Well guys, I figured I'd start this thread seeing how I am now also working in Jupiter. Even though the dive sites aren't all that far apart, believe it or not, there is a huge difference in the water conditions.
Today was my first time out with Blue Tang, what a great dive operation they have. Very friendly crew and Captain with a well respected group of divers on board. I was pleasantly surprised!!! I finally got to meet Standrod (Marcus) heck of a nice guy, total Conch'er for sure. I can totally see a Blue Tang Conch dive in the very near future.
As for conditions today. The sun was hot, the air was muggy and the water was wet. I had a bottom temp of 86 throughout the entire 3 tank day. Dive one was an amazing trio wreck dive. The Zion, The Miss Jenny, and The Bonaire (hopefully Marcus will correct the spelling if I butchered them to badly). We dropped down on the first wreck, The Zion, almost right on top of a very large cobia (biggest I've seen yet), he quickly bolted for protection in a foursome group of mack-daddy sized goliath groupers. The current was screaming so we did a lot a ducking and hiding to get out of it. There wasn't a bunch of fish on this site, I'm thinking it must be do to those large Jew fish needing to fill their bellies :laughing:. Just North of the Zion, we hit the Miss Jenny, the current wasn't quite as bad here, but still had to keep our game faces on. Heading just a bit North west we ran right into the Bonaire. This was an awesome wreck to have a look into. As we approached the bow, the current was kicking up enough for me to practice my superman techniques. The visibility was about 50 feet (conservatively speaking).
Dive 2, we went to a new location looking for bugs, not sure if it even has a name. The current was an easy 3 knot so no swimming for us (woohooo, lazy man diving) I found a nice size lobster in one of the many undercuts, I just couldn't figure out how in the world to talk the two spotted eels ,that were on each of it's side, to let me have it. I watched in wonder for a bit and then moved on. It was about that time when Mark (MDColson) made friends with a remora ( :laughing: ). Now to completely understand the humor I found you must know that Mark is from CT and isn't usually ever in the ocean, so for him, he had know clue what this baby shark looking suckey thing was. Let's just say, this particular remora tried to attach himself close to Mark's umm... family jewels :laughing: and Mark wasn't all that happy about this. Of course, I'm trying not to drown myself from laughing so hard, and Mark just isn't seeing the humor in the whole thing. The viz dropped a bit on this dive, but still a good 30-40 feet.
Dive3, The Captain Kurl (again, not sure of the actual spelling on this one)
This dive was AWESOME!!! Huge ledges, loads of fish everywhere you looked. I was starting to feel like I was in another version of Finding Nemo. I caught my very first bug here. (you have to remember, I'm always the spotter, never the actual hunter) I took my time and had her pretty much walking right to me. I couldn't get the hang of the whole loop thing, so I just grabbed her when she got far enough out of her hole. I was so proud of myself for not ripping any of her legs off or tearing up the reef (like I've watched so many others shamefully do), she was huge and beautiful and a belly FULL of dark brown eggs ready to drop
. I put her right back in her little bungalow for safe keeping (for at least a few more days). This dive was amazing, nice 50+ feet of viz and plenty of little critters to check out..
I'll be out on the SS Minnow tomorrow in Palm Beach, so make sure you check out that report if your wanting real life dive conditions. I'm back out on the Blue Tang on Sunday and will report my findings here.
It has to be said, Jupiter is, BY FAR, my favorite place to dive in this country.
Today was my first time out with Blue Tang, what a great dive operation they have. Very friendly crew and Captain with a well respected group of divers on board. I was pleasantly surprised!!! I finally got to meet Standrod (Marcus) heck of a nice guy, total Conch'er for sure. I can totally see a Blue Tang Conch dive in the very near future.
As for conditions today. The sun was hot, the air was muggy and the water was wet. I had a bottom temp of 86 throughout the entire 3 tank day. Dive one was an amazing trio wreck dive. The Zion, The Miss Jenny, and The Bonaire (hopefully Marcus will correct the spelling if I butchered them to badly). We dropped down on the first wreck, The Zion, almost right on top of a very large cobia (biggest I've seen yet), he quickly bolted for protection in a foursome group of mack-daddy sized goliath groupers. The current was screaming so we did a lot a ducking and hiding to get out of it. There wasn't a bunch of fish on this site, I'm thinking it must be do to those large Jew fish needing to fill their bellies :laughing:. Just North of the Zion, we hit the Miss Jenny, the current wasn't quite as bad here, but still had to keep our game faces on. Heading just a bit North west we ran right into the Bonaire. This was an awesome wreck to have a look into. As we approached the bow, the current was kicking up enough for me to practice my superman techniques. The visibility was about 50 feet (conservatively speaking).
Dive 2, we went to a new location looking for bugs, not sure if it even has a name. The current was an easy 3 knot so no swimming for us (woohooo, lazy man diving) I found a nice size lobster in one of the many undercuts, I just couldn't figure out how in the world to talk the two spotted eels ,that were on each of it's side, to let me have it. I watched in wonder for a bit and then moved on. It was about that time when Mark (MDColson) made friends with a remora ( :laughing: ). Now to completely understand the humor I found you must know that Mark is from CT and isn't usually ever in the ocean, so for him, he had know clue what this baby shark looking suckey thing was. Let's just say, this particular remora tried to attach himself close to Mark's umm... family jewels :laughing: and Mark wasn't all that happy about this. Of course, I'm trying not to drown myself from laughing so hard, and Mark just isn't seeing the humor in the whole thing. The viz dropped a bit on this dive, but still a good 30-40 feet.
Dive3, The Captain Kurl (again, not sure of the actual spelling on this one)
This dive was AWESOME!!! Huge ledges, loads of fish everywhere you looked. I was starting to feel like I was in another version of Finding Nemo. I caught my very first bug here. (you have to remember, I'm always the spotter, never the actual hunter) I took my time and had her pretty much walking right to me. I couldn't get the hang of the whole loop thing, so I just grabbed her when she got far enough out of her hole. I was so proud of myself for not ripping any of her legs off or tearing up the reef (like I've watched so many others shamefully do), she was huge and beautiful and a belly FULL of dark brown eggs ready to drop
. I put her right back in her little bungalow for safe keeping (for at least a few more days). This dive was amazing, nice 50+ feet of viz and plenty of little critters to check out..I'll be out on the SS Minnow tomorrow in Palm Beach, so make sure you check out that report if your wanting real life dive conditions. I'm back out on the Blue Tang on Sunday and will report my findings here.
It has to be said, Jupiter is, BY FAR, my favorite place to dive in this country.
