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any reports?

2008-09-29T21:44:44-06:00

How is it down south florida?
satellite beach… brown 3” vis, that’s right… inches. new guns and can’t use them.
sincerely,
Frustrated

Florida Elliot Key

2008-09-07T10:00:45-06:00

Amazinly with all the hurricanes getting near, the weather was spectacular on Saturday 9-7-2008 off Miami and Elliot Key. Seas were calm and the visibility up to 50 feet. The mangrove snappers are still here, and lots of lobster and stone crab. I had never seen so many stone crabs in my years of diving in Miami.

Destin, FL - 6 Sep 08

2008-09-06T19:59:31-06:00

Wx: High 70s F early. High 80s F later. Sunny all day with a few passing clouds. The winds were light and out of the SW in the morning and early afternoon. About 1400, the on-shore winds picked up a little.

Seas: Rocky Bayou and most of the Bay was glass. I expected the Gulf to be less than a foot, but as soon as we hit the jetties, we ran into 2-3 footer with a wavelength of 30’ (I know this because my boat is 25’ and my bow was trying to rise before my stern came down the previous swell). Once we got past the C-Buoy, the seas were a pretty steady 2 ft with a few 3 footers.

Boat Info: I don’t know how to make this very short (although it explains why I haven’t filed a dive report in a month). I bought a new Rochester carb and installed it. The raw water pump that I semi-rebuilt in July started leaking from the shaft seal, but with a hurricane approaching, I decided to buy a new pump and finish the rebuild on the old pump later. We tried to go out last week, but halfway across the Bay, the engine started missing. After replacing the fuel/water separator and fuel filter, the fuel pump wouldn’t self prime. I was able to pour some gas into the fuel/water separator which primed the pump, and we were able to limp home. Obviously, I replaced the fuel pump. In the meantime, a salt water leak developed at a hose fitting right over my alternator, so it got fried. I installed a new alternator yesterday. The sea-trial was okay (still not enough power), so we planned today’s trip.

Crew: Candy and Stone

Gear: Candy: 7 mil / 14 lbs - Stone: 5 mil and 12 lbs

Prologue: We left the dock at 0730. Our first objective was to verify the location of the ECRA Members’ Reef (cement mixing drum). Last month, Croz, Candy, and I spent most of a day searching for it with Side-Scan-Sonar, and we were pretty certain we had located it. We spent over an hour doing search patterns today and couldn’t find it. We may have to side-scan a larger area.

Dive One: Spiny Rocks. The water was blue on top and the vis down to 15 ft was about 40 ft. After that, the vis deteriorated all the way down until it was 15 ft on the bottom. We saw no spinys or slippers, but red snapper (illegal in Federal waters) were everywhere.

Dive Two: 18s. This was supposed to be another lobster hunt. We were surprised that the vis on the bottom was 20 to 30 ft. We ran out Candy’s 200 ft reel and had to head back to the anchor line. Luckily, we ran across a gag and a triggerfish, so we didn’t get skunked.

Epilogue: I was pretty tired from working on the boat yesterday, and we were on the water for nearly 4 hours before our first dive, so 2 dives were enough for me. The boat never missed a beat, but I couldn’t get it over 3000 rpm. We were back in port by 4:30 pm.

Trip Info:

Elapse Time (hrs): 9 hrs
Total Miles (st): 79
Fuel (gal): 74

13 July 08

2008-08-25T11:09:05-06:00

This is a typical dive report. It is obviously written for readers in the Pensacola, Destin, and Panama City FL area. If anyone likes reading this stuff, I’ll keep posting.

Wx: 80 F early (warming to 90F). Sunny until 1500. Winds light and variable early, then 25 kts out of the north due to multiple afternoon squalls

Seas: Rocky Bayou was glass, the Bay was flat, and the Gulf was mostly rolling 1+ ft. The squalls changed everything.

Boat Info: In the process of finding a new transmission, Candy called the same company that we bought our engine from. To make a long story short, Candy mentioned that we were not getting the gas mileage or power we expected. We were informed that our Holley carb had a latent defect and they would replace it. I blew the dust, sand, and cobwebs out of my old Rochester carb, pulled the Holley, and re-installed the Rochester. The old carb seemed to work.

Crew: Candy, Stone, & Viper

Gear: Candy: 7 mil / 14 lbs - Stone: 5 mil and vest / 12 lbs

Prologue: We left the dock at 0730. We didn’t find any fish inshore last week, so we headed to our private coops. We planned on 4 dives, 3 offshore and a shallow dive on the way home.

