The Boynton Dive Chronicles (new and improved)

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After Kelly posted hers I'm not sure I want to post mine. I went W/A. I was shooting my 10-17 Tokina.

Kelly on the hunt.
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Kev leads the way
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Hey nice pics man! It seems as though you may have had some water droplets on the outside of your dome port though, like Anna. :wink:

So, yesterday, the sea gods smiled upon Boynton. The horrible ripping currents were gone, with nice, warm, blue water left behind. Seas were flat, vis was 80' and water temps 85º. The current was moderate and to the north. It was the first day of mini-season yesterday, and there were a couple of lobster hunters on board, including John Brandt. John is a fairly recent addition to south Florida, who came to the Miami Dolphins football organization from Arizona last year. After some private tutelage at the Onespeed Institute for Crustacean Collection, John made his first attempt at lobstering and went home with 5.


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John Brandt ensnares a lobster. Good job staying off the reef!

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An adolescent gray angelfish on top of the main reef at Casino.


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I found these squid mating, but they knocked it off before I could get close enough, so I missed the money shot.
 
Hey nice pics man! It seems as though you may have had some water droplets on the outside of your dome port though, like Caetllonn. :wink:

So, yesterday, the sea gods smiled upon Boynton. The horrible ripping currents were gone, with nice, warm, blue water left behind. Seas were flat, vis was 80' and water temps 85º. The current was moderate and to the north. It was the first day of mini-season yesterday, and there were a couple of lobster hunters on board, including John Brandt. John is a fairly recent addition to south Florida, who came to the Miami Dolphins football organization from Arizona last year. After some private tutelage at the Onespeed Institute for Crustacean Collection, John made his first attempt at lobstering and went home with 5.


JohnBrandt.jpg

John Brandt ensnares a lobster. Good job staying off the reef!

The Kev school of Diving deserves a great deal of credit as well! Kev is a Diving Guru!
 
Great water temps today. The current was slight and the Viso was around 70'. We saw two spotted eagle rays. Many large (unspeared) Goliath Grouper. We dove the TOny and a reef which had some very impressive ledges rivaling those in Jupiter. Kev said it is called the 'gulfstream' which I thought was a current.. apparently they named a reef line this also.

I wanted to add as well it is a real treat to dive this outfit. HEre in Fort Pirece there are several very professional sportfishing vessels. What makes a great outfit from a mediocre one is her captain. They all know how to rig a ballyho and how to hit a spot on a GPS. The difference is a good captain. Not unlike the Whaling days we read about the difference between a Captain and a Great Captain is the one who can look at the skyline, read the waves and glance at the birds overhead and look confidently out to see and proclaim..."That way der..."

This was one of those days at sea with one of those men. While Kevin opts to hire captains and selfishly undertake the diving part of the charter for himself he is extremely knowledgbale about the area and what to expect by just looking out there through a squint.

He was just out there yesterday and told us the sponges were spawning and took us to the Captain Tony. We had 70' of vis and the many fishes one could hope for to look at. We had a great dive with many look loos to watch and gasp at.

Then he read the water... looked at the birds and yonder we went to a great reef line. It was more of the same with clear water and many fishes. This is were we found the giant rays large Grouper and a barracuda which at first I thought was a shark until it got closer.. it was huge.

I would recommend this charter to anyone who wanted to go out. Kevin is an instructor, Captain, and many other things but foremost he runs his personally owned business through the eyes of a Great Divemaster who heads out and runs his buisness with the Diving being the foremost thing in his mind.

In these hard times I suspect it COST an outfit to run their boats month to month and in a time of bologna on hand it was great to see someone still offer the great diving worth my hard earned dollar and precious time off.
 
Aw, shucks Eric. You made me blush. You are very kind, and a pleasure to dive with.

We ran a couple of trips on Friday, and the nice conditions that we'd had for mini-season stuck around. The water was flat, clear (maybe 70-80') and warm, and the current was perfect for drift diving. There is a Goliath grouper that has taken up residence out on Table Tops, and we ran into him in the morning along with a few lobsters that managed to survive the hunt.

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The Table Tops Goliath heads for the safety of a large hole. There are lots of big hiding spots on this site, which makes it very popular with nurse sharks too.


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Another injured moray. I don't know how they get these.

I guess mother nature decided that the water was getting a little bit too clear, and prompted the brown tube sponges to have an orgy. It messes up the vis a bit, but it's interesting to see how they reproduce, with long filamentous egg masses and white smokey sperm billowing out of the excurrent openings of the sponges.

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A female sponge with eggs.


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A smoking male.

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Turtles don't have thumbs, so this is how they end the dive. This one seemed to be quite comfortable around divers, swimming right to us and hanging around a bit. She had giant barnacles!
 
Hey! Orlando Eric was kind enough to supply the narrative for Saturday's trip, I'll just throw a few illustrations up. Thanks again Eric!

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Two divers explore the bow of the Capt. Tony.

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Divematt and the first spotted eagle ray... I wasn't quick enough to get a shot of the second one. Both of them came fairly close to us, maybe in an effort to shed their remoras.

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A big rough tailed ray. I've seen one around this part of the reef quite often, but I don't know if it's the same one, or just a coincidence.


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Down4fun plying the depths on Gulfstream Ledge.

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These midnight parrot fish were banded together marauding sergeant major nests. I see them do this quite a bit. You can see the sergeant major fending off the attackers, but for every one he drives off, another swoops in ans snatched a mouthful of eggs.
 
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