Captain’s Blog

Is there such a thing as too many fish??? The answer seems to be “yes”. There were so many baitfish that the wreck was difficult to identify. When the divers went down, they couldn’t find the wreck because of all the baitfish. It was right there, but noone could see it, only the fish.

What wasn’t baitfish was something bigger or better. Lots and lots of fish everywhere… Duh… We’re in the ocean.

The water seems to be continually getting warmer. This weekend it was 73F. This means that the cuda’s will be coming in everywhere and the Cobias will be spawning in the shallower waters for the next couple of weeks. Also noticed another giant stingray with it’s own set of Remora’s around 16 miles out.

The angels seem to get bigger and bigger everytime I see them. This monster was a good 2 and a half feet long and not afraid of much.

Another great day diving.

A nice day out on Lake Atlantic. The diving was fantastic. The visibility was 50 feet and the temp is now 73F. Spotted some Atlantic Spotted bottle nose dolphin and they came over to check us out. Usually they run away from divers, but we had a very inquisitive one that checked out several divers. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to get the camera, but got a couple shots worth keeping. Click on the pic to see the larger image.

Another great day diving.

A nice day for diving. Dove the reef balls and Standish.

I was fortunate to have a great captain onboard from Jacksonville Scuba Center. This allowed the both of us to dive. As a captain, you don’t get a chance to get off the boat very often. Such a treat. The ride out was lake atlantic.

The vis was over 80′ and the temp was 70. The first dive was the liberty ship “Bear”. It sunk during WWII and is in 105′ of water. On the way to the wreck, saw the largest stingray that I’ve ever seen. His wingspan had to be 6′.

The bait fish were so thick, it was tough to see the wreck until you got next to it.

Saw a nice sized turtle sleeping in the sand next to the wreck.

What a pretty wreck. Alot of nice growth and many many fish.

On the way out of the Bear, we stopped over the Red Snapper Sink hole and watched the fathometer slip from 80′ to over 260′. Our next stop was the outer plane culverts. The vis was 30′ and the temp was 68. This is another artificial reef composed mainly of concrete culverts and pillboxes. This reef is older and there is alot of good growth on it. Many different species of fish live here and everything looks so healthy. I particularly like the way the culverts are spaced apart instead of piled on top of each other.

Our third site was Grapple, about 8 miles out. The vis was 5′ and the temp was 68. It seems the tidal current was flowing right through it. Another great day off of Saint Augustine. This is diving.

The day started off a little bumpy, but calmed down fairly quickly. The first dive was on grapple (culverst and pill boxes), then on a more established artificial reef called Standish. Noticed some coral growth. And, then finally on the new high school culverts.

First paid charter. All went well. Don’t seem to be able to dive anymore. Hmm… wasn’t this supposed to be a fun job??? Everyone else enjoyed themselves. On the fist dive we did the hopper barge. The second dive was taylor reef. The third dive was 40 miles offshore on some natural ledges. And the last dive was back on taylor by popular demand.

Another beautiful day on the ocean off of Saint Augustine. We dove 2 nice sites. On the first site, we were immediately surrounded by dolphins. The water was so clear, you could see them looking at you.

Of course, as soon as you get in the water, they take off. The first dive was in 80 feet of water, the temp was 61, the vis was 40+ feet. The second dive was 100 feet of water, the vis was 15 feet and the temp was a balmy 67. In a 7mm wetsuit, I started to sweat. Again, the bait fish were so thick that on the first dive, they were changing day to night.

Overall another good day for diving.

We pull back into the marina, and Martyn (The Pointe Restaurant) was throwing a deck party with a live band.

Do you think I should have told the guys that this wasn’t planned??? Nahhh… Life doesn’t get a whole lot better than this. Cold beer,

good diving, beautiful ladies and wonderful sunsets…

Took the guys out and dove 5 different spots. A long day, but some great diving. Lady Margaret performed fantastic as usual. The bait fish are swarming everything off of Saint Augustine.

Something’s gotta be eating these fish, so kept an eye out for something bigger. One diver said that he was swimming with some very content 5-6 foot either lemon or reef sharks and they were rather fat and happy. Wish I could have gotten a picture of that. I was on the A-6 intruder airplanes and tangled with a large trigger fish. To the point that I was backing off for fear of him biting either my finger or my camera. I have it set up for wallpaper, just double click and then right click the new pic and “set as wallpaper”.

And, the guys got some nice fish. This is the biggest red that I think I’ve ever seen. Over all a great day.

Tried out the new camera underwater. Took 127 shots and had about 4 keepers out of the group. I think this one is the winner though. This little fish just kept posing until I got it right. You can right click and use the “save as” and use it as desktop background (1024 x 768).

About 30 minutes on the bottom in 62 degrees of water. In a 7mm wetsuit, it was not only bearable, but enjoyable. First dive was an old hopper barge loaded with fish. Visibility was 35 feet and there was all kind of stuff to see. Boy it sure is good to see the boat when you get to the top.

The second dive was on the same wreck, it was so good. Then in closer for the third dive on some culverts. Visibility was 20 feet.

The guys brought up some dinner also.

Overall a spectacular day.

01-03-04

1500 Left Atlantic Marine after fueling up (150gals). 1545 At the Jacksonville sea buoy. The new engine was just what the doctor ordered. My speed has increased from 12 mph top end to 17 mph. This will make the ride out to the dive spots much better. Check out this wake…

This is what they were singing about when they were saying “Nicely making way”. What a nice quick journey. The weather couldn’t have been any nicer nor the seas any calmer. Saw the usual suspects (dolphins) but they didn’t come play in the new wake. Maybe they will when I put mufflers on this thing. Straight pipes off of Detroit 8v53’s is amazingly loud. Also saw about a 10′ manta ray jump into the air. Again at sunset. Do they do this because of the kitty bewitching hour (sunset)? Why do sunsets look more spectacular from the water???

1805 At the Saint Augustine sea buoy. This is a twilight entrance tonight. Not too bad, could see the shadows of the buoys against the sunset. 1820 Back at Sea Lover’s Marina then tied up. What a beautiful day, I don’t do this often enough. Wow… 3 hours 20 minutes…