IslandFrog
Contributor
Not the best at writing these, but here is a shot.
Saturday morning the group from Oak Hill Scuba boarded the DIVER I in South Padre Island, and headed out for the TEXAS CLIPPER. Seas were actually very calm, although for some on the trip they seemed much bigger. On site, we had overcast skies and current from the Mississippi outflow giving us rather poor visibility, 20ft to 30ft was the general concensus. Water temp was in the mid 70's, and there was a Thermocline of sorts, that seemed to shift upwards as the day progressed, but at times you could stay at one depth and feel changes in the water temperature as the current stirred things up.
The CLIPPER herself was heavily encrusted with barnacles and such, much more than any of us were expecting as she has only been reefed for 6 months. Lots of blenny's, arrow crabs and such are making homes in the encrustation. A large accumulation of fish were on or near the wreck. I'll let others chime in with the types as my fish ID isn't the best. Tim from American Divers (Dive Charter) reported several large Groupers, although the dive team I was on did not seem them.
One member of our little expedition didn't make it back as Mary from the Sea Turtle Hospital brought a rehabilitated hawksbill turtle to release on the first dive. Mary reported that the fellow swam away without even a thank you. This was the second turtle release in two weeks. I stopped by the Sea Turtle Hospital on Sunday morning to take in the little tour that they have and Mary showed me an article in one of the local papers on the release.
Mack, you put together a great trip. It was a pleasure to dive with you guys, and Paul makes a great dive buddy.
I know that I have left out a lot, but hopefully others who made the trip can chime in and fill in the details.
-Brad
Saturday morning the group from Oak Hill Scuba boarded the DIVER I in South Padre Island, and headed out for the TEXAS CLIPPER. Seas were actually very calm, although for some on the trip they seemed much bigger. On site, we had overcast skies and current from the Mississippi outflow giving us rather poor visibility, 20ft to 30ft was the general concensus. Water temp was in the mid 70's, and there was a Thermocline of sorts, that seemed to shift upwards as the day progressed, but at times you could stay at one depth and feel changes in the water temperature as the current stirred things up.
The CLIPPER herself was heavily encrusted with barnacles and such, much more than any of us were expecting as she has only been reefed for 6 months. Lots of blenny's, arrow crabs and such are making homes in the encrustation. A large accumulation of fish were on or near the wreck. I'll let others chime in with the types as my fish ID isn't the best. Tim from American Divers (Dive Charter) reported several large Groupers, although the dive team I was on did not seem them.
One member of our little expedition didn't make it back as Mary from the Sea Turtle Hospital brought a rehabilitated hawksbill turtle to release on the first dive. Mary reported that the fellow swam away without even a thank you. This was the second turtle release in two weeks. I stopped by the Sea Turtle Hospital on Sunday morning to take in the little tour that they have and Mary showed me an article in one of the local papers on the release.
Mack, you put together a great trip. It was a pleasure to dive with you guys, and Paul makes a great dive buddy.
I know that I have left out a lot, but hopefully others who made the trip can chime in and fill in the details.
-Brad