Dive Report: Sat 9/20/03 9 AM Commercial Pier Clean Up with Ocean Watch
The day was PERFECT for a clean up. I've tried to dive Commercial pier itself for 2 years and this was the first time I could get in the water! I'm proud to be a member of Ocean Watch and thank them for organizing the Commercial Pier and Lauderdale by the Sea beach clean up.
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0920owclean/
Team: Andrea and Matt
Temp: 85
Water Temp: 84
Seas: 1 ft
Surge: minimal
Visibility: 35ft
Gas:32%
Depth: 12ft
Bottom Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
Andrea and I showed up a little after 8 AM and got a rock star parking meter near the pier. Hauling the gear around wasn't worth the free parking offer a block away so I plugged some quarters. We had breakfast at Mulligans and came back to find several members of the PBCRRT had also shown up for the clean up. Ocean Watch gave a good briefing on dangerous sea life (Scorpionfish and Jellyfish), entanglement and rusty fishing hooks, and falling buckets as potential hazards while diving and cleaning the pier. There was also a display board with all this information clearly listed out. I was impressed!
We geared up and hit the water. The pier was cleaned three months earlier and wasn't disgusting, but there was still a lot of fishing line down there. We picked a set of pilings in 12ft of water and went to work on the reef on the northside. After gathering up piles of line, I surfaced and called for a bucket to haul this stuff up and away. The bucket people on the pier were quick and responsive. Next we went to work on the pilings. There were big balls of line, weights, and hooks at the base. Then I would pull line off the piling and it would unwrap and magically appear from the growth that was covering it. Line in the left hand and sea snips in the right I hacked away like Edward Scissor hands at the monofilament.
After working for 45 minutes I went up again with another bucket load. After getting rid of it, I couldn't clear my ears at 6 ft. I blew solid breaths without trying to force it. I surfaced again, took my reg out, blew my nose, and swallow a couple of times. Once I could clear my right ear on the surface I headed down again. Next stop was cleaning the south side of the pier. There were several large coral heads under the pier which surprised me. I thought it would be more torn up.
Some other divers came by while we were cleaning. One had a light and console clipped off, but still dangling 8 inches below him. It banged into the Brian Coral head and I made some comments through my regulator and lifted the diver up. As the diver turned to apologize his knees dropped and hit the coral again with his fins! Arrrrggg! I lifted him up again and pushed him over to the hard bottom. He swam off from there.
After an hour and 10 minutes of cleaning, we were down to 1000 psi and decided to take a tour around the pier. We swam through a school of a 100 Look downs. There were bait fish all around us and they were schooling close hoping the hungry jacks, Horseeye, Blue Runner, and Yellow wouldn't charge close to us. At the end of the pier we found 30 or so Snook in the 3ft to 5ft range. Beautiful! I also found a sealed box of remains. People, please remember what ever you throw in the water at the end of the pier will stay there or wash back up on shore. I really like the idea of having my ashes scattered in the ocean, but besides being illegal, people are not doing it right! Don't make more of a mess for someone to clean up later.
We climbed out of the water with a big smile on our face! Pier clean-ups also offer bragging rights to the more creative item found under the pier. Will won with a gun! The barrel wasn't attached, but Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) was notified to come over and take a look. They wanted us to get back in and find the barrel, but it was close to Noon and the pier needed to re-open to fishing. Andrea and I headed home with a warm feeling of accomplishment.
--Matt
Saturday, September 20, 2003
Thursday, September 18, 2003
Dive Report: Thursday 9/19/03 El Prado Night dive
Team: Christos, Manny, and Matt
Seas: 1-2 ft
Surf: 3-4 ft (serious stuff for FL)
Visibility: 4 ft
Temp: 82 degrees
Bottom Time 49 minutes
Gas: 32%
Time: 7 PM
El Prado is one block North of Commercial. Manny wanted to work on his buoyancy and trim with a back plate and harness. Christos and I wanted to work on mask off hovering and other tech 1 drills.
The seas were not rough, but there were swells and surfers catching a ride the last bit into to shore. Common senses would have been to call it, but we were already there. We geared up and headed in, once you cleared the surf zone it was a piece of cake. We surface swam out past the buoys and descended. 1ft vis. ugly...
I lead out East, Manny was in the middle and Christos brought up the rear. The plan was to swim out to the end of the second reef, hit 20ft of water, drill on masks and swim back in. I swam out ahead of the other two and waited for them to catch up. Our pace was slow so we swam for about 15 minutes out over the first reef line. I felt Christos swim up behind me and then I heard bubbles coming out of the left post. I shut it down, and still heard bubbles. I reached back for the isolator and grabbed one of Christos' valves and started shutting it off. Then he show me the bubbler. I ended the drill with the hand signal saying that my left post was no longer functional. I checked valve and continued.
We were not going to make it out to the second reef line, so I popped my mask off to see how long it would take them to find me. After 15-20 seconds I felt a hand on my arm. After about a minutes I put my mask back on. Christos followed suit. He was floating up very slowly and I tried to tell him to come down a little. I discussed my hovering problem with a veteran cave diver and he gave me a good analogy. When you try to walk with a full cup of hot coffee, consciously trying NOT to spill it, you do. When you walk normally and pay no attention to it, you don't have a problem. I still thought about it, but I tried hard not to think about it. To test the theory on Christos I gave him something else to think about. I switched to my back up reg and put the primary next to his right ear and purged. With his mask off, Christos started to shut down is valve and switch regs. He hovered perfectly under the added task load.
Manny was feeling left out, so it was time to drill with him. I loaned Manny Andrea's HID to play with. Mental note, when giving a new diver a HID light, wear sun glasses! Manny did a great job of keeping the light out in front of me on the swim out. When I gave him an Out of Air, he must have though I wanted to see the inside of the HID light as he put it right in my face. I couldn't see the reg he was trying to donate. We shared gas, swam, and then he put it back. I had him switch the light from the right to the left hand. Then Christos gave Manny an OOA and he got the reg right away. Then Manny got to solve the light cord / long hose problem when sharing gas. Manny floated up while untangling the cords. Christos pulled him back down by the long hose. I cracked up laughing. It was funny, plus the Deja'vu of remember myself being in the same position and seeing Christos have the same problem when he was getting back into diving over a year ago. Everyone forgets that we all walked down that road at some point in their diving career.
