Great Trip! My favorite sightings this trip were Tiger Sharks & Manta Ray; I missed the Hammerheads but I did see a cool pic another diver took of 9 schooling. He was at 40', they were at 15'.
Excellent Trip Report by the Captain
Here's the Text:
Trip Report February 19-20, 2011
The last few years February trips have been few and far between, but we had a bit of a weather window and decided to give it a try. The forecast wasn’t too good early in the week but improved by Friday morning. Predictions were 3 to 6 foot seas on our way out Friday night, 3 to 5 feet all day Saturday, and 3 to 6 feet and building on Sunday.
Fortunately the seas stayed on the low side of the forecast for most of the trip. We left Freeport Friday evening with 17 passengers, 5 stowaways (including Admiral Ken and his son Dale), and 7 crew. We braced ourselves for a rough ride out to the West Bank, but the eight and a half hour ride was remarkably smooth.
We arrived on the West Bank and moored on buoy #1 around 6:15am, and after a short wait on the sun, started our first dive about 7:20. Seas at the West Bank were 2 to 3 feet, visibility around 60 feet, water temperature on the reef 63 degrees, and a fairly strong current. Divers saw a nurse shark, a couple of tiger sharks, and various other critters. The biggest tiger shark was 8 to 14 feet long…depending on the teller of the tale.
After two dives on the West Bank we headed to the High Island 389 platform. By the time we got to the 389 the sun was bright and warm, the wind was light, and the seas had fallen to about 2 feet. It was just a gorgeous day. Current on the platform was considerably less than on the West Bank, with a surface temperature of 64 degrees and about 50 foot visibility. Divers saw numerous silky sharks, schools of large amber jack barracuda, tons of fish of all sizes, and many different types of smaller life in the growth of the platform’s structure. Our divemaster even lead three silkys back to the boat for those of us who are too wimpy to get in the cold water to enjoy…thanks John! Every diver described the dive the same way – AWSOME!
At 3:30pm we moved to the East Bank and tied up on Buoy #5. Conditions were about the same as they were on the 389. Lots of the folks on board took advantage of the surface interval to enjoy the great weather on the sundeck. I would guess some sunburn remedies are being used about now. Quite a nice change from the freezing weather most of us experienced recently. Around 5:30 divers descended to find some very large sting rays, several mantas, a tiger shark, reef sharks, and a number of hammerheads. At 8:30, the bravest of the divers did a night dive and reported that it was great. They saw reef sharks, sting rays, and large schools of barracuda.
By the time the night dive was finished, seas were around 1 foot. We left the East Bank at 2:00am Sunday morning headed to Stetson Bank, and arrived at buoy #3 at 6:15. By the first dive the wind had picked up and the sea had increased to 4-5 feet. Current was mild, visibility around 30 feet, and water temperature 64 degrees. We did two dives at Stetson, and although visibility was lower than normal, divers saw reef sharks, mackerel, red snapper, morays, large angle fish, lots of urchins, and a variety of large schools of fish.
At noon we pointed the bow to Freeport and started home with a following sea, so we had a nice smooth ride back. Thanks again to a top notch crew and great customers for a great weekend.
Captain Bland
MV Fling