Four other board members along with myself chartered South GA Dive Charters for the day on Saturday 6/21. The diving in this area isn't for the faint hearted, it was 35 mile run to the "good stuff" and good stuff it was 
First, we stopped in Area C for a drop on a 175' barge. Water temps were about 81-82 and viz was probably only about 25' but the wreck was quite different from the usual stuff local here in S FL. A pretty big jewfish (~350 lb.) lives on the barge and I've never heard a jewfish bark as many times as this one did. He obviously didn't like us coming out to check out his house. In all honestly, I was really hoping the rest of the dives were going to be better than this one was. I wasn't disappointed
From the barge, we moved to a wreck known simply as the Shrimp Boat. Here we saw loads of fish, some nice big snapper, and a few turtles. Additionally, I scoped out an octopus by his beak in a hole next to the wreck and dangled a stainless clip in front of his hole to see if he'd "take the bait" and sure enough, it wasn't before he stuck an arm out and latched onto the clip. It took quite a bit of tugging to get it back
From here, we moved another 13 miles to the wreck of the 463' US Liberty ship Nettleton. Now this is a cool wreck. It's simply huge and when you're down in the bottom of the cargo holds, it looks like the big columns of the Roman coliseum when you're looking out. We saw tons of "stuff" here.... Like this really weird looking toad fish that had dozens of little babies that were running in and out of the adults mouth:
We also saw two frog fish hanging out together (one with black fins tips and the other with yellow fin tips), turtles coming in to check us out, jewfish, gag grouper, huge snappers, a sleeping turtle under the stern section, and cowries as big as softballs.
Cumulative bottom time was 190 minutes.
After the third dive, we surfaced to find the sea state had deteriorated a bit and most of the ride home we were taking solid 3-4's "on the chin".
After the ride home. the five of us went out for grub and deco beverages at a local spot named Starters. After getting a trainee wait person, it all ended good with half the staff coming by to say hello to us
I want to thank Palatka Boy, MasonLC (aka the airman first class), Netmage (aka the anchor man), and Francois for joining me on this little expedition. It was lot's of fun and a great primer on GA wreck diving. I'll be planning another visit before the summer is over.
First, we stopped in Area C for a drop on a 175' barge. Water temps were about 81-82 and viz was probably only about 25' but the wreck was quite different from the usual stuff local here in S FL. A pretty big jewfish (~350 lb.) lives on the barge and I've never heard a jewfish bark as many times as this one did. He obviously didn't like us coming out to check out his house. In all honestly, I was really hoping the rest of the dives were going to be better than this one was. I wasn't disappointed
From the barge, we moved to a wreck known simply as the Shrimp Boat. Here we saw loads of fish, some nice big snapper, and a few turtles. Additionally, I scoped out an octopus by his beak in a hole next to the wreck and dangled a stainless clip in front of his hole to see if he'd "take the bait" and sure enough, it wasn't before he stuck an arm out and latched onto the clip. It took quite a bit of tugging to get it back
From here, we moved another 13 miles to the wreck of the 463' US Liberty ship Nettleton. Now this is a cool wreck. It's simply huge and when you're down in the bottom of the cargo holds, it looks like the big columns of the Roman coliseum when you're looking out. We saw tons of "stuff" here.... Like this really weird looking toad fish that had dozens of little babies that were running in and out of the adults mouth:
We also saw two frog fish hanging out together (one with black fins tips and the other with yellow fin tips), turtles coming in to check us out, jewfish, gag grouper, huge snappers, a sleeping turtle under the stern section, and cowries as big as softballs.
Cumulative bottom time was 190 minutes.
After the third dive, we surfaced to find the sea state had deteriorated a bit and most of the ride home we were taking solid 3-4's "on the chin".
After the ride home. the five of us went out for grub and deco beverages at a local spot named Starters. After getting a trainee wait person, it all ended good with half the staff coming by to say hello to us
I want to thank Palatka Boy, MasonLC (aka the airman first class), Netmage (aka the anchor man), and Francois for joining me on this little expedition. It was lot's of fun and a great primer on GA wreck diving. I'll be planning another visit before the summer is over.
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