molasses deep again, 4/30

no buoys available @ the duane or bibb this morning so elected to stay deep and do another double on deep molasses north buoy. 1-2ft seas, zero current, blue water, viz 50-60FT, (slightly improved from yesterday), depth 55-85ft, 79F. yesterday, dive buddy tim, elected to shoot wide angle; not many subjects other than me , one hawksbill turtle and a few squid(previous thread). today, tim went macro and the eagles rays were everywhere(none yesterday) along with amberjack hitting a bait ball of speedos just off the mooring line @20FT. 1st dive we encountered 2 schools of 12-14 rays followed by the second dive of 40+!!!(they were everywhere!!).. i know i'm full of sh_t, but heres tim's shot(11 animals) using a 60mm lens shooting macro @ 60FT. more pics to follow,,,,,,,,,,,


reefman
key largo

Neat stuff. Cool picture. You were in the right place at the right time.

Cool Pic!!

Wow!!!

Will these be around in July?

MSPDiver:

Will these be around in July?

Click to expand...

most definitely! having said that, we saw no eagle rays on deep molasses on friday and then the following day, they were everywhere. it is hit or miss. our dive gang here in key largo tend to observe significantly larger schools of rays on the dropoffs(molasses, sand island/blue hole, carysfort)(far fewer divers which might allow for, larger congregations), 50-110ft than shallow sites(the exception is the southern edge of south molasses, permit ledge/fire coral caves and further south including the pillar coral site. the sand channels are wider and few divers). it also appears larger schools of eagle rays are more numerous late april thru oct or nov(just my observations, no science to back it up). also, our group tends to frequent the reefs from conch, north to biscayne NP. maybe someone who dives further south can chime in with their observations,,,,,,,,,,

reefman
key largo

I was happy seeing one Eagle Ray last Wednesday while diving around Molasses Deep.



Great picture!

here's another shot(8 or 9 animals) taken this past november(11th) @ molasses reef near the pillar coral stand about 50-75 meters south of the southern most shallow buoy(25-30ft). few divers frequent this area,,,,,,,,


reefman
key largo