Boca Grande Pass Clean up - March 21-22 (monday, tuesday)

[SharkBaite]

Just took her out yesterday and really put it through its paces, ALL PASSED. average cruising speed 30MPH around 3400 RPM's so I would say she is better than she was last year.

I have so far listed with Bob as people on my boat as...
Myself
CBulla
Jeff AKA ReefGuy
Chris AKA FFestPirate
Could take one more diver. Also in need of a Bubble Watcher, Perferably with Boating exp. Kris?????


See ya'll soon

 

[CBulla]

Add to that Rusty Farst... he's the official photographer for this event and a personal friend of mine.

I may see if I can dive his doubles sets those days so we get some good bottom time dives in the pass.. that'll really get folks wondering "how do they keep getting 1500# pulls!?"

 

[SharkBaite]

Add to that Rusty Farst... he's the official photographer for this event and a personal friend of mine.

I may see if I can dive his doubles sets those days so we get some good bottom time dives in the pass.. that'll really get folks wondering "how do they keep getting 1500# pulls!?"

Will he be diving as well??? if so PM me his Cert level and number, and I will arrange it with Bob....

 

[CBulla]

WHAT A DIVE! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! From the board I saw Walter right as I drove up, then Brian (sharkbaite), then Rusty (photoman extrodinare) showed and when we thought all hope was lost Chris shows.. the current was insane as usual, the vis was amazing for the pass, the trash was abundant... Without a bubble watcher I opted out of the second dive to allow Brian the opportunity to finally dive this amazing location. Pictures and an update to the site will occur soon...

Quote of the day:
Me - "How was the dive, Bri?"
Brian - "It wasn't easy...Kicked my butt..."
Me - "Yeah?"
Brian - "I've got another full tank, I'll go back for another 20 minutes!"

 

[Walter]

The current was much stronger today than last year, especially on the second dive. It was some of the strongest current I've ever dived. I'd guess we had 3 knots. Kudos to all who were alble to pull themselves down the line. It was no easy task.

Viz was about 8 feet and pea soup green. Temps were about 68° - 69° F.

On the first dive, we made a free drop (a big mistake). We were dropped near our anchored boat by a second boat. I had no idea where the anchor line was to be found and after collecting two bags of debris, made a free ascent. Upon reaching the surface, I inflated my BC and licked back to await a pick up. At this point, I was about 1½ - 2 miles east of my starting point. A Fish & Game boat towed me a short distance before turning me over to a Fish & Game wave runner that towed me quite a long time before turning me over to the US Coast Guard who brought me aboard (without a ladder) for the ride back to my boat. Thanks to you all!

For the second dive, I hooked up with Bob Wasno, Cheryl (head of UF's diving program - sorry I didn't catch the last name) and an interesting guy whose name I am sorry to say, I forgot. We dropped down the anchor line against a screaming current. It was difficult to just hold on to the line, pulling down was a chore. I was impressed with Cheryl's rapid descent. The woman is good!

We were in the deep hole, lots of relief and lots of trash. Unfortunately, not much bottom time. We worked well together cutting loose trash and stuffing it in bags until we were blinded by Rusty's strobe. I didn't know Rusty was nearby until I looked over when the sun came out and saw his rebreather unit. I was at the far end of my caution zone, about to head into deco, so I stopped collecting and turned back the way I came. At that point, I noticed my buddies were gone. Later I discovered they lost me when the lights came on. They kept moving, I stayed put to cut loose some heavy line. Moving along the ledge, I spotted a couple of the SO divers working. I moved beyond them, but I soon know I wasn't going to find the anchor, so I started another free ascent. This time, I swam as hard as I could against the current while ascending. At about 30 feet, I bumped into something on my right. Looking over, I saw it was the anchor line. I grabbed hold and off gassed for about 5 minutes when Rusty appeared, coming up the line. We hung around another 5 - 8 minutes then started up. The three other divers were waiting for us on board. Rusty said he came up our anchor line because he needed a break from Colin. (j/k)

It was a great experience and I'd recommend it in the future for divers experienced in task loading in strong current.

