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Hello all Seahunters We left the city at 4:20 AM and made our way to the ramp. I could have stayed in bed, but Tony was determined to keep that from happening by calling every ten minutes starting at 3:30 AM. I was out of fish so it was time to hunt anyway. The wind was from the NW so the ride out was smooth for the first half hour, but became bumpy as we lost sight of land. The first stop was well inshore of our plan, but the guys were tired of getting pounded (so they said when they woke me). We rolled into the water and headed for the reef. It was blue water and warm. How nice it will be to dive in warm water and be able to see. At 80' the illusions of tropical diving left my head quickly as the water turned from blue to brown and my hands felt the temperature change. I couldn't see the end of my spear gun. I slowed my descent to avoid slamming my face on the rocks, and found the reef at 118'. Tony and I looked at each other and started to look around. This was a beautiful reef with several deep caves and a white/yellow tunicate covering 40% of the rocks. I managed to grab two lobster for the grill. We decide to try inshore, and what a difference five miles can make. The next dive was on a ledge I have been on many times. The reef was alive and the vis was good, around 15'. It was warmer water too. I worked to the east and found the big overhang where the ledge turns to the north. When I turned the corner, I was face to face with a small jewfish of around 150lbs. I swear that fish smiled at me and I backed away to continue the hunt. There were no gag grouper to be found, but there were a few snapper along with more tropical fish than you can imagine. I shot a 10lb gray snapper for the stringer and added a few more soon after. I also saw a Nassau grouper which doesn't happen often, but they are protected from harvest. It was a great dive. The third dive was on a slab of rock I usually dive for lobster and gray snapper. There were hundreds of gray snapper larger than 10lbs, but they were smart and running for cover. I shot one snapper and while the gun was unloaded three cobia came at me from above, I never had a chance. There were huge shells wedged in the cracks, along with many tropical fish. I saw a line of florida spiny lobster marching across the reef single file. It was the most wonderful dive I have made this year. The fourth dive was on the wreck we like on the way home. It had flounder and spade fish on the outside, and mangos and jewfish on the inside. I took a lot of pictures with Tony's underwater camera. How would you like to have a buddy hand you an underwater camera, take cool pictures of a wreck, and find out the next day there was no film in the camera. They would have been great.
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Hello Seahunters,
Our plan was to leave the inlet at daylight but technical difficulties
discovered at 8:00 p.m. Friday night caused us to finally give in at 11:00
p.m. and blow off our first trip of the year. We were very disappointed
due to the fact that rough seas and various projects on the boat had kept us
out of the water for a long time. We decided to get an early start on
rewiring our electronics the next morning so that we could be ready for the
next the trip. By 2:00 p.m. we were done and everything was working
properly again. We decided at this point that if we hurried we could get in
a couple of dives inshore before we lost the light. Leaving the inlet at
4:20 p.m. we were delighted to find calm seas and and a short ride later we
were about 11 miles offshore at a wreck site. Brad and I went over the side
first and discovered relatively warm water and good vis as we descended the
anchor rope and the huge image the ship came into site. From the top the
the ship you could see the bottom so vis was better than 25'. Bait fish
were everywhere but nothing to harvest could be found. We did see a
beautiful 60-70 lb. Jewfish swim out of the wreckage to greet us. His
colors were very bright and his markings stood out very well unlike some of
the larger ones on the ship that look almost black. We swam on looking
inside the ship and scouring the bottom but came up empty so we found a
anchor in the wreckage and decided to return to the boat with something. At
the top we decided that though it would a neat first dive for Breanna but we
needed to go somewhere with something to eat.
Mickey and Breanna went down on a drift dive on little spot we fish a lot
and dove once last year. We started to lose the light while they were down
and were thinking about staying out and fishing for red snapper a little
while that night so we could put some fish in the boat. As soon as Mickey's
head hit the surface he yelled to us to put on our gear. We helped him in
the boat and he handed us his bag with a nice gag grouper, red snapper and a
flounder. He told us there were nice grouper and snapper all over the
place and he could have had more if the the spear tip would have penetrated
better. That's all Brad and I needed to hear. After much congratulations
we anchored up because of the darkness and suited up while Mickey changed
the tip on my spear gun.. The sun disappeared behind some clouds over the
coast for the rest of the night as were went over the side. On the bottom
it was just light enough to see images of nice size fish swimming around you
but as soon as your light hit them the red snapper would scatter. We began
to swim around checking for fish and trying to sneak a shot a big red
snapper. It turned pitch black on the bottom quickly and I had never been
on a night dive before. I could see Brad's light shining a little ways off
so I continued hunting. After a couple missed shots at fleeting snapper I
was reloading my gun and heard the boom of a powerhead. I knew Brad had
scored something nice and I needed to get to work. I was swimming over a
flounder when I caught the tail of a grouper in my light. He swam into a
hole then poked his head out to see me. Then he did it again while I
circled in front of the hole for shot. The next time he stuck his head out
he was stoned on the end of my spear shaft. When I surfaced I found out
Brad, Mickey, and I had taken three gag that were almost identical. After
we got back to the house and weighed them they ended up being 15, 16, and 17
lb. What had started out a very disappointing day had turned into a nice
little dive trip.
Donald, Mickey, Brad and Breanna
