We had an awesome trip! Visibility was really good (in the 40-80 foot range) on most of the dives and the water was a lot warmer than what we have here in Ohio. My computer was showing 80 degrees on the surface and 73 degrees at 100 feet. I'll try to keep this trip report short and sweet 
June 21 we dove the St. Andrew's Jetties. This was my first time on a jettie so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The visibility was good and the bottom was lower than my husband remembered. Last time he was there the max depth was about 40 feet, we saw 59 feet. Saw quite a few large groupers with hooks in their lips, I guess they were the "one's that got away." We also saw some HUGE arrow crabs, some were nearly a foot in diameter! WOW! I got cold in my full 3 mil suit but I figured that was due to the 51 minutes of bottom time.
June 22 we went out with Hydrospace on a 4-hour trip. We dove the Black Bart and Stage II. My husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with these dives.
Black Bart was the best of the two, I even saw my first leopard toadfish there. Walter had to practically hang a sign up to help me figure out what he was pointing at because the thing blended into the wreck.
Stage II had the worst visibility of the week (about 20 feet). We saw some triggerfish on their nests, you could even see the eggs they were guarding which was really cool.
June 23 we did another 4 hour trip and visited the Strength and Span #1.
The Strength had so many baitfish on it I felt like I was in "Finding Nemo" where the school of fish were making the pictures for Nemo and his friend. The number of fish actually reduced the visibility on the dive, I've never been on a dive where you couldn't see the wreck for the fish but that was the case here.
Span #1 had great visibility and the sun shining through the structure gave that bridge a surreal quality. This was just a nice peaceful dive.
June 24 we had run out of cool stuff to see on 4 hour trips so we opted to switch to a 6 hour trip. We dove the FAMI Tugs and Chippewa.
This was the best diving day of the trip. We saw a Goliath Grouper in one of the tugs, that was the biggest fish I had ever seen! The first mate said it probably weighs 350 pounds or so. I hope my pictures come out!
The Chippewa dive turned out to be the best one of the whole trip. The dive was nice but the safety stop was awesome. We were hanging at 15 feet when a pod of 9 dolphins (8 gray, 1 black & white) swam out of the blue and passed not 10 feet from Bruce and I. That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen, I don't think any of us had ever encountered dolphins on a dive before.
June 25 was another 6 hour trip as well as Walter's birthday. This time we dove the Akokeek and then hit the FAMI tugs a second time.
We all wore Spongebob Squarepants bookbag clips attached to our gear for the dives--we're dorks, what can I say
The Akokeek is a cool wreck to explore but we didn't have a whole lot of time due to our nitrogen load. I'd like to go back and do that one again early in the dive trip.
Our second trip to the tugs Bruce found a bench grinder with a sign under it that said you need to wear safety glasses to operate the equipment. We thought that was something unique.
All in all an awesome trip!
Ber :lilbunny:
June 21 we dove the St. Andrew's Jetties. This was my first time on a jettie so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The visibility was good and the bottom was lower than my husband remembered. Last time he was there the max depth was about 40 feet, we saw 59 feet. Saw quite a few large groupers with hooks in their lips, I guess they were the "one's that got away." We also saw some HUGE arrow crabs, some were nearly a foot in diameter! WOW! I got cold in my full 3 mil suit but I figured that was due to the 51 minutes of bottom time.
June 22 we went out with Hydrospace on a 4-hour trip. We dove the Black Bart and Stage II. My husband and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with these dives.
Black Bart was the best of the two, I even saw my first leopard toadfish there. Walter had to practically hang a sign up to help me figure out what he was pointing at because the thing blended into the wreck.
Stage II had the worst visibility of the week (about 20 feet). We saw some triggerfish on their nests, you could even see the eggs they were guarding which was really cool.
June 23 we did another 4 hour trip and visited the Strength and Span #1.
The Strength had so many baitfish on it I felt like I was in "Finding Nemo" where the school of fish were making the pictures for Nemo and his friend. The number of fish actually reduced the visibility on the dive, I've never been on a dive where you couldn't see the wreck for the fish but that was the case here.
Span #1 had great visibility and the sun shining through the structure gave that bridge a surreal quality. This was just a nice peaceful dive.
June 24 we had run out of cool stuff to see on 4 hour trips so we opted to switch to a 6 hour trip. We dove the FAMI Tugs and Chippewa.
This was the best diving day of the trip. We saw a Goliath Grouper in one of the tugs, that was the biggest fish I had ever seen! The first mate said it probably weighs 350 pounds or so. I hope my pictures come out!
The Chippewa dive turned out to be the best one of the whole trip. The dive was nice but the safety stop was awesome. We were hanging at 15 feet when a pod of 9 dolphins (8 gray, 1 black & white) swam out of the blue and passed not 10 feet from Bruce and I. That was the coolest thing I'd ever seen, I don't think any of us had ever encountered dolphins on a dive before.
June 25 was another 6 hour trip as well as Walter's birthday. This time we dove the Akokeek and then hit the FAMI tugs a second time.
We all wore Spongebob Squarepants bookbag clips attached to our gear for the dives--we're dorks, what can I say
The Akokeek is a cool wreck to explore but we didn't have a whole lot of time due to our nitrogen load. I'd like to go back and do that one again early in the dive trip.
Our second trip to the tugs Bruce found a bench grinder with a sign under it that said you need to wear safety glasses to operate the equipment. We thought that was something unique.
All in all an awesome trip!
Ber :lilbunny:
