Snorkeling Thursday Night (July 1)

[algal bloom]

I'm taking my wife snorkeling around 6pm tonight and I thought I'd see if anyone else would like to be apart of it. I've been trying to get her in the water for months now, but her little heart problem prevents her from scuba. My parents are in town, so we finally have babysitting to do this! I was just wanting to start her out on a short 45 min to 1 hour swim. I haven't picked the spot yet but am thinking of doing Datura, Hibiscus, Oakland, or maybe Hollywood at Michigan St. If anyone wants to go, let me know. Or if anyone doesn't want to go but has some other suggestions on where to take her, let me know!

Later!

Nate

 

[GrierHPharmD]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I'll give you a call later today, once I see whether I'll leave the office during daylight hours. We tried to go out yesterday evening, and the wind/chop wouldn't cooperate. I was going to do a little snorkel/scuba combo at Seatech ledge, just south of the Dania Pier, but it was a bit too choppy for the snorkelers, so we blew it off and went down for burgers at LeTub instead. We ended up feeding a HUGE tarpon bits of a fish sandwich from the dock. (Jenny - I think this was probably your friend from that bad vis day under the pier - he was probably 5' long - what a specimen!)

 

[Waterbabie]

Dang! Wish I could go :-( Give us the full dive (Snorkel) report!

 

[GrierHPharmD]

I'm still trying to do the big Work Push to get out on time. (Guess it might be easier if I logged off of Scubaboard, eh?)

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

I was thinking about doing the same thing. I'll give you a call later today, once I see whether I'll leave the office during daylight hours. We tried to go out yesterday evening, and the wind/chop wouldn't cooperate. I was going to do a little snorkel/scuba combo at Seatech ledge, just south of the Dania Pier, but it was a bit too choppy for the snorkelers, so we blew it off and went down for burgers at LeTub instead. We ended up feeding a HUGE tarpon bits of a fish sandwich from the dock. (Jenny - I think this was probably your friend from that bad vis day under the pier - he was probably 5' long - what a specimen!)

I love eating at LeTub! Funky place! The tarpon is probably one of the buddies of the tarpon I saw a couple weekends ago at the yellow brick road.

Sorry for the hijack Nathan, love to go, but doubt I can make it...

 

[algal bloom]

That's ok Jenny! I feel like a bum talking about snorkeling on the scubaboard. It's sacrilegious, really!

Nate

 

[Marvel]

Well, I'm planning on diving at my house around that time.....

 

[algal bloom]

Hey Marvel!

How are the waves looking in your area? Do you recommend Hibiscus for snorkeling? Seemed like it would be a good place-not to far swim and shallow reef. If Grier can make it, I'll be doing Hollywood (or where ever he might be interested). If not, then I was thinking about Datura or Hibiscus.

Nate

 

[GrierHPharmD]

It's looking shaky for me right now. I've been pushing, but sometimes work pushes back. I'm still hopeful, though, but don't count on my just yet.

-Grier

 

[algal bloom]

Hey everyone!

Well the snorkeling went great last night. I took Christy to Hollywood Beach at Michigan St. around 5:45 pm. The waves looked pretty calm; I'm guessing about 1-2 ft. There was a slight current from the north but no big deal. It was a little overcast when we got there but that quickly blew over. Unfortunately, even though seas were calm, the visibility was poor. I'd say it was between 10 and 15 ft. We enterred the water at about 6 pm and exitted around 7:50 pm.

Christy had a great time even though she really couldn't see anything. I was proud of her. She didn't do any diving down but that is just fine for a first-timer! Funny thing is, she was the one who found the rock pilings that lead the YBR! She kind of drifted south with the current and when I swam to get her, she was drifting directly over the rocks! (BTW, Grier, great advice for finding the rock pilings and the YBR! Like you said, just line up the life guard stand with the telephone poles! I've never had such an easy time finding the rock pilings! Thanks, dude!) It was a lot of fun to do this with my wife! I truely envy those of you who have your spouse as your scuba buddy.

I free dived to get a better glimpse of the fish and would point them out to Chisty. All of the usual critters were down there, angels, grunts, wrasses, highhats, parrots, porkfish, sergeant majors, squirrelfish, etc. There were several French angels hanging out that I was able to point out to her. They were big enough to where she could at least see the silhouette. The small fish were just too difficult for her to see with that visibility. The fish I was totally stoked about was the squirrelfish. During the day, I rarely see them and when I do they're hiding under rocks. It was nice to see quite a few of them out, seeming to be unconcerned of my presence. That was cool. I did not see one ocean surgeonfish or doctorfish which makes me think (1) the visibility was just that bad, (2) they hide in the evenings, or (3) they don't hang out around the rock pilings. I'm not sure which it was. It just seemed odd since those seem to be species I see a lot of. Any way, it was nice to dive down and see my buddies without my heavy scuba rig for a change!

It was a lot of fun. If anyone is interested in snorkeling for a change every once in a while, I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more! Of course, I'll continue to do lots more scuba--just wife-less.

Nate