Dive Report for Destin 25/ 26

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Puffer Fish

Captain Happy
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
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Location
Knoxville, TN
# of dives
Well, was lazy this week and went out both days in the morning on the Sea cobra...

Sat we had calm seas.. and "only" 10 people in the morning.. (sold out in the afternoon)...but...

Everyone had a computer (amazing).. and we did not have any newbie divers so, rather than the usually, we did two very seldom used reefs...

The first was I think horseshoe..not a good place for a lot of people or those with any navigation issues, as it is a "U" shaped, with several different ledges that combine and separate a lot...made the bridge rubble seem easy.

Was told after the dive that several people used my strobe flash to guide them back...never thought about that before..

Nice reef.. really nice reef.. tons of fish and other stuff.

First thing I took a picture of was an anenome.. with (although I was not looking for them) a peterson shrimp...

stuff200.jpg


Then just moved up and down the reef:

goby200.jpg


flounder20.jpg


garinj


crab202.jpg


fish204.jpg


But I wanted to specifically get images of the damsel fish from juvenile to adult...partularly the blue one:

Damsel202.jpg


Damsel204.jpg


At the end of the dive, much to my surprise, I was not the last one up...not sure how that could happen... but I went up and shortly there after, two ladies went up.

Relaxed a bit, snacked and waited for some time to pass before doing another reef.. forget the name, but was not one I have done..did not take many pictures on that dive...well except for a lot of arrowhead crabs and some more Damsels.

crab203.jpg


Damsel206.jpg


This time, as I went up the anchor line.. there were the two ladies.. not sure how much deco time the one actually had in total, but later found out she was on air...

Nice dive.. nice conditions..
 
Sunday... wind was blowing a bit more than forecast...and this dive was a reef and that stupid checkout dive tug...so my expectations were a bit low.

But, I was going to be diving with a fellow scubaboarder.. so it would not be all bad.

The plan was for all the certified divers to do one reef, and then everyone do the tug (with two dives for the new divers)...

On the way out, we got to watch a 42 foot boat sink at the harbor entrance...interesting omen..

So off we went, with our happy new divers looking forward to an hour sitting on a very rocking boat...what joy.

Nancy took us to Shoreline... nice reef... and while rough on the surface, fairly clear water (I could see the 85 ft bottom on my safety stop.

So, first off, with a local young man as a buddy, down we went. Like the day before the bottom temp was 75 degrees..

He was looking for flounder, so I had to travel more than I usually do.. we found a big one right away.. and then only one other.. darn..

Picture taking was a joy..

stuff300.jpg


nudi303.jpg


Damsel302.jpg


blenny306.jpg


Blenny305.jpg


He was on air, so when he got low on the no deco tables.. I took him to the anchor line and waved good bye (which was the plan from the start).

Then, all the other divers joined the trail up the ahchor line and it was just the Puffer.. me time.

I should explain there are blenny's all over this reef.. thousands.. so I settled down to take a picture of one.. and got this odd feeling I was being watched..looking to my right, there were a pair of eyes looking at me...eyes that belonged to a very big octo... as I looked at him, he came out of the crevise he was in and stopped about 2 ft from me... and just looked at me...he let me touch him (but only on a tenticle.. or he would pull back)..

octo300.jpg


He was at least 4 ft long...and never did anything except look at me...

Around me there were a lot of other fish doing the same thing:

Grouper200.jpg


fish202.jpg


Angelfish1-1.jpg


Wish I could have stayed longer, but it was a great 15 minutes...

Then up and off to checkout land.

Large crowd at the checkout point... lots of people.. seas were down a bit though.. so off the new diver went... and shortly there after we followed.

Now I hate this dive, but...I promised I would do my best to make it interesting...so here are some pictures:

stuff302.jpg


spadefish300.jpg


fish300.jpg


crab303.jpg


Grouper300.jpg


crab302.jpg


Ok, was not so bad... actually was having fun and then I noticed the new divers were completing their second dive and I was the only one down there... so sadly, after a nice 70 minute dive.. I left..

Nice weekend.
 
Near professional quality photos. Those are some of the best uw photos of the Panhandle that I've seen. The golden blenny pic is wonderful. Thanks for posting. Between you and some of the other guys on this board, there have been some great images posted this year.
 
Near professional quality photos. Those are some of the best uw photos of the Panhandle that I've seen. The golden blenny pic is wonderful. Thanks for posting. Between you and some of the other guys on this board, there have been some great images posted this year.

Dave, the problem with just down sizing and posting pictures.. is that if you want to show something (like the goliath grouper).. you don't always have a great image of it.

At best, I only get 4 or 5 great, suitable for large printing a weekend... the rest very from ok to junk...some look better smaller.. some look much better larger.

This image from the week before has made a spectacular 13 x 19 print..

But in all honesty, does not look that good on the screen.


Frogfishfirstpic3.jpg
 
great pics, thanks for sharing! if you ever need a dive buddy for a Destin reef dive let me know. i would love to tag along and take notes on how you spot those hidden critters.
 
Puffer, you are being a little too humble. Those are darn good photos!

A few are.. which makes doing all the work worthwhile.. but thank you.

Actually, if I get one really great image a dive, that is good enough.
 
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