Hetland
Contributor
Met up with Larry (Recharge) Brandon and Jessie (Red Texan) for a couple of dives Saturday. The plan was to recover an anchor or two, and maybe shoot a fish if the opportunity presented itself. We had to wait out a line of storms at the dock, but it passed quickly to the East, and we were on our way. We did not find the 1ft seas that were forecast, but we did find a pretty constant group of 3ft seas, with a 4 or 5 thrown in at random. We also found the water inshore pretty dark and stuffed with crap, so we elected to head a bit offshore to the trio of I-10 rubble piles.
We arrived to find the area mostly to ourselves. I dropped the anchor, and could clearly see it's details after loosing 30ft of rope, so I was pretty excited about viz in the area. We geared up and splashed to find we could see bottom from about 8ft, which gave us vertical viz of 72ft. At depth there may have been a few feet more of horizontal viz, but don't make me swear to it.
I was more interested in fish than anchors, so I set out to find a fat black snapper. I quickly swam the length of the rubble, and found that the fish in the area were shy. I had a nice school of amberjack give me the once over, but that was about it. When I reached the other side of the rubble, and the structure thinned out, I noticed mangroves swimming up from their hidey-holes to greet me. I was pretty excited until they gave me the once-over, and turned back for their homes. Apparently they've seen divers with spearguns before, and even the little guys were smart enough to give me a wide berth. I did see about four flounder, but only the last one tempted me into a blood lust. He measured in the 20" range, and ended up in the fishbox
DIVE 1
In: 10:43
Out: 11:21
Bottom Time: 38
Water Temp: 83
Max Depth: 78
Average Depth: 53.3
We hauled anchor and set out to look at some new numbers I had developed about two miles away. We buzzed three sites, but found neither fish or structure at any of them. We debated a bit, and decided to hit a different set of bridge rubble. We rolled to find more great viz. It was a bit hazier than our first dive, but we still had around 70ft or so. On descent I immediately spotted a fresh anchor rope, so I followed it with my eye, and spotted the anchor and a bit of chain attached. I estimate the anchor had been down less than a week. The rope, anchor and chain were all in great shape, without any growth or surface corrosion. I unassed the anchor and line from some fishing line and drug it a bit to the edge of the rubble. Larry had let me borrow his new lift bag, so I attached the anchor to the bag, and slowly inflated it with exhaust air. The anchor started to rise, so I gave it an upward shove for the air to expand, and lightly held the rope in my fingers to slow it's ascent to the surface a bit. When I turned around, I noticed that Jessie was dealing with a nice flounder of his own. This was Jessie's first spearfishing experience, so I could tell he was excited about securing dinner for the night (and really, who's not excited about fresh flounder?) While Jessie was dealing with his flounder, I shot a nice-sized spadefish (for VortoberFest grill). My shot was bad however (too far back) and he was able to break free. It was then that I noticed one of my bands was about to give up the ghost. I restrung, and set my one band, which didn't look too good either. Jessie and I set out to find more flounder. We swam the length of the reef, and I got a close-in shot of a large black snapper. Sadly, I lost him as well. He dove into the reef, and pulled off of my spear. I can't say if the second band would have mattered, but I wonder... I navigated us back to the anchor line and found it..... gone? I knew we were in the right place, but the anchor had been removed. We did our free ascent, and I spotted the boat on our safety stop (man I love 70ft+ viz!). We surfaced near the boat, and got back aboard. Our crew had determined that there was "No Way" that we could have successfully navigated back to the anchor line from where we had traveled on the reef (it's a big reef, and it mostly looks the same, so it is a bit easy to get turned around and lost), so they had free-boated in order to get to us quickly in case we were surfacing among sharks (not a bad idea).
Dive 2
In: 1:12
Out: 1:47
Bottom Time: 35
Surface Interval: 1:51
Water Temp: 84
Max Depth: 79
Average Depth: 59.3
So, at the end of the day we got a couple of dives, two nice flounder, an anchor, chain, and about 70ft of rope. Sure beats watching football
I did get a few frames of video. Nothing worth writing home about, but perhaps something to watch on your coffee break whilst dreaming of your next dive.
We arrived to find the area mostly to ourselves. I dropped the anchor, and could clearly see it's details after loosing 30ft of rope, so I was pretty excited about viz in the area. We geared up and splashed to find we could see bottom from about 8ft, which gave us vertical viz of 72ft. At depth there may have been a few feet more of horizontal viz, but don't make me swear to it.
I was more interested in fish than anchors, so I set out to find a fat black snapper. I quickly swam the length of the rubble, and found that the fish in the area were shy. I had a nice school of amberjack give me the once over, but that was about it. When I reached the other side of the rubble, and the structure thinned out, I noticed mangroves swimming up from their hidey-holes to greet me. I was pretty excited until they gave me the once-over, and turned back for their homes. Apparently they've seen divers with spearguns before, and even the little guys were smart enough to give me a wide berth. I did see about four flounder, but only the last one tempted me into a blood lust. He measured in the 20" range, and ended up in the fishbox
DIVE 1
In: 10:43
Out: 11:21
Bottom Time: 38
Water Temp: 83
Max Depth: 78
Average Depth: 53.3
We hauled anchor and set out to look at some new numbers I had developed about two miles away. We buzzed three sites, but found neither fish or structure at any of them. We debated a bit, and decided to hit a different set of bridge rubble. We rolled to find more great viz. It was a bit hazier than our first dive, but we still had around 70ft or so. On descent I immediately spotted a fresh anchor rope, so I followed it with my eye, and spotted the anchor and a bit of chain attached. I estimate the anchor had been down less than a week. The rope, anchor and chain were all in great shape, without any growth or surface corrosion. I unassed the anchor and line from some fishing line and drug it a bit to the edge of the rubble. Larry had let me borrow his new lift bag, so I attached the anchor to the bag, and slowly inflated it with exhaust air. The anchor started to rise, so I gave it an upward shove for the air to expand, and lightly held the rope in my fingers to slow it's ascent to the surface a bit. When I turned around, I noticed that Jessie was dealing with a nice flounder of his own. This was Jessie's first spearfishing experience, so I could tell he was excited about securing dinner for the night (and really, who's not excited about fresh flounder?) While Jessie was dealing with his flounder, I shot a nice-sized spadefish (for VortoberFest grill). My shot was bad however (too far back) and he was able to break free. It was then that I noticed one of my bands was about to give up the ghost. I restrung, and set my one band, which didn't look too good either. Jessie and I set out to find more flounder. We swam the length of the reef, and I got a close-in shot of a large black snapper. Sadly, I lost him as well. He dove into the reef, and pulled off of my spear. I can't say if the second band would have mattered, but I wonder... I navigated us back to the anchor line and found it..... gone? I knew we were in the right place, but the anchor had been removed. We did our free ascent, and I spotted the boat on our safety stop (man I love 70ft+ viz!). We surfaced near the boat, and got back aboard. Our crew had determined that there was "No Way" that we could have successfully navigated back to the anchor line from where we had traveled on the reef (it's a big reef, and it mostly looks the same, so it is a bit easy to get turned around and lost), so they had free-boated in order to get to us quickly in case we were surfacing among sharks (not a bad idea).
Dive 2
In: 1:12
Out: 1:47
Bottom Time: 35
Surface Interval: 1:51
Water Temp: 84
Max Depth: 79
Average Depth: 59.3
So, at the end of the day we got a couple of dives, two nice flounder, an anchor, chain, and about 70ft of rope. Sure beats watching football
I did get a few frames of video. Nothing worth writing home about, but perhaps something to watch on your coffee break whilst dreaming of your next dive.
