The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Yesterday was a learning experience... nothing more and nothing less. We went to Pelican flats out of Canaveral. Now, some people had told us of colder than normal temps. I had heard of the same thing when I went diving down in Jupiter, but it went only to 72 degrees. These guys had told me temps that were down to 58 degrees, but it was getting "warmer". So I brought two wetsuits just in case.
I also brought 3 tanks a piece for three divers and a couple of extra just in case. The standard first aid was on board and we were going with a seasoned captain on his own boat... costs were going to be dividing up the spoils... with a mini season limit of 12 per and no boat limit, we were ready to harvest bugs in a proper fashion.
As I dropped into the warm blue of the Atlantic Ocean, all seemed perfect. I had dove with these guys before and the surface was like a huge lake... quite calm. However, as I descended below 30 ft the cold hit as we entered this brown/gold slimey water. Luckily the vis increased to 15-20 ft on the bottom. I never looked at the temp on my meter, but my two buddies said it was 50 degrees!!!
FIFTY DEGREES!!!
I will check that on my Cobra when I download the dives. They were wearing hoods (I don't own one) and seemed to manage OK, but I had the worst ice cream headache of my life. The first dive only found us in sand... lots of sand dollars, but no bugs so we ended it after ten minutes. The second dive I never made it to the bottom, I handed off the reel to Jerry and headed for a warmer ocean, while he and Robin went and looked... they found one bug, but with eggs. I descended down again and was able to reach the bottom, but my head was splitting, and so did I. They finished their first tank on this one, I still had 2000 psi.
The next dive, I tried a baseball cap... not the mesh kind and it helped. I was able to consume the rest of my tank, before ascending. I caught a squirrel fish by hand... it was stunned by the cold. I also found a stunned tiny spotted moray... it was just so cold. None of us had seen any lobsters at this point when I ascended, but since they had fresh tanks they kept looking and came up with four... one with eggs... one was at least 7-8 pounds... Lobzilla! Robin was the Bug Miester today... he had caught all of them. Both Jerry and I were relieved when he said we should try shallower, which we hoped meant warmer.
So our next dive was in sight of land in 45 fsw. Although the sounder indicated structure we could not see it. The bottom ten foot was that icy gold/brown slimy water. Luckily I held the tickle stick ahead of me... Jer wasn't so lucky. Head first into the bottom never feels nice. We weren't finding any bugs in that murk, so we went to the jetty and had an enjoyable dive. Jer caught a shorty, and let it go and that was it. We still had plenty of full tanks, but no diver willing (or prepared) to endure the cold. We are now waiting for the warmer waters of winter time!!! :tease:
I also brought 3 tanks a piece for three divers and a couple of extra just in case. The standard first aid was on board and we were going with a seasoned captain on his own boat... costs were going to be dividing up the spoils... with a mini season limit of 12 per and no boat limit, we were ready to harvest bugs in a proper fashion.
As I dropped into the warm blue of the Atlantic Ocean, all seemed perfect. I had dove with these guys before and the surface was like a huge lake... quite calm. However, as I descended below 30 ft the cold hit as we entered this brown/gold slimey water. Luckily the vis increased to 15-20 ft on the bottom. I never looked at the temp on my meter, but my two buddies said it was 50 degrees!!!
FIFTY DEGREES!!!
I will check that on my Cobra when I download the dives. They were wearing hoods (I don't own one) and seemed to manage OK, but I had the worst ice cream headache of my life. The first dive only found us in sand... lots of sand dollars, but no bugs so we ended it after ten minutes. The second dive I never made it to the bottom, I handed off the reel to Jerry and headed for a warmer ocean, while he and Robin went and looked... they found one bug, but with eggs. I descended down again and was able to reach the bottom, but my head was splitting, and so did I. They finished their first tank on this one, I still had 2000 psi.
The next dive, I tried a baseball cap... not the mesh kind and it helped. I was able to consume the rest of my tank, before ascending. I caught a squirrel fish by hand... it was stunned by the cold. I also found a stunned tiny spotted moray... it was just so cold. None of us had seen any lobsters at this point when I ascended, but since they had fresh tanks they kept looking and came up with four... one with eggs... one was at least 7-8 pounds... Lobzilla! Robin was the Bug Miester today... he had caught all of them. Both Jerry and I were relieved when he said we should try shallower, which we hoped meant warmer.
So our next dive was in sight of land in 45 fsw. Although the sounder indicated structure we could not see it. The bottom ten foot was that icy gold/brown slimy water. Luckily I held the tickle stick ahead of me... Jer wasn't so lucky. Head first into the bottom never feels nice. We weren't finding any bugs in that murk, so we went to the jetty and had an enjoyable dive. Jer caught a shorty, and let it go and that was it. We still had plenty of full tanks, but no diver willing (or prepared) to endure the cold. We are now waiting for the warmer waters of winter time!!! :tease:
