seadoggirl
Guest
I have been very neglectful in my Trip Reports lately and didnt think anything about it until a customer (whom I had never met before) got on the boat this past weekend and said Hey, where have your trip reports been? I havent seen one in a couple weeks.
Holy Cow, people actually read this stuff? Anyway here goes, many trips in one report.
5/31/08 It was an inshore trip day. The first stop for the H2O Below was on the Petes Tide. I had forewarned everyone about the Hunting for Easter Eggs thing and everyone had a great time bringing up the fishing weighs so I can make dive weighs out of them.
(_)
The algae layer was still there and you had to follow the line down to get past the crazy stuff. Once you got down on the wreck it was good to go with vis around 30 feet. The water is warming and the thermocline like the algae layer was dropping. It was amazing that within a six inch depth change the temp changed by 6-8 degrees.
We tried to salvage a brand new anchor but didnt get it all the way to the surface. Needless to say the adventure included much wasted air and no anchor.
6/1/08 A trip to the Oriskany on board the H2O Below. The algae layer was still sinking but the Octopus are growing and appear healthy. We had a great time with crazy unusual sightings. When we first arrived on the Oriskany we were waiting on another boat to untie and pull away, so we were back a ways from the actual wreck. Probably over the flight deck somewhere damn thing is 800 feet long. Anyway, so some guy from Georgia is pointing and yelling whats that? We all rush to the port side and sure enough, it was a small five foot Hammerhead Shark. I have never seen a real Hammerhead so I was very impressed. He swam around us for a few minutes then disappeared to the deep green seas. Once we got down for the first dive I found a lobster and got him all the way to the surface. But then I was showing off and held it up to show the guys on the Cat-a-around and it bucked its tail scaring me and I dropped it back into the water. Crap!
Once on the wreck Im hanging around and I see flashes of light from the corner of my eyes. Lots of flashes. I think to myself Self, are you having a seizure? but no it was cameras flashing like crazy. I go over to explore and there is a Sunfish with everyone around it and one guy off the Wet Dreams is petting the damn thing! The guy petting the fish was probably six foot and he had his arms as wide as they would go, petting the head and the tail (well they dont really have tails) so maybe it was the butt, at the same time. WOW!
The H2O Below also had trips on 6.2.08 and 6.4.08 but I have a real job that doesnt allow me to go during the week except when I want to burn annual leave time. So I didnt go and cant report. They told me that the vis was getting better and they saw my Octopus friends. It was fun and they missed me cooking the hotdogs.
6.7.08 Okay so then comes the weekend and Im off again (like a herd of turtles in a puddle of mud) - diving on the H2O Below. Again an inshore trip to the Russian Freighter and Tex Edwards. The vis was a little disappointing but the snapper fishing boats were gone, thank goodness! So I was able to load up on weighs that they had left behind. There is also a fairly new anchor on that wreck. NOTE TO SELF! Dont buy anchors, dive for them!
We saw a ton of fish on the Freighter and a couple new Octopus friends.
6.8.08 We were out to the Oriskany on the H2O Below. This was fun because we had a lot of first time Oriskany divers on board so I get to act like I know what Im talking about and tell them stories about my 75+ dives on the Oriskany. It was also fun because today was my 300th dive and I got to do it on a totally cool sight!
My mission for the first dive was to find Walters twin jet fin that they were juggling last week and tossed over board. I watched the whole thing but couldnt do anything about it, so I went down and swam and swam and swam and didnt see it anywhere. I even had Scott who is the tech diver/videographer for the H2O Below look for it down deep but he didnt see it either. Sorry Walter!
I did find the huge turtle that lives on the Oriskany while looking for Walters fin so that was pretty cool. Other fish were swimming with him and I think they must have been cleaning his shell. They were either cleaning his shell or bugging the crap out of him because they were all over the poor guy.
I also visited Ofilia and Fallon, both were in their lairs. I looked for Angelina and she was not in her home. I looked down the side of the wreck and she was below having a full on war with a baby grouper. The grouper was pecking at her and she was slapping at him with the arms. Several other fish were close by watching and I couldnt tell if she was in trouble or the cause of this ruckus. I decided I didnt care, Angelina may be in trouble so I swam over and shook my finger at the grouper and chased him away. Angelina seemed to be thankful for the help and ran to the nearest hiding hole.
The H2O Below is out again today 6.9.08 for another inshore trip. If I get any good details Ill post them later.
So in summary the vis is getting better, the green algae crap has sank and isnt a problem at the Oriskany anymore. The water temp is a balmy 79 on top and a bearable (in a 3m) 73 on the flight deck. The air temp is in the 90s and the sun is quickly turning us all gingerbread brown. In shore the vis is a little less than we like to see but it is still early June and somewhat expected.