Time was ticking on the parking meter. It was time to head back in. On the way and looked back and found the bright beam of the 18 watt HID has been replaced by a dull orange circle. We switched positions and put Christos in the lead with his dull light. We didn't swim very far before he switched back to his primary. I took back over as the lead and started swimming. I checked my compass and it said due East. I paused, engaged the brain, and realized I had gotten turned around and we were heading back out to sea. I asked my buddies which way to swim? They pointed East, Err... primary and back up brains have failed. "East ocean, West Everglades, I want to go West!
We swam until the vis dropped back down to a foot and then surfaced. We were still a ways out and had drifted North of our exit point. A 10 minutes swim in got us to the beach and back to our cars at 8:57 PM, right before the 9 PM parking deadline.
We broke down our gear and headed over to Mulligans to debrief.
--Matt
Team: Christos, Manny, and Matt
Seas: 1-2 ft
Surf: 3-4 ft (serious stuff for FL)
Visibility: 4 ft
Temp: 82 degrees
Bottom Time 49 minutes
Gas: 32%
Time: 7 PM
El Prado is one block North of Commercial. Manny wanted to work on his buoyancy and trim with a back plate and harness. Christos and I wanted to work on mask off hovering and other tech 1 drills.
The seas were not rough, but there were swells and surfers catching a ride the last bit into to shore. Common senses would have been to call it, but we were already there. We geared up and headed in, once you cleared the surf zone it was a piece of cake. We surface swam out past the buoys and descended. 1ft vis. ugly...
I lead out East, Manny was in the middle and Christos brought up the rear. The plan was to swim out to the end of the second reef, hit 20ft of water, drill on masks and swim back in. I swam out ahead of the other two and waited for them to catch up. Our pace was slow so we swam for about 15 minutes out over the first reef line. I felt Christos swim up behind me and then I heard bubbles coming out of the left post. I shut it down, and still heard bubbles. I reached back for the isolator and grabbed one of Christos' valves and started shutting it off. Then he show me the bubbler. I ended the drill with the hand signal saying that my left post was no longer functional. I checked valve and continued.
We were not going to make it out to the second reef line, so I popped my mask off to see how long it would take them to find me. After 15-20 seconds I felt a hand on my arm. After about a minutes I put my mask back on. Christos followed suit. He was floating up very slowly and I tried to tell him to come down a little. I discussed my hovering problem with a veteran cave diver and he gave me a good analogy. When you try to walk with a full cup of hot coffee, consciously trying NOT to spill it, you do. When you walk normally and pay no attention to it, you don't have a problem. I still thought about it, but I tried hard not to think about it. To test the theory on Christos I gave him something else to think about. I switched to my back up reg and put the primary next to his right ear and purged. With his mask off, Christos started to shut down is valve and switch regs. He hovered perfectly under the added task load.
Manny was feeling left out, so it was time to drill with him. I loaned Manny Andrea's HID to play with. Mental note, when giving a new diver a HID light, wear sun glasses! Manny did a great job of keeping the light out in front of me on the swim out. When I gave him an Out of Air, he must have though I wanted to see the inside of the HID light as he put it right in my face. I couldn't see the reg he was trying to donate. We shared gas, swam, and then he put it back. I had him switch the light from the right to the left hand. Then Christos gave Manny an OOA and he got the reg right away. Then Manny got to solve the light cord / long hose problem when sharing gas. Manny floated up while untangling the cords. Christos pulled him back down by the long hose. I cracked up laughing. It was funny, plus the Deja'vu of remember myself being in the same position and seeing Christos have the same problem when he was getting back into diving over a year ago. Everyone forgets that we all walked down that road at some point in their diving career.
Time was ticking on the parking meter. It was time to head back in. On the way and looked back and found the bright beam of the 18 watt HID has been replaced by a dull orange circle. We switched positions and put Christos in the lead with his dull light. We didn't swim very far before he switched back to his primary. I took back over as the lead and started swimming. I checked my compass and it said due East. I paused, engaged the brain, and realized I had gotten turned around and we were heading back out to sea. I asked my buddies which way to swim? They pointed East, Err... primary and back up brains have failed. "East ocean, West Everglades, I want to go West!
We swam until the vis dropped back down to a foot and then surfaced. We were still a ways out and had drifted North of our exit point. A 10 minutes swim in got us to the beach and back to our cars at 8:57 PM, right before the 9 PM parking deadline.
We broke down our gear and headed over to Mulligans to debrief.
--Matt
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Dive Report: Tuesday Night 9/16/03 Rio Miami, Paraisio, and Princess Britney
With all the fun everyone had Saturday on the wreck trek I asked Jody if he was up for navigating again at night assuming we still has a South current? Buck came down to drive boat and not dive so we would be free to drift live boat instead of anchoring.
Team 1 A: Jody & Matt
B: Charlie & Andrea
Seas 2-3 ft rising to 4-6 after the dive
Temp: 84 degrees surface and 82 water
Visibility: Excellent, top to bottom, as far as the HID would glow
Plan:
80ft dive
50 minutes
32% Nitrox
3min @20 and 3min @ 10
Rock Bottom 700 PSI dubs or single tank
While gearing up we found Ballyhoo jumping and skipping over the water. It was really cool, one almost hit the boat! So where they feeding? Or was something feeding no them? We would just have to jump in and see!
Buck gave us a good drop on the Rio Miami. I saw it from 20ft and we landed right in the middle. It was a small wreck with several penetration options. The current was mild, but we didn't try to swim back to the stern. We explored the bow and headed out to the Paraisio. Swimming over the sand is a empty feeling, like being in a desert. There were holes all over the place where sting rays buried themselves to sleep during the day. Only creatures with heavy armor like crabs and conch brave crossing this exposed area.
The best part of the dive is the anticipation in wondering IF your going to hit the next wreck? The sand had a coating of algae on it. After a couple of minutes the sand turned pure white and I started to see Grunts our foraging for detrius (plant and animal matter in the sand). There was a mound of sand and over it a huge valley where the prop of the Paraisio was supposed to be. Swimming up to a wreck from the sand really gives you a good impression of how big a ship is.