 

[CBulla]

Amazing write up Walter! You've painted a picture of what is down there pretty accurate, especially when there is the memory forever imprinted in my mind to be able to visualize exactly what your talking about.

From my vantage point on the bow of the boat I was watching the different groups of divers that were along the ridge. It was amazing to see how they were spread out just far enough apart to not see one another. I could just imagine what everyone was doing in the different locations based on what I had already seen on the first dive!

Yeah.. Rusty needed to spread some his charm and karma around and the only way to do that is get space from me!

It was a great experience and I'd recommend it in the future for divers experienced in task loading in strong current.

You are absolutely right my friend!

 

[ffestpirate]

Those were two of the most memorably incredible dives I've ever done. I really enjoyed the day. Thanks Brian, Colin, and Rusty-I had a ball!!! Walter, it was nice to meet you. I would recommend this experience to anyone and I absolutely WILL go both days next year!
WOW!!!! What a rush!

 

[ReefGuy]

!$#^@&^$#$%!

I'm about as unhappy as I can possibly be about this. Those that know me know that this is pretty much my favorite dive, and I was planning on going this year until last week, when I was informed I couldn't due to work. My cohort took a SQL management class that happened to be scheduled for THIS FREAKIN WEEK. As his reason to be absent was work related, I lost out. It happens, and as Dave is an ex green beret master sergeant who is bigger than me, I'm not saying much to him .

Now here's the worst part: A couple of months ago, I had submitted the info on the cleanup to my dive team leader here at work. He was interested in it and forwarded it up the chain. On FRIDAY, brass comes back to him and says "Hey, this looks like a good opportunity, what do you think".

@#$@&*(*!@! I could have not only made this dive with the dive team and marine patrol, I COULD HAVE GOTTEN PAID FOR IT TOO! It just sat on someone's desk too long.

I need the dates for next years' dives. I'm putting in for them immediately!

 

[ffestpirate]

!$#^@&^$#$%!

I'm about as unhappy as I can possibly be about this. Those that know me know that this is pretty much my favorite dive, and I was planning on going this year until last week, when I was informed I couldn't due to work. My cohort took a SQL management class that happened to be scheduled for THIS FREAKIN WEEK. As his reason to be absent was work related, I lost out. It happens, and as Dave is an ex green beret master sergeant who is bigger than me, I'm not saying much to him .

Now here's the worst part: A couple of months ago, I had submitted the info on the cleanup to my dive team leader here at work. He was interested in it and forwarded it up the chain. On FRIDAY, brass comes back to him and says "Hey, this looks like a good opportunity, what do you think".

@#$@&*(*!@! I could have not only made this dive with the dive team and marine patrol, I COULD HAVE GOTTEN PAID FOR IT TOO! It just sat on someone's desk too long.

I need the dates for next years' dives. I'm putting in for them immediately!

Sorry you were forced to miss. I was only able to get yesterday off or I'd be there again today.......wait 'til next year!

 

[Walter]

There were not many divers on Tuesday, so the tonnage dropped, but everyone did well. Viz was down from Monday and current was similar to that on the first dive Monday. Cheryl and Bob were excellent buddies. On the second day, I left my 7 mm suit at home and wore my 3/2 instead. Since the temps weren't bad (69° F), the 3/2 was ideal. I also opted to work without gloves the second day. The increase in dexterity was worth a couple nicks.

We dived two very interesting spots on Tuesday. The first was a large monolith where we recovered 2 bags of line and an anchor. The second was a ledge with some over hangs. We found very little on the second dive, only one full bag of line. On the first dive, we had black water at the bottom, but maybe 2½ - 3 feet at the top of the monolith. The second dive viz was about 2 feet. We made drifting free ascents from both dives. Captain Phil came and picked us up after both dives.