Come on down!
Holy Cow, people actually read this stuff? Anyway here goes, many trips in one report.
5/31/08 It was an inshore trip day. The first stop for the H2O Below was on the Petes Tide. I had forewarned everyone about the Hunting for Easter Eggs thing and everyone had a great time bringing up the fishing weighs so I can make dive weighs out of them.
(_)
The algae layer was still there and you had to follow the line down to get past the crazy stuff. Once you got down on the wreck it was good to go with vis around 30 feet. The water is warming and the thermocline like the algae layer was dropping. It was amazing that within a six inch depth change the temp changed by 6-8 degrees.
We tried to salvage a brand new anchor but didnt get it all the way to the surface. Needless to say the adventure included much wasted air and no anchor.
6/1/08 A trip to the Oriskany on board the H2O Below. The algae layer was still sinking but the Octopus are growing and appear healthy. We had a great time with crazy unusual sightings. When we first arrived on the Oriskany we were waiting on another boat to untie and pull away, so we were back a ways from the actual wreck. Probably over the flight deck somewhere damn thing is 800 feet long. Anyway, so some guy from Georgia is pointing and yelling whats that? We all rush to the port side and sure enough, it was a small five foot Hammerhead Shark. I have never seen a real Hammerhead so I was very impressed. He swam around us for a few minutes then disappeared to the deep green seas. Once we got down for the first dive I found a lobster and got him all the way to the surface. But then I was showing off and held it up to show the guys on the Cat-a-around and it bucked its tail scaring me and I dropped it back into the water. Crap!
Once on the wreck Im hanging around and I see flashes of light from the corner of my eyes. Lots of flashes. I think to myself Self, are you having a seizure? but no it was cameras flashing like crazy. I go over to explore and there is a Sunfish with everyone around it and one guy off the Wet Dreams is petting the damn thing! The guy petting the fish was probably six foot and he had his arms as wide as they would go, petting the head and the tail (well they dont really have tails) so maybe it was the butt, at the same time. WOW!
The H2O Below also had trips on 6.2.08 and 6.4.08 but I have a real job that doesnt allow me to go during the week except when I want to burn annual leave time. So I didnt go and cant report. They told me that the vis was getting better and they saw my Octopus friends. It was fun and they missed me cooking the hotdogs.
6.7.08 Okay so then comes the weekend and Im off again (like a herd of turtles in a puddle of mud) - diving on the H2O Below. Again an inshore trip to the Russian Freighter and Tex Edwards. The vis was a little disappointing but the snapper fishing boats were gone, thank goodness! So I was able to load up on weighs that they had left behind. There is also a fairly new anchor on that wreck. NOTE TO SELF! Dont buy anchors, dive for them!
We saw a ton of fish on the Freighter and a couple new Octopus friends.
6.8.08 We were out to the Oriskany on the H2O Below. This was fun because we had a lot of first time Oriskany divers on board so I get to act like I know what Im talking about and tell them stories about my 75+ dives on the Oriskany. It was also fun because today was my 300th dive and I got to do it on a totally cool sight!
My mission for the first dive was to find Walters twin jet fin that they were juggling last week and tossed over board. I watched the whole thing but couldnt do anything about it, so I went down and swam and swam and swam and didnt see it anywhere. I even had Scott who is the tech diver/videographer for the H2O Below look for it down deep but he didnt see it either. Sorry Walter!
I did find the huge turtle that lives on the Oriskany while looking for Walters fin so that was pretty cool. Other fish were swimming with him and I think they must have been cleaning his shell. They were either cleaning his shell or bugging the crap out of him because they were all over the poor guy.
I also visited Ofilia and Fallon, both were in their lairs. I looked for Angelina and she was not in her home. I looked down the side of the wreck and she was below having a full on war with a baby grouper. The grouper was pecking at her and she was slapping at him with the arms. Several other fish were close by watching and I couldnt tell if she was in trouble or the cause of this ruckus. I decided I didnt care, Angelina may be in trouble so I swam over and shook my finger at the grouper and chased him away. Angelina seemed to be thankful for the help and ran to the nearest hiding hole.
The H2O Below is out again today 6.9.08 for another inshore trip. If I get any good details Ill post them later.
So in summary the vis is getting better, the green algae crap has sank and isnt a problem at the Oriskany anymore. The water temp is a balmy 79 on top and a bearable (in a 3m) 73 on the flight deck. The air temp is in the 90s and the sun is quickly turning us all gingerbread brown. In shore the vis is a little less than we like to see but it is still early June and somewhat expected.
Come on down!
