Another great day on American Dream II

We went out with Captain Todd on the American Dream II for the 4/12 afternoon trip. The boat was scheduled to go to the Scutti, and a 30' reef. We talked the boat into doing the Ken Vitale (a/k/a the Tracey) instead of the Scutti. We heard that there had been Regal Sea Goddesses on the Tracey, so we were itching to shoot some macro.

We were the first ones to splash after Zack hooked into the wreck. We soon found that there were three Goliath Groupers hanging out on the wreck. Two of them were about 300 pounders, while the third was probably 100 pounds.

The two bigger ones were not afraid of us. They let us approach right up to them. We were shooting macro, and were able to get shots of their eyes.

Towards the end of the dive we finally found a Sea Goddess.

Florida Regal Sea Goddess



For the second dive we did a drift on the Caves. There are always plenty of macro subjects to shoot on the Caves.

The first subject I found was a Red-Striped Hermit inside of a sponge.



A short drift from there I came across a juvenile Yellowtail Damsel that was maybe a 1/2 inch long.



Next I came upon a male Sailfin Blenny. Although he never displayed while I was shooting him I can't resist them.



Finally, I shot this tiny juvenile Highhat while my dive buddy was shooting the Sailfin. It was maybe an 1/8 of an inch in length.




As always, thanks to Captain Todd, Tina & Zack for a great day.

Midwater current was beastly, upper body working out has paid off! Water is feeling slightly warmer and bright sunny day on the surface helps too.

Mission on the wreck was looking for the Sea Goddess and found one:




Of course shooting with the 100mm macro lens and the Goliath Groupers were very friendly so did what anyone would do, try with what ya got:





The reef was it's usual, saw lots of Saddled Blennies in variety of colors:



As always a good day of divin' onboard the American Dream II.

Very nice pics!

Thanks for sharing the wonderful photos........Great job

Thanks for the photos! Beautiful.

Gotta love the Ken Vitale!

Wow! We must have just missed you....Cooltech and I were on the AM dive with ADII and did the same dives, but stuck with the Jay Scutti as planned. One of the few shallow wrecks I had yet to do here......I've had more exciting wreck dives, but still, enjoyable. We headed over to the nearby tug and found the biggest hermit crab in a horse conch shell I've ever seen.....his claws were all hairy--however, he wanted nothing to do with us.
Definitely a perfect dive day after months of too much wind and bad weather...we were both just happy to be on the water, and I was extra happy to get some sun!
Those are stunning shots of the Sea Goddess...I have absolutely no eye for sea life. On the caves, the SECOND we got down, CT spotted a gorgeous octopus right out in the open, who was simply the least shy Octo I've ever seen...maybe he can post some shots....CT?
We'll have to meet up one of these days, Fisheye!

KBeck:

Wow! We must have just missed you....Cooltech and I were on the AM dive with ADII and did the same dives, but stuck with the Jay Scutti as planned. One of the few shallow wrecks I had yet to do here......I've had more exciting wreck dives, but still, enjoyable. We headed over to the nearby tug and found the biggest hermit crab in a horse conch shell I've ever seen.....his claws were all hairy--however, he wanted nothing to do with us.
Definitely a perfect dive day after months of too much wind and bad weather...we were both just happy to be on the water, and I was extra happy to get some sun!
Those are stunning shots of the Sea Goddess...I have absolutely no eye for sea life. On the caves, the SECOND we got down, CT spotted a gorgeous octopus right out in the open, who was simply the least shy Octo I've ever seen...maybe he can post some shots....CT?
We'll have to meet up one of these days, Fisheye!

Click to expand...

If not before we will meet at Invasion.

Your pictures came out beautiful! We also were on the American Dream II Saturday for the afternoon dive. It definitely was a great day of diving

Awesome pics as always Scott & Kelly!