paulwall
Contributor
Booked with Down Under to go out on their 46' Newton. What a boat!
Woke up at 6am to make it to the boat by 7. Air temps were in the low 50's with the wind out of the NNE making it feel downright nippy. I put on my wetsuit in the condo and added a jacket for the weather. I knew that it would warm up when the sun rose, but I was looking for immediate comfort.
Loaded up with my BIL Keith and his son, Jeremy who would be diving for the first time since May. It was nice not having to go all the way to the shop to sign waivers. Mitch had run a trailer over with the rental gear for Keith and Jeremy, and had my CC receipt ready for me.
Loaded up and headed out before 8 to Atlantis. There were 7 divers on the boat, including 2 instructors and their students. The big boat felt like a custom yacht as we had room to spread out during the short run to the site.
I must be getting spoiled with the 6-packs. The Newton didn't seem to be moving very fast, even with the tail wind. I guess we were making about 10 knots. Seas were nearly flat with an occasional roller gently rocking the big boat.
We made it to the site, and Mitch jumped in to tie us off. He reported good vis, and lots of fish. I cannot dispute him on that second point. Running down the line, vis was a murky 20' but the fish were everywhere and in every variety, making the murkiness less apparent. It was dark at 70', so I fired up the C8 and watched the Angelfish, huge schools of spadefish and curtains of minnows dart hither and yon. Amberjack cruised the upper part of the structure and a couple of large ARS hung out near the columns. Near the end of my dive, I pulled two anchors out from under the structure, cut the lines and got them ready for later retrieval. I showed them to Mitch, who indicated he'd recover them later. He wanted to use the chain for anchor points on the north piece of structure. TDT 50mins, max depth 76' min temp 73o
Woke up at 6am to make it to the boat by 7. Air temps were in the low 50's with the wind out of the NNE making it feel downright nippy. I put on my wetsuit in the condo and added a jacket for the weather. I knew that it would warm up when the sun rose, but I was looking for immediate comfort.
Loaded up with my BIL Keith and his son, Jeremy who would be diving for the first time since May. It was nice not having to go all the way to the shop to sign waivers. Mitch had run a trailer over with the rental gear for Keith and Jeremy, and had my CC receipt ready for me.
Loaded up and headed out before 8 to Atlantis. There were 7 divers on the boat, including 2 instructors and their students. The big boat felt like a custom yacht as we had room to spread out during the short run to the site.
I must be getting spoiled with the 6-packs. The Newton didn't seem to be moving very fast, even with the tail wind. I guess we were making about 10 knots. Seas were nearly flat with an occasional roller gently rocking the big boat.
We made it to the site, and Mitch jumped in to tie us off. He reported good vis, and lots of fish. I cannot dispute him on that second point. Running down the line, vis was a murky 20' but the fish were everywhere and in every variety, making the murkiness less apparent. It was dark at 70', so I fired up the C8 and watched the Angelfish, huge schools of spadefish and curtains of minnows dart hither and yon. Amberjack cruised the upper part of the structure and a couple of large ARS hung out near the columns. Near the end of my dive, I pulled two anchors out from under the structure, cut the lines and got them ready for later retrieval. I showed them to Mitch, who indicated he'd recover them later. He wanted to use the chain for anchor points on the north piece of structure. TDT 50mins, max depth 76' min temp 73o
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