The Boynton Dive Chronicles (new and improved)

[Scubakevdm]

Hey, no problem, it's what I do.

We ran a couple of trips today, and the water was pretty good in the morning we had 50-60' viz and a very very gentle south current for both dives. Water temps were probably in the 83º range, but there were some cool spots here and there... nothing horrendous, just a bit cooler, maybe 2º.

The afternoon trip had better water, maybe another 10-20' vis. A peal of dark blue water came in from the deep and flowed, like a river in between two areas of greenish water, right across the reef. I only took my camera in the afternoon, and didn't take many pictures, but here's a few, just to document the conditions.

The Gothic Grunt survived the latest storm.

I took this accidentally, trying to wake up my camera in preparation for the shark. By the time it was ready to take another picture, the shark had swam away, but you can see that even five feet off the sand at 65' he has a pretty good shadow.

I think this ray has moved in out on Black Condo.

 

[jess4diving]

hey, did you see the couple of pics I posted at the end of our thread re the trip? we have some similar pics of a ray when we were on North ???? Rocks. We dove the Capt Tony first and then a reef near there...just funny that your pic is very similar. I dove black condo when I was over there right after hurricane faye - had horrible vis and didnt see much. It was so beautiful this time.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...-trip-9-12-9-13-boynton-ft-lauderdale-24.html

 

[Missdirected]

hey, did you see the couple of pics I posted at the end of our thread re the trip? we have some similar pics of a ray when we were on North ???? Rocks. We dove the Capt Tony first and then a reef near there...just funny that your pic is very similar. I dove black condo when I was over there right after hurricane faye - had horrible vis and didnt see much. It was so beautiful this time.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gr...-trip-9-12-9-13-boynton-ft-lauderdale-24.html

The ray was off the starboard side of the Captain Tony not on the reef.

 

[jess4diving]

oh yeah....sorry =) I saw so much and had such a great time that I was hazy on where you met your lil friend

 

[Scubakevdm]

I saw a big ray off the Tony a few days back, and frequently see a big ray off Clubhouse up near the beginning of Gulfstream./ I'm not sure if they are the same ones, but they very well may be.

We did the Castor on Sunday, and it was so much fun on the first dive, we went back and did it again! The good viz must have gone out the window Saturday night, because there was no blue water to be found on Sunday morning. The first 40 feet or so was about 15' viz, and milky beige. Eventually it gave way to bluish green water at depth, but it was still hazy. Viz was about 35'. That was just fine though, because fish love cloudy water, and there was enormous amounts of bait on the Castor, which made for two very exciting dives!

The baitfish get protection from the Goliath groupers by hanging out around their heads, a place where no snapper wants to get too close to. Literally hundreds of snappers and jacks mill about on the periphery, just waiting to pick off any of the baitfish that zigs when the Goliath grouper zags.

When there are divers on the wreck, the Goliath groupers are kinda agitated and often slip into holes in the wreck leaving their cloud of baitfish behind and totally exposed. What happens next is absolutely unbelievable, as torrents of snapper and jacks fly past you from every direction, absolutely decimating the stranded baitfish. I wish that I would have had video on these dives. I tried to get some pictures to show the relationship between Goliath grouper and bait, but I didn't think to get any shots of the bait massacre. There were other people taking pictures on the trip, I'll ask if they got anything to document it. In the meantime, here are some of the ones I took:

The bait made it very difficult to take pictures of the Goliath groupers, and so I was constantly focused on trying to get shots of the grouper without bait. I didn't think about getting shots of the bait without the grouper until after the dives. Next time.

The bait didn't seem to care to follow the grouper into dark places, and this shot shows a Goliath grouper leaving his bait cloud at the door as he enters the wreck. Typically the bait would swim like hell to another Goliath grouper when they were abandoned, which due to the presence of about 25 grouper this day gave them pretty good odds, but every once in a while, a whole cloud would get whacked.

When Goliath groupers would hang out near an entrance to the wreck, the snappers would stack up, waiting for opportunity to knock.

This shot shows an entire entourage.

There was also the biggest crevalle or hosre eye jack I've ever seen... probably 3 1/2 feet. We're trying to figure out which one it is, but either way, it's the biggest I've ever seen.


There is another shot or two I'll add tonight, of a typical bait swarm. I didn't put them up in my photobucket, because it was so hard to see the Goliath grouper though it, but I wish I had now. I took all of the shots that I've put up so far because there was for one reason or another, an absence of bait, and you could see the grouper clearly. I want to put one or two of the other ones up because they really portray what was going on down there much more accurately.

Added uncertainty regarding crevalle ID.

 

[jess4diving]

Kev - is it just me or is there a problem with your pics?

 

[Scubakevdm]

Kev - is it just me or is there a problem with your pics?

They seem okay from here.

 

[deepstops]

They seem okay from here.

And they look just fine here in Weston too

 

[DebbyDiver]

They look STUNNING in Dania Beach!

 

[Missdirected]

Creating a bit of jealousy in Tampa