knobber
Registered
Well, my first trip out there was awesome! Great conditions for what I've heard about October trips.
First off, only the Fling went out since there weren't enough divers for both boats. Where were all of you?? Like work is more important than diving? Come on!
Ended up being next to the Sea Searcher the whole weekend.
Anyway, I was told it was a smooth ride out compared to usual. Thanks to Scopolamine, no seasickness ruined my weekend, and I'm not aware of anyone else having problems.
First dive--West bank. Incredible visibility, (probably 125-150), no current, 1-2 foot waves, could see the bottom about 10 feet under, but down deep the vis was spectacular. don't know what to say since many of you have been there, but for a newbie it was an incredible sight.
Second dive--West bank. Everything still good. Buddy and I headed east, were followed down by a school of about 10 barracuda. Saw a huge grouper, followed it, and got introduced to the mating dance of them as it joined another one and started rubbing up against each other. Followed them down a sand bank, turned the corner, and there was about five more tiger groupers, checkin' us out. Headed back since my consumption rate sucked. Got to the surface, got everythign off, then headed for the sundeck. All the sudden all these heads started popping up about a quarter mile out. About 10 divers needed picked up. Felt better about my diving at that point.
Third dive--East bank. Nothing spectacular, more of the same. Still awesome conditions.
Between third and fourth dive--was awoken from the sun deck to screams of "there it is!" as a 25' whale shark was checkin' us out. Divemaster Russ had saw it while filming underwater between our dives, but everyone was like "yeah, sure". But ten minutes later, there she was. Came back for three passes, even as the Searcher's boat zoomed by about 100' away to pick up one of their divers.
Fourth dive--East bank. Nothing unusual; everyone was staying at about 50' to watch for the whale shark. Two actually saw it, but no one else did. My partner and I saw what had to be at LEAST a 100 lb grouper trotting along in front of us. Kept trying to get her out of her hiding spots so others could see her, but she just went to another one. Lots of trunk fish, too.
Night dive--East bank Was worried about it since it was my first one. Planned on staying around the u-bolt, but couldn't pass up the sights. Saw two reef sharks cruising the sand bars, most of us got to see them. Saw a couple urchins and a strange white one. Others saw a huge lobster. Tons of barracuda following my light.
Sixth dive--Stetson dive. Horrible. Vis was about 10-15 on bottom, current was brutal, and waves were hitting 4 feet. Was supposed to meet group leader on bottom and drop over the ledge. He waited at 40 feet, we went to the u-bolt, under the boat, looked around and up, didn't see him. Buddy took a 310 degree heading, and off we went. Kept hitting ridges, waiting for the one that dropped off. Suddenly there was a 3 foot turtle about 2 feet below me. Thought about going for a ride, but passed on it. Realized I wouldn't have enough air to get down to 130, back up, and back to the boat safely. So, we "headed" back, using my natural compass. Surfaced. My buddy knew something was wrong when I surfaced and turned 180, turned another 180, then back another. Thought the boat I saw was the sea searcher, so I expected to see the Fling right behind me. WRONG. So casually my buddy and I started to swim for the boat. But about 5 minutes later we realized nothing had been gained in termed of distance. So we had no choice but to do the deed, and inflate the screw up sausages. Right before we got on the boat, they yelled at Russ "ya got six more waiting!". It was a bad morning.
Seventh dive--Had to get to the dropoff ledge to be able to say I did. Followed the group leader CLOSELY this time. Got down, saw a great sea cucumber on the way up, and as we got to the top of the ridge, we all got to see an 8-9 foot bull shark. Awesome. But the current was kicking, I was tired, and starting to get a headache, so I headed for the anchor line. Got to see the shark and hit . . . uh. . . 129 feet, so I was happy.
Great trip. The crew was awesome and soooo hospitable. Very patient as well. Won't get to go again until probably April, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.
First off, only the Fling went out since there weren't enough divers for both boats. Where were all of you?? Like work is more important than diving? Come on!
Ended up being next to the Sea Searcher the whole weekend. Anyway, I was told it was a smooth ride out compared to usual. Thanks to Scopolamine, no seasickness ruined my weekend, and I'm not aware of anyone else having problems.
First dive--West bank. Incredible visibility, (probably 125-150), no current, 1-2 foot waves, could see the bottom about 10 feet under, but down deep the vis was spectacular. don't know what to say since many of you have been there, but for a newbie it was an incredible sight.
Second dive--West bank. Everything still good. Buddy and I headed east, were followed down by a school of about 10 barracuda. Saw a huge grouper, followed it, and got introduced to the mating dance of them as it joined another one and started rubbing up against each other. Followed them down a sand bank, turned the corner, and there was about five more tiger groupers, checkin' us out. Headed back since my consumption rate sucked. Got to the surface, got everythign off, then headed for the sundeck. All the sudden all these heads started popping up about a quarter mile out. About 10 divers needed picked up. Felt better about my diving at that point.
Third dive--East bank. Nothing spectacular, more of the same. Still awesome conditions.
Between third and fourth dive--was awoken from the sun deck to screams of "there it is!" as a 25' whale shark was checkin' us out. Divemaster Russ had saw it while filming underwater between our dives, but everyone was like "yeah, sure". But ten minutes later, there she was. Came back for three passes, even as the Searcher's boat zoomed by about 100' away to pick up one of their divers.
Fourth dive--East bank. Nothing unusual; everyone was staying at about 50' to watch for the whale shark. Two actually saw it, but no one else did. My partner and I saw what had to be at LEAST a 100 lb grouper trotting along in front of us. Kept trying to get her out of her hiding spots so others could see her, but she just went to another one. Lots of trunk fish, too.
Night dive--East bank Was worried about it since it was my first one. Planned on staying around the u-bolt, but couldn't pass up the sights. Saw two reef sharks cruising the sand bars, most of us got to see them. Saw a couple urchins and a strange white one. Others saw a huge lobster. Tons of barracuda following my light.
Sixth dive--Stetson dive. Horrible. Vis was about 10-15 on bottom, current was brutal, and waves were hitting 4 feet. Was supposed to meet group leader on bottom and drop over the ledge. He waited at 40 feet, we went to the u-bolt, under the boat, looked around and up, didn't see him. Buddy took a 310 degree heading, and off we went. Kept hitting ridges, waiting for the one that dropped off. Suddenly there was a 3 foot turtle about 2 feet below me. Thought about going for a ride, but passed on it. Realized I wouldn't have enough air to get down to 130, back up, and back to the boat safely. So, we "headed" back, using my natural compass. Surfaced. My buddy knew something was wrong when I surfaced and turned 180, turned another 180, then back another. Thought the boat I saw was the sea searcher, so I expected to see the Fling right behind me. WRONG. So casually my buddy and I started to swim for the boat. But about 5 minutes later we realized nothing had been gained in termed of distance. So we had no choice but to do the deed, and inflate the screw up sausages. Right before we got on the boat, they yelled at Russ "ya got six more waiting!". It was a bad morning.
Seventh dive--Had to get to the dropoff ledge to be able to say I did. Followed the group leader CLOSELY this time. Got down, saw a great sea cucumber on the way up, and as we got to the top of the ridge, we all got to see an 8-9 foot bull shark. Awesome. But the current was kicking, I was tired, and starting to get a headache, so I headed for the anchor line. Got to see the shark and hit . . . uh. . . 129 feet, so I was happy.
Great trip. The crew was awesome and soooo hospitable. Very patient as well. Won't get to go again until probably April, so I'm definitely looking forward to it.