This one looked like a work boat. It had a A frame lift at the stern. The bottom deck was exposed and several pieces of concrete were placed inside. We planned on A team penetrating the wreck and B team staying outside. Being new to the wreck I left Jody lead in. The main deck was a large open area about 15ft wide. We swam in a ways, further then I've been inside a wreck without knowing a way out. I looked for other exits, but without natural light pouring in, they were hidden to me. I though, "I'm now in a steel cave and I haven't run a guideline." I could still see the exit and any of the four walls would lead me out. Just when I was thinking, "We really should have run a line," Jody turned. I though we were going to head out. He pointed to hole in the floor that was about 3ft square and gestured down and out.
He slipped through with ease, I didn't look so pretty. I noted some cables on the right side that I didn't want to tangle in (Remember John Ornsby from Deep Descent?). I went head first down the hole and barely wiggled my shoulders through. I tried to move ahead and realized I wasn't down enough and my manifold was hitting the ceiling. I saw Jody ahead of me, now were returning through a hallway just big enough for a person without scuba gear to walk through. There were racks on each side and huge air conditioners hanging from the ceiling. I looked ahead and see a plum of rust colored silt poof up ahead of me. Jody switched from the frog kick to modified flutter because there wasn't enough room to expand your legs for full kick. I flashed him and gave him the "silting" hand signal. As my heart rate increased and stress level raised up and I fell back on my cave training. Relax, you got plenty of gas and bottom time. Kick easy, look around, and enjoy the dive. A small modified frog kick, gave just enough thrust to move me forward. I could always pull and glide off the storage racks. Once I started looking around there were 5-7 terminal phase parrotfish sleeping inside the wreck. They were tucked way back in the corners. I was back to the stern in no time and came out of one of the bigger holes in the aft deck.
B team had circled the wreck from the outside and watched our progress through some of the smaller holes. As Jody was untying the reel I though, "this wreck would be good for a whole dive, I need to come back here!" We drifted back over the sand heading SE. We were buzzed by a small Southern Stingray out looking for a meal. Also, there were little tiny squid all over the place. Another 5 minute swim and the sand turned pure white again. We looked around and couldn't see the wreck until one light finally hit this huge wall in the water.
We came up on the stern of the Princess Britney, the latest wreck to be sunk off Miami. The prop was big and the name was still painted on the back of the ship. The teams split up again and I lead into the ship. I went into the crew deck, there is still Linoleum on the floor, a toilet and sink. I forgot its the deck below that leads the engine room. Andrea and Charlie were waiting for us outside.
Andrea was diving a single tank and we knew she would be the limit on the planned dive and everyone was cool with that. We went back to where the flag was tied off and I tried to signal that we should untie and swim to the bow of the Britney. We hadn't seen the bow of any of the ships yet. Then we could drift off and ascend. Jody thought I wanted to press my luck and try for one more wreck. He untied and we drifted off out over the sand. This time we found two huge craps digging away at the sand like back hoes. There was a path of clean sand behind them. It reminded me of the spice mining factories in the movie Dune. There was a silt trail drifting away from each crab.
After 45 minutes of bottom time at an average depth of 66ft it was time to make our ascent. Andrea pulled her thumb and we all followed suit. Charlie was to run the ascent time, to my surprise Jody handed me off the reel. Reeling up, staying with the group, venting my BC and keeping my light in my hand was a little more than what I had expected. I should get a DIR demotion for venting to much gas, going vertical and swimming up while reeling in. I was below everyone on ascent until we got to 20 ft when I could hover again, lock the reel off and get into position to look at the team leader. I could see the white sandy bottom. There were more squid and a school of little 4 inch fish circling around us. I saw one out in the distance and it changed me and swam into my stomach! I blurted out so everyone could hear me as I tried to swat it away. It was pretty funny!
When we popped up on the surface conditions had gotten a lot worse. Inside the Paraisio I could here the diesel engines idling. I just realized that I was missing that sound. The seas had kicked up and there were a few waves breaking over our heads. There were "disco boats" (dinner cruise ships) on both sides and one had us right between the red and green (aka heading right for us). I found our boat off in the distance, but it was not underway to pick us up. I locked the reel, clipped it to the flag and held in between my legs to get he sausage underwater enough so it would stand up. That put the glow stick high in the air and my HID lit up the orange marker and reflective tape at the top. After a couple minutes at the surface Buck came over and backed up to us. The disco boat changed coarse to avoid us. I wonder what the diners were thinking?
After we stowed to the gear we exchanged smiles and multiple, "that was awesome" were exclaimed. Jody guesses were not that far from the South Seas, but I'll take 3 wrecks on a swimming dive any day on the week. We headed in from another good night of diving. I wonder how many we could hit with scooters?
--Matt
With all the fun everyone had Saturday on the wreck trek I asked Jody if he was up for navigating again at night assuming we still has a South current? Buck came down to drive boat and not dive so we would be free to drift live boat instead of anchoring.
Team 1 A: Jody & Matt
B: Charlie & Andrea
Seas 2-3 ft rising to 4-6 after the dive
Temp: 84 degrees surface and 82 water
Visibility: Excellent, top to bottom, as far as the HID would glow
Plan:
80ft dive
50 minutes
32% Nitrox
3min @20 and 3min @ 10
Rock Bottom 700 PSI dubs or single tank
While gearing up we found Ballyhoo jumping and skipping over the water. It was really cool, one almost hit the boat! So where they feeding? Or was something feeding no them? We would just have to jump in and see!
Buck gave us a good drop on the Rio Miami. I saw it from 20ft and we landed right in the middle. It was a small wreck with several penetration options. The current was mild, but we didn't try to swim back to the stern. We explored the bow and headed out to the Paraisio. Swimming over the sand is a empty feeling, like being in a desert. There were holes all over the place where sting rays buried themselves to sleep during the day. Only creatures with heavy armor like crabs and conch brave crossing this exposed area.
The best part of the dive is the anticipation in wondering IF your going to hit the next wreck? The sand had a coating of algae on it. After a couple of minutes the sand turned pure white and I started to see Grunts our foraging for detrius (plant and animal matter in the sand). There was a mound of sand and over it a huge valley where the prop of the Paraisio was supposed to be. Swimming up to a wreck from the sand really gives you a good impression of how big a ship is.
