Greater Tampa dive thread V

[GulfCoastdiver]

Diving yesterday from SeaFox Charters:

Okay the diving particlulars; goliaths, snook, snapper, stone crab, arrow crab, puffer, atlantic spades, barracuda (lots), juvenile hogfish, and a pair of butterflys. The Goliaths were much smaller than the ones from the previous two days diving this week. Same goes for the snook they were only 2-2 1/2 ft. First dive was the Old Clearwater Pass Bridge which was torn down last year and dumped in the water. The structures were really neat. With the sun dancing off of some of the pilings it made it very picturesque. The bridge spans a very large area, so we were able to "run" to the other end and stay away from the other divers as some really liked the silt Lots of places for things to hide. Definitely would like to visit this site again.

Second dive was Pandoras Box. Lil Sis and I bailed early - silted really bad - additionally there was nothing to see as everything had ran off

Sounds like a good day of diving, also sounds like the vis was better out there than it was last week.

 

[Missdirected]

Sounds like a good day of diving, also sounds like the vis was better out there than it was last week.

Umm, it was okay. Dunno, for eighty five I would prefer to dive with people I know - even just through the board - makes things friendlier and so much more enjoyable. For that much, and the atmosphere of the boat, don't know if I would do it again.

 

[eandiver]

$85 for Clearwater Pass rubble and Pandoras Box seems a bit steep but $95 for Sheridan/Blackthorne and Table Top sounds better.

 

[eandiver]

The rising fuel prices are hurting everyone.............

 

[GulfCoastdiver]

Where is the Table Top at, or near?

 

[Missdirected]

Where is the Table Top at, or near?

Aaaack, I dunno John. Ask Frogman_5 or BadLatitude they may know.

 

[cowboyneal]

When's the next trip?

 

[eandiver]

Where is the Table Top at, or near?

N27 54.155 W83 06.466 betweeen the Sheridan and Rube Allyn in 50'
Very nice dive.

 

[eandiver]

BTW there is also Mastodon Table Top that I have never been to but is farther west. 68' N27 54.151 W83 06.471 and those numbers are out of the book so I can't say how accurate they are.

 

[Missdirected]

Out with my dive pal Dave today and his son Eric. They had two other friends of theirs join along with lil sis and I.

Beautiful seas, just a small ripple. Dave wanted to make today and exploration day for some dive sites. Our first drop was over some tiny developing reefs. Not much to see really. I worked on my navigation. Once at the reefs I made the best of them. There were three medium sized ones and I investigated every inch. I found two baby eels. Some new coral starting and an anemone was present. lil sis spotted a shark sucker. She also took a moment to play with one of the larger bait fish. He bit her and hard Water 85, 30ft., viz 25.

For the second site my buddies were Eric and lil sis. The site consisted of several large culverts. These particular ones were the best I have seen in the gulf, in reference to life. We splashed down on top of 3 very large sea slugs. Did someone say those things were slow? Someone forgot to tell these fellas as they were hauling booty. School of sheephead passed by as well as some snook. Yes, more of the large snook and lots of them. Maybe, 25 or so. A baby goliath has made his home there. He was prolly 100-120 lbs. I spotted a true baby only a few pounds. We also seen several sea urchins - this is such a good thing - as they eat the nasty suffocation algae that kills the life off of the reef. Go urchins

Some of the other usual suspects were snapper, lots of hogfish, sheepshead, stone crabs, a cone jelly, and a few pompano. Ooooh, almost forgot seen some hi-hats as well.

Sidenotes: Eric and I practiced some buddy breathing for a good while today. lil sis and I worked with shooting a sausage. lil sis also worked on her hovering skills - she is getting very good at it. Could have stayed out longer, as we still had another bottle, but two in our group had to be back early. All in all it was a good day.