Good thing we're not heading out today! 7 to 10 would make one H#LL of a crossing! Rock and Roll!!!!
We're goin' divin' ! We're goin' divin' !!!!!
We're goin' divin' ! We're goin' divin' !!!!!
Dry Tortugas Live Aboard Thanksgiving Day Trip
- Thread starter Marvel
- Start date
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Lots of fun in those seas.
Well, this will be my last post before heading out at noon tomorrow for Ft. Myers for the weekend in the Tortugas. I can't wait to meet you all! Hunters, we've organized some pools for largest lobster, largest grouper, largest hogfish, largest snapper. Any other ideas? The seas are going to be iffy at times, but I think, overall, we're going to have a GREAT time. I can't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving Weekend.
I dropped Linda Blue Dolphin off there yesterday... there were a number of folks alrady on board. There were already others on board when I helped her get bags on board.. looks like it'll be a fun weekend
Where were all the ScubaBoarders???
Well, we're back. The captain brought us in early due to high winds. We had 15 to 20 knots from the north/northeast all weekend.
I'm putting together a full trip report and will post it as soon as I'm done.
Over all, it was a great trip. It would have been MUCH nicer if the winds had laid down.
I'm putting together a full trip report and will post it as soon as I'm done.
Over all, it was a great trip. It would have been MUCH nicer if the winds had laid down.
Yeah - I was sorta at the boat after it came it - the guy with the big ole black Jeep.. I gave Linda a ride back to my lil casa and then to the dive shop with me for the day.
The Short Report:
We had a GREAT weekend. The crew was super. The food was awesome. The diving was OK. The harvest sucked. The wind was blowing at 15 to 20 knots all weekend. The seas were running 4 to 6 while diving and higher while moving the boat. I gotta give it to Captain Rick for even getting a dive weekend out of this windy mess.
We visited Ft. Jefferson and dove the Tortugas on Friday. Vis was lower than expected – 30 feet. Water temp was 80 on the first dive and decreased to 72 by the forth dive. Seas ran 4 to 6. The first three dives were in the Sanctuary – AWESOME diving. The forth dive was outside so we could hunt. I shot a big Ocean Trigger. A few bugs were brought up.
Friday night, the captain took us to the Marquises to get refuge from the wind. On Saturday, we did 4 ‘drift’ dives in this area. We had much better visibility, but the first two dives were not really good hunting locations. The second two spots were much better. A bunch of bugs were caught and a bunch of hogfish were shot. Everything was much smaller than I expected for this area.
The captain cut the trip short due to the crappy wind and we headed home Saturday after dinner. We arrived at the dock around 9:30 Sunday morning rather than 5:00 PM.
The whole weekend was sunny and warm, except for the crappy wind.
We made some new great friends whom I’m sure will be coming to visit us in Florida.
I will definitely book this trip again – during better wind conditions.
Loooooong report to follow...
We had a GREAT weekend. The crew was super. The food was awesome. The diving was OK. The harvest sucked. The wind was blowing at 15 to 20 knots all weekend. The seas were running 4 to 6 while diving and higher while moving the boat. I gotta give it to Captain Rick for even getting a dive weekend out of this windy mess.
We visited Ft. Jefferson and dove the Tortugas on Friday. Vis was lower than expected – 30 feet. Water temp was 80 on the first dive and decreased to 72 by the forth dive. Seas ran 4 to 6. The first three dives were in the Sanctuary – AWESOME diving. The forth dive was outside so we could hunt. I shot a big Ocean Trigger. A few bugs were brought up.
Friday night, the captain took us to the Marquises to get refuge from the wind. On Saturday, we did 4 ‘drift’ dives in this area. We had much better visibility, but the first two dives were not really good hunting locations. The second two spots were much better. A bunch of bugs were caught and a bunch of hogfish were shot. Everything was much smaller than I expected for this area.
The captain cut the trip short due to the crappy wind and we headed home Saturday after dinner. We arrived at the dock around 9:30 Sunday morning rather than 5:00 PM.
