Disclaimer: The conditions I experienced are not necessarily indicitive of those others will experience. It is simply a snapshot of a point in time. This is not a novice dive trip.
I never knew someone really could spend the ENTIRE weekend sea sick. (It wasn't me)
The run out was bumpy as promised. It got a few people going a little bit. Some had a much longer night than others. When we got to the West Bank things had really calmed down to slow rollers of about 1-3ft. My computer shows water temps at the surface of 85-86 and 82-83 at depth.
West bank #2
Wake up call at 6:00 as usual dive one at 7am. I skipped the continental b-fast.
Max depth 94 feet dive time 47 minutes. Visibility running about 80-100ft. Saw two very large black grouper. Mild surface current, a little stronger mid-water at about 60ft and slacked back off at the bottom. Also saw 2 banded coral shrimp. I didn't carry my camera on this dive.
Dive 2 was on the same spot. Conditions were the same. I focused on shooting pictures so I didn't wander around much. I played with a damsel for a little bit. Ended up with a bunch of tail fin pics from shutter lag. Gotta work on timing.
Oil Rig HI 389A. Wow what a dive. Very mild currents. We were told that two hammer heads had taken up residence. Very odd, but hey they seem happy about it. I saw 5-6 silkys and one of the hammer heads. It was at about 125-150. I was up around 75 or so. This ended up my shorest dive for the whole weekend at 42 minutes. The resident loggerhead was also seen. I was busy looking for sharks. If you want to see sharks, you must focus outside the rig. It's easy to get focused on all of the life inside the legs and there is ALOT of it. But the sharks don't come inside. They stay outside. I did get to watch a group of blue runner harrass a silky. The silky wasn't having fun. I also had a barracuda get in my face. That doesn't happen very often. I wondered if it was playing a dominance game.
East Bank #4
I saw an urchin that I have never seen before. It was either a West Indian sea egg (Tripneustes ventricosus) or a Variegated Urchin (Lytechinus williamsi). It looked more like the former in appearance and size, about the size of a moderate to large grapefruit, but it was too deep according to Humann. Sorry no pictures, I don't think. I'll look again. Surface current present to about 55ft. Surface temp 86. Bottom temp 84. Toasty. Also saw a spotted moray and a really big bristle worm.
Night dive on the same spot. Decorator crabs, brittle stars, slipper lobster. Shrimp. Spiny lobster. Lots of longspine urchins. Brownies and Bluebell at the boat afterwards. Yummy. That's Bluebell icecream for you non-Texans. It doesn't get any better. (In my opinion of course).
By this point everyone is totally worn out and sleep comes much easier.
The surface conditions never changed. We did have one storm pop up, but it missed us. It dropped the air temp about 10 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Stetson #1.
I got to see a group of 3 silkies come up over the wall. Also saw a nice sized southern stingray. Bottom temp 81. Surface temp 85. Ripping current on the surface to about 10 feet off the bottom. Other unique sighting (I even have pics) a pair of conchs in the process of making baby conchs. They were at it for awhile.
I had a Townsend angel that would not leave me alone. I don't know if it was its reflection in my mask or if it just wanted its picture taken. It liked to swim up behind me and drop over my right shoulder into my face. We almost went nose-to-nose a few times. I have never had a fish do that. I get nervous because fresh water sunfish will do that when contemplating taking a chunk from the top of an ear.
Great trip. Thanks for reading. I'll post pics later.
TwoBit
I never knew someone really could spend the ENTIRE weekend sea sick. (It wasn't me)
The run out was bumpy as promised. It got a few people going a little bit. Some had a much longer night than others. When we got to the West Bank things had really calmed down to slow rollers of about 1-3ft. My computer shows water temps at the surface of 85-86 and 82-83 at depth.
West bank #2
Wake up call at 6:00 as usual dive one at 7am. I skipped the continental b-fast.
Max depth 94 feet dive time 47 minutes. Visibility running about 80-100ft. Saw two very large black grouper. Mild surface current, a little stronger mid-water at about 60ft and slacked back off at the bottom. Also saw 2 banded coral shrimp. I didn't carry my camera on this dive.
Dive 2 was on the same spot. Conditions were the same. I focused on shooting pictures so I didn't wander around much. I played with a damsel for a little bit. Ended up with a bunch of tail fin pics from shutter lag. Gotta work on timing.
Oil Rig HI 389A. Wow what a dive. Very mild currents. We were told that two hammer heads had taken up residence. Very odd, but hey they seem happy about it. I saw 5-6 silkys and one of the hammer heads. It was at about 125-150. I was up around 75 or so. This ended up my shorest dive for the whole weekend at 42 minutes. The resident loggerhead was also seen. I was busy looking for sharks. If you want to see sharks, you must focus outside the rig. It's easy to get focused on all of the life inside the legs and there is ALOT of it. But the sharks don't come inside. They stay outside. I did get to watch a group of blue runner harrass a silky. The silky wasn't having fun. I also had a barracuda get in my face. That doesn't happen very often. I wondered if it was playing a dominance game.
East Bank #4
I saw an urchin that I have never seen before. It was either a West Indian sea egg (Tripneustes ventricosus) or a Variegated Urchin (Lytechinus williamsi). It looked more like the former in appearance and size, about the size of a moderate to large grapefruit, but it was too deep according to Humann. Sorry no pictures, I don't think. I'll look again. Surface current present to about 55ft. Surface temp 86. Bottom temp 84. Toasty. Also saw a spotted moray and a really big bristle worm.
Night dive on the same spot. Decorator crabs, brittle stars, slipper lobster. Shrimp. Spiny lobster. Lots of longspine urchins. Brownies and Bluebell at the boat afterwards. Yummy. That's Bluebell icecream for you non-Texans. It doesn't get any better. (In my opinion of course).
By this point everyone is totally worn out and sleep comes much easier.
The surface conditions never changed. We did have one storm pop up, but it missed us. It dropped the air temp about 10 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Stetson #1.
I got to see a group of 3 silkies come up over the wall. Also saw a nice sized southern stingray. Bottom temp 81. Surface temp 85. Ripping current on the surface to about 10 feet off the bottom. Other unique sighting (I even have pics) a pair of conchs in the process of making baby conchs. They were at it for awhile.
I had a Townsend angel that would not leave me alone. I don't know if it was its reflection in my mask or if it just wanted its picture taken. It liked to swim up behind me and drop over my right shoulder into my face. We almost went nose-to-nose a few times. I have never had a fish do that. I get nervous because fresh water sunfish will do that when contemplating taking a chunk from the top of an ear.
Great trip. Thanks for reading. I'll post pics later.
TwoBit
