Mark Vlahos and I finally got together and took a trip with the Flying Fish to the Lillian Luckenback on 3rd July. Mark identified me as I was carrying a camera (one of only 2 of us on the boat). That was good as I would never have recognised him!
The day started out very overcast, but the seas were calm and finally the sun broke through and it was a perfect day. Of course there were at least 5 people chumming the water, poor guys. After tales of needing wreck reels and the previous day having 2 foot vis, we were lucky to be told by the DM that it was 30+ feet. We also got to see a turtle surface near our dive boat.
This was my first dive with my LP95 and with nitrox (33%). Mark had helped me tweak my BPW configuration and it worked like a charm (thank you Mark!) Mark was diving twin LP95's with 32%. We went down the anchor line through a very silty layer between the 2nd and 3rd thermoclines, that had loads of jelly fish. Then at the third thermocline it was 52F and it was clear. This was my first trip to the LL and I was a touch dissapointed to find that it was really a debris field. I don't like 100% intact wrecks, but I also am not a huge fan of debris fields either. Anyway, there were some evil looking tau togs, several star fish, some huge flounder and lots of smaller growth on the structure. Our first dive was about 20 minutes, which Mark called and he was suffering from a jelly fish sting across his mouth. It looked painful.
The next dive we voted to stay at the Luckbach instead of chancing the Powell. After a nice surface interval and some hot dogs we dropped in for our second dive. This time I was using my Al80 and air, but that was fine as the max depth I hit was 98 feet. Well within my limits. I was amazed at how calm the fish were on this dive. At one point I was about 2 feet away from the flounder in the picture attached. If only I had a pointed knife I would have caught us dinner (note to self, take keep bag and remember there is a guy at the dock who will clean your fish for you). This dive was also about 20 minutes and wasn't quite as good for me as my mask kept leaking. After 10 minutes I finally stood on the bottom, took it off, pushed my hood back (cold!) and put it back on. Still not perfect, but much better.
I would give the Flying Fish high marks for safety (everyone was logged off the boat, back on the boat and a role call was taken after each dive) and for having a very good crew. The boat is not as nice (IMO) as Lynnhaven's as it lacks side cover (although it has an awning, plenty of spray came accorss), so the only shelter is down below, and even for those of us who don't suffer from mal de mer, it's pushing it to go down below. They also do not have a camera table or bucket, but they did have plenty of places to store them with moderate safety.
A nice day all around!
The day started out very overcast, but the seas were calm and finally the sun broke through and it was a perfect day. Of course there were at least 5 people chumming the water, poor guys. After tales of needing wreck reels and the previous day having 2 foot vis, we were lucky to be told by the DM that it was 30+ feet. We also got to see a turtle surface near our dive boat.
This was my first dive with my LP95 and with nitrox (33%). Mark had helped me tweak my BPW configuration and it worked like a charm (thank you Mark!) Mark was diving twin LP95's with 32%. We went down the anchor line through a very silty layer between the 2nd and 3rd thermoclines, that had loads of jelly fish. Then at the third thermocline it was 52F and it was clear. This was my first trip to the LL and I was a touch dissapointed to find that it was really a debris field. I don't like 100% intact wrecks, but I also am not a huge fan of debris fields either. Anyway, there were some evil looking tau togs, several star fish, some huge flounder and lots of smaller growth on the structure. Our first dive was about 20 minutes, which Mark called and he was suffering from a jelly fish sting across his mouth. It looked painful.
The next dive we voted to stay at the Luckbach instead of chancing the Powell. After a nice surface interval and some hot dogs we dropped in for our second dive. This time I was using my Al80 and air, but that was fine as the max depth I hit was 98 feet. Well within my limits. I was amazed at how calm the fish were on this dive. At one point I was about 2 feet away from the flounder in the picture attached. If only I had a pointed knife I would have caught us dinner (note to self, take keep bag and remember there is a guy at the dock who will clean your fish for you). This dive was also about 20 minutes and wasn't quite as good for me as my mask kept leaking. After 10 minutes I finally stood on the bottom, took it off, pushed my hood back (cold!) and put it back on. Still not perfect, but much better.
I would give the Flying Fish high marks for safety (everyone was logged off the boat, back on the boat and a role call was taken after each dive) and for having a very good crew. The boat is not as nice (IMO) as Lynnhaven's as it lacks side cover (although it has an awning, plenty of spray came accorss), so the only shelter is down below, and even for those of us who don't suffer from mal de mer, it's pushing it to go down below. They also do not have a camera table or bucket, but they did have plenty of places to store them with moderate safety.
A nice day all around!
