Trip Report Florida Dive Trip June 27 to July 7, 2020

[scubadada]

Great report and amazing conditions!

We don’t have Giant Trevally here. What you saw was ‘probably’ African Pompano (guessing) also called Threadfin Trevally. Same family I believe.

Thx for the reports. I’ve been reading in jealousy! I’m getting back out on 7/11 which means conditions will be 30’ viz with a 2 knot current. LOL

Or Crevalle Jacks?

@JimBlay I will be diving the 14th-20th, I hope your prediction for conditions is wrong. I'll take some more like Greg's

 

[Ana]

Hopefully the whole summer will be like this.
Last year was a mix but the previous ('18) I think is was mostly great summer weather. Or maybe I'm experiencing selective memory.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Or Crevalle Jacks?

That's a good possibility as well. Both look quite similar to a Giant Trevally.

I will be diving the 14th-20th, I hope your prediction for conditions is wrong. I'll take some more like Greg's

Agreed! I'd like some of those conditions too!!

 

[Trailboss123]

Great report and amazing conditions!

We don’t have Giant Trevally here. What you saw was ‘probably’ African Pompano (guessing) also called Threadfin Trevally. Same family I believe.

Thx for the reports. I’ve been reading in jealousy! I’m getting back out on 7/11 which means conditions will be 30’ viz with a 2 knot current. LOL

Thanks for the tip on the name of the trevally or African Pompano! We saw some huge ones in schools. Also a lot of jacks. The jacks we saw seemed to me like horse eyed jacks and WAY smaller than the other fish, which I will try and look up to make sure. I hope conditions stay good for you!

 

[Trailboss123]

Thanks for the tip on the name of the trevally or African Pompano! We saw some huge ones in schools. Also a lot of jacks. The jacks we saw seemed to me like horse eyed jacks and WAY smaller than the other fish, which I will try and look up to make sure. I hope conditions stay good for you!

Just looked things up online. I am going with African Pompano- That is definitely what they were. I was so mesmerized by them and the way they would just hang out and look me in the eye, that I never even thought of taking a picture. We were just having a moment I guess- LOL.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Just looked things up online. I am going with African Pompano- That is definitely what they were. I was so mesmerized by them and the way they would just hang out and look me in the eye, that I never even thought of taking a picture. We were just having a moment I guess- LOL.

Awesome!

They are very cool fish. As juveniles they have crazy long dorsal and ventral fins. I saw one once in Boynton. It was super cool!

The juveniles look like this (copied off Google so I made sure to keep the watermark).

 

[Trailboss123]

Well the last dive day of the Florida trip is over. We thought we were going to have the boat to ourselves and dive the Bibb or Duane, followed by a reef dive on Molasses. Unfortunately, the best made plans don't always come to fruition. We were notified early this morning that 3 additional divers booked late yesterday and as a result, we were back out to the Spiegel Grove for two more dips to close the trip out. It did not disappoint. Once again, very calm waters with mild breezes and no current to speak of. Blue water and 100+ foot viz. - a bit reduced on dive two, but negligible. The first dive we spent going through starboard corridor of the well deck from stern to bow and then just continued straight for the bow of the boat when we popped out. We hit the bow and then made a turn back for the superstructure. I descended a bit down the port side of the bow on the outside of the boat to find some very pretty black coral before heading aft. We hit some more corridors on our way back to ball #5, where we had moored for dive one. We then spent the end of the dive cruising along the crane arm adjacent to mooring ball #5 at 85 feet. It was just amazingly gorgeous and full of corals.

The last dive of the day and trip saw us reposition to mooring ball #6 (highest point on the ship). We decided to head to the back (aft) of the boat. We really had not done that at all on any of the previous dives. It was a leisurely out against a super mild current and then a quick cruise back. We did some additional corridor swim throughs one back at the superstructure and then made the ascent.

A couple of Dusky Sharks were seen on both dives, lots of schooling barracudas, African pompanos in number and horse eyed jacks.

It has been a great trip- I am always amazed at the number of divers from others parts of the country who have no idea about how great the diving in Florida is or even know about it. I tell everyone in my sphere of influence, "you don't have to leave the country to experience amazing warm water diving".

I ended up doing 32 dives in 11 days.
10 of those on the Spiegel Grove in amazing conditions. I am not really a wreck person. I love the reefs and their diversity. That being said, I never tired of doing the Spiegel Grove. Every dive was different and it is as much a reef as a wreck, for sure. With all of its varied sea life and corals, it is truly a reef!

Thanks for following along and to all of you locals for providing such great feedback and insight along the way. Special shout outs to @scubadada who has been a wealth of Boynton and West Palm knowledge over the years and also to @JimBlay for his great insights and comments and knowledge.

Here are some parting fotos:

 

[Trailboss123]

 

[Trailboss123]

 

[Trailboss123]