Saturday, January 18, 2020
It
is a nice mid-January day when you are loading the boat at 6 am in
your T-shirt and shorts. The rest of the day didn’t disappoint.
Initially the fog was pretty dense as we headed out, with an
occasional buoy appearing in the milk-bowl where it should be. All
eyes were forward as we continued
into the Gulf. At
25kts the
viz
wouldn’t provide much time for avoidance if there were any other
adventurers out, but we didn’t see anyone
all day.
Sol
was cooperative as we approached our AOR and
the sky was getting bright, creating a pretty amazing “Fog Bow”
that was persistent for quite awhile.
Paul
started us off on our rotation with the first dive on a pretty good
patch of hard bottom. He wasn’t able to fill his “pickle jug”,
but he did manage a respectable showing of lion fish. (I
don’t think we have had any full jugs since the hurricane.) It
was good to get a report of decent viz
and no current.
I
was up for the next dive in our rotation. It
was a pretty interesting dive on some concrete pipes and big cables,
a site I hadn't seen before. I cleaned off the lion fish and then
managed to nail 3 nice mangrove snapper.
Al’s
1st
dive wasn’t quite as satisfying as mine and Paul’s. Apparently,
as best I could determine from his explanation, the “repair” he
had made on his BC the night before didn’t take, resulting in his
having to cope with a water-filled sack
for buoyancy compensation. He was too stubborn to dump his weight
belt for the ascent, so
he got a good workout swimming up and waiting on pick-up. He didn’t
have to wait too long. Good thing he saved that weight belt. Between
the three of us, we probably don’t have more than about
300# of weights to
replace it with. I think he did manage a respectable number of lion
fish and a very nice Lion’s Paw. I haven’t seen a live one of
those since H Michael.
My
2nd
dive was on some nice hard bottom. The anchor drop was pretty
precise. There was a nice big Florida spiny lobster on each side
of the anchor and they were accompanied by a couple of lion fish. I
wasn’t anticipating such a bounty and hadn’t brought my lobster
bag. I could have gotten one of the bugs in my jug but instead
decided
to sweep the reef for lion fish and come back for the lobster. While
policing up the LF I came across several more spinys.
This was a really nice reef. We
usually wait a year before back-diving a reef but this was a little
different situation. After
I got some “sit”, time Paul and I went back down to tag team the bugs.
It was pretty exciting. When
you each know what is suppose to be happening, crew coordination
isn’t a problem. I think I was the bag man more times than not and
we were able to gather up 7 bugs and a bonus Triton’s Trumpet which
my hand found while groping after a bug that had backed under a
ledge. That was a better outcome than what Paul had a few dives
back, when
he managed to find a lion fish the hard way.
I hope the weather will offer us another calm day soon. Maybe I'll get my fill of diving someday, but that hasn't happened in the last 30 years.
I hope the weather will offer us another calm day soon. Maybe I'll get my fill of diving someday, but that hasn't happened in the last 30 years.
