I left a little gap in there from the Friday and Saturday trips, in case anyone might like to do some reports from either of those trips. Saturday I didn't take the camera in due to pretty strong currents on the wreck, and I only dived on the last three dives in a recon capacity. The boat was entirely Scubaboarders though, so maybe someone will come along.
As for yesterday's trip, we had sunny skies, flat seas and very slight North currents on both dives. The first dive was on Clubhouse Ledge, followed by Lynn's reef. I actually did a third dive on Ragg's Reef on the interval, but it was very short... just to document progress on this very new artificial reef. Thanks to a donation from the Mary and Lupo charitable lens foundation and a grant from REEF photo and Video the camera is back in action. Unfortunately I tried some new techniques with the new lens, and I'm too embarrassed to post many of the creature pics, but I'll throw a couple of the diver pics up so that you can get a sense for the conditions.
Dive 1 Clubhouse. Vis, maybe 60 feet, fairly blue, but with particles suspended in it, especially at shallower depths. I jumped in prior to the drop to verify current and bumped into a scalloped hammerhead on the way back up. He was kinda little though, maybe 7 feet.
Here's a shot of the reef I took when I was setting up the strobe. It's not of anything in particular, I just happened to land there.
Brian C. On the ledge. The diver gives you some perspective for the ledge, in case you've never been here.
Dive 2. Lynn's Reef. Vis was a little less up here maybe 55', but still blue. The current was a bit stronger too, but still mild. Notable on this dive was a Cubera snapper, small... maybe 17 or 18 lbs. He was hiding out under a ledge. My battery conched out halfway through the dive, and this was also where I took my experimental technique to extremes and was rewarded with freakish, barely recognizable pictures. Again, I took a shot of the reef when I got down to set up the strobe, and it's the only one I'm not too embarrassed to post.
Ryan was a bit west of us and saw another hammerhead, also smallish. I bet he has awesome pictures.
Lynn's Reef has less spectacular ledges, but much more activity than the southern sections of the reef.