I dove Monday to participate in the Apex Predator Memorial Mayhem Lionfish tournament. Stuart Scuba was the exclusive shop to run divers, but one boat had an engine failure 2 days prior. Ben @ Stuart Scuba made things happen, got divers on other boats, and ran the remaining boat in the PM as well.
I was on the PM trip. We dove Mid Reef and Zimms. I'm not familiar with Zimms, but I have a fairly good idea where we dropped because I pulled my phone out when they called 10 min and looked where we were. It looked west of Black Rock.
We had 2 ft seas. It wasn't as bad as the forecast. I had 81 degrees at depth, 1 degree warmer than yesterday. Capt Mark was at the helm of Down Deep. Before our first drop, he blessed us by wearing a speedo and calling everyone's attention up to him. I'm having trouble unseeing it
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Monday's current was stronger than Sundays. I successfully located Spearmans barge. On the west side of it, as the current hit the barge, I could feel my mask start shifting. The other side, I could get out of the full strength of the current, but it was still strong.
As for Lionfish, I didn't see a single one. I mainly focused on north facing structure, looking under the ledges with my flashlight. Some were luckier than others. Some reported finding some at the end of their dives and they had half a dozen to prove it. I suggested we drop back where they were finding fish, but with the currents, Capt Mark had no idea where to precisely go.
Zimms was mostly sand and algae. If anyone knows more about Zimms, please share. I lost structure in my zig zagging (using my Tusa) and couldn't find it again. I ran into divers on fins, so I know I wasn't far off, and I could hear the boat engine nearby.
Visibility was 50ft on Mid Reef and 30ft on Zimms. You know how you can see the green/blue line on the surface? We dropped just on the inside of the green. The further west I went, the worse the vis got.
I finally saw some nice hogs, but with the current, I couldn't get close enough for a clean shot. I took a hail Mary shot on one after crawling on the bottom for minutes to get closer. I missed it by a hair. It was probably 25 inches long.
I was on the PM trip. We dove Mid Reef and Zimms. I'm not familiar with Zimms, but I have a fairly good idea where we dropped because I pulled my phone out when they called 10 min and looked where we were. It looked west of Black Rock.
We had 2 ft seas. It wasn't as bad as the forecast. I had 81 degrees at depth, 1 degree warmer than yesterday. Capt Mark was at the helm of Down Deep. Before our first drop, he blessed us by wearing a speedo and calling everyone's attention up to him. I'm having trouble unseeing it
.Monday's current was stronger than Sundays. I successfully located Spearmans barge. On the west side of it, as the current hit the barge, I could feel my mask start shifting. The other side, I could get out of the full strength of the current, but it was still strong.
As for Lionfish, I didn't see a single one. I mainly focused on north facing structure, looking under the ledges with my flashlight. Some were luckier than others. Some reported finding some at the end of their dives and they had half a dozen to prove it. I suggested we drop back where they were finding fish, but with the currents, Capt Mark had no idea where to precisely go.
Zimms was mostly sand and algae. If anyone knows more about Zimms, please share. I lost structure in my zig zagging (using my Tusa) and couldn't find it again. I ran into divers on fins, so I know I wasn't far off, and I could hear the boat engine nearby.
Visibility was 50ft on Mid Reef and 30ft on Zimms. You know how you can see the green/blue line on the surface? We dropped just on the inside of the green. The further west I went, the worse the vis got.
I finally saw some nice hogs, but with the current, I couldn't get close enough for a clean shot. I took a hail Mary shot on one after crawling on the bottom for minutes to get closer. I missed it by a hair. It was probably 25 inches long.
