An early morning dive with South Florida Diving HQ as the weather around here has been getting a little nasty in the afternoon lately. Had to stop by Fill Express and pick up my tanks before going to the shop so with a 7:30 show at the boat I had to be at Fill Express by 7AM. OMG I haven't been up that early in ages, the sun was just bearly coming up.
As usual it was HOT as soon as it did rise over the building but what a beautiful morning. Winds lite, skies clear, seas 2 feet or less. As this was a last minute thing I was by myself so I loaded up my gear on the Aqua View and introduced myself to several other divers seated around me. Turned out that both of these guys were on their own as well so the three of us decided to buddy up for the day.
Our first dive was supposed to be on the Rodeo 25 but as our DM serfaced, after an unsuccessfull attempt to tie off on the wreck, he told us the current was running about 2 knots. With several inexperienced divers and an Advanced class onboard the crew figured it would be better to drop us on a deep reef for a drift dive instead. I wasn't real happy with the idea as I had planned for a deep wreck wearing my doubles with a fill of lite Trimix but what could I do. As it turned out the deep reef was actually a pretty nice dive. The vis was about 50 feet at depth, there was hardly any current, water temp has warmed up nicely to around 80 degrees (I finally broke out the 3 mil wetsuit and stored the drysuit) so it was nice and warm. We ran across several turtles, MANY lobster (this season looks like it might actually be a good one for a change) and I even seen the tail end of what one of the guys discribded as a Reef Shark. From what I saw of it I'd say it was 6 to 8 foot long. The guy that spotted it first said it came right at him head on and if he haden't moved out of the way it would have run him over. Scared the crap out of him at first he told me when we got back on the boat. Sure wish I would have gotten a better look at it. We finished the dive with a slow ascent from about 55 feet where the boat was waiting to pick us up. Max depth 92 ft, bottom time 46 min, water temp 80 deg.
Once back on the boat we were treated to fresh cut pineapple and serenaded by a mix of Buffett and other Island music while we de-nitrogenated and soked up some sun.
The second dive was the typical shallow north/south running reef. We again did a drift dive but and the current was a bit stronger this time so it was a "no effort required" dive. Again there were many lobster, more then I've seen in years, another turtle and large schools of reef fish. One thing I noticed on this dive was a rather large barrel sponge. This one was big ehough for me to have climbed inside of, although I know better then to do that. I can't remember ever seeing one that big around here.
Mike, the guy towing the flag on this dive, was one of those speed swimmers. You know the type, likes to kick like crazy even on a drift dive so he ends up going mach 3 with his fins on fire. It didn't take long for me to loose sight of him and with doubles on I sure wasn't going to catch up with him so I finished the dive solo. I deployed my lift bag on a reel and started my ascent. As I passed through 40 feet I was surrounded by a school of what appeared to be Bar Jacks. There must have been several hundred in the group and as I was drifting along they just kind of circled around me for a minute or two just out of reach and then parted and let me drift on by. That was cool, in the water all alone, no sound other then my own bubbles, surronded by a school of fish just drifting along. Made for one of those times you realize just how good life can be.
I finally surfaced and only had to wait a couple of minutes for the boat to come pick me up. Max depth 58 ft, bottom time 49 min, water temp 82 deg.
All in all a great day of diving.
As usual it was HOT as soon as it did rise over the building but what a beautiful morning. Winds lite, skies clear, seas 2 feet or less. As this was a last minute thing I was by myself so I loaded up my gear on the Aqua View and introduced myself to several other divers seated around me. Turned out that both of these guys were on their own as well so the three of us decided to buddy up for the day.
Our first dive was supposed to be on the Rodeo 25 but as our DM serfaced, after an unsuccessfull attempt to tie off on the wreck, he told us the current was running about 2 knots. With several inexperienced divers and an Advanced class onboard the crew figured it would be better to drop us on a deep reef for a drift dive instead. I wasn't real happy with the idea as I had planned for a deep wreck wearing my doubles with a fill of lite Trimix but what could I do. As it turned out the deep reef was actually a pretty nice dive. The vis was about 50 feet at depth, there was hardly any current, water temp has warmed up nicely to around 80 degrees (I finally broke out the 3 mil wetsuit and stored the drysuit) so it was nice and warm. We ran across several turtles, MANY lobster (this season looks like it might actually be a good one for a change) and I even seen the tail end of what one of the guys discribded as a Reef Shark. From what I saw of it I'd say it was 6 to 8 foot long. The guy that spotted it first said it came right at him head on and if he haden't moved out of the way it would have run him over. Scared the crap out of him at first he told me when we got back on the boat. Sure wish I would have gotten a better look at it. We finished the dive with a slow ascent from about 55 feet where the boat was waiting to pick us up. Max depth 92 ft, bottom time 46 min, water temp 80 deg.
Once back on the boat we were treated to fresh cut pineapple and serenaded by a mix of Buffett and other Island music while we de-nitrogenated and soked up some sun.
The second dive was the typical shallow north/south running reef. We again did a drift dive but and the current was a bit stronger this time so it was a "no effort required" dive. Again there were many lobster, more then I've seen in years, another turtle and large schools of reef fish. One thing I noticed on this dive was a rather large barrel sponge. This one was big ehough for me to have climbed inside of, although I know better then to do that. I can't remember ever seeing one that big around here.
Mike, the guy towing the flag on this dive, was one of those speed swimmers. You know the type, likes to kick like crazy even on a drift dive so he ends up going mach 3 with his fins on fire. It didn't take long for me to loose sight of him and with doubles on I sure wasn't going to catch up with him so I finished the dive solo. I deployed my lift bag on a reel and started my ascent. As I passed through 40 feet I was surrounded by a school of what appeared to be Bar Jacks. There must have been several hundred in the group and as I was drifting along they just kind of circled around me for a minute or two just out of reach and then parted and let me drift on by. That was cool, in the water all alone, no sound other then my own bubbles, surronded by a school of fish just drifting along. Made for one of those times you realize just how good life can be.
I finally surfaced and only had to wait a couple of minutes for the boat to come pick me up. Max depth 58 ft, bottom time 49 min, water temp 82 deg.
All in all a great day of diving.