The whole weekend was sunny and warm, except for the crappy wind.
We made some new great friends whom I’m sure will be coming to visit us in Florida.
I will definitely book this trip again – during better wind conditions.
Loooooong report to follow...
The LOOOOOONG Report
Crew:
Captain Rick
Co-Captain Matt
Engineer Al
Deck Hands Lori and Chuck
Cook Jay
Divers:
Emmie DiveGal (Me) (SB)
Bobby (SB via DiveGal)
Bob G (SB via DiveGal)
Nate G (SB via DiveGal)
Stevo The Single Guy (SB via DiveGal)
Robert Zendiver (SB)
Kristy (SB via Zendiver)
Linda Blue Dolphin (SB)
Stu In Fl (SB)
Sonny Beaches (SB)
Richard PacketSniffer (SB)
Jan Lucky (SB)
Tim Netmage (SB)
Gina (SB?)
Dave (SB?)
Suki (SB?)
Ron (SB?)
Steve from Kissimmee
Fedor (SB?)
Dry Tortugas Live-A-Board Dive Trip
Ultimate Getaway, Captain Rick
November 23 – 26, 2006
Note: Prior to leaving on this trip, I got a prescription for Antivert from my family doctor. A friend recommended it for motion sickness. It is a prescription strength Dramamine without any side effects. I think it probably saved my live on this trip.
We anticipated this trip with some trepidation due to the wind and wave forecasts from NOAA and FNMOC. Hmmm… We decided to let the captain make the final decision and it was a go. Forecasts had shown the winds laying down a bit – well, the forecasts got it WRONG!!!!! Lesson Learned: When in doubt of the forecast, don’t get pissed if you go anyway and it sucks. Make a good time out it.
We arrived at the boat ‘The Ultimate Getaway’ ( http://www.ultimategetaway.net ) in Ft. Myers around 4:30 PM to find 6 other guest had already arrived. We boarded and tried to figure out where everyone was bunking. There was no Crew on the boat. We found an area with 12 bunks in the stern of the boat of which 6 were taken. We took 5 and then went searching for the other 8 bunks. We found them in the bow of the boat. They were much smaller bunks than what we found in the back of the boat. Linda and Sonny ended up sleeping in the salon since their bunks were in the point of the bow and seas were rough. Lesson Learned: If you’re booking on this boat, arrive early and claim bunks in the back of the boat – especially if you’re expecting rough seas. A friend of mine went on a trip in July and two guests bunked in the bow with no complaints – but they had flat seas.
Check-in was at 6:00 PM so we ventured out for dinner. We arrived back around 6:15, signed in with Sherry, filled out our paperwork, and paid our fee. We got the ‘group of 10’ discount. We missed the additional $15 discount for 20 due to late cancellations. They were able to fill all but one of the empty spots. Total per person cost was $682.96 which included NITROX and sales tax. I was very surprised that no one ever asked to see a certification card. There was a mix of hunters and photographers.
Captain Rick gave us a boat briefing and introduced us to the Crew. The Captain had us all blow up our safety sausages. Mine didn’t blow up. The mouth piece was gone. :11: I was lucky that they had them for sale on the boat for $15. We later learned that these little devises were extremely important on this trip. Lesson Learned: Check ALL of your equipment before a long trip.
There was a mix of spearos, buggers, and photographers and everyone was super. Lesson Learned: If you expect to hunt, hunt, hunt, make sure you book an ‘all hunters’ trip. If you don’t want to be around spear guns and hard-core hunting types, book a ‘non-hunters’ trip. UG offers both. Captain Rick was a little confused that we were a mixed bag. Due to us being a mix, the Captain suggested Friday in the Sanctuary and Saturday outside for hunting. Sounded like a good plan to me. We all agreed.
Captain Rick headed out around 7:00 PM. We socialized for awhile, got to know each other, and swapped dive stories.
I hit the hay around 10:30 PM and had a really good nights sleep – maybe all of those mudslides I drank had something to do with that ????
