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Once again, our intrepid crew met our
guests at Chico’s Cantina for a delicious
repast prior to boarding. It was a great
session for meet and greet, and everyone
started to feel comfortable with each other
prior to getting on the boat. This trip was
our first with a full boat, so, as always,
we had a new learning experience. We got
underway about 11 PM for Steve’s Reef. At
12:30, I awoke to a thump thump, and all
three engines shut down. Not a good thing.
As I came up to the wheelhouse, Captain
Kenny stated that he thought he had run
aground. I knew it wasn’t quite that bad,
but was afraid that we hit a log and had
bent all three props. I got on my dive gear,
and jumped in to find that we had struck the
mother lode of all ropes, which were tightly
wrapped around all three props. I got plenty
of “red knives” (very inexpensive, very
sharp, don’t stay sharp long, throw away)
and settled in for a marathon cutting
session. After ½ hour wedged in between
shafts and props, I had the port and
starboard prop free, but suddenly got a dry
mouth and felt woozy. I surfaced and sent
Tricia and CP in to finish the job. I
realized I was seasick, wedged in and a
light dangling in my face. I hate night
dives anyway. Trisha and CP finished up in
about 5 minutes, and we were underway again
with no damage sustained. We arrived at
Steve’s reef at about 7 AM. Dives one,
two, and three were completed at Steve’s. We
stayed for three for two reasons: There was
a very friendly Goliath Grouper (This guy is
used to being fed. Not by us, big boy), and
someone lost a weight pouch on the ascent.
CP picked up a girlfriend on the dive, a big
red grouper that would not leave him alone.
Congratulations CP on your new friend. Other
critters spotted included butter hamlets,
wrasse blennies, and black grouper. Dives
4 and 5 were performed at a site new to us,
Georges Gorge, or, in honor of our trip
leader, Big Furball. Our trip leader from
Southern Indiana Scuba is George, and he is
a big furball. Anyway, Georges Gorge is a
low relief coral and rubble dive, with
hogfish, moray eels, and an octopus that we
couldn’t find. Seas were 1-2 foot, wind
10-15, water temp 80, air temp 85, vis 40
feet. Tuesday morning we woke up to dive
on Sherwood Forest. Sherwood Forest still
looks like the East Flower Garden Bank to
me, but the guests love it, and it is one of
the signature dives in the Dry Tortugas, so
we will keep going there. Critters spotted
included the long surface swim fish, the not
following the dive briefing and getting lost
fish, but the elusive dingy ride fish was
not spotted. Poor navigation should be
painful. Others included lots and lots of
red and black grouper, amberjack, bar jack,
dog snapper, and yellowtails. Tuesday
afternoon we dove at another new (to us)
site called What the Heck. What the Heck has
about 20 feet of relief from sand to reef
top, lots of nooks and crannies, and another
red grouper that followed CP around like a
puppy. I spotted a tiger grouper under a
coral head, and we played peek-a-boo for
about 5 minutes before it got tired of the
game and just left. Other critters included
yellow bellied hamlet, an unknown
damselfish, amberjack, bar jacks, barracuda,
and the creole wrasse are continuing their
x-rated performance at dawn and dusk. Seas
were 1-2 foot, wind 10-15, water temp 80,
air temp 85, vis 40 feet.
Wednesday morning was spent at Mushrooms, a
perennial favorite, and it did not
disappoint this time, either. We like to say
that our steward, Greg, was certified on
Mushrooms. Doesn’t say much for his
instructor, Tricia, does it? Anyway,
Mushrooms had the usual groupers, french
grunts, blue runners, bar jacks, and garden
eels. Seas were calm, wind variable, Water
temp 81, Air temp 102, vis better at 50
feet. Wednesday afternoon was spent
exploring Dragonfly. I saw the biggest
goliath grouper I had ever seen (up till
then, wait until tomorrow), a red at a
cleaning station, a big big black also being
cleaned, french grunts, spawning bluehead
wrasse, and lots of yellow headed jawfish,
some with eggs. CP spotted a mantis shrimp.
Seas were calm, wind variable, Water temp
81, Air temp 115, vis 50 feet. Thursday
morning we went to Bat Caves, where we found
atlantic spadefish, ocean triggerfish,
goliath grouper, and a whole host of others.
Seas were calm, wind variable, Water temp
81, Air temp 89, vis 50 feet. Then we
discovered Dante’s Inferno. What a dive. I
have dived a lot of spots in the world, this
one makes the top 5. We had been listening
to one of the other boats, Playmate, asking
the Buoy Boyz to please put a mooring ball
at Dante’s. Since the Buoy Boyz are out this
week placing and replacing moorings at the
North Reserve, they put one at Dante’s for
Bob, the owner of the Playmate. We came over
to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss
is all about the healthiest population of
big goliath grouper in the reserve, with
reports of 8-10 individuals, the largest
being 7 feet long. Anyway, I saw 4 myself,
and one of them was 6 feet long, so it’s
possible. There were scamp, gags, blacks,
grunts, doctor fish, a hawksbill turtle, and
the ever spawning bluehead wrasse. The site
is a few coral mountains rising 30 feet out
of the sand, with large overhangs. The dive
is comfortably completed at 60 feet, or the
adventurous can dive it at 85 feet. Seas
were calm with a north swell, wind variable,
Water temp 82, Air temp 109, vis 50 feet.
Friday morning the swell from the north
continued, and we dove on Nazarro’s Notch.
Nazarro’s is a low relief hard bottom reef
with plenty of big coral boulders to keep
everyone looking to see what they could see.
The divers were fairly unimpressed with the
site, and it was hard to navigate.
Definitely not a repeater, but had the only
shark of the week, a 3 foot reef shark. Vis
30 feet, depth 75, seas 3 feet in a north
swell, winds 10 knots north, water temp 82,
air temp 89. After Nazarro’s we moved on
to K-buoy Reef. K-buoy is where the
shrimpers come to clean their catch, sleep,
and fish. The site is low-relief hardbottom
in 60 feet of water, but is loaded with
fish. Reds, blacks, scamps, gags, you name
it, if it eats shrimp by-catch, it is here.
The mooring isn’t in very good shape, and a
rougher day would pull it out, so we
probably won’t dive here again, either. Vis
80 feet, depth 60, seas 3 feet in a north
swell, winds 10 knots north, water temp 82,
air temp 89. We’re headed back to Stock
Island for a re-load, then back for next
week. More to follow…. Capt. Frank
M/V Spree
Stock Island, FL |
