Island Dive Fest or 2011 A Dive Odyssey

2011 A Dive Odyssey

Friday morning, May 20th, we got up bright and early and across the street to the shop. We were on the Republic Diver with Captain Jorge and Daniel for the morning dives. My camera was set up for wide angle with my Tokina 10mm-17mm FE lens.

Dive 1 was the Duane. Seas were 2’-3’, and visibility was about 70’. With plans of shooting some bow shots to start out I made sure I was the first one down the line. Current was so light to start that I free dropped the last 40’ or so. Once off the bow I took some shots before anyone else hit the wreck. Then I made my way from the bow to the tower, and then all the way to the stern. I also took some shots of the stern from off the wreck. After that it was time to make our way back to the bow and up the line for our accent.

Max depth 109’, total dive time 40 minutes, water temp was 79*, and I was on 32%.

Re: 2011 A Dive Odyssey
Dive 2 was on Molasses Reef. Can’t remember which ball we were on. Shot more wide angle. Seas were a bit calmer on the reef. Saw a lot of Angelfish, and a so many lobsters I lost count.

Max depth 38’, total dive time 65 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 36%

For the afternoon dives I had changed lenses and ports on my camera. I was now shooting my Tokina 35mm. We stayed on the Republic Diver with Captain Jorge, but this time our mate was Jason.

Dive 3 was on Conch Wall. This time I buddied with Marvel & Beth. We were doing it as a drift, so Marvel deployed her SMB. She soon found out that the current was so strong at the surface that she could not stay down with us with the amount of line she had on her reel. I gave her my reel, and she attached it to hers so that she would have enough line.

I was soon on the bottom of the wall at 100’ chasing a 12’ nurse shark trying to get a head shot of it. I could not catch up with it. The whole time the O2 alarm on my computer was beeping at me because I had it set at 1.4 ATA’s, and I was below the max depth for the setting.

When I turned back around I was all alone. After a minute or two of searching for Marvel and Beth I made my way back up the wall and started my accent. Just short of the safety stop Beth came up to me. She signaled that she had lost Marvel too. She deployed her SMB, and we continued our dive.

The highlight, or maybe lowlight, of the dive was finding a ledge with 5 lionfish in one hole. The largest was about 9”-10” long, and the smallest was about 3” long. After our safety stop we surfaced, and waited for the boat to pick us up.

Max depth 100’, total dive time 54 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 36%.

A 3fer of Lionfish

Re: 2011 A Dive Odyssey
Dive 4 was on Little Conch Reef. We were soon back in the water. I toured all over the reef with Marvel and Beth. Beth found a nice Nurse Shark for me. I was only able to get a couple of shots of it before it bolted.

Saw a nice Southern Stingray quietly sitting on the bottom until we got a hold of it. ;-D Also saw a lot more lobsters. Some of them out for a relaxing afternoon stroll. Man they just know the No Take Zones, or that it is out of season.

Max depth 24’, total dive time 63 minutes, water temp was 82*, and I was on 36%.

After a nice dinner with Marvel and Beth, followed by a nap, it was once more back to the Republic Diver for the night dive. This time we had Captain Gary himself at the helm with Daniel as our mate.

Dive 5 was a night dive on the Eagle. This was the first time I had done the Eagle as a night dive. I was really looking forward to it.

Loaded down with all my lights and my camera I hit the water just as it was getting dark. Boy was there current on the dive. I have never done the Eagle with that kind of current before. I regretted taking my camera with me for the dive. It was tasking overload. I only took a dozen or so shots. I found out later that the Auto-Focus Lock button was stuck in, so none of them were in focus.

I was glad when the dive was over, and we headed back up the line. Because we were the last ones up there were some re-breather divers hanging on the line. We did a 20 minute hang behind them.

Max depth 95’, total dive time 44 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 31%.

I was glad for the day to be over. After a quick shower I was down for the count

Saturday May 21st. 7:15 came way too soon for me. After a quick breakfast it was back across the street. I stayed with the Tokina 35mm lens for the morning so I didn’t need to change anything out.

For the morning trip we were on the Aquatic Diver with Captain Dean. Once again Daniel was our mate.

Dive 6 was on Davey Crocker. Seas were much calmer today. As soon as we were tied up to the mooring ball we were in the water.

I spent a lot of the dive following around a small Spanish Hogfish. Every time it swam up to a Grunt the Grunt would gape. I have seen this many times before between Grunts, but never Grunts and another species. I finally got an acceptable shot of this behavior.

Max depth 27’, total dive time 65 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 36%.

Dive 7 was on Davis Reef. Davis is a good reef for schooling fish, juveniles, and cleaning stations. I was not disappointed with any of it. There was a friendly Spadefish that seemed to enjoy posing for me. I spent a lot of the dive up on top of the reef following around a juvenile French Angel.

Max depth 27’, total dive time 66 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 36%.

For the afternoon trip we were back aboard the Republic Diver. Clint was our Captain, and Jason was mate. I had changed over to my dome port and my Tokina 10mm-17mm FE lens.

Dive 8 was back to the Eagle. There was a family on the morning reef trip with us that wanted to do the afternoon Eagle trip. The daughter was not an advanced diver so I agreed to guide for them so that she could do the dive. On the way out I showed her the diagram of the wreck and explained it to her. She was on air, so her dive time would dictate when we would come up. I also explained to her the safety stops that we would be making. I also explained how we would be using a current line to pull ourselves up to the mooring line.

Since there was little to no current I decided to take my camera with me. I was glad I did. She was a great diver. Her buoyancy was very good, and she paid attention. She kept track of her NDL time on her computer and signaled me often. We were able to tour the entire length of the wreck before we had to turn the dive.

On the accent she stayed right with us, and made the safety stops like she had been doing them for ever. Although I kept an eye on her I never once had to worry about her. Back on the boat I could tell that she had really liked the dive. I told her she had done a great job, and gave her specifics so she knew that I was aware of her the entire time. Her mom was pleased with her.

Max depth 98’, total dive time 32 minutes, water temp was 81*, and I was on 32%.

Dive 9 was on Hens and Chickens. I love this reef!!! Whenever the conditions are right where we can do it it never disappoints. The corals come almost to the surface in spots. The high relief makes for some dramatic views and passages. I took the opportunity to play with different camera settings. I even practiced some over/unders at the end of the dive.

Max depth 18’, total dive time 58 minutes, water temp was 84*, and I was on 36%.