to dive.

The weather this morning was 49 F (air), and it's supposed to hit the 70's as the day goes on. I can't say what it will be like this weekend, as it gets crazy this time of year. The water temp should still be in the low 70's, maybe high 60's if it stays cold all week. There is an inside section on the boat to stay out of the wind. Bring a parka or sweat shirt (or comfy big towel) to keep warm during the SI. Most importantly, you don't need to be afraid of the sharks. As long as you don't have a freshly killed fish in your hand, they won't be interested in you at all. Just enjoy them as they swim by you.