On Sunday, I went on the Pura Vida shallow boat for both AM and PM.
The AM trip was a cleanup dive. We were handed bags and shears.
Dive 1 was Teardrop. It was nice not to find a lot of trash. I brought my zookeeper to store trash, rather than the bag. I tend to not stick with the group and go either faster or slower, depending on what I'm doing. In this case, the group was ahead of me because I stopped to pick up some fishing line. I drifted back into the group and there were several people taking photos under a ledge. After they moved on, I swooped in with my flashlight to see what they were looking at and saw a lionfish. I hit the lionfish, but it wasn't a good hold. It got off and swam behind a big rock. The rock was too perfectly shaped, so I backed up a little and realize it was a sleeping turtle. With no plans to try and get the lionfish, I backed off. Just as I was about to leave, the lionfish pops out the other side of the turtle, exposing itself outside the ledge, so I nailed it. There was a break in the ledge with a 7-8ft wide sandy bottom. I decided to follow each ledge to look for trash and lionfish. At one point I look up and a nice size lemon shark is swimming by. I ended up collecting a bunch of fishing line throughout the dive. I saw a couple of eels and shot another small lionfish. Visibility was maybe 40ft.
Dive 2 was Flower Garden. There were moray eels all over the place. I'm not a big fan of being near moray eels, so I kept my distance. I found 5 or 6ft of rope, a plastic zip tie, more fishing line, and a small piece of board. I shot a small lionfish. Visibility dropped to 30ft. Mid dive, there was a drop in water temperature, and you could see the shimmering. There was a thermocline at 30ft. At the surface were two other divers from Sandy's Sunday. We talked about our dives and mentioned I was doing clean up. They had a glass bottle which they were happy to hand over because they didn't have something to hold it in. Kyalami 2 was also in the area picking up divers. We were all intermingled and the captains communicated with each other to untangle the mess of divers. As I handed my DSMB and reel up, the deckhand triggered the release of my line and dropped my reel. It was floating right in front of me but was inches out of my reach. It was hardly negative and pulling on the line would bring it closer to me. I was able to grab it. The deckhand wasn't happy that I did this, but I wasn't on the ladder, and it was right there. I can see where things could go wrong through, say a wave comes and slams the boat on my head, so I get it.
The PM trip was just standard diving.
Dive 1 was Bath and Tennis. The dive started off chilly and warmed up at some point. Visibility was still low, and the current was getting stronger than the AM dives. There was a turtle swimming by and saw several moray eels. I was trying to get under the holes with my flashlight to find lionfish. I saw 3 small lionfish and was only able to land 1. The other two didn't give me opportunity at a clean shot. Visibility was still around 30-35ft. Seas were 2ft and starting to pick up a little.
Dive 2 was Fishbowl. I shot another small lionfish. Saw some more eels. I drifted for a while and eventually hit the trenches. I saw a couple lobsters, not enough to make it worth a trip. The current was all over the place. Sometimes ripping, then slacking, and then ripping again. Visibility was 30ft. On the surface, I was experiencing 3ft seas as I was trying to get on the ladder. I was exhausted and it made it that much more challenging to get up the ladder.
The AM trip was a cleanup dive. We were handed bags and shears.
Dive 1 was Teardrop. It was nice not to find a lot of trash. I brought my zookeeper to store trash, rather than the bag. I tend to not stick with the group and go either faster or slower, depending on what I'm doing. In this case, the group was ahead of me because I stopped to pick up some fishing line. I drifted back into the group and there were several people taking photos under a ledge. After they moved on, I swooped in with my flashlight to see what they were looking at and saw a lionfish. I hit the lionfish, but it wasn't a good hold. It got off and swam behind a big rock. The rock was too perfectly shaped, so I backed up a little and realize it was a sleeping turtle. With no plans to try and get the lionfish, I backed off. Just as I was about to leave, the lionfish pops out the other side of the turtle, exposing itself outside the ledge, so I nailed it. There was a break in the ledge with a 7-8ft wide sandy bottom. I decided to follow each ledge to look for trash and lionfish. At one point I look up and a nice size lemon shark is swimming by. I ended up collecting a bunch of fishing line throughout the dive. I saw a couple of eels and shot another small lionfish. Visibility was maybe 40ft.
Dive 2 was Flower Garden. There were moray eels all over the place. I'm not a big fan of being near moray eels, so I kept my distance. I found 5 or 6ft of rope, a plastic zip tie, more fishing line, and a small piece of board. I shot a small lionfish. Visibility dropped to 30ft. Mid dive, there was a drop in water temperature, and you could see the shimmering. There was a thermocline at 30ft. At the surface were two other divers from Sandy's Sunday. We talked about our dives and mentioned I was doing clean up. They had a glass bottle which they were happy to hand over because they didn't have something to hold it in. Kyalami 2 was also in the area picking up divers. We were all intermingled and the captains communicated with each other to untangle the mess of divers. As I handed my DSMB and reel up, the deckhand triggered the release of my line and dropped my reel. It was floating right in front of me but was inches out of my reach. It was hardly negative and pulling on the line would bring it closer to me. I was able to grab it. The deckhand wasn't happy that I did this, but I wasn't on the ladder, and it was right there. I can see where things could go wrong through, say a wave comes and slams the boat on my head, so I get it.
The PM trip was just standard diving.
Dive 1 was Bath and Tennis. The dive started off chilly and warmed up at some point. Visibility was still low, and the current was getting stronger than the AM dives. There was a turtle swimming by and saw several moray eels. I was trying to get under the holes with my flashlight to find lionfish. I saw 3 small lionfish and was only able to land 1. The other two didn't give me opportunity at a clean shot. Visibility was still around 30-35ft. Seas were 2ft and starting to pick up a little.
Dive 2 was Fishbowl. I shot another small lionfish. Saw some more eels. I drifted for a while and eventually hit the trenches. I saw a couple lobsters, not enough to make it worth a trip. The current was all over the place. Sometimes ripping, then slacking, and then ripping again. Visibility was 30ft. On the surface, I was experiencing 3ft seas as I was trying to get on the ladder. I was exhausted and it made it that much more challenging to get up the ladder.
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