NOAA kept promising that the weather would get better tomorrow. Tomorrow
never came. Who ever heard of a crappy cold front in June, anyway.
9 intrepid souls met for another fantastic dinner at the Rusty Anchor. Nine is a
really nice number, unless you have a payment to make. Anyway, the boat felt
like a private yacht, or as close as the Spree is gona get, anyway. After
dinner, we waddled to the boat, signed paperwork, and prepared for another
fantastic trip. The weather report was for 3-5 and 4-6 for the first day, but
for much improvement after that.
We made our first dive at Great Spot, in 2-6 foot seas, rolling in from the
northwest. Uncomfortable, but we’re built for it. We had 3 who didn’t dive much
that day, at least until the Dramamine kicked in. Great Spot had the usual reef
critters, but I noticed that the grouper were a little thin. CP believes that
they are headed for colder water down deep, which is possible, since deep is
less than a mile away, and the surface temp for this trip would be 83 degrees.
Every once in a while, a blast of cold (77 degree) water would come across the
bank, but for the most part, warm was where it was at. For the afternoon, we
moved to Patti’s. Patti’s is a great dive, unless the current picks up and rips
across the bank. Which it did. This turned out to be a flag-on-line dive for
most divers. We cancelled the night dive, went into the fort and anchored for
the night.
Wednesday morning dawned with the weather report that a major front would push
through about 11 AM, but that tomorrow’s weather would be fantastic. We made a
live boat dive on Sara Shoal, south and east of Ft. Jefferson. The coral
formations were fantastic, with 20 foot relief spur and groove formations. A
couple of red grouper, and some mutton and dog snapper, as well as the grey
angels and other reef denizens made their appearance. After one dive, we headed
back to the fort to anchor up and wait for the front to pass. We saw it coming
on the satellite weather, we saw it coming on the radar, and when it hit us,
what a letdown. The wind actually dropped from 20 to 10, switched directions,
and we went diving. Out to 8 fathom reef, where we ran into the friendliest
groper of the trip, a goliath that was quite small. He barked at CP a couple of
times, let everyone take its picture, and followed the divers like a puppy. That
afternoon we visited the fort, then back to 8 fathom for a night dive.
Thursday, it was still lumpy. The weather report promised nice weather for
Friday, however, so we went diving. Our first site was Alice in Wonderland.
Alice in Wonderland is a monolithic hard coral reef, reminiscent of the East
Flower Garden Bank. It is difficult to navigate because of the sameness in all
directions. The corals are healthy, and reef fish abound. In the afternoon, we
moved over to Cooper’s Reef. Cooper’s is a crew favorite, as well as holding
lots of different fish, including dog and mutton snapper, scamp, some of the
biggest hogfish I’ve seen, cero mackerel, an octopus, and generally, just a nice
site. It’s a big site, so it easily takes a couple of dives to touch on it.
Friday morning it had laid down somewhat, but was overcast. The weather report
for Saturday, however, was spectacular. So we went diving. We started out at
Dante’s Inferno. Dante’s never fails to please, and today was no exception. Lots
and lots of reef fish, a few small groupers, and very healthy coral. I’ve never
seen so much black coral in one place anywhere. In the afternoon, we dove on Bat
Cave. As always, Bat Cave was hit for the crew and guests, with lots of reef
fish, squid, a nurse shark (by the time the stories were over, it was 16 feet
long, and registered). The sun came out in the afternoon, and the wind stopped
blowing. For the rest of the trip, the seas would be confused, and the Spree
would bob about like a cork, with no good direction to face
Saturday morning, we fired up for the trip back to Key West. We made our first
dive at a site we hadn’t dove before, Rebecca Shoal. Current was screaming, but
it was meant to be a drift dive anyway. I put the divers on the wall, but with
visibility only 15-20 feet, only one team found it. Reviews were mixed,
depending on what group you were in, We’ll probably try it again, but only when
the vis is better, and the current isn’t so strong. The next dive was on
Cosgrove shoal. Visibility was still poor, but what a phenomenal dive site.
Nudi’s, slugs, lots and lots of little stuff was sighted. The bummer was the
lionfish. A lionfish was spotted by a passenger and confirmed by one of the
divemasters. All passengers in the group saw the lionfish. We will report the
sighting to REEF, and see if we can bag the little devil on the next trip.
Our final dive of the day was on the Vandenberg. Vis not so good, like in the 40
foot range, but no current to speak of. It is still the Vandenberg, no growth,
lots of fish.
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