Yep, I saw the ADII plan for Sunday a.m. but I just can't do it. Saturday is my opening for that weekend right now. How about you and I make some Saturday plans and we'll let Chip know he can join us
The Boynton Dive Chronicles (new and improved)
- Thread starter Scubakevdm
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OP
Hey! Thanks to Reef Photo & Video's unwaivering commitment to customer service, my strobe is back in action. Bam! Just like that! Reef Photo & Video. Why anyone would buy camera equipment anywhere else is completely beyond me.
So we jumped down on the Captain Tony today, and there seems to be a third resident Goliath grouper there now. I noticed that there were three the last time we dove it, and a thir grouper was again present today.
The seas were absolutely mirror flst thid morning, vis was pretty fair, between 60 and 70 feet and blue. There was a moderate north current for both dives and the water was pretty warm... not as warm as I would have expected, but probably something like 83º. There was no sign of thermoclines.
We did Clubhouse for the second dive, because I wanted to check on the Gothic grunt. He was still there and actually seems to be doing fine. His body mass looks normal and fins look healthy. It seems that his condition mauy just be limited to pigment. Lots and lots of lobsters. I originally left the snare up on the boat, but when I started seeing holes with six and ten substantial lobsters in them, one after the other, I gave in and went up to get my bug getting stuff (Wilhelmina had the flag).
There is a new resident Goliath on the Tony.
I got alot of pictures fish butts trying to get a picture of a midnight parrot fish swimming in and out of the screw due to shutter lag. It still didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Don't worry... Help is on the way!
A gray angelfish on Clubhouse. They like tiny bubbles, and sometimes they'll follow you around if you exhale very gently into your mask through your nose.
The Gothic grunt! He's looking pretty good! I'm kind of obsessed with him. I've been thinking about just hanging out where he lives and watching him for awhile. Does he hang out with other grunts? It would be interesting to learn more about him.
This was the third crowd of lobsters, and the last straw. I went to the top, and ten minutes later they were all in the bag. I picked up another one from a nearby rock to complete the set.
So we jumped down on the Captain Tony today, and there seems to be a third resident Goliath grouper there now. I noticed that there were three the last time we dove it, and a thir grouper was again present today.
The seas were absolutely mirror flst thid morning, vis was pretty fair, between 60 and 70 feet and blue. There was a moderate north current for both dives and the water was pretty warm... not as warm as I would have expected, but probably something like 83º. There was no sign of thermoclines.
We did Clubhouse for the second dive, because I wanted to check on the Gothic grunt. He was still there and actually seems to be doing fine. His body mass looks normal and fins look healthy. It seems that his condition mauy just be limited to pigment. Lots and lots of lobsters. I originally left the snare up on the boat, but when I started seeing holes with six and ten substantial lobsters in them, one after the other, I gave in and went up to get my bug getting stuff (Wilhelmina had the flag).
There is a new resident Goliath on the Tony.
I got alot of pictures fish butts trying to get a picture of a midnight parrot fish swimming in and out of the screw due to shutter lag. It still didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Don't worry... Help is on the way!
A gray angelfish on Clubhouse. They like tiny bubbles, and sometimes they'll follow you around if you exhale very gently into your mask through your nose.
The Gothic grunt! He's looking pretty good! I'm kind of obsessed with him. I've been thinking about just hanging out where he lives and watching him for awhile. Does he hang out with other grunts? It would be interesting to learn more about him.
This was the third crowd of lobsters, and the last straw. I went to the top, and ten minutes later they were all in the bag. I picked up another one from a nearby rock to complete the set.
OP
Real quick.... lots of current, no more lobsters. Also I think I've determined that the Gothic grunt is actually a mahogany snapper
OP
Hey!
Okay. The current settled down a little bit on Sunday. Lobsters were here and there, Deepstops helped remedy that though. The water was fairly clear (usually around 50-60', but it petered off here and there), and warm.
Deepstops cleans up the reef.
I see this band (or some similar band) of grey angels on Clubhouse quite a bit, just off the reef out in the sand.
This guy looked like he had been attacked by a pretty big shark some time ago. He was a very large loggerhead, a favorite food of tiger sharks.
Unlike the shark, who took one big bite, here are many small fish talking little bites!
In keeping with the trend of finding things bitten, here's that grey angelfish with a chunk taken out of him from Gazebo.
Also, in keeping with the trend of writing about trends, here's the house of the Gothic grunt. He lives in the hole there behind the squirrel-fish. I peeped him out for a couple of minutes, and when I found him he was in the hole. As soon as I pointed my camera at him, he went out the back door and tried to blend in with a small group of french grunts, who seemed to tolerate him.
Okay. The current settled down a little bit on Sunday. Lobsters were here and there, Deepstops helped remedy that though. The water was fairly clear (usually around 50-60', but it petered off here and there), and warm.
