Well, there are still hammerhead sharks on the West Bank. Unfortunately, we weren’t. Story of my life—I wanted to go straight to the East Bank because that’s where we have had the best luck all spring. We got underway at 9:30 and headed straight for the East Bank, getting there at 0700. Tied up to buoy number 7 and proceeded to relax in the exceptionally smooth water. If anyone had made a bet with me regarding the validity of the NOAA forecast, they would have taken my money. Seas were 2 feet and dropping, water temp was 71, wind calm out of the northeast, current noticeable but not irritating from south to north. On the first dive, we saw groupers out the ying-yang, which is a funny place to keep your groupers if you ask me. We saw yellowmouth, yellowfin and blacks plus AJ’s and a whole host of the regular stuff, but no sharks. So we went off to dive HI-389, where I knew there were sharks, and we were not disappointed. There were silkies and duskies of every conceivable size and description, from littler than the AJ’s to bigger than the divers. Some of the divers had kind of a hard time staying within the confines of the rig, which always raises the tension level on the boat, but we didn’t have to maneuver the boat so we didn’t feed the sharks. The divers had a great dive with the sharks, no current, and water still 71.

Then we went back to the East Bank, where we investigated the missing number 5 buoy. It seems that some big boat ran it over cracking the coral head and chopping off the buoy. Lots of buoy work to do out there next weekend—3 East Bank buoys were destroyed in the last 2 weeks! About the time we got tied back up, the Fling showed up and told us all about the hammerheads still on the West Bank. Next weekend we go to the West Bank. Anyway, the rest of the day’s diving was uneventful, with sightings of all of the usual critters, spectacular visibility, and even a night dive as we had not seen any tiger sharks during the day.

We woke up on Stetson Bank for two dives Sunday morning. Surface temp was 69, bottom temp was 71 (I don’t know, you tell me), seas calm, wind blowing 15 knots out of the southeast, current mild on the surface, calm down below. Not to be outdone by the Fling, we saw our hammerheads and eagle rays on Stetson, as well as juvenile drums, monster lobsters, and all of the regular Stetson inhabitants. Visibility was beautiful for Stetson in the spring, and the school of blue runners was huge! A great trip was had by all, and I can’t wait to do it again next weekend. The weather forecast looks favorable, so come on, y’all; let’s get on the last Spree 2008 spring trip!

Captain Frank
M/V Spree
Freeport, Texas