Fort Jefferson
Those of us still asleep at 7:00 AM were woken up for breakfast. It was yummy bacon and eggs. We were at the dock at Fort Jefferson and I was feeling great. $5 got you into the Fort to explore and for a really neat tour. If you’ve never been there, you should make an effort to go. It’s an amazing place.
( http://www.drytortugasinfo.com )
We had to be off the dock by 9:00 AM. Jay served a yummy fruit plate with cantaloupe, strawberries, bananas, and grapes. After a little munching, we got ready for our first dive.
First Day – First Dive
The first dive was at a location that the Captain called Oz. Max depth – 75’. It was in the Sanctuary so no hunting. At 11:00 AM, the boat was moored and nineteen divers hit the water. What can I say? WOW! The site had huge relief, big grouper (blacks, reds, and gags, oh my) and lots of fish. I saw one lobster.
This place had great swim-throughs. We took our scooters and had a wonderful time playing in the reef. I felt like a fish myself. I mean, we actually were swimming IN the reef. In one side, out the other. In the side, down, around, then up and out the top. It was so much fun! I can’t believe we fit on those tunnels!
The fish were not at all skittish (duh) and let us come right up to them. Some divers reported groupers becoming their dive buddies. Richard got some GREAT pictures of a red grouper that hung with him for awhile. The water was 80 degrees and there was a slight current. The vis wasn’t very good – around 30 feet and milky. This was due to strong winds in the area stirring up the bottom.
We surfaced and found it a challenge to get on the boat due to the rough seas. But the crew was wonderful helping everyone get back on safely. Jay had a veggie plate and nachos with dip waiting for us to munch on.
The crew quickly filled and analyzed our tanks and marked our O2 tags. The analyzer was available for the divers to check their own tanks. We usually got 30% or 31% in 95 cf steel tanks.
First Day – Second Dive
I opt’ed out of the second dive to just relax a bit on the boat.
First Day - Lunch
Lunch was served at noon – Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, salad
First Day – Third Dive
Since everyone was diving NITROX, up time was easy to calculate. After lunch, we’re back in the water at another Sanctuary location called Medium. This was another beautiful reef with 30 foot relief, lots of colorful coral, and more big grouper – but no lobster. Hmmm… Not a good sign. Same vis and temp as the first dive.
After my 40 minute dive to a max depth of 75 feet, I had another rough time getting back on the boat. Those waves were nasty causing the ladders to fly up and down making it extremely hard to board.
First Day – Forth Dive
The Captain decided to take us out of the Sanctuary and put us on a hunting spot. This was not a good omen. He had decided that since the winds were not laying down as expected, he was going to run to the Marquises to get us some protection from the wind and stopped on the way at a location called /\$$ Fest to let us hunt. Seriously, I think he makes this sh#t up! (creative penmanship - /\ makes an A)
I entered the water with great anticipation – every piece of lobster gear I had was clipped to me somewhere and in my hands, my trusty JBL. I was going to shoot me some fish and catch me some BIG bugs!!!! Well, disappointment. I didn’t see one bug. The hogfish were small. I didn’t see any snapper. I did have a rather large ocean trigger swim past so I blasted him. Bad shot – just nicked him under the mouth. I was sure he was going to tear through and be gone. I pulled him in and strung him through the mouth (these buggers will bite you if you go through the eyes). He fought me every bit of the way. Then he tried to swim away with my stringer – attached to my BC! This was not going to work. So I pulled out my knife and hit him where my spear should have hit him. A cloud of green blood and he was barely twitchin’.
After 40 minutes of down time, I surfaced with my one lonely trigger. I inflated my safety sausage and waited for the boat to come pick me up. It was another rough boarding.
Jay served a wonderful treat of hot chocolate chip cookies shortly after everyone boarded – Yummy!
The showers were hot and felt great! Shampoo, conditioner and soap was dispensed on the shower wall.
First Day – Dinner
Dinner was at 7:00 – Chicken Marcela, rice, salad, corn, cheesecake, vanilla ice cream
The Captain headed east towards the islands to find us some shelter from the winds for the night. I was beat and was in bed by 9:00 PM. No Bailey’s for me tonight.