This one looked like a work boat. It had a A frame lift at the stern. The bottom deck was exposed and several pieces of concrete were placed inside. We planned on A team penetrating the wreck and B team staying outside. Being new to the wreck I left Jody lead in. The main deck was a large open area about 15ft wide. We swam in a ways, further then I've been inside a wreck without knowing a way out. I looked for other exits, but without natural light pouring in, they were hidden to me. I though, "I'm now in a steel cave and I haven't run a guideline." I could still see the exit and any of the four walls would lead me out. Just when I was thinking, "We really should have run a line," Jody turned. I though we were going to head out. He pointed to hole in the floor that was about 3ft square and gestured down and out.
He slipped through with ease, I didn't look so pretty. I noted some cables on the right side that I didn't want to tangle in (Remember John Ornsby from Deep Descent?). I went head first down the hole and barely wiggled my shoulders through. I tried to move ahead and realized I wasn't down enough and my manifold was hitting the ceiling. I saw Jody ahead of me, now were returning through a hallway just big enough for a person without scuba gear to walk through. There were racks on each side and huge air conditioners hanging from the ceiling. I looked ahead and see a plum of rust colored silt poof up ahead of me. Jody switched from the frog kick to modified flutter because there wasn't enough room to expand your legs for full kick. I flashed him and gave him the "silting" hand signal. As my heart rate increased and stress level raised up and I fell back on my cave training. Relax, you got plenty of gas and bottom time. Kick easy, look around, and enjoy the dive. A small modified frog kick, gave just enough thrust to move me forward. I could always pull and glide off the storage racks. Once I started looking around there were 5-7 terminal phase parrotfish sleeping inside the wreck. They were tucked way back in the corners. I was back to the stern in no time and came out of one of the bigger holes in the aft deck.
B team had circled the wreck from the outside and watched our progress through some of the smaller holes. As Jody was untying the reel I though, "this wreck would be good for a whole dive, I need to come back here!" We drifted back over the sand heading SE. We were buzzed by a small Southern Stingray out looking for a meal. Also, there were little tiny squid all over the place. Another 5 minute swim and the sand turned pure white again. We looked around and couldn't see the wreck until one light finally hit this huge wall in the water.
We came up on the stern of the Princess Britney, the latest wreck to be sunk off Miami. The prop was big and the name was still painted on the back of the ship. The teams split up again and I lead into the ship. I went into the crew deck, there is still Linoleum on the floor, a toilet and sink. I forgot its the deck below that leads the engine room. Andrea and Charlie were waiting for us outside.
Andrea was diving a single tank and we knew she would be the limit on the planned dive and everyone was cool with that. We went back to where the flag was tied off and I tried to signal that we should untie and swim to the bow of the Britney. We hadn't seen the bow of any of the ships yet. Then we could drift off and ascend. Jody thought I wanted to press my luck and try for one more wreck. He untied and we drifted off out over the sand. This time we found two huge craps digging away at the sand like back hoes. There was a path of clean sand behind them. It reminded me of the spice mining factories in the movie Dune. There was a silt trail drifting away from each crab.
After 45 minutes of bottom time at an average depth of 66ft it was time to make our ascent. Andrea pulled her thumb and we all followed suit. Charlie was to run the ascent time, to my surprise Jody handed me off the reel. Reeling up, staying with the group, venting my BC and keeping my light in my hand was a little more than what I had expected. I should get a DIR demotion for venting to much gas, going vertical and swimming up while reeling in. I was below everyone on ascent until we got to 20 ft when I could hover again, lock the reel off and get into position to look at the team leader. I could see the white sandy bottom. There were more squid and a school of little 4 inch fish circling around us. I saw one out in the distance and it changed me and swam into my stomach! I blurted out so everyone could hear me as I tried to swat it away. It was pretty funny!
When we popped up on the surface conditions had gotten a lot worse. Inside the Paraisio I could here the diesel engines idling. I just realized that I was missing that sound. The seas had kicked up and there were a few waves breaking over our heads. There were "disco boats" (dinner cruise ships) on both sides and one had us right between the red and green (aka heading right for us). I found our boat off in the distance, but it was not underway to pick us up. I locked the reel, clipped it to the flag and held in between my legs to get he sausage underwater enough so it would stand up. That put the glow stick high in the air and my HID lit up the orange marker and reflective tape at the top. After a couple minutes at the surface Buck came over and backed up to us. The disco boat changed coarse to avoid us. I wonder what the diners were thinking?
After we stowed to the gear we exchanged smiles and multiple, "that was awesome" were exclaimed. Jody guesses were not that far from the South Seas, but I'll take 3 wrecks on a swimming dive any day on the week. We headed in from another good night of diving. I wonder how many we could hit with scooters?
--Matt
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Dive Report: Sunday 9/14/03 Datura Street Beach Dive Mapping Mission
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309daturamap/
We parked at 8 AM and came back to dive around 9AM after breakfast. I saw the same Lauderdale Rescue van parked in the lot. I introduced myself to Sgt. Rick Rocco and asked him about the lost diver search and what had happened? He didn't know, but then he asked me about DIR and recalling seeing our sets of doubles. He had picked up and started diving a DIR OW rig and had some questions. Then he gave us a tour of his dive mobile. He created some tank holders from PVC and had a dry and wet gear locker created, complete with drain. It was pretty cool, except there wasn't any room for doubles. He also showed us is black water rig with comm unit for intracostal dives and car recoveries. He was just out fun diving with friends, but I got his card and we'll go out diving sometime.
Team: Matt H., Andrea V., and Charlie G.
Log:
Seas 1 ft
Vis 15ft
Light Surge
Water Temp 84 degrees
Max Depth 20 ft
Bottom time: Insane => 2 hours 22 minutes
Rock Bottom: 500 psi
GPS Mapping while diving:
http://www.wadespage.com/D800DS07RF00.shtml
Charlie and I have been wanting to map out Datura Street and have a more accurate description of how big the reefs are and how far of a swim is it? With the GPS points we can measure the distance have a better idea.
It was also Andrea's first time diving doubles! I helped her rig them up, review what's attached to the right and left post, valve drills, and the "9 ways doubles can kill you".
I wanted to keep up with Charlie and Andrea in dubs so I put an Al 80 on my back and carried and other Al 80 as a stage. Following the basic rules for independent doubles I would dive each tank to 1500 psi and then switch to the other.
