This was a great dive! It was a great dive in many ways. The vis was somewhere between 25 and 35 depending on who you spoke with. The seas where a very calm 2-3 swells. The air temp was so nice that many where wearing no shirts and shorts on the SI. I got to don my latest purchase of a 7mm full suit. MAN I SHOULD have done that YEARS ago!
Area 51
This is an awesome Jupiter site. HUGE ledges that are better described as cliffs and valleys. My dive buddy and I got majorally seperated at entry but we swam to the ledge and a few quacks and azimuths later we began our drift. This was a dive looking for Lemmon sharks but any diving is better than not diving. We made our way up the ledge line and my buddy and I played shoot the fish with finger and forefinger whenever we saw a nice size eater. As I peeked around a gigantic coral head I saw a brown VW bus swim under the ledge! Oy Vey! That is one HUGE grouper! I made my way to the ledge and with light in hand looked into a cavern to see the horiszontal tail fin the size of my front door twisting and thrusting to push that mammoth into a hole half it's size. I am always amazed at that skill.
As we made our way through an area that I can only describe as a Colassal Ruins I turned to see a midsection and tail turned and swimming off. That's no Nurse shark! I grabed my buddy by the arm and spun her in a "careless and rude manner" (or so I was told) and it was gone. Oh great my own shark story no one will ever believe. Then I saw it again on and over the reef. Upon closer look this was a lemmon shark and the first one had a unmistakable black trim on the tail and a totally different shape! Two sharks free swimming around us! I was WOWed! We swam on to see a juvenile turtle and spent some time with a resting nurse shark. Then back to the boat to compare stories with the other divers.
SpadeFish Point
Jumped in for dive 2 and man is that 7mm blissful! We descended and found that we had picked up a third diver to our buddy team. I got the forefinger pointed at me from my mentor and a "well lead on look." I looked at my depth gauge and reffered to the compass to expertly lead us right to the ledge. I thought well that would be a five on any other Divemaster canidate checklist but I am under the tutolege of Miss " I expect more from you" herself, even so I think I got a 4 or at least a 3.8
I spotted a nice size drum fish and made the fish sign followed by a drumming sign. Divers would be awesome at chrades. We happened on some more skiff sized grouper that make your whole body jump when you first see them. We came to an area where the ledge drifted back over the reef and our third diver started over the 65' area of coral grasses. I torpedoed to the front of the threesome and lead the group back to the ledge again to see schools of "shooters." We saw one of my favorites a green moray happily staring us staring at him. Vickie and I stayed awhile I really like to watch these guys. The other diver was off and looking around for the ledge again. I swam over to him and he gave me the shoulder shrug and where is it look again. Vickie indicated to me that she only had five minutes left of NDL (that RGBM thing Sunnto uses is REALLY conservative). My Veo 250 bendamatic said I had 'plenty of time, don't worry mon, yo be fine.' I signed to V that "I was going to lead this guy back to the ledge then we would go up, or three minutes whatever came first." We have to start a Conch Divers Professional Chrades team. I lead the diver back to the ledge and signed to him that my buddy and I were going to go up. He nodded and followed the ledge a bit more as we ascended.
We hung at our saftey stop and the other diver joined us so we stayed the extra time to make for a easier pick up and besides who ever wants to end a dive?
The diving was fantastic and everyone was all smiles, wide eyes and excitedly telling tales about the sights we'd seen. The only downside of the day was that more of our friends, sadly could not have been there.
Area 51
This is an awesome Jupiter site. HUGE ledges that are better described as cliffs and valleys. My dive buddy and I got majorally seperated at entry but we swam to the ledge and a few quacks and azimuths later we began our drift. This was a dive looking for Lemmon sharks but any diving is better than not diving. We made our way up the ledge line and my buddy and I played shoot the fish with finger and forefinger whenever we saw a nice size eater. As I peeked around a gigantic coral head I saw a brown VW bus swim under the ledge! Oy Vey! That is one HUGE grouper! I made my way to the ledge and with light in hand looked into a cavern to see the horiszontal tail fin the size of my front door twisting and thrusting to push that mammoth into a hole half it's size. I am always amazed at that skill.
As we made our way through an area that I can only describe as a Colassal Ruins I turned to see a midsection and tail turned and swimming off. That's no Nurse shark! I grabed my buddy by the arm and spun her in a "careless and rude manner" (or so I was told) and it was gone. Oh great my own shark story no one will ever believe. Then I saw it again on and over the reef. Upon closer look this was a lemmon shark and the first one had a unmistakable black trim on the tail and a totally different shape! Two sharks free swimming around us! I was WOWed! We swam on to see a juvenile turtle and spent some time with a resting nurse shark. Then back to the boat to compare stories with the other divers.
SpadeFish Point
Jumped in for dive 2 and man is that 7mm blissful! We descended and found that we had picked up a third diver to our buddy team. I got the forefinger pointed at me from my mentor and a "well lead on look." I looked at my depth gauge and reffered to the compass to expertly lead us right to the ledge. I thought well that would be a five on any other Divemaster canidate checklist but I am under the tutolege of Miss " I expect more from you" herself, even so I think I got a 4 or at least a 3.8
I spotted a nice size drum fish and made the fish sign followed by a drumming sign. Divers would be awesome at chrades. We happened on some more skiff sized grouper that make your whole body jump when you first see them. We came to an area where the ledge drifted back over the reef and our third diver started over the 65' area of coral grasses. I torpedoed to the front of the threesome and lead the group back to the ledge again to see schools of "shooters." We saw one of my favorites a green moray happily staring us staring at him. Vickie and I stayed awhile I really like to watch these guys. The other diver was off and looking around for the ledge again. I swam over to him and he gave me the shoulder shrug and where is it look again. Vickie indicated to me that she only had five minutes left of NDL (that RGBM thing Sunnto uses is REALLY conservative). My Veo 250 bendamatic said I had 'plenty of time, don't worry mon, yo be fine.' I signed to V that "I was going to lead this guy back to the ledge then we would go up, or three minutes whatever came first." We have to start a Conch Divers Professional Chrades team. I lead the diver back to the ledge and signed to him that my buddy and I were going to go up. He nodded and followed the ledge a bit more as we ascended.
We hung at our saftey stop and the other diver joined us so we stayed the extra time to make for a easier pick up and besides who ever wants to end a dive?
The diving was fantastic and everyone was all smiles, wide eyes and excitedly telling tales about the sights we'd seen. The only downside of the day was that more of our friends, sadly could not have been there.