Crew:
Captain Rick
Co-Captain Matt
Engineer Al
Deck Hands Lori and Chuck
Cook Jay
Divers:
Emmie DiveGal (Me) (SB)
Bobby (SB via DiveGal)
Bob G (SB via DiveGal)
Nate G (SB via DiveGal)
Stevo The Single Guy (SB via DiveGal)
Robert Zendiver (SB)
Kristy (SB via Zendiver)
Linda Blue Dolphin (SB)
Stu In Fl (SB)
Sonny Beaches (SB)
Richard PacketSniffer (SB)
Jan Lucky (SB)
Tim Netmage (SB)
Gina (SB?)
Dave (SB?)
Suki (SB?)
Ron (SB?)
Steve from Kissimmee
Fedor (SB?)
Dry Tortugas Live-A-Board Dive Trip
Ultimate Getaway, Captain Rick
November 23 – 26, 2006
Note: Prior to leaving on this trip, I got a prescription for Antivert from my family doctor. A friend recommended it for motion sickness. It is a prescription strength Dramamine without any side effects. I think it probably saved my live on this trip.
We anticipated this trip with some trepidation due to the wind and wave forecasts from NOAA and FNMOC. Hmmm… We decided to let the captain make the final decision and it was a go. Forecasts had shown the winds laying down a bit – well, the forecasts got it WRONG!!!!! Lesson Learned: When in doubt of the forecast, don’t get pissed if you go anyway and it sucks. Make a good time out it.
We arrived at the boat ‘The Ultimate Getaway’ ( http://www.ultimategetaway.net ) in Ft. Myers around 4:30 PM to find 6 other guest had already arrived. We boarded and tried to figure out where everyone was bunking. There was no Crew on the boat. We found an area with 12 bunks in the stern of the boat of which 6 were taken. We took 5 and then went searching for the other 8 bunks. We found them in the bow of the boat. They were much smaller bunks than what we found in the back of the boat. Linda and Sonny ended up sleeping in the salon since their bunks were in the point of the bow and seas were rough. Lesson Learned: If you’re booking on this boat, arrive early and claim bunks in the back of the boat – especially if you’re expecting rough seas. A friend of mine went on a trip in July and two guests bunked in the bow with no complaints – but they had flat seas.
Check-in was at 6:00 PM so we ventured out for dinner. We arrived back around 6:15, signed in with Sherry, filled out our paperwork, and paid our fee. We got the ‘group of 10’ discount. We missed the additional $15 discount for 20 due to late cancellations. They were able to fill all but one of the empty spots. Total per person cost was $682.96 which included NITROX and sales tax. I was very surprised that no one ever asked to see a certification card. There was a mix of hunters and photographers.
Captain Rick gave us a boat briefing and introduced us to the Crew. The Captain had us all blow up our safety sausages. Mine didn’t blow up. The mouth piece was gone. :11: I was lucky that they had them for sale on the boat for $15. We later learned that these little devises were extremely important on this trip. Lesson Learned: Check ALL of your equipment before a long trip.
There was a mix of spearos, buggers, and photographers and everyone was super. Lesson Learned: If you expect to hunt, hunt, hunt, make sure you book an ‘all hunters’ trip. If you don’t want to be around spear guns and hard-core hunting types, book a ‘non-hunters’ trip. UG offers both. Captain Rick was a little confused that we were a mixed bag. Due to us being a mix, the Captain suggested Friday in the Sanctuary and Saturday outside for hunting. Sounded like a good plan to me. We all agreed.
Captain Rick headed out around 7:00 PM. We socialized for awhile, got to know each other, and swapped dive stories.
I hit the hay around 10:30 PM and had a really good nights sleep – maybe all of those mudslides I drank had something to do with that ????
Fort Jefferson
Those of us still asleep at 7:00 AM were woken up for breakfast. It was yummy bacon and eggs. We were at the dock at Fort Jefferson and I was feeling great. $5 got you into the Fort to explore and for a really neat tour. If you’ve never been there, you should make an effort to go. It’s an amazing place.
