South Padre Island Jetties - March 25, 2015

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Seth Patterson

Registered
Messages
41
Reaction score
43
Location
Brownsville, Texas, United States
# of dives
100 - 199
A couple weeks back, the wind in South Texas made a strong shift out of the east and blew in some spectacularly clear water. I haven't seen this kind of visibility in years and, in some areas, ever. It lasted for three days before the wind shifted back to the south but I managed to make it out for a day of diving on the 25th of March and boy I sure am glad I did!

Surface buoys were reporting 72 degree temps, so I wore my 5mm wetsuit and hood and we dropped in towards the end of the beach side of the jetties by boat. I was a bit shocked to find myself in 60 degree water but after looking down and seeing the amazing clarity I quickly forgot about any coldness I was feeling.

Our first dive was in 20 feet of water, mostly hanging out on the sand just along the edge of the jetties. While visibility was a little murky around the rocks from suspended sediment, the bottom was remarkably clear. Visibility ranged from 10-30 feet horizontally. Massive schools of hundreds and hundreds of Sheepshead were swirling around us, most likely spawning. A few feet out from the rocks, the sands were teeming with stingrays, dozens and dozens of them, some sitting atop one another. Possibly spawning as well. Otherwise, very little species diversity, we saw no snapper or groupers, and very few tropicals, such as Reef Butterfly fish and a single adult Slippery Dick.

Our first dive lasted nearly an hour before my buddies got too cold and we made our way back to the jetties. As I had plenty of air left, I was just about to jump in on the channel side when our boat pulled up and we instead headed up the channel towards dolphin cove where we ended up doing our second dive. By this time the tides had started shifting though so visibility suffered considerably. Still, we saw some nice invertebrates and enjoyed our second and last dive of the day.

These conditions are so rare and practically unheard of in March, hopefully this is an indication of a great summer!

Unfortunately, my primary strobes are with Ikelite being serviced, so not the best lighting in these pictures.

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It was nice to see soft corals branching off of the jetties after recent construction.

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My dive buddy taking pictures.

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Incredible display of spawning Sheepshead.

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Lots of starfish in the sandy bottoms below!

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I see you…

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The Sting Rays were excessively shy, not letting me approach even remotely close.

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Sponge Crab moving along the rocks.

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Skeleton Shrimp hanging out with some coral polyps on a Sea Whip.

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West Indian Simnia snail chowing down on a Sea Whip.

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Really cool little shrimp also living on the Sea Whips.

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Lots of Spotted Cyphoma snails were out actively feeding on the Sea Whips as well.

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Some kind of tube dwelling Cnidarians.
 
Amazing pictures as always Seth!

Interestingly, I've yet to see anything living on the soft corals out on the rigs. Although I usually forget to look until I'm back on the line. Maybe this will help me remember!

-Chris
 
Regrettably, I've not yet had the pleasure of diving an oil rig. The closest I've come are reefed rig jackets, cut off and sitting about 60 feet from the surface. Though, on those I certainly do see things like Spotted Cyphoma snails and Skeleton Shrimp. It seems like the natural live bottom areas, including large shallow places like the jetties, have more life and diversity though.
 
chamber of commerce photos seth How many times have you gone to a dive center after a poor visibility dive and heard You should have been here last week?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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