CosbySweater
Contributor
@Johnoly and I got out on Jupiter Dive Center's morning 3-tanker for the first day of mini season on Wednesday morning. I arrived at the shop around 6:40am for check-in and the parking lot was almost full. I met up with Johnoly inside, we got checked in and then hung out behind the boats while we waited for the crew to load up our tanks. JDC ran two boats yesterday morning. A 2-tanker and a 3-tanker. The 3-tanker was booked for 14 divers but a group of 6 had to cancel literally at the last minute. Apparently they thought the boat was leaving at 9:00am when in reality it was scheduled to leave at 7:30am. Not sure how that happened as I got multiple texts, an email, and a phone call from JDC reminding me the boat was leaving at 7:30am sharp. A real bummer for that group but we wound up with a nice light load on the boat (8 divers) to kick off mini season!
The wind was blowing out of the SE at 10-15 and seas were around 3' with the occasional 4-5 footer thrown in the mix. The forecast leading up to Wednesday made it look worse than it actually was. It was a little bumpy but not bad at all. The first drop was a touch North of the inlet in about 70 feet of water. Red algae everywhere. I managed 3 bugs on that drop but it was slim pickins! Viz was around 50 and water temp was 85. The surface interval snack was fresh pineapple!
Johnoly lobbied captain Tom to take us south and deep for the second drop. We motored South and dropped in 95 feet of water. Current was screaming but less red algae. Johnoly said he was rock crawling the entire dive. Johnoly picked up 10 bugs and I got a big fat goose egg. Several eggers for me. I was trying to protect my NDL by hovering but all the bugs were tucked under the rocks out of view. Good lesson learned there. Several other divers on the boat did well on the second drop. Viz was again around 50 and water temps at 85. For the surface interval Johnoly served up some of his famous meat kabobs. Captain, crew, and divers were all fat and happy!
We stuck around the same area for the third drop, just slightly shallower in 84 feet of water. Current was a little more manageable here too and less red algae. I managed another two bugs, missed two others, and lassoed several eggers. The other divers did well at this spot. Viz was maybe slightly better at 60 and same water temp (85). The post dive snack was M&M chocolate chip cookies!
Overall I ended the day with 5. A couple of which were big boys. Johnoly was gracious enough to gift me two more for letting him borrow my extra snare so I wound up with a nice grocery bag for the week. All in all a great start to lobster season. Everyone on the boat got several bugs and left with full stomachs. No incidents or close calls. We had plenty of space out on the water. Big thanks to Captain Tom for working hard to give us good drops, Dave for towing the float ball, and Ben for working the deck.
The wind was blowing out of the SE at 10-15 and seas were around 3' with the occasional 4-5 footer thrown in the mix. The forecast leading up to Wednesday made it look worse than it actually was. It was a little bumpy but not bad at all. The first drop was a touch North of the inlet in about 70 feet of water. Red algae everywhere. I managed 3 bugs on that drop but it was slim pickins! Viz was around 50 and water temp was 85. The surface interval snack was fresh pineapple!
Johnoly lobbied captain Tom to take us south and deep for the second drop. We motored South and dropped in 95 feet of water. Current was screaming but less red algae. Johnoly said he was rock crawling the entire dive. Johnoly picked up 10 bugs and I got a big fat goose egg. Several eggers for me. I was trying to protect my NDL by hovering but all the bugs were tucked under the rocks out of view. Good lesson learned there. Several other divers on the boat did well on the second drop. Viz was again around 50 and water temps at 85. For the surface interval Johnoly served up some of his famous meat kabobs. Captain, crew, and divers were all fat and happy!
We stuck around the same area for the third drop, just slightly shallower in 84 feet of water. Current was a little more manageable here too and less red algae. I managed another two bugs, missed two others, and lassoed several eggers. The other divers did well at this spot. Viz was maybe slightly better at 60 and same water temp (85). The post dive snack was M&M chocolate chip cookies!
Overall I ended the day with 5. A couple of which were big boys. Johnoly was gracious enough to gift me two more for letting him borrow my extra snare so I wound up with a nice grocery bag for the week. All in all a great start to lobster season. Everyone on the boat got several bugs and left with full stomachs. No incidents or close calls. We had plenty of space out on the water. Big thanks to Captain Tom for working hard to give us good drops, Dave for towing the float ball, and Ben for working the deck.
