Jacksonville Dive Report

[iflyprops]

I agree on Florida being a completely different beast when it comes to temperatures. I am contemplating buying a drysuit or even semi dry for just the winter ocean dives and spring dives around here, then again I'm pretty temperature sensitive being 6'6" and 180lbs...

I'm doing the living seas dive this comming sunday, I guess they only give you shorties, hopefully I won't freeze too bad!!!

 

[Reel Crazy14]

Theres still some awesome wreck diving here in NEFL. We have a few wrecks over 200(Anna and Casablanca) many over 100' and tons of barges and tugs, most hold some gigantic jewfish. I'm fine with a 7mm wetsuit in the middle of winter with 54 degree water and I'm a native so I'm sure you wont have any problem with the cold. When you get down here I'll be happy to give you some numbers of some of the best dives that I have done.

 

[OneBrightGator]

Do you run a boat offshore?

Ben

 

[H2Andy]

Reports are of very nice vis out there (in excess of 60 feet) with temps in the very
low 70's (i've heard 70 and 72).

i think right now all the charter boats are running, so dive season is officially upon us!

 

[Reel Crazy14]

Dive season is definatly here! Seas saturday were half a foot, vis 80 feet in 110 feet and temp was 70 top to bottom. Dove my favorite dive outta jax on sat. the Huggins freighter. Fully intact, laying upright in 110 feet of water. Saw turtles, and eels out the wazoo. Didnt see the resident jewfish this time but I did see a 40 lb gag. there was a carolina hake hanging out under a ladder which was wierd. A big school of Amberjack and Spadefish also swam around us. Overall a good day on the water

 

[H2Andy]

lucky bassird... i was doing yardwork

 

[H2Andy]

First North Florida ocean dive of the season for me; off we went
with Scuba Charter, a two-month old company that I've been
dying to go out with. Forecast called for 10-15 knots, seas
2-3.

We got there; it was 15 knots plus and seas 3-5. Guess what happened next?

1. Andy Goes A-Barfing: Yes. Got suited up, my head rolling, jumped in the water. no sooner had i come to the surface that it was barf-time. if you've never tried to pull yourself along a guide line against a two-knot current in 3-5 waves while barfing, you haven't lived. Alas... i decided that discretion was the better part of valour and returned to the boat.

2. Andy Goes Diving: Second dive of the day was at the Culverts, a string of concrete boxes and culverts in about 70 feet of water. In we went. This time, i just dry-heaved into
the regulator, so it was much easier to keep breathing all the way to the anchor line and down. Bottom was sandy, with
the afore-mentioned culverts strung around. Max depth was 68
feet. Dive time was 21 minutes Saw tons of bait fish, some good size groupers and snappers, some juvenile grunts. Water temp was 75. Visibility was a measely 15-20 feet.

3. Andy Goes Diving Again: Good thing about Scuba Charters is that they do three-tank dives. Third dive was at Pop Warner Reef, a nicely packed and established artificial reef. Max depth was 69 feet; water temp was 75 degrees again. Dive time was 39 minutes. This was an awesome dive, with tons of sea life, including sea stars, sea cucumbers, soft corals,
tunicates, etc., and lots of fish, including a pair of spotfin butterflyfish, gray triggerfish, hogfish, queen angelfish, spadefish, and tons and tons and tons of sardines in a huge
school that literally looked solid. the pics below are from this site.

GOT A CHANCE to continue working with the new BP/Wing combo, and this was awesome. Buoyancy and trim are almost effortless now; i find that not having to fight the BC's tendencies makes staying horizontal and neutral so easy i could almost cry. love the new BP/Wings. wish i had gotten them
a year ago.

In case anyone is interested, Scuba Charters takes on-line reservations at http://www.scuba-charters.com. they were a very helpful bunch, and i enjoyed the trip, if on the pricey side ($85.00 boat fee, $10.00 per air tank, $18.00 per nitrox tank).

da pics:

1. atlantic spadefish

2. gray triggerfish

3. sea cucumber (?)

4. blue angelfish (thansk Alcina and Dee for the id)

 

[scbababe]

GOT A CHANCE to continue working with the new BP/Wing combo, and this was awesome. Buoyancy and trim are almost effortless now; i find that not having to fight the BC's tendencies makes staying horizontal and neutral so easy i could almost cry. love the new BP/Wings. wish i had gotten thema year ago.

H2 nice pictures... Take triptone 1/2hr before a boat dive. Glad you love your BP/Wings. I've already asked Santa for mine. I hope I get it!!!! :dazzler1:

 

[Virus]FSLR2[]

H2Andy...

Alright... Glad to hear about a local boat now. I'll have to check them out. $85 is a bit on the high side, but but for 3 dives, and knowing how far out they have to go, it's understandable. Funny, I stopped in at Sea Hunt Scuba, the LDS here in St. Augustine last weekend to get a fill, and asked about a local boat, but Steve didn't know of any that was running. <<shrug>>

Any details you want to share about them, please do. I'll be glad to hook up with you any weekend during the summer to go out. I work Mon-Thurs during the summer, and have Friday off. I'm busy the next two weekends, but after that, I'm free. Let me know, and I'm there. That way there'll be another diver with BP/W and a bungie on his alternate on the boat with ya.

Anyway, glad to hear you had some decent dives here.

 

[iflyprops]

The boat fee I think is understandable, but I think I would be getting my tanks from somewhere else!! $18 for a nitrox tanks...geesh, their motto must be "rape and pillage!"