Photo Gallery
Conditions
Winds: East 15-20 knots
Seas: 4-6ft
Air Temp: 83 degrees
Water Temp: 86 mixed with 81 degree at 70ft
Current: North,
Visibility: 50ft
There were only two cruise ships in port and watching the Grandeur of the Seas come in as we were headed out gave us pause. NOAA’s guess of 2-4 was a far cry from the 4-6 we found off shore. But after missing last weekend, we were going diving!
Dive 1: Deep Run: Southseas, Princess Britney, Parasio, Rio Miami, Dema Trader
So many toys, so little time. I received the Ikelight housing for my Olympus C-5050 camera last week. I was jonesing to take some photos again, but I also wanted to scooter. Oh well, I’ll take both! Andrea did a great job of setting us up, dropping us, and handing me the camera after my back roll with the scooter.
We landed in the sand, but Jody took us right over to the Southseas. There were 3 Black Grouper heading back to the shelter of the wreck. Midnight Parrotfish were all over. Leaving the flash on for all the photos splattered them with backscatter. The on camera flash doesn’t work nearly as well as my Sony. The color fades from left to right. Time to start saving for a strobe. On the deeper wrecks, next time I’ll leave it off.
Jody motored over to the Princess Britney. It was an easy scooter ride. At each site we tied off the Riffe Torpedo float to wreck so we could scooter around and not worry about entanglement. There are lobster trap and snagged anchor lines all over the place.
Several large Southern Stingrays were buried in the sand appearing to hide out from the storms passing by. The first one posed for a while before departing
The bow of the Britney hosted schools of fish. There were Amber, Crevel, Blue Runner, and Horse Eye Jacks feeding. In the schools were also some Cudas. Moving on, there were some random debris between the Princess and the Parasio. We found the big drum again and this time there was a big smile on the inside. A Goliath Grouper turned it into condo for the summer. He was very friendly and allowed me to get some close photos of him and the Neon Gobies giving him a belated spring-cleaning.
The scooter diving has really increased my perception of the area and fish populations. Now I’m wondering if the Horse eye jacks are the same school I found on the Tacoma 4 weeks ago and the Sheri Lynn 2 weeks ago? There were two Goliath on the Sheri Lynn a couple months ago and now I haven’t seen them around. However, there was the one that surprised me in the stairwell of the Tacoma and this guy hanging out. Wonder if they are the same fish?
We moved on to the Parasio. It didn’t have much going on. We completed one full lap and I snapped a good Angelfish shot. This wreck is much more fun to penetrate.
Continuing north we hit some rebar and followed it right to the Rio Miami. The rebar trails are even more helpful for scootering. If you get off course there are make great navigational aids. The sand level increases and decreases depending on the currents, but all the wrecks were in same condition as before Frances and Charley.
Dive 2: Belzona Triangle, Lady Fri, Belcher Barges, Ultra Quiz, Boeing 727, Southseas, Joes Wreck, Princess Britney, Parasio
Andrea didn’t want to jump in due to the rough weather, so darn, I had to dive again. We dropped on the deepest Belzona and I left the camera behind as I wanted some trigger time. More Black Grouper, Mutton Snapper, and large Gray Snappers were all over. I was getting very hungry! We scootered up to the bow and found a large bait ball very tightly packed together. None of the Jacks were bothering it? There were hundreds of Blue Runners around? As we approached the bait ball opened revealing the cloaked Goliath. This hundred ponder knew to give way to the bigger fishy looking guy and darted inside the wreck leaving the bait ball. When we left, the Jacks moved in!
Visibility resembled a mild halocline as the colder 81-degree water was mixed with the warmer 86-degree water. Scootering went from hot to cold.
Jody headed for the Belzona III. Giant Parrotfish abound and the sand kept moving underneath us and freighted Southern Stingrays would bolt off as we passed overhead 5ft off the bottom.
We headed back to the Belzona 1 and Blue Runners came out to great us. Scootering into hundreds of fish swimming at you is a surreal experience! They were all around me and kept coming. I think it was a “thank-you” ritual for scarring off the Goliath. I headed back up to the bow and chased the former Jewfish into the hole again exposing the baitfish. I’m all for helping out my middle class blue finned friends. Why should the big fish being the only one to exploit the poor baitfish?
We scared up some more stingrays around the Belcher Barges and Jody led me over to the Lady Fri. On the wreck list it is a 90ft wooden schooner. There is a cool picture in the book, “Dive Miami”. Jody said that it was nothing now, but I was fixated on seeing it. We showed up, stopped, and Jody pointed down a pile of debris about the size of a love seat. That was it, man there really was nothing left.
We cruised back to the barges and headed NE for the Ultra Quiz. After seeing a bit a sand, I noticed a solo bar Jack swimming East. I veered off to follow it a little ways and saw a shadow. I had to go back and get Jody’s attention as he was about out of visual range. We cruised over to the Ultra Quiz and tied off the reel.
I found a cool Green Moray sticking his head out from under the barge. This was actually a houseboat with a frame over the barge. Its looks more like an old Jungle Gym. I did some laps around the inside of the barge. There is a huge Dan forth Anchor right in the middle of the barge. Somebody had an A+ drop and had to leave it behind. There were some free lines of monofilament trailing off in the current. I’m glad I saw it and got off the trigger because that stuff will do a number on the Gavin’s prop.
We continued up to the Boeing 727, which is just a wing now. A few more Grouper were hanging around. As we left there is a large triangle section about 75ft away. I broke off to check it out and I thought Jody saw me. After looking at it I realized I was alone. I paused and I could hear the wine of Jody’s motor. Dam, he’s still going. Then I heard him come off the trigger. I headed back in the same direction and caught a glimpse of his light. These HID lights are standard issue for this type of diving as they make it so much easier to get back together. In less than 20 seconds of diversion and we were separated. All the DIR “awareness” comes into the play as you heading out at 2 knots.
In no time we were back to the Southseas. It was surreal to be back where we started our last dive. Next time we’ll start further South on the Orion and head up to the Belzona Triangle. On the west side of the Southseas I saw a concrete slap about 5ft x 10ft x 1ft. It didn’t seem to belong there?
In the distance was another one, so I followed it. This time Jody was with me, which lead to another slab, then 2, then 3 and finally we reached a big pile of them! Cool, I had never seen this before! There were thousands of grunts and goatfish schooling around. We lapped the site.
Heading back east we ran right into the stern of the Princess Britney again. A huge Cuda with a bait ball around it came over to great me. I wanted to go see the Goliath again, but Jody gave me the thumb. Darn this single Al80 tanks, there just isn’t enough gas in them!
On the surface Jody explained that the concrete pile was named by us as “Joe’s Wreck” Its the site he found while drift diving with GUE Instructor Joe Talavera. Jody believes this concrete was inside the belcher barge when they sank them, but Hurricane Andrea picked up the barge, dumped the slabs of concrete and moved the barge back to where we started the dive.
Andrea picked us right up and we surfed the 6ft following seas back to port. We both agreed it was excellent trip even with the rough weather hopefully the storms will calm down again. 14 wrecks in two dives, 12 on the second dive made for an amazing trip. Jody thinks with a full charge, doubles of 30/30 and an O2 bottle, we should be able to hit all the wrecks in the Key Biscayne site on one dive. Hum, there is no reason to do this dive, except for challenge of doing it in the first place. We’ll have to work on a plan and do some more practice navigation dives so that we can hit the various legs of the journey.
–Matt