We swam out to the Snorkel Trail and descended. Charlie and I both warned Andrea about putting more gas in the wing for buoyancy over a regular single tank set up. What we forgot to tell her was how to balance the gas in both sides of the wing and vent gas. A doughnut wing will balance heads up or heads down. Doubled, being U shaped only balance heads up. It was a good test of being a future supportive husband by not laughing outwardly as Andrea swam around in circles, sideways with all the gas in one side of her wing. After some role modeling we showed her how to get it straighten out.
Each section of the Snorkel Trail has a pin to measure if anything is moving. We GPS all four pins for a warm up. As we headed out due East, we measured the beginning of the hard bottom at the first reef line, the beginning of the Swiss Cheese, the patch reef on the back side, the last point before sand, and finally the beginning of the second reef line. With all these points I can make some measurements on the width of the reef lines.
We started South and hit the Alien Probe, which is a key land mark for my navigation. With the good visibility and a scanning eyes, I found another probe in the middle of the reef. We measured that as well and finished swimming to the back of the second line. We swam back to the West edge and continued South.
On our way I found a patch on the disgusting red algae that is all over the reefs in Pompano. We GPS'd and took photos of the largest patch so I can provide the information to Broward County.
We found the other probe that marks Hibiscus street. I got approval from the team to go a little further South to find the coral I flipped over. 10 minutes later, there it was just as I had left it. But it was buried a good 4-6 inches in sand. I snapped a photo, then lifted it out and placed it high on a flat ledge with nothing but algae growing there and snapped a few more photos so I could find the spot and check on it again in a couple of months.
We were making great time and progress. Now we turned West to head back in to the first reef line. My goal was to follow the Swiss cheese back to about Datura Street. We took a few more data points including one severally bleached and dying coral. Its base was strong and I didn't see any disease on it. About half way back I couldn't tell if we were East or West of where we wanted to be. We swam East 30ft and hit the area I wanted. Then I got a wetnote from Andrea saying to wrap it up. She was getting tired of swimming the dubs around and was ready to head it. We headed East and swam in.
I was ready to help Andrea out of the dubs as I didn't think she was going to get them up the beach. She did! She sat down next to the shower and said that I owed her a big back rub tonight! I was so proud!
We broke our gear down and headed to Flannigans on Atlantic for lunch and the end of the Dolphins game. Then to Fill Express to VIP some dubs, thanks for the lesson Mark, and fill back up. I can't wait for next weekend!
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309daturamap/
We parked at 8 AM and came back to dive around 9AM after breakfast. I saw the same Lauderdale Rescue van parked in the lot. I introduced myself to Sgt. Rick Rocco and asked him about the lost diver search and what had happened? He didn't know, but then he asked me about DIR and recalling seeing our sets of doubles. He had picked up and started diving a DIR OW rig and had some questions. Then he gave us a tour of his dive mobile. He created some tank holders from PVC and had a dry and wet gear locker created, complete with drain. It was pretty cool, except there wasn't any room for doubles. He also showed us is black water rig with comm unit for intracostal dives and car recoveries. He was just out fun diving with friends, but I got his card and we'll go out diving sometime.
Team: Matt H., Andrea V., and Charlie G.
Log:
Seas 1 ft
Vis 15ft
Light Surge
Water Temp 84 degrees
Max Depth 20 ft
Bottom time: Insane => 2 hours 22 minutes
Rock Bottom: 500 psi
GPS Mapping while diving:
http://www.wadespage.com/D800DS07RF00.shtml
Charlie and I have been wanting to map out Datura Street and have a more accurate description of how big the reefs are and how far of a swim is it? With the GPS points we can measure the distance have a better idea.
It was also Andrea's first time diving doubles! I helped her rig them up, review what's attached to the right and left post, valve drills, and the "9 ways doubles can kill you".
I wanted to keep up with Charlie and Andrea in dubs so I put an Al 80 on my back and carried and other Al 80 as a stage. Following the basic rules for independent doubles I would dive each tank to 1500 psi and then switch to the other.
We swam out to the Snorkel Trail and descended. Charlie and I both warned Andrea about putting more gas in the wing for buoyancy over a regular single tank set up. What we forgot to tell her was how to balance the gas in both sides of the wing and vent gas. A doughnut wing will balance heads up or heads down. Doubled, being U shaped only balance heads up. It was a good test of being a future supportive husband by not laughing outwardly as Andrea swam around in circles, sideways with all the gas in one side of her wing. After some role modeling we showed her how to get it straighten out.
Each section of the Snorkel Trail has a pin to measure if anything is moving. We GPS all four pins for a warm up. As we headed out due East, we measured the beginning of the hard bottom at the first reef line, the beginning of the Swiss Cheese, the patch reef on the back side, the last point before sand, and finally the beginning of the second reef line. With all these points I can make some measurements on the width of the reef lines.
We started South and hit the Alien Probe, which is a key land mark for my navigation. With the good visibility and a scanning eyes, I found another probe in the middle of the reef. We measured that as well and finished swimming to the back of the second line. We swam back to the West edge and continued South.
On our way I found a patch on the disgusting red algae that is all over the reefs in Pompano. We GPS'd and took photos of the largest patch so I can provide the information to Broward County.
We found the other probe that marks Hibiscus street. I got approval from the team to go a little further South to find the coral I flipped over. 10 minutes later, there it was just as I had left it. But it was buried a good 4-6 inches in sand. I snapped a photo, then lifted it out and placed it high on a flat ledge with nothing but algae growing there and snapped a few more photos so I could find the spot and check on it again in a couple of months.
We were making great time and progress. Now we turned West to head back in to the first reef line. My goal was to follow the Swiss cheese back to about Datura Street. We took a few more data points including one severally bleached and dying coral. Its base was strong and I didn't see any disease on it. About half way back I couldn't tell if we were East or West of where we wanted to be. We swam East 30ft and hit the area I wanted. Then I got a wetnote from Andrea saying to wrap it up. She was getting tired of swimming the dubs around and was ready to head it. We headed East and swam in.
I was ready to help Andrea out of the dubs as I didn't think she was going to get them up the beach. She did! She sat down next to the shower and said that I owed her a big back rub tonight! I was so proud!
