We arrived at Cooper’s Reef for our first dive. All divers were experienced, so we didn’t have any diver issues, so in we went. Cooper’s is a favorite of the crew, and it did not fail to please. Permit, nurse sharks (plural) and a Nassau grouper were there to greet the divers. After Cooper’s, we headed off to Alex’s Mountains for the afternoon. On Alex’s Mountains we were happy to see young African pompano, as well as the usual small trumpet fish and other babies. Lots of Lobster were found there also.

On Wednesday we motored over to Dante’s Inferno, one of my old favorites. We were treated to sightings of red grouper, hogfish, Nassau grouper, cero mackerel, as well as the dog and mutton snapper that seem to be everywhere. There was a huge collection of blue angelfish, spawning maybe? In the afternoon we moved on to Nazarro’s Notch. Nazarro’s is low scrubbly hard bottom, perfect habitat for lobster, staghorn coral, and a whole bunch of the usual reef fish, including queen, grey and french angelfish, trumpetfish, yellowheaded jawfish, and mating reef squid. All the fish here seem to be getting a little fish nookie. The crew wishes they were too.

Thursday morning we aimed for Mushrooms, but ended up on Brickhead. We had torrential rain, lightning, thunder, and delayed the dive by ½ hour to let it pass. When we finally jumped, we saw lots of parrotfish, including midnight and blues, as well as our first manta ray of the year. In the afternoon we moved over to What the Heck, where I got hopelessly lost. I didn’t see crap, including the boat, but the divers saw cowfish, lots of black coral, an enormous stingray, lots of yellowheaded jawfish, swim throughs, big coral formations, etc.

Friday morning we dove on Hog Heaven. Hog Heaven usually holds lots of Goliath Grouper, but there were none to be seen today. There were lots of porkfish, pretty blue and gold tunicates, daytime octopus, a big green moray, as well as a couple of goldentails. In the afternoon, we dove a new site, 8 Fathom Rock. WE FINALLY FOUND THE GROUPER!!! Blacks and goliaths, as well as nurse sharks, bull sharks, Nassau grouper, blue, midnight, and rainbow parrotfish, permits, big king mackerel, African pompano, dog, mutton, grey, and yellowtail snapper, hogfish, as well as spanish hogs, corals of all types, and everything else you could want in a dive. In short, we found the dive site.

Saturday was a live-boat day. We dove another new site called Hugh Jorgan reef. Hugh has lots of relief, and holds lots of fish, but spearing is allowed there, so many of the big fish were missing. There were lots of hogs, and lots of snapper, lots of reef fish, and the drift dive was appreciated by the divers. Our last dive of the trip was at the tailend buoy, where the coral research team saw the sawfish and sharks last month. Our divers were lucky enough to dive with dolphins, as well as seeing squid, grouper, and other reef fish.

All in all everyone had a good time except Joe, whose camera flooded (Joe had a good time, anyway). Major milestones were reached on this trip, including 400 dives by Trish, 300 by Doug, 200 by Ken, and Shannon completed her 100th dive…in the nude…with an interested barracuda looking on…and much to the appreciation of her dive buddies. Yes, it’s that kind of boat. And no, there is no photographic proof. The girl code was upheld. Julie completed her 50th dive with wild dolphins. We’re all jealous, I didn’t see wild dolphins until dive 700 or so.

Capt. Frank
M/V Spree
Stock Island, FL