070401

Hello All Seahunters,

We left the inlet early. We needed to be finished early to enjoy the fireworks later in the evening. The waves were easy as we headed into the sun. After the mistakes of the previous trip, I was determined to make this a perfect trip.

My first dive was beautiful. The reef was 108' to the sand and the vis was over 50'. The temp was warm, and there was a current. As I neared the reef the fish were ducking for cover. I knew where to look for the big fish and started swimming for the cave. It was empty except for the mango snapper which I shot for the cooler. I did pull three slipper lobster, all had berries. It was the cleanest water I have ever seen on this reef, and I mapped out a couple more caves for next trip.

My second dive was an expensive one. Since the water was so clean on the first dive, the fish were hanging outside my range. I decided to go with the freeshaft gun belonging to Andy. I shot a big cobia who swam off with my shaft, or more accurately, with Andy's shaft. I found the cobia with a huge stingray, bigger than a SUV. I then saw an enormous snapper which I was powerless against. Bummer. Even with the setbacks, it was a very wonderful dive.

My third dive was on a ledge which was inshore from where we had been, and the vis had tightened up to around 25'. We worked it toward the east, and didn't see a thing. There was lots of monofilament, and a large piece of net snagged on a rock. We headed home and made it back in time to clean our gear and fish before the fireworks.

It was a perfect day for hunting the reef.

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