OP
Day 2 of 3 in the books. I got out with Splashdown Divers yesterday (Saturday May 1st). I will be brief, as I am getting ready to head out this morning for my last two dives of fhe weekend. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day out on the water. Sunny to partly cloudy with air temps in the mid to upper 80's and a slight breeze. The surface water was pretty much like glass. No swell to speak of. super flat and calm. Water temp dropped about 1 degree where we dived from the day before. A bot of a thermocline below 50 feet- So, 76-77 but still comfortable. Visibility deteriorated from the day before. The water was cloudy/murky with a lot of particulate. I would say 35 feet or so and a bit more greenish. Still excellent, compared to Pacific NW, obviously.
Looking back on the entire day, I had another large and girthy Lemon shark experience, another large nurse shark also. On the last dive of the day at Lynn's reef, a mutual friend of @scubadada and I (Maricela) and her son Alejandro had the fortunate pleasure of seeing a big Hammerhead, but alas, I was not with them to bear witness. Still waiting to see my first ever Hammerhead. One of these days.
Saw lots of black and white eels throughout the day, some more spadefish and just tons of spotted drum fish and High Hats. The High Hats really stood out throughout the day as I was seeing them in small schools under the overhangs. Scrawled filefish stood out also. Saw one really big porcupine fish. We killed a few small lionfish. Seems like the local dive crew is doing a good job of rooting them out. Very few to be seen these days.
I dived a few new sites I had not dived before (Gazebo and Lollipop) the other two dives were at Gulf Stream Ledge and Lynn's. We litterally had ZERO current on the first 2 dives. It wasn't until late afternoon at Lynn's that we saw real current, which made for a much different dive there than on Firday. The current pushed us NE into deeper water, which is why Maricela saw the Hammerhead. Also, had a wonderful huge Loggerhead encounter toward the end of the dive at Lynn's Reef.
Splashdown did a good job of safely getting us out and back all day. Their boat as 2 engines and is quite fast, so it makes getting out and back much quicker. We had a full boat for the morning dives (18 divers)- That was an eye opener for me. I haven't been around so many divers since the pandemic. It was just 7 of us for the afternoon, so that was nice and we had plenty of room to roam on the boat.
OK-- Out the door for the last dives of this short trip.
Cheers!
Looking back on the entire day, I had another large and girthy Lemon shark experience, another large nurse shark also. On the last dive of the day at Lynn's reef, a mutual friend of @scubadada and I (Maricela) and her son Alejandro had the fortunate pleasure of seeing a big Hammerhead, but alas, I was not with them to bear witness. Still waiting to see my first ever Hammerhead. One of these days.
Saw lots of black and white eels throughout the day, some more spadefish and just tons of spotted drum fish and High Hats. The High Hats really stood out throughout the day as I was seeing them in small schools under the overhangs. Scrawled filefish stood out also. Saw one really big porcupine fish. We killed a few small lionfish. Seems like the local dive crew is doing a good job of rooting them out. Very few to be seen these days.
I dived a few new sites I had not dived before (Gazebo and Lollipop) the other two dives were at Gulf Stream Ledge and Lynn's. We litterally had ZERO current on the first 2 dives. It wasn't until late afternoon at Lynn's that we saw real current, which made for a much different dive there than on Firday. The current pushed us NE into deeper water, which is why Maricela saw the Hammerhead. Also, had a wonderful huge Loggerhead encounter toward the end of the dive at Lynn's Reef.
Splashdown did a good job of safely getting us out and back all day. Their boat as 2 engines and is quite fast, so it makes getting out and back much quicker. We had a full boat for the morning dives (18 divers)- That was an eye opener for me. I haven't been around so many divers since the pandemic. It was just 7 of us for the afternoon, so that was nice and we had plenty of room to roam on the boat.
OK-- Out the door for the last dives of this short trip.
Cheers!
