Ah this weekend was great, finally Dorian left and we were able to go back to our routine of diving Saturday and Sunday.
This was my favorite area just south of the inlet in 40- 60 -50 feet. Temperature is down to 84 F, hope stays that way for a couple more months.
Seas were on the rough side for our boat on Saturday but not so much to call it off. Just a pain while guarding my husband's flag, but so very worth it when it was my turn in the water. I guess the stress of the hurricane was greater than I recognized, because once I got in the water I felt such a relief, like a weight was lifted of my shoulders.
Visibility was on the crappy side on the water column, I didn't see the bottom until I was 4-5 feet of it. Once I started going north with the very soft current either my eyes adapted very well or the visibility improved some.
Great dive but didn't see anything special until 30-35 minutes in, that I encounter a gorgeous black grouper, undersized but lately is not normal to see any. Now when I say nothing special I mean no sharks, or turtles or squid, or anything besides a very healthy complex little reef that I'm pretty much used to.
Then around 55 minutes in the dive I figure my husband has been punished plenty on the boat so decided to go up, that's when it turned into a very unique dive, at the safety stop I suddenly got surrounded by a cast of little crab, body size about 1 maybe 1.5 inches diameter, and serious attitude, it was hilarious they were all attacking me with the pinchers out ready to eat my fingers. The cherry on top was a baby triggerfish, no bigger than 2-3 inches. He decided to hang around me, and even came with me once I surfaced to the point I was concerned he'd latch into my gear and get on board.
Sunday we had some friends join us, it was ok but no one came to attack my fingers during the safety stop. My husband did see the baby triggerfish on Sunday.
Looking forward to the next weekend, hopefully the seas will cooperate.