jdandvalerie
Contributor
Hopped on board with the crew from Jasa for the afternoon and the evening on 8-20-11. Dive sites in the day were Governor's Riverwalk and Flower Garden. Night dive sites were the Trench and Bath and Tennis. Conditions for the first two were fair, 30-40' vis, 84 degrees, and a moderate north current on the bottom of the wrecks, mild on the reefs. Seas were mild but picked up as the day went on reaching and occasional 3-4'. For the night dives I figured it was a perfect opportunity to put the macro lens on for some close ups.
For those that don't know Governors is a series of wrecks in about 90' of water in West Palm Beach which was deployed in 2002. I was expecting a large amount of Goliath Grouper as the other wreck sites are becoming very crowded with them but there were only a handful. Governor's is a popular site for fishermen as well, and a few of us spent a good majority of the dive cleaning the wreck of fishing line. I'd estimate there was a 400-500' of line removed.
The night dives were, to sum it up in one word: awesome. I settled down in the Trench and watched the multitude of tiny critters run about their business. The Trench is a man-made channel through the reef at about 55'. The idea was to use the channel to lay communication cables that would lead to the Bahamas. Stories vary, but needless to say, they missed. So we were left with a perfect "Trench" with walls about 6-7 feet high, which forms a nice current break and is a common resting spot for nurse sharks, loggerheads, goliaths. But, with the macro lens, I wasn't interested in these guys. What I find most appealing about macro is the little surprises you get when the images are viewed in full size. There is a lot of tiny life hiding in plain site on our reefs. I was also fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when a brittle star spawned.
For those that don't know Governors is a series of wrecks in about 90' of water in West Palm Beach which was deployed in 2002. I was expecting a large amount of Goliath Grouper as the other wreck sites are becoming very crowded with them but there were only a handful. Governor's is a popular site for fishermen as well, and a few of us spent a good majority of the dive cleaning the wreck of fishing line. I'd estimate there was a 400-500' of line removed.
The night dives were, to sum it up in one word: awesome. I settled down in the Trench and watched the multitude of tiny critters run about their business. The Trench is a man-made channel through the reef at about 55'. The idea was to use the channel to lay communication cables that would lead to the Bahamas. Stories vary, but needless to say, they missed. So we were left with a perfect "Trench" with walls about 6-7 feet high, which forms a nice current break and is a common resting spot for nurse sharks, loggerheads, goliaths. But, with the macro lens, I wasn't interested in these guys. What I find most appealing about macro is the little surprises you get when the images are viewed in full size. There is a lot of tiny life hiding in plain site on our reefs. I was also fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when a brittle star spawned.