Deepstops cleans up the reef.
I see this band (or some similar band) of grey angels on Clubhouse quite a bit, just off the reef out in the sand.
This guy looked like he had been attacked by a pretty big shark some time ago. He was a very large loggerhead, a favorite food of tiger sharks.
Unlike the shark, who took one big bite, here are many small fish talking little bites!
In keeping with the trend of finding things bitten, here's that grey angelfish with a chunk taken out of him from Gazebo.
Also, in keeping with the trend of writing about trends, here's the house of the Gothic grunt. He lives in the hole there behind the squirrel-fish. I peeped him out for a couple of minutes, and when I found him he was in the hole. As soon as I pointed my camera at him, he went out the back door and tried to blend in with a small group of french grunts, who seemed to tolerate him.
RedWingDiver
Contributor
Kev, that picture of the lobsters reminds me of the movie Aliens!
Hope things were OK during the storm!
Hope things were OK during the storm!
OP
Kev, that picture of the lobsters reminds me of the movie Aliens!
Hope things were OK during the storm!
Hey! Things were okay in the storm, thanks man! We went back out yesterday to check thinks out. Here's the scoop:
Seas got a bit rougher than forecast, initially it was something like 2-3', mostly 3, but it got a little breezy out there and the chop got pretty big. By the time we headed in after 2 dives it was probably 3-5', with an occasional 6'. There was a nasty point on them too. The water was still pretty murky, at least for us. Vis was about 15 to 20' on the bottom, less on top. Water temps were 80º on the bottom, and cooler than that in the top 5' of the column. The current was a pleasant and moderate north.
The question I've heard the most lately has been, "Did the storm stir up the bugs?" I don't know the answer to that question, but I can say that I found lobsters in numbers comparable to what I was seeing pre-storm. Whether these are the same lobsters that were there before, or different lobsters that rotated in from somewhere else I can't say. I suspect that the reason I'm seeing lobsters has more to do with the fact that nobody has been plucking them for a while than it has to do with their movement. I guess if come Sunday there's none left, it would support that hypothesis.
Even though the vis was not so hot, we still had fun. I did got to see another hammerhead up close again! He was about 5' away when I looked up. There was one several months ago that I could have gotten a picture of, but blew it by trying to adjust my strobe. I was not going to allow that to happen again this time though.
When I first noticed it, the shark (8 or 9') was about five feet west of me, headed south (opposite my heading) over the sand and at the same depth as me. When I looked up, he kinda froze, and steered his glide slightly away from me. I whipped my camera around and pushed the button as fast as I could. This absolutely terrified the shark. I've only seen a shark swim faster once (and that's another story), and by the time my camera got around to taking the picture, he was gone. If we had better vis, or if I had a faster camera, I could have had a shark butt to show you guys, but that just wasn't in the cards. Instead, I have the next best thing to a shark butt, a picture of where a shark used to be.
The shark was here.
Here's a pretty honest representation of how it looked yesterday.
On top of the muddy water we had from the storm, the barrel sponges started spawning again. I'm not very well read on sponges, but I wonder if the water temperature has something to do with the spawn.
We did see a few loggerheads, including a giant male one. This friendly one waved as she passed by.
OP
Well... The viz continues to improve. There was a very strong current on the first dive, and a color change right along the ledge. On top of the reef the water was blue but still milky, and in the sand it was green brown. By the second dive the current had almost ground to a complete stop, and I believe it was about to start heading south. We wrapped up the trip before we could find out though.
Visibility today was about 30', the blue water was 84º, and the green was 80º. There were still plenty of lobsters, so there may have been some movement due to the storm after all.
An honest representation of how the water was.
A green moray out and about.
A friendly hawksbill.
A blue angelfish.
Visibility today was about 30', the blue water was 84º, and the green was 80º. There were still plenty of lobsters, so there may have been some movement due to the storm after all.
An honest representation of how the water was.
A green moray out and about.
A friendly hawksbill.
A blue angelfish.
I'll be visiting Ft Lauderdale from 9/1 through 9/7. Hope to join you on a few dives Scubakevdm!
OP
Hey, me too!
I left my camera at home today, because I accidentally pinched an O-ring on my strobe last night, so I'll just give you the low-down on the water. Vis improved a bit, we maybe picked up about 5 more feet from yesterday. It was about 40' on Clubhouse and about 30' up on Lynn's. There was a slight thermocline again, 80º, with the warm water being 84º.
tiggrr
Contributor
Sweet!! It was 59 degrees in Lake Huron yesterday. I'm looking forward to being able to pinwheel my arms in their full range of motion. It a lot of effort to pose in all of the layers of 7mm. See ya in 2 weeks!!
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