( http://www.drytortugasinfo.com )
We had to be off the dock by 9:00 AM. Jay served a yummy fruit plate with cantaloupe, strawberries, bananas, and grapes. After a little munching, we got ready for our first dive.
First Day – First Dive
The first dive was at a location that the Captain called Oz. Max depth – 75’. It was in the Sanctuary so no hunting. At 11:00 AM, the boat was moored and nineteen divers hit the water. What can I say? WOW! The site had huge relief, big grouper (blacks, reds, and gags, oh my) and lots of fish. I saw one lobster.
This place had great swim-throughs. We took our scooters and had a wonderful time playing in the reef. I felt like a fish myself. I mean, we actually were swimming IN the reef. In one side, out the other. In the side, down, around, then up and out the top. It was so much fun! I can’t believe we fit on those tunnels!
The fish were not at all skittish (duh) and let us come right up to them. Some divers reported groupers becoming their dive buddies. Richard got some GREAT pictures of a red grouper that hung with him for awhile. The water was 80 degrees and there was a slight current. The vis wasn’t very good – around 30 feet and milky. This was due to strong winds in the area stirring up the bottom.
We surfaced and found it a challenge to get on the boat due to the rough seas. But the crew was wonderful helping everyone get back on safely. Jay had a veggie plate and nachos with dip waiting for us to munch on.
The crew quickly filled and analyzed our tanks and marked our O2 tags. The analyzer was available for the divers to check their own tanks. We usually got 30% or 31% in 95 cf steel tanks.
First Day – Second Dive
I opt’ed out of the second dive to just relax a bit on the boat.
First Day - Lunch
Lunch was served at noon – Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, salad
First Day – Third Dive
Since everyone was diving NITROX, up time was easy to calculate. After lunch, we’re back in the water at another Sanctuary location called Medium. This was another beautiful reef with 30 foot relief, lots of colorful coral, and more big grouper – but no lobster. Hmmm… Not a good sign. Same vis and temp as the first dive.
After my 40 minute dive to a max depth of 75 feet, I had another rough time getting back on the boat. Those waves were nasty causing the ladders to fly up and down making it extremely hard to board.
First Day – Forth Dive
The Captain decided to take us out of the Sanctuary and put us on a hunting spot. This was not a good omen. He had decided that since the winds were not laying down as expected, he was going to run to the Marquises to get us some protection from the wind and stopped on the way at a location called /\$$ Fest to let us hunt. Seriously, I think he makes this sh#t up! (creative penmanship - /\ makes an A)
I entered the water with great anticipation – every piece of lobster gear I had was clipped to me somewhere and in my hands, my trusty JBL. I was going to shoot me some fish and catch me some BIG bugs!!!! Well, disappointment. I didn’t see one bug. The hogfish were small. I didn’t see any snapper. I did have a rather large ocean trigger swim past so I blasted him. Bad shot – just nicked him under the mouth. I was sure he was going to tear through and be gone. I pulled him in and strung him through the mouth (these buggers will bite you if you go through the eyes). He fought me every bit of the way. Then he tried to swim away with my stringer – attached to my BC! This was not going to work. So I pulled out my knife and hit him where my spear should have hit him. A cloud of green blood and he was barely twitchin’.
After 40 minutes of down time, I surfaced with my one lonely trigger. I inflated my safety sausage and waited for the boat to come pick me up. It was another rough boarding.
Jay served a wonderful treat of hot chocolate chip cookies shortly after everyone boarded – Yummy!
The showers were hot and felt great! Shampoo, conditioner and soap was dispensed on the shower wall.
First Day – Dinner
Dinner was at 7:00 – Chicken Marcela, rice, salad, corn, cheesecake, vanilla ice cream
The Captain headed east towards the islands to find us some shelter from the winds for the night. I was beat and was in bed by 9:00 PM. No Bailey’s for me tonight.
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