Trip Report Florida 25

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scubadada

Diver
Staff member
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Messages
20,950
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Location
Philadelphia and Boynton Beach
# of dives
1000 - 2499
How many of you are old enough to have fond memories of Europe 72 like I have?

Whatever. This is my first trip down since the middle of last December. I flew down on Sunday. It was not without excitement as we had an hour and a half maintenance delay. I was afraid it was due to the weather in northern Florida. Once we got underway, the flight was reasonably smooth other that about a half hour of moderate turbulence.

I had reservations out of Boynton for Monday. Unfortunately, Starfish did not have enough divers to go out, likely due to the previous poor conditions. Too bad, I rode my bike past the inlet at about 10:00 and the inlet and seas looked OK. I had Tuesday off, scheduled to replace my 14 year old A/C system before in finally failed.

Wednesday March 19, dive day 1. I went out with Walker's Charter out of Riviera Beach this morning. The weather was fantastic, mostly sunny, mild wind. The boat was full, or nearly full. Capt. Brian, guide Mike, mate Jen. Unfortunately, Christina is out after injuries from an MVA and Autumn is out after a personal tragedy. Our best wishes to both of them for recovery

Seas were only 2-3 feet, water temperature was 75-6 degrees, and visibility was 60 feet plus. Our first dive was at the Corridor Wreck Trek. Current was really ripping north. We started at the Ana Cecilia and flew past the Mizpah, PC1174, Amaryllis, China Barge, and Brazilian Docks. We did our ascent after passing the Danny. I don't know the distance, maybe someone else does. This dive had several Goliath Grouper, including a gorgeous adolescent, small reef sharks, nurse sharks, a southern ray, and all the usual reef fish.

We headed south for our second dive. We started just north of the Trench at Bannerfish Reef. To our surprise, there was nearly no current, making it a very leisurely dive over much of Breakers. We had reef sharks, nurses sharks, a loggerhead turtle and a huge number of the usual reef fish. We ascended through a gigantic school of spadefish. At our safety stop only 3 of us remained, Mike, me, and one other diver. We were rewarded with a slow swim right in front of us by a sailfish. This is only the 5th or 6th sailfish I have seen diving in this area since 2009. What a great way to end the dive :).

I'm hoping to get out of Jupiter tomorrow to catch some late season Lemons.
 
Awesome trip report, thanks for the update. Sailfish, nice one!!!

I normally make it to the Danny, but we cannot go that slow and it takes the full hour for sure. It's quite far. Based on my calculations of the coordinates it's about 1.1 miles.

I'm trying to do Boynton Friday afternoon (so far no one on the boat, likely the same outcome as your Boynton trip, WBP Saturday morning, Jupiter Sunday morning.
 
Hope you continue to have good weather. I looked at the marine forecast on Sunday and wrote off the week in my planning; will be following to see how it works out for you.!
 
and visibility was 60 feet plus.
That viz is really good with all the dredging and dumping on the shoreline taking place. You drove right past it going thru the inlet. The beaches have been packed with spring-breakers. Thanks for the conditions reports.
 
Thursday March 20, dive day 2. I went out with Jupiter Dive Center this morning. Republic IV, Capt. Ryan, guide Tariq, mate Brandon. It's amazing that I have been diving with Ryan for 8 years now, from the best mate to a great captain. Only 5 divers today. Sunny, started a little cooler than yesterday but ended warmer. Little wind, seas around 2 ft, visibility good again, around 60 ft, very mild north current.

Our first dive was at Capt. Kirle's. A couple of lemon sharks, a couple of nurse sharks, a couple of goliath grouper, and several reef sharks

Our second dive was on the Wreck Trek. A large lemon shark and a small goliath grouper on the Zion. There was a large southern ray off the Jenny. There was a large lemon shark and a goliath grouper as soon as we got to the Bonaire bow. Around the starboard side, there were several more lemons sharks and some goliath grouper. Then something strange happened. Apparently, Emerald had dropped behind us and caught up. First thing I saw was a line passing by my left side and it was the guide with the bait grate. The group had more divers than we did and several of them were flailing away, crossing in front of us... It wasn't pleasant having the second group, but there was a silver lining. Of course, the bait crate brought in the fish. There were many goliath grouper, lemon sharks and nurse sharks. There were several reef sharks, a couple of bull sharks and a good size tiger shark :). The Emerald group disappeared before the end of our dive and we enjoyed the sharks that were left.

That's all the diving I get for this short visit. I'll be back for more diving in April and will pick up my gear for a 2 week trip to Bonaire with my wife in May.

Good diving to all
 
Thursday March 20, dive day 2. I went out with Jupiter Dive Center this morning. Republic IV, Capt. Ryan, guide Tariq, mate Brandon. It's amazing that I have been diving with Ryan for 8 years now, from the best mate to a great captain. Only 5 divers today. Sunny, started a little cooler than yesterday but ended warmer. Little wind, seas around 2 ft, visibility good again, around 60 ft, very mild north current.

Our first dive was at Capt. Kirle's. A couple of lemon sharks, a couple of nurse sharks, a couple of goliath grouper, and several reef sharks

Our second dive was on the Wreck Trek. A large lemon shark and a small goliath grouper on the Zion. There was a large southern ray off the Jenny. There was a large lemon shark and a goliath grouper as soon as we got to the Bonaire bow. Around the starboard side, there were several more lemons sharks and some goliath grouper. Then something strange happened. Apparently, Emerald had dropped behind us and caught up. First thing I saw was a line passing by my left side and it was the guide with the bait grate. The group had more divers than we did and several of them were flailing away, crossing in front of us... It wasn't pleasant having the second group, but there was a silver lining. Of course, the bait crate brought in the fish. There were many goliath grouper, lemon sharks and nurse sharks. There were several reef sharks, a couple of bull sharks and a good size tiger shark :). The Emerald group disappeared before the end of our dive and we enjoyed the sharks that were left.

That's all the diving I get for this short visit. I'll be back for more diving in April and will pick up my gear for a 2 week trip to Bonaire with my wife in May.

Good diving to all

That's pretty uncool to drop their group right on top of a JDC group. As if I could dislike Emerald any more than I already do, that's honestly pathetic. Talk about arrogant. Boats are supposed to keep their groups clear of each other. Anyway, glad you got some benefits out of it.

Safe travels!!
 
That's pretty uncool to drop their group right on top of a JDC group. As if I could dislike Emerald any more than I already do, that's honestly pathetic. Talk about arrogant. Boats are supposed to keep their groups clear of each other. Anyway, glad you got some benefits out of it.

Safe travels!!
Apparently, Ryan had some choice words for the captain of the Emerald.
 
As if I could dislike Emerald any more than I already do, that's honestly pathetic. Talk about arrogant.

OK, so I’m not alone after all.
 
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