Well we made it back!! We all had a great trip. The waves going out were a little rough and it got a little rough Sunday morning, but it was still managable.
I like ladder rides. They can be fun. Keep your reg in your mouth and hang on.
Capt. Frank and Capt. Larry were great people. Super friendly always willing to talk and teach.
Dive master Melanie (Frank's wife) was absolutly no-nonsense. Great job. As a side note we both learned we graduated the same High School two years apart and kinda knew each other in band. Small world huh?
If you went hungry it was your fault. There was food constantly on the table. I've heard of people gaining weight on a liveabord. This was no different. It was all excellent fare.
As usual load up at 8:30p grab a bunk and a spot on the tank bench, do boat breifing and boogie. Boat briefing and potty training was interspersed with plenty of humor. It soon became time to try to get some sleep. (yea right)
6am Wakie wakie... light feed. Lets get wet. Note all my dives were done on 32% Nitrox.
Dive one: West Bank buoy #5 Max depth 82' time 43 min. Wave heights about 1-2 feet. Mild surface current. No bottom current. No surge. Read to here see the difference a year makes.
Spotted morays, turtles, sharks (nurse)... oh my. Balloon fish, all sorts of other neat fish. Fun...
Breakfast... yum...2 1/2 hours later... those two wonderful words... Pools open .
Dive 2: Same spot. Max depth 74' 49 min.
Those 4-5 foot barracuda can get friendly. Too friendly....
I did get to see a cleaning station in action. That was neat.
I also discovered its spawing season. Sargent Majors get mean (or try to) when guarding a nest. Lots of others doing courtship dances, chasing females, etc...
Dive 3: Rig dive. Deep water production platform. Max depth 87' 39min. Bottom was around 330' Fun rig dive. Big amberjack, more cuda, balloon fish, bearded fire worms.
Dive 4: Note weather conditions still not changing. We did find a small shower or two. Waves stayed constant at 1-3'. Surface currents could be very changeable.
Back on East bank. Saw a big Manta on surface it had left by dive time.
Max depth 76' 47 min. Two nurse sharks. A big Black Grouper.
Dive 5: Night dive. Max depth 74' 56 min. This one was kinda disappointing. 4 brittle stars, blood shrimp, several sea urchins. Reef was kinda quiet for a night dive.
Back on the boat for warm brownies and Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream.... exhaustion sets in and I crash hard.
Sunday morning on Stetson: Lots of eels. Lots of juveniles. I did get to see an intermediate phase French Angel file clams, a banded coral shrimp. more eels, tried to find a scorpion fish, found even more eels mostly spotted moray. One green. Thermalcline was at 67' where it dropped from 84 to about 80*. It was a noticeable difference.
Vis on the gardens was 100+. Vis on Stetson was about 75' Murk layer on top at Stetson.
Dive 6 Depth 83' 52 min
Dive 7 Depth 91' 47 min.
Great fun on the Spree.
Other notables: All depths are maximum depths. Not the average depth. All dives were done on 32% Nitrox as stated earlier.
TwoBit
I like ladder rides. They can be fun. Keep your reg in your mouth and hang on.
Capt. Frank and Capt. Larry were great people. Super friendly always willing to talk and teach.
Dive master Melanie (Frank's wife) was absolutly no-nonsense. Great job. As a side note we both learned we graduated the same High School two years apart and kinda knew each other in band. Small world huh?
If you went hungry it was your fault. There was food constantly on the table. I've heard of people gaining weight on a liveabord. This was no different. It was all excellent fare.
As usual load up at 8:30p grab a bunk and a spot on the tank bench, do boat breifing and boogie. Boat briefing and potty training was interspersed with plenty of humor. It soon became time to try to get some sleep. (yea right)
6am Wakie wakie... light feed. Lets get wet. Note all my dives were done on 32% Nitrox.
Dive one: West Bank buoy #5 Max depth 82' time 43 min. Wave heights about 1-2 feet. Mild surface current. No bottom current. No surge. Read to here see the difference a year makes.
Spotted morays, turtles, sharks (nurse)... oh my. Balloon fish, all sorts of other neat fish. Fun...
Breakfast... yum...2 1/2 hours later... those two wonderful words... Pools open .
Dive 2: Same spot. Max depth 74' 49 min.
Those 4-5 foot barracuda can get friendly. Too friendly....
I did get to see a cleaning station in action. That was neat.
I also discovered its spawing season. Sargent Majors get mean (or try to) when guarding a nest. Lots of others doing courtship dances, chasing females, etc...
Dive 3: Rig dive. Deep water production platform. Max depth 87' 39min. Bottom was around 330' Fun rig dive. Big amberjack, more cuda, balloon fish, bearded fire worms.
Dive 4: Note weather conditions still not changing. We did find a small shower or two. Waves stayed constant at 1-3'. Surface currents could be very changeable.
Back on East bank. Saw a big Manta on surface it had left by dive time.
Max depth 76' 47 min. Two nurse sharks. A big Black Grouper.
Dive 5: Night dive. Max depth 74' 56 min. This one was kinda disappointing. 4 brittle stars, blood shrimp, several sea urchins. Reef was kinda quiet for a night dive.
Back on the boat for warm brownies and Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream.... exhaustion sets in and I crash hard.
Sunday morning on Stetson: Lots of eels. Lots of juveniles. I did get to see an intermediate phase French Angel file clams, a banded coral shrimp. more eels, tried to find a scorpion fish, found even more eels mostly spotted moray. One green. Thermalcline was at 67' where it dropped from 84 to about 80*. It was a noticeable difference.
Vis on the gardens was 100+. Vis on Stetson was about 75' Murk layer on top at Stetson.
Dive 6 Depth 83' 52 min
Dive 7 Depth 91' 47 min.
Great fun on the Spree.
Other notables: All depths are maximum depths. Not the average depth. All dives were done on 32% Nitrox as stated earlier.
TwoBit
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