We dove the first day of mini season and the opening day of the regular season out of the port also, around the south 1/3 point along the of the pelican flats area, main ledge. Only five or 6 boats working a large area. We basically has the place to ourselves.
The first miniseason day the vis was about 5 feet, erie and really dark. For the first time I was actually creeped out by the some of the larger ledges, there was a cloud of baitfish and silt, so I passed up some of the big holes in favor of the smaller ledges. Between 4 divers, 2 vets and 2 noobs, we managed only 15 males. About 75% of the bugs were egg bearing females. Saw on big lionfish which followed be around in one ledge. He would purposely get in front of me, flare his fins and hope I would get stung. I beat him on the head with my snare several times and he didnt care.
On August 6th, the opposite! About 20 - 30 ft vis, and the sunlight lit the place up, life was abundant everywhere. The team before us spoke of a rock patch downcurrent of the main ledge and our bouy line. We followed the instructions, hoping for the best (our last dive of the day and we only get about 25 min. on an AL 80) and drifted about 75 yards across bare sand. About mid-drift, I saw a baby moray under a 6 inch diameter brain coral out in the middle of the sand. He was flourescent BLUE probably 6 to 8 inches long, and a sole cleaner shrimp standing guard on top of the coral. I wish I had a camera! Then continuing our drift the rock patch materialized through the haze.... What a spot! Saw a couple of big pink mutton snapper, and flounder - nice doormats - everywhere! The flounder were in their desert white camouflage due to the sunlight on the white sand bottom - unreal! While my buddy was busy working a huge flounder, I took care of the bugs! Man on fire! Nice bugs 3-6 lb'ers. In about ten minutes we limited out the boat. Yours truly - MVP of the day!
This was one of the best dives of my life! Right in our backyard. The biodiversity, the temp, the day, the company, the harvest. Man o man!
I did some research on the moray, a couple of folks thought I was having a flashback or something. Here's my take: Green morays are actually blue-grey and a mucous coating makes them appear green! Could this juvenile not have had the chance to grow his slime yet?
About the previous request for numbers..... good luck! All I can say that you can buy a top spots map and that will get you in the general vicinity. From there traverse east and west crossing the ledges watching your sonar. The big spots will usually have boats on them, just line up between some. And pay attention travelling between spots. The little patches like described above are often the best ones with little or no diving pressure. It's not that hard to find spots, a gps chartplotter or loran, and a good bottom machine are all you need. And don't forget a dive bouy to mark the spot, and go down on the line. Check the bouy to make sure it didn't drift off the spotMany times with 5 to 10 ft vis, you cant find the reef otherwise, and you'll burn at least a thousand psi resurfacing. Sea bass will come up to you with a bewildered look "what the heck are you doing here on my nice sand bottom?".