We broke our gear down and headed to Flannigans on Atlantic for lunch and the end of the Dolphins game. Then to Fill Express to VIP some dubs, thanks for the lesson Mark, and fill back up. I can't wait for next weekend!
--Matt
Saturday, September 13, 2003
Dive Report: Saturday 9/13/03 Miami Project dives the Lakeland, East Coast Reef, and Paraisio drift
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309mplakeland/
Team 1: Buck, Jody, and Gwyn
Team 2: Matt, Andrea
Team 1: Lakeland
The calm seas made for a nice boat ride out on a sunny Saturday morning. I got a good reading on the sounder so the first team started to gear up. The planned for a 150ft dive though the deck was at 120. A 20 minutes bottom time on 21/35 and 19 minutes of deco switching to 50% at 70ft and shooting a marker as they drift off the wreck made for a 30 minutes run time. Everyone geared up and starting running through the checks.
At the end of the valve drill Gwyn reached back and pulled the rubber knob clean off her left post. The metal insert was still in place but the rubber had come off clean. Hum, those factory recalls really need to be noticed. Buck had a back up knob and I had the knowledge to replace thanks to Mark at Fill Express making fix my mistakes. I grabbed the tool kit and went to work. Before losing the screw that holds the knob in place I asked Jody to lean forward so any projectiles holding back 3300 PSI would have a clear shot to the ocean. I replaced the valve in 5 minutes and they were back up and running. There was no current so I set them up right over the wreck and they splashed.
The dive went perfectly. During the debrief Buck added an extra minutes or two of deco and Jody was a little late shooting the bag at 70ft after the gas switch.
Team 2: East Cape Reef
Looking for some new reef to explore. Jody pulled out the map and found the numbers for East Cape Reef. Andrea and I planned for a 60 minute dive, fish count, and some mask drills at the end.
Seas: 1-3 (calm in the morning and built up through the day)
Temp: 84 degrees
Visibility: 75ft, nice blue water top to bottom
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Ascent: 6 minutes
Depth: 44 ft
Current: .03 knots
We jumped in and headed down. The vis was great the current carried us along. We had to swim slightly into the current to stay on the reefs edge. I didn't know this reef and didn't want to get blown off into a sand dive. The sandy patchy reef was ideal conditions for hogfish. There were a few nice ones, but mostly babies. Andrea had to fight off up to six gray triggerfish at a time. They were quite annoying and fortunately they liked her more than me!
Andrea got to play with the camera while I took a fish count. When ever we could find a coral structure, there would be a lot of fish around it. Andrea lost her spool again. I think this makes four times now. I'm glad her coldwater suit has pockets!
At 45 minutes we decided to work on our drills. Andrea practiced taking off her mask and maintaining buoyancy. She did much better, but still floated up a little. I realized this is a major skill for Tech 1 I hadn't been working on, so I whipped off my mask. I passed it to Andrea and got out my back up. By the time I was done I was about 8 ft higher then when I started. Errrrr.... Game Over... Thank you for playing. I need to work on this on every dive until I get my breathing back to automatic.
Team 2 Second Dive: Paraisio Drift
Since the current was still moving out of the South. I dropped the other team on the Paraisio. When they left the boat with a 20 min bottom time, they shot a bag and continued to drift.
I wanted Andrea to get some practice driving the boat. I explained how to get a heading from the GPS and then transfer it to the compass and get the boat going in that direction. The trick with a large boat is the steer it using the transmission and not the steering wheel. We were heading back to the wreck and while I was teaching her I noticed a sportfish pass close by. I looked and saw them on coarse for the lift bag. We ended the drill and I spunt he boat around and gave chase.
There was a woman on the tower with her feet on the controls and a group of people in the stern looking at the fishing poles. I gave chase and got my boat between them and the sausage while honking my horn. The guys on the back of the boat where holding up their arms in the "What do you want buddy?" position. I guess they didn't notice the 24" Alpha and Diver Down flags flying clearly above the boat. After 30 seconds, one of them figured it out, went up to the bridge and changed course. The ocean is so big, but let your guard down for a moment and it gets very small.
When the divers came up they had a big smile on their faces. The current was just right and they drifted over the Paraisio. They then drifted over some tanks and concrete wreckage, followed by the Princess Brittany, followed by the South Seas, 727 airplane wreck, what Jody thinks was the Houseboat Barge, then the two barges east of the Belcher barge, and finally the Belzona III. Not bad for not having scooters or an underwater map to follow.
We returned to the dock at 2 PM from a great day out on the ocean!
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309mplakeland/
Team 1: Buck, Jody, and Gwyn
Team 2: Matt, Andrea
Team 1: Lakeland
The calm seas made for a nice boat ride out on a sunny Saturday morning. I got a good reading on the sounder so the first team started to gear up. The planned for a 150ft dive though the deck was at 120. A 20 minutes bottom time on 21/35 and 19 minutes of deco switching to 50% at 70ft and shooting a marker as they drift off the wreck made for a 30 minutes run time. Everyone geared up and starting running through the checks.
At the end of the valve drill Gwyn reached back and pulled the rubber knob clean off her left post. The metal insert was still in place but the rubber had come off clean. Hum, those factory recalls really need to be noticed. Buck had a back up knob and I had the knowledge to replace thanks to Mark at Fill Express making fix my mistakes. I grabbed the tool kit and went to work. Before losing the screw that holds the knob in place I asked Jody to lean forward so any projectiles holding back 3300 PSI would have a clear shot to the ocean. I replaced the valve in 5 minutes and they were back up and running. There was no current so I set them up right over the wreck and they splashed.
The dive went perfectly. During the debrief Buck added an extra minutes or two of deco and Jody was a little late shooting the bag at 70ft after the gas switch.
Team 2: East Cape Reef
Looking for some new reef to explore. Jody pulled out the map and found the numbers for East Cape Reef. Andrea and I planned for a 60 minute dive, fish count, and some mask drills at the end.
