The Boynton Dive Chronicles (new and improved)

[jupitermermaid]

Great pics, guys! Kev, I love reading your reports. Keep 'em coming, and I plan on going down your way and diving with you once school gets out. No, I'm not a kid, I teach.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Great pics, guys! Kev, I love reading your reports. Keep 'em coming, and I plan on going down your way and diving with you once school gets out. No, I'm not a kid, I teach.

Hey! Awesome! It'll be nice to meet you!

Here's the report from yesterday:

Seas were a little spunkier than Saturday, but not too bad, I'd say 2-4'. Water temps were 79º top to bottom. The plan was to do the Castor, followed by another wreck in the morning due to the anticipated continuation of the sponge orgy. The evidence seemed to confirm our estimation, as I descended through a cloudy, eggy water column. The vis opened up below a depth of about 70' to maybe 60-65'. It was about 40' viz above the layer. The current was actually barely trickling south when I tied off, but by the end of the dive, it was trickling north. Very nice conditions to do the wreck in.

The viz down low was pretty good. This shot was taken from the end of the starboard side that has fallen outboard into the sand. The superstucture, about 100' away is barely discernible.


We had a pretty good dive out there on the Castor, however, we changed our plans for the double wreck in favor of a shallow reef so that we could spend more time underwater. This decision paid off, because we found that when we splashed up at Lynn's, the vis was even better than it was out on the wreck! Awesome. There was alot going on down there too. The current had picked up a little, but was still very slight, and to the north.

The school of spadefish is a permanent fixture at Spadefish Point on Lynn's Reef.

Towards the end of the dive, I sensed something was wrong. I couldn't overcome the feeling that I had that I was being watched. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something that just seemed... out of place, and so without making direct eye contact, I discreetly peeled off from the group and circled back around. About 30 seconds later I found a hawksbill turtle, carefully and silently stalking one of our divers. I snuck in behind him, documenting his behavior, should it become necessary to prove it in a court of law. As he drew closer and closer to the diver, it became clear that the insidious beast had opted to lull the diver into a false sense of security by pretending to go for an enjoyable swim. Cunningly, he eventually left under the guise of going to the surface to breathe, but I know that he was merely trying to get a better perspective on our movements from which to pounce. We never did see it again on that dive, but I know this is only a ploy to make us more relaxed. He's still up there... watching, waiting. I know.

The turtle stalks.

The transparent "enjoyable swim" facade.

We went back out in the afternoon, and did Tabletops and Lynn's again. The vis had dropped off a bit, at about 45' on either dive, but there was alot going on down there. Tabletops is a great spot for big stuff, especially nurse sharks, which I have never been able to get a very good picture of. Today was no exception, and every nurse shark I saw took off as soon as it saw I had a camera. I did find a nice pufferfish and a spadefish though that let me get close.

The puffer.

The spadefish.

Even though I couldn't get close enough for a good picture, I also found a big kingfish, which are unusual to find way down low, and a nice sized mutton snapper, which was pretty tame.

Hey! A kingfish!

A good sized mutton snapper was pretty curious.

 

[fisheyeview]

Great report & pictures Kev.

 

[Scubakevdm]

I had technical difficulties with the flash card I used yesterday, and I may have lost all of the pictures I took. I'll try to once more to recover them, but computer stuff is not my forte, so it's not looking good. Anyway, we had good diving yesterday slight south current on both drops, 70 foot vis when we first went in improved to around 100 as the sun climbed higher in the sky. Water temps were probably 79 ish, I didn't look again. We saw some interesting porcupine fish behavior, and I got (and lost) a very nice shot of it. I'll hold off on the description until I give up on the picture, which could potentially save me a thousand words.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

Great report and fabulous pics, as always - Thanks for sharing!

 

[fisheyeview]

Kev, if you need any help with the recovery let me know. I have done it before.

 

[Scubakevdm]

Kev, if you need any help with the recovery let me know. I have done it before.

I need help with the recovery. I may have put the kiss of death on the thing though, I accidentally loaded it back into the camera and took a picture.

I have a bunch of pictures and a bunch of reports from the weekend that I'll try to post later on today and tonight.

 

[Randy43068]

Kev, a guy here says there is some software "out there" I guess it's shareware that may help recover the flash drive. Maybe someone with more info on that can chime in. If not, I can see if I can get more info for you.

Randy

Download flash drive recovery freeware and shareware software

PC World - Removable Flash Drive Recovery Education Download

 

[deepstops]

I have a bunch of pictures and a bunch of reports from the weekend that I'll try to post later on today and tonight.

I'm addicted to the chronic(icle) and gotta have my next fix :14:

 

[Randy43068]

I'm addicted to the chronic(icle) and gotta have my next fix :14:

Yep, I look forward to Kevin's updates too.

Another crew from "up north" is coming down for a weekend of diving on Kevin's boat May 10th. ( maybe the 9th even )