Goliath Grouper Aggregate 2022 - The Dives

[Johnoly]

. Strong current, bad viz, two grouper.

After we got back to the dock I called one of my commercial friends who likes the deep ledge. He said they did 1/2 mile south of the Hole and finished past it. They saw about 100 GG's just outside the Hole entrance at the 140 foot sand and current was moving but not ripping. No one had mixes on the boat for that dive except John with Dive Rite Rebreather.

 

[Catito]

I was on the ‘other boat’ (Marin) Sat morning & Aurelia in the afternoon.

Good viz? We were swept over the wrecks. Hazy water. The second dive on mid-reef. Believe it or not my dive buddy found a white nose pipefish at 60ft tucked in a sandy gully protected by a sponge. We have a video. I found one at the bridge but never thought one would be that deep (?).

 

[Jaaron82]

Your pictures were better than what I tried to get. It was great sharing laughs in the parking lot and meeting you !!

Thanks nice to meet you as well, definitely going to get on the right boat next time

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Good viz? We were swept over the wrecks. Hazy water. The second dive on mid-reef. Believe it or not my dive buddy found a white nose pipefish at 60ft tucked in a sandy gully protected by a sponge. We have a video. I found one at the bridge but never thought one would be that deep (?).

The visibility on Governors wasn’t too bad below the thermocline but the current was ripping. Above the thermocline it was very green. We also did midriff in the afternoon. We did flower garden and fourth window in the morning and the current was very manageable and visibility was mediocre.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Day 3 report: Very very surgey. Stirring up sand, make it very hard to stay in one place without hanging on for dear life. I was able to make my way into the wreck and hide out but I couldn't see anything and felt like I was wasting my time, noped out after about 15 minutes on the bottom.

Due to the conditions and the fact that the Jupiter inlet was very sporty the decision was to do a deep reef on the way down to the Palm Beach inlet. Capt Mikes, which for a reef dive wasn't bad. It was still surgey but it was easier to manage as you typically weren't trying to stay in one place. Except me who spotted a Goliath and was determined to get one Goliath video that day. I hung on for gear life, waiting for to reemerge from its hiding place after the group scared him into it (which included someone stepping on me ). I think I got the video, I'll probably check tonight, too tired to care.

It was a long boat ride back to Jupiter. I am good with ocean diving for a while. I prefer my reefs fossilized.

 

[scubadada]

Day 3 report: Very very surgey. Stirring up sand, make it very hard to stay in one place without hanging on for dear life. I was able to make my way and hide out but I couldn't see anything and felt like I was wasting my time, noped out after about 15 minutes on the bottom.

Due to the conditions and the fact that the Jupiter inlet was very sporty the decision was to do a deep reef on the way down to the Palm Beach inlet. Capt Mikes, which for a reef dive wasn't bad. It was still surgey but it was easier to manage as you typically weren't trying to stay in one place. Except me who spotted a Goliath and was determined to get one Goliath video that day. I hung on for gear life, waiting for to reemerge from its hiding place after the group scared him into it (which included someone stepping on me ). I think I got the video, I'll probably check tonight, too tired to are.

It was a long boat ride back to Jupiter. I am good with ocean diving for a while. I prefer my reefs fossilized.

You freshwater divers are very different from us, the saltwater divers.

 

[Manatee Diver]

You freshwater divers are very different from us, the saltwater divers.

I'm okay with that. But the guy stepping on me did remind me of being back at Ginnie.

 

[Johnoly]

Due to the conditions and the fact that the Jupiter inlet was very sporty

Was checking the inlet cam and saw the big 6 foot curling waves offshore. Sorry that it didn't improve. That Hurricane Earl has just been shooting rollers at us from a 1000 miles away.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Another diver on the boat Monday, got some photos of me. It shows the bait ball action and groupers that we got on the MG111 that day, which IMO was the best day of diving for my trip.

 

[Fishhy]

Great Trips out, we were on the Republic VII both days so we missed out on the infamous steak and lobster surface intervals.
John gave a shout out from IV while we left the docks.
Here's some of the video and photos from the trip.
It was a little more sporty and hazy on Saturday, but the MG-111 proved to be a great spot on Sunday.
My photos and video were taken with my DJI Osmo Action.