Seas: 1-3 (calm in the morning and built up through the day)
Temp: 84 degrees
Visibility: 75ft, nice blue water top to bottom
Bottom Time: 55 minutes
Ascent: 6 minutes
Depth: 44 ft
Current: .03 knots
We jumped in and headed down. The vis was great the current carried us along. We had to swim slightly into the current to stay on the reefs edge. I didn't know this reef and didn't want to get blown off into a sand dive. The sandy patchy reef was ideal conditions for hogfish. There were a few nice ones, but mostly babies. Andrea had to fight off up to six gray triggerfish at a time. They were quite annoying and fortunately they liked her more than me!
Andrea got to play with the camera while I took a fish count. When ever we could find a coral structure, there would be a lot of fish around it. Andrea lost her spool again. I think this makes four times now. I'm glad her coldwater suit has pockets!
At 45 minutes we decided to work on our drills. Andrea practiced taking off her mask and maintaining buoyancy. She did much better, but still floated up a little. I realized this is a major skill for Tech 1 I hadn't been working on, so I whipped off my mask. I passed it to Andrea and got out my back up. By the time I was done I was about 8 ft higher then when I started. Errrrr.... Game Over... Thank you for playing. I need to work on this on every dive until I get my breathing back to automatic.
Team 2 Second Dive: Paraisio Drift
Since the current was still moving out of the South. I dropped the other team on the Paraisio. When they left the boat with a 20 min bottom time, they shot a bag and continued to drift.
I wanted Andrea to get some practice driving the boat. I explained how to get a heading from the GPS and then transfer it to the compass and get the boat going in that direction. The trick with a large boat is the steer it using the transmission and not the steering wheel. We were heading back to the wreck and while I was teaching her I noticed a sportfish pass close by. I looked and saw them on coarse for the lift bag. We ended the drill and I spunt he boat around and gave chase.
There was a woman on the tower with her feet on the controls and a group of people in the stern looking at the fishing poles. I gave chase and got my boat between them and the sausage while honking my horn. The guys on the back of the boat where holding up their arms in the "What do you want buddy?" position. I guess they didn't notice the 24" Alpha and Diver Down flags flying clearly above the boat. After 30 seconds, one of them figured it out, went up to the bridge and changed course. The ocean is so big, but let your guard down for a moment and it gets very small.
When the divers came up they had a big smile on their faces. The current was just right and they drifted over the Paraisio. They then drifted over some tanks and concrete wreckage, followed by the Princess Brittany, followed by the South Seas, 727 airplane wreck, what Jody thinks was the Houseboat Barge, then the two barges east of the Belcher barge, and finally the Belzona III. Not bad for not having scooters or an underwater map to follow.
We returned to the dock at 2 PM from a great day out on the ocean!
--Matt
Friday, September 12, 2003
Dive Report: Lost Diver Search, then Datura Street Night Dive Friday 9/12/03 5:30 PM
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309norm/
Team 1: Norm Blitch, Suzy, and Gillie
Team 2: Matt H, Mike W., and Christos K.
While were setting up and testing gear at the Datura parking lost we hear a Fire Rescue truck go by. 5 mins later, a Fire Truck, then the thumbing of a helicopter with a big 7 on the side trying to catch the excitement. We went out on the beach to catch the excitement and saw all the action was one block South at Hibiscus Street. The Broward Country Sheriff's helicopter showed up. 3 Seatow boats, 1 tow boat US, 2 orange Coast Guard ribs, and another CG boat came flying up from Port Everglades launching itself out of the water. Drive it like to Government paid for it I guess?
** Disclaimer **
I did not see any of which I'm about to report. It is a collection of rumors spread around the beach. It makes a good story so I'm typing it. I did not interview the participants and have no first hand knowledge.
** ** **
It seemed three divers went in for a shore dive lobster hunt. One buddy become separated and the two with the flag surfaced, then exited to look for their buddy. After waiting 25 minutes they made the call to 911 and reported a lost buddy. 3 searching dive teams went in at Hibiscus, the Coasties pulled up all the dive flags to check the divers in the water even on the North side of the pier. Team 2 was packing full doubles and the Lauderhill Dive Search and Rescue truck pulled up and I tracked down the officer to volunteer us as another search team. I couldn't find the officer. Since there was so much boat traffic we decided to postpone our dive until things calmed down.
Around 6:30 PM helicopters left and boats dispersed. We found out the search divers found the diver and the diver walked out of the water. No one was hurt, thank goodness. There is no law against solo diving, no law against being a moron or loosing your buddies, but after all those public servants coming out to check on your well being, I don't think that was the most ideal time for the missing diver to have short lobsters in his bag :)
Seas 3ft
Vis 10ft
Depth 18ft
Bottom time 45 minutes
32% Nitrox
At 6:45 PM the fun was over and it was time to dive. The plan was to head out over the second reef and look for bugs. The waves were a little big for a first time surf entry, but Gillie did well and we swam out to the snorkel trail. We descended and I only counted 5 divers, we were missing Gille. I surfaced up the flag line and found her 20ft South, trying to kick back on one fin. She thought she had broken the fin strap. It was all rental gear, so I wasn't surprised. I took a quick look, found the quick disconnect had done just that, then got her finned back up.
We started back out over the reef. In the bad vis it was hard to keep everyone together. After 10 minutes we got to the Swiss cheese and decided to forget about the second reef line and head South down the cheese and look for bugs. We found some and I they chased them around for a bit. Afterwards Norm told me it was his first time and chasing bugs isn't as easy as it sounds!
Gillie hit turn pressure and we headed back in. Crazy Christos still had to go home to WPB, pack, and head up to the caves that night. He bolted off and Mike and I went with the gang to Mulligans for diner and drinks. Norm told some good stories about surprised skinny dippers above the Devils eye and ear when he would return from cave diving. Suzy told me how to land a helicopter without and engine, very interesting, I didn't think it could be done. After a few drinks political conversations flew up as the liberal kept pushing buttons on the two ex-military conservatives. Good Stuff! Where was Eric S. when I needed him?
--Matt
Photos:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309norm/
Team 1: Norm Blitch, Suzy, and Gillie
Team 2: Matt H, Mike W., and Christos K.
While were setting up and testing gear at the Datura parking lost we hear a Fire Rescue truck go by. 5 mins later, a Fire Truck, then the thumbing of a helicopter with a big 7 on the side trying to catch the excitement. We went out on the beach to catch the excitement and saw all the action was one block South at Hibiscus Street. The Broward Country Sheriff's helicopter showed up. 3 Seatow boats, 1 tow boat US, 2 orange Coast Guard ribs, and another CG boat came flying up from Port Everglades launching itself out of the water. Drive it like to Government paid for it I guess?
