2/9/08 Saturday Dive Report

ancient_berry
Originally uploaded by tiswango.

David Buhilinger has a suprise for me, but the joke was on him. He purchased a Gavin over two months ago and we haven't been able to get it out on a dive. He said it was balanenced and ready for action. We decided to run it on a recreational dive to break it in. We booked Fathoms of Fun Ancient Mariner trip for a run. With a little research, common dives sites become much more excited when you see what else is around?

I thought I copied the map made by Pavan at Dixie Divers into my logbook. I forgot so I made a crude one with Dale the Dive master to find the Berry Patch and then the Merrit Barge. I need to make a new map as due to hurricanes and rust.

We dropped and did a few laps around the AM. David learned that 1.5lbs is not enough for the Ocean, it was quite bouyant, but manageable so we continued the dive. There are poles in concrete between the AM, Chuck-A-Luck ribs, and the Berry Patch. It was simple to navigate the 2 minute cruise. It woudld take about 5-7 minutes to swim depending on your pace.

The Berry Patch is a beautiful little wreck. It is complete grown over and full of fish and packed with grunts. The fish look at your like your a stranger. 50ft further west is a reef line that tops out at 40 ft. We headed south to follow its sloping edge.

I started to lose faith as we hit the 4 minute mark of scootering. I was willing to go 7 minutes, but at 5 we hit the Merrit Barge. This is another great site where the panels have fallen off the sides and the "X" support brackets are exposed. Well grown over and teaming with life. It was a pretty dive site and teaming with fish.

We headed back and double checked our times along the way so I could update a map. We missed looking for the C-note. I guess we'll save it for the next dive. We returned to the AM at 40 mintues and saw we were the last team in the water and headed up.

The second dive was on the 2nd reef line. It was fun to go up and back on the reef for 3 times to take it all in with the big picuture. We had a great day of diving with flat seas, sun, and no wind. An A+ day of FL winter diving!