Dive One: Private Coop. Surface current was pretty strong (2-3 kts?). Vis was lousy on top, but 30 – 40 ft on the bottom. The water was 82F on top and 76F on the bottom. No legal fish, so we thumbed the dive pretty quickly.

Dive Two: Prewitt Tug. We tried the Baskin’s Tower Barge first (a favorite for AJs), but it had 2 boats on it. Thankfully, no one was on the Prewitt. The vis was still lousy on top, but after descending through the whale snot, the vis was about 50 ft (even with the lower light level). While still on the anchor line, we were met by a school of barely legal AJs. I swam toward the wreck and another school of AJs swam by, but this school had a few bigger fish mixed in. I shot a 25 lb, 36 inch AJ and spent the rest of the dive getting untangled from monofilament.

Dive Three: Prewitt Tug. Since there were plenty of legal AJs on the wreck, we decided to stay put. We used the surface interval to eat lunch and play with the carburetor. After 2 dives to 120 ft, we knew the 3rd dive would not be very long. I swam to the wheelhouse hoping for a grouper. Candy shot an AJ while still on the rope, but it pulled off.

Epilogue: We headed inshore for a 4th dive and actually dropped the hook and prepared to dive on Anniversary Reef. The skies over Destin were dark and I could see (RADAR) a rainstorm over land about 5 miles north and another squall about 5 miles SW. Before we knew it, the wind picked up to 25 kts and we reevaluated the dive. We couldn’t use the anchor ball in the Anniversary boulder field, so Viper pulled the anchor by hand (which was not very easy as the seas quickly built to 3-4 ft). The winds turned offshore, so we made the best headway we could almost due north. The closer we got to shore, the more speed we could make, and we finally turned east toward the jetties. The RADAR helped us maneuver through the slackest parts of the squall, and we didn’t hit any very heavy rain (the lightning was pretty, but I’d rather watch it from the comfort of my living room).

The transmission continues to give me problems, but the old Rochester Carb noticeably improved my gas mileage.

Trip Info:

Elapse Time (hrs): 11
Total Miles (st): 82
Fuel (gal): 72

Sonoma Coast California

2008-08-23T15:36:12-06:00

anyone been out lately, wondering if the big swell that came through helped with the kelp conditions at all? Let us know!

Florida 1st day of lobster season.

2008-08-08T16:25:56-06:00

We went out on the first day of lobster season (august 6). Amazingly there are still lobster out there after the mini season! We dove right off of the government cut in about 17 feet of water from 9pm to 12pm. 3 of us we kept 16 lobsters, and saw many small ones. We also collected 10 of the spanish lobsters, which are open year around because they are not endemic.

santa cruz island

2008-06-24T11:57:57-06:00

white sea are in at santa cruz as of 6-21-08 . I seen a some shorts and finally seen some 20 to 30 pound class but was not able to get close enough for a shot . water temp a nice 62’ we will try again next weekend. anyone got any reports on yellow tail?

Spearfishing the Marquesas on sunday april 20, 2008

2008-04-21T10:26:16-06:00

Key west waters were murky, but after 30 miles past marquesas islands the sea was clear, no current and smooth. Water is still 76 degrees, you will need a wetsuit if you are diving more than 2-3 hours. Lots of black grouper, and amber jack, but the mangrove snappers where all small, and we saw little hog fish and muttons. Great day diving.

Spearfishing Isla Morada, Fl keys 04_13_08

2008-04-15T10:38:27-06:00

The water was crystal clear, I thought I was in the Bahamas. No current, and lots of fish. I launched off of mile marker 69 and went straight out past the tenesse light house to about 40 feet. I drifted on the edge of the reef there for about 3 hours and was able to get 4 blacks all over 20 lbs. 4 hog fish of about 2 pounds, 4 mangroves of about 2 lbs., One Dog Snapper of 2 lbs. and two barracudas. I lost a large grouper I estimated it about 35 lbs, but it ripped off my spear, and I lost it. Some friends dove around Sombrero light near by and the visibility wasn’t as good.

spearing in The Grenadines

2008-01-13T09:48:12-06:00

I,ll be spending 3 weeks on Bequai, Grenadines in March,08. Anybody have any info, reviews or ideas on diving and spearing there?