USCG DUANE x 2, trip report, friday, 8/15/2014, pics,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[reefman]

perfect topside conditions once again offshore key largo this morning; bright sunshine, a gentle SW breeze, flat seas. planned one cylinder on the bibb followed by a second on the duane, however a tad too much current present on the more exposed bibb so we elected to double on the duane. visibility(green water) was mediocre from the shoreline out to the deep wrecks, swamp water was my initial impression when we moored to buoy D3(stern). green viz 30FT on the surface improving to 50+FT(blue/green) on the wreck, mdt surface current/light on the superstructure, water temp a balmy 87/88F @ 60-110FT. except for the beginning of dive #1(rainbow reef guided divers), we had the ship to ourselves. large, approachable schools of permit, goliath grouper, the usual abundance of various snappers, jacks, cudas, tropical and a school of juvenile ocean triggerfish seeking shelter beneath my boat. the tubastraea(orange cup coral) was vibrant, polyps extended, not usually observed during the day. pics from TIMG,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


reefman
key largo

 

[drrich2]

Nice to see. When I was in Key Largo, I was told by a guide that the Duane generally had more fish life on it than the Bibb, and by a captain that the Bibb gets interesting once you've done the Duane a few times already. Which is interesting since they're sister ships fairly close to each other, but the Duane is upright & the Bibb is not. You have any thoughts about all that?

Richard.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Picture 11 is very nice considering you had blah viz

 

[Keith.M]

Blah vis. Haha. You be spoiled!

 

[reefman]

Nice to see. When I was in Key Largo, I was told by a guide that the Duane generally had more fish life on it than the Bibb, and by a captain that the Bibb gets interesting once you've done the Duane a few times already. Which is interesting since they're sister ships fairly close to each other, but the Duane is upright & the Bibb is not. You have any thoughts about all that?

Richard.

here's a few takes. fish tend to aggregate around vertical structure and the duane has superior fish #s in comparison to the bibb for that reason in my view. having said that I observe greater numbers of black, goliath groupers and eagle rays on the bibb(maybe less diver/spearo traffic). some species of fish also prefer less current and the duane provides that in the superstructure and also the density of hard/soft corals(tubastraea), sponges, gorgonians, oysters is much higher as well . we dive it less frequently because the photographers I primarily dive with have a tough go of it trying to manage the current(holding on to the the ship) and a camera(many more places to hide and avoid the current on the duane). bottom time is always an issue as well, you can hang out finishing your dive @ the crows nest on the duane @ 60FT(buoy D3) or the smoke stack @ 70FT(D2), not so with the bibb. however, the photographers all love the exposed props on the bibb,,,,,,


reefman
key largo

 

[deeper thoughts]

Blah vis. Haha. You be spoiled!

i remember when we dived and lived in nyc,10 feet was nice lol

 

[CajunDiva]

Great pics Tim...love the way you used the sun as a backdrop

 

[timg]

Picture 11 is very nice considering you had blah viz

Thank you you deeper thoughts. Adjusting the power on the strobes down a stop and opening the aperture a stop helps clear it up a bit.

---------- Post added August 16th, 2014 at 08:18 PM ----------

Blah vis. Haha. You be spoiled!

Lots of particulates floating around and green hue to the water.

---------- Post added August 16th, 2014 at 08:20 PM ----------

Great pics Tim...love the way you used the sun as a backdrop

Thank you CajunDiva.