Missdirected
Contributor
Saturday morning started out w/ Reef (Jay) picking me up at about 6:15. Thankfully he was good enough to take me straight for coffee. Then we were off to Clearwater to dive with Tanks-A-Lot and Captain Mike (Instructor Mike on SB) and Heidi (heidit1).
I don't know what it is with directions and me but google purposely gave me bad directions. I'm sure of it and Jay has the paper to prove it.
We were lucky enough to realize the directions just didn't seem right so we weren't taken too far out of our way and still arrived on time at the charter at 7:02. Believe it or not Jay and I were the last to arrive and show time was only at seven. McGowman (Bryan) was there and was already almost finished setting up his gear :shocked2: With everyone being on top of their game today, I'm pretty sure we got out before the scheduled go time of 7:30.
Ride out started off beautifully, with a pod of dolphins wishing us a good day. Seas on the ride out were maybe a foot or two max. The sky was a bit cloudy so temperatures weren't too terribly hot. Heidi and Mike are great to chat with. We laughed and joked a lil with them on the way out and Mike shared pics of some pretty darn impressive fish he has speared over the years.
Upon arriving at the site we found only one other dive boat and two fishing boats. The fishing boats vacated rather quickly :thumbs-up First dive had me splashing down on The Sheridan and finding viz to be between 40 and 50 feet. There was a big school of bait-fish being chased by yellowtail snapper, blue runners, and almaco jack. As I arrived at the wreck I spotted a juvenile goliath grouper and began to slowly approach. As I was approaching I found he had a hook in his mouth with about five foot of line coming off of it. :sad: I was able to grab the line and began pulling. He went inside the wreck and headed down the hall as I continued to pull. For a moment, a brief moment, he kind of went with the line. For a sec I almost thought he'd come right to me and let me take out the hook but he did not. As quickly as that thought came, he abruptly turned down the hall and snapped the line. I'm not sure the hook came out - I was just left with line and weight. Hopefully though this will make it easier, if the hook didn't come out for it to fall out now. I'm sure Heidi will keep us updated. Continuing on with the dive, Reef, McGowman, and I headed down the port side of the wreck then around the stern and up the starboard side. Saw lots of the usual suspects and of course the "Tour Guides" aka barracuda were right alongside us. Mid-ship on the starboard side we were lucky enough to spot a lobster. A beautiful, just barely legal, if at all, spiny lobster. I remembered Oceandvr saying that she had saw two the day before. Fingers crossed that one day the lobsters will make a full come back in this area and we can enjoy some lobster dinners
During SI Heidi spotted the eagle rays. Several from the group hopped in and swam around with them for a bit. Afterward, the group moved over to The Blackthorne for our second dive. We saw many of the same suspects we had on The Sheridan, with the exception of a loggerhead and nurse shark that I personally didn't see but others were fortunate enough to. I think I was side-tracked "rescuing" an anchor...
There were also loads of mangrove snapper that were @ 20-22". Again viz was anywhere between 40 & 50' with temps in the mid-eighties.
The end of the day and the ride home had many taking a little nap. McGowman was super lucky and was treated to a polish and pedicure on the way home.
As this was a first for the Tanks-A-Lot boat, the captain was sure to take lots of promotional pics Right Captain?
In closing, I'd like to give a huge thank-you to Captain Mike and his beautful wife DM Heidi. I had a super day. I know Jay said that was his best dive to date and it wasn't just the dive it was how you two ran the boat. :yelclap:
Can't wait 'til we take a "day off" and go spearing.
Cheers.
I don't know what it is with directions and me but google purposely gave me bad directions. I'm sure of it and Jay has the paper to prove it.
We were lucky enough to realize the directions just didn't seem right so we weren't taken too far out of our way and still arrived on time at the charter at 7:02. Believe it or not Jay and I were the last to arrive and show time was only at seven. McGowman (Bryan) was there and was already almost finished setting up his gear :shocked2: With everyone being on top of their game today, I'm pretty sure we got out before the scheduled go time of 7:30.Ride out started off beautifully, with a pod of dolphins wishing us a good day. Seas on the ride out were maybe a foot or two max. The sky was a bit cloudy so temperatures weren't too terribly hot. Heidi and Mike are great to chat with. We laughed and joked a lil with them on the way out and Mike shared pics of some pretty darn impressive fish he has speared over the years.
Upon arriving at the site we found only one other dive boat and two fishing boats. The fishing boats vacated rather quickly :thumbs-up First dive had me splashing down on The Sheridan and finding viz to be between 40 and 50 feet. There was a big school of bait-fish being chased by yellowtail snapper, blue runners, and almaco jack. As I arrived at the wreck I spotted a juvenile goliath grouper and began to slowly approach. As I was approaching I found he had a hook in his mouth with about five foot of line coming off of it. :sad: I was able to grab the line and began pulling. He went inside the wreck and headed down the hall as I continued to pull. For a moment, a brief moment, he kind of went with the line. For a sec I almost thought he'd come right to me and let me take out the hook but he did not. As quickly as that thought came, he abruptly turned down the hall and snapped the line. I'm not sure the hook came out - I was just left with line and weight. Hopefully though this will make it easier, if the hook didn't come out for it to fall out now. I'm sure Heidi will keep us updated.
Continuing on with the dive, Reef, McGowman, and I headed down the port side of the wreck then around the stern and up the starboard side. Saw lots of the usual suspects and of course the "Tour Guides" aka barracuda were right alongside us. Mid-ship on the starboard side we were lucky enough to spot a lobster. A beautiful, just barely legal, if at all, spiny lobster. I remembered Oceandvr saying that she had saw two the day before. Fingers crossed that one day the lobsters will make a full come back in this area and we can enjoy some lobster dinners During SI Heidi spotted the eagle rays. Several from the group hopped in and swam around with them for a bit. Afterward, the group moved over to The Blackthorne for our second dive. We saw many of the same suspects we had on The Sheridan, with the exception of a loggerhead and nurse shark that I personally didn't see but others were fortunate enough to. I think I was side-tracked "rescuing" an anchor...
There were also loads of mangrove snapper that were @ 20-22". Again viz was anywhere between 40 & 50' with temps in the mid-eighties. The end of the day and the ride home had many taking a little nap. McGowman was super lucky and was treated to a polish and pedicure on the way home.
As this was a first for the Tanks-A-Lot boat, the captain was sure to take lots of promotional pics Right Captain? In closing, I'd like to give a huge thank-you to Captain Mike and his beautful wife DM Heidi. I had a super day. I know Jay said that was his best dive to date and it wasn't just the dive it was how you two ran the boat. :yelclap:
Can't wait 'til we take a "day off" and go spearing.
Cheers.
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