Tortugas

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ichigolin

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Location
DC
I'm headed to the Tortugas today after work for a spearfishing trip. I can't wait to get out of here and on my way. I'm going w/a bunch of FL friends that go at least once if not twice a year. I've just been too busy since I moved up to DC. My buddies say it's a great time...

Who's been there and how was it?
 
I have and it can be very nice. Couple of things your buddies may already know
1. There are new boundry's for no fishing zones in the Tortugas, check them closely
2. You must take the actual spear out of the gun for it to be "unloaded"
3. If your coming for the Spearboard Open, watch the weather closely.
4. If you are going on the UG, you better call 1st before you come.

Have fun!
 
It was a great trip. 12 dives in two days (Fri and Sat). 19/20 divers on nitrox. 1 diver on air. Lots of fish. Great weather until Sat night. We were supposed to hit the Baja on the way back in on Sunday morning. However, we ran straight through and back to Ft Myers. We took a beating on Sat night, ~10 ft seas. People were getting thrown from their bunks and getting awful sick.

My first trip on the UG. My buddies had been several times before. I will definitely be going again. I'd recommend the UG to anyone. All 20 of us were there to spearfish. We never went to the Fort or in the park waters.
 
JackSpearo:
get any fish?
how deep did yall dive?
details details!

Post some pictures too. Heard reports that some places had only 5-10 foot of viz down there on Saturday.
 
Max depths day 1: 56, 54, 79, 76, 65, 65 (fsw)
Max depths day 2: 90, 90, 96, 53, 54, 51 (fsw)

We got lots of fish: black grouper, hogfish, and red grouper mostly. The big ones were a few +35lb grouper. AJs were spotted, but none were brought back. I lit one up at bout 85 fsw and talk bout big, strong, crazy *** fish. Long story short, he got away. Lots of big lobster too...too bad they're out of season.

Sharks encounters were plentiful. My boys said that this trip was the most they had ever seen. The largest I saw was a 8-10ft nurse shark. I poked him 3 times before my buddy turned around and poked him twice. It was after his hogfish. Persistent booger...

The worst viz on any dive I made was probably 20 ft. That was the second dive of day 1. It was relatively shallow and it was really rough out. I surfaced and had to wait about 30 min for the boat. Talk about a bad float. It wasn't 10 min after getting out of the water when I was chumming the water. Otherwise, viz was usually at least ~40ft.

As for pics... give me a day or two. I didn't have my camera. I'm waiting for my buddies to send them to me. I promise to post them and provide a link.

It was my first spearo trip. I'm so hooked. I learned a lot from my boys down south.
 

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