** Disclaimer **
I did not see any of which I'm about to report. It is a collection of rumors spread around the beach. It makes a good story so I'm typing it. I did not interview the participants and have no first hand knowledge.
** ** **
It seemed three divers went in for a shore dive lobster hunt. One buddy become separated and the two with the flag surfaced, then exited to look for their buddy. After waiting 25 minutes they made the call to 911 and reported a lost buddy. 3 searching dive teams went in at Hibiscus, the Coasties pulled up all the dive flags to check the divers in the water even on the North side of the pier. Team 2 was packing full doubles and the Lauderhill Dive Search and Rescue truck pulled up and I tracked down the officer to volunteer us as another search team. I couldn't find the officer. Since there was so much boat traffic we decided to postpone our dive until things calmed down.
Around 6:30 PM helicopters left and boats dispersed. We found out the search divers found the diver and the diver walked out of the water. No one was hurt, thank goodness. There is no law against solo diving, no law against being a moron or loosing your buddies, but after all those public servants coming out to check on your well being, I don't think that was the most ideal time for the missing diver to have short lobsters in his bag :)
Seas 3ft
Vis 10ft
Depth 18ft
Bottom time 45 minutes
32% Nitrox
At 6:45 PM the fun was over and it was time to dive. The plan was to head out over the second reef and look for bugs. The waves were a little big for a first time surf entry, but Gillie did well and we swam out to the snorkel trail. We descended and I only counted 5 divers, we were missing Gille. I surfaced up the flag line and found her 20ft South, trying to kick back on one fin. She thought she had broken the fin strap. It was all rental gear, so I wasn't surprised. I took a quick look, found the quick disconnect had done just that, then got her finned back up.
We started back out over the reef. In the bad vis it was hard to keep everyone together. After 10 minutes we got to the Swiss cheese and decided to forget about the second reef line and head South down the cheese and look for bugs. We found some and I they chased them around for a bit. Afterwards Norm told me it was his first time and chasing bugs isn't as easy as it sounds!
Gillie hit turn pressure and we headed back in. Crazy Christos still had to go home to WPB, pack, and head up to the caves that night. He bolted off and Mike and I went with the gang to Mulligans for diner and drinks. Norm told some good stories about surprised skinny dippers above the Devils eye and ear when he would return from cave diving. Suzy told me how to land a helicopter without and engine, very interesting, I didn't think it could be done. After a few drinks political conversations flew up as the liberal kept pushing buttons on the two ex-military conservatives. Good Stuff! Where was Eric S. when I needed him?
--Matt
Dive Report: Hibiscus Street Night Beach Dive 9/10/03
Photos at:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309hibicus/
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Alex B
Seas: Less 1ft
Temp: 86 surface, 83 5ft plus
Depth: 18ft
Bottom Time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Gas: 32%
Current .02 knot south
Visibility: Poor @ 10 ft
Location: Hibiscus Street is 2 blocks South of Commercial Pier, its the next block South of Datura. Meters enforced 24hour, NO 9 PM night parking limit. Shower and bench available. Only about 7 parking spots.
Report: Alex and I showed up at 6:15 PM for a quick afterward night dive. We have dove the heck out of Datura Street and wanted to explore further South. The concrete cylinder I use as a mark to turn West and head home also has a swim further South and I was guessing it marked Hibiscus. I never surfaced to check, that would be cheating :) We swam out on our backs past the swim buoys and then dove.
The first reef line was really nice, it was twilight so we could look around. There was a lot of bottom structure for stuff to grow. The first reef line is really nice between these two streets. A manytooth conger eel popped out and there were Ocean Surgeonfish all over the place.
Perhaps our pace was slower, but the trip over the sand to the second reef line seemed a lot longer. When we did get there, we swam right into the concrete cylinder I call the "alien probe" Andrea was telling me she "heard" that these cylinders were mock bombs the Navy used for training. I would love to hear if anyone else has an opinion? I have gone North of the probe previously. The reef is really good for 10 minutes, then flattens, then gets really good again as you approach the Datura street probe. Even though we were going with the current, we drifted South to explore new area.
This section of the 2nd reef is excellent! There were large corals all over and tons of fish. At one point I found a small Mountain star coral colony flipped over. I'm confessing right now to a misdemeanor of touching a coral colony, which is illegal. But it was only to flip it over and place it back in the sand. You can see the white area where the coral bleached and died. I bet 90% of the white area will come back. I tried to make a mental note of the large Mountain Star Coral colony next to it so I can check back and see how its doing in a couple of weeks.
After a few minutes dinner swam by, or I mean a hogfish, and me without my gun? I swam up to him and told him it was past his bed time and he should go to sleep (my only chance to knife him), but he didn't listen. We also found a couple of bugs in the ledges. After drifting 22 minutes South Alex passed a wetnote to swim over to the first reef and swim back North. I agreed for a change a pace.
The first reef line didn't have much to see. I remember one huge dead coralhead that was probably only 5 feet from the surface. Alex tried bare-handing a lobster out for a walk and only touched his tail before it shot off. We didn't have a place to put him if we caught it. There were several large Porcupine Pufferfish out swimming around. One wouldn't stick around for a Kodak moment. The green water was foggy. Several times a school of silvery fish was reflect the HID light in the distance. I always wonder what is chasing them? There were also two schools of Glassy Sweepers hunting above the reef. There were also a lot of Stoplight and Redband Parrotfish asleep on the reef. I couldn't get close enough for a photo before they would wake up and take off.
Since Alex had been to this site before I had him lead with the flag. I like to lead dives due to my supervised type A dominate personality. I had a hard time following Alex and slowing to his pace. With a 20 minutes drift I figured we would need 30 minutes swim North to get back to where we started. When we started heading North I lost my internal sense of where we were at and resigned myself to trusting Alex to get us back to the spot or we might be going for a walk up the beach back to the car.
Once we got off the reef and into the sand I found the last Yellow Stingray of the dive. It was just a baby lying in the grooves of the sand. We swam East and hit a few Flagfin Mojarra before the water got noticeably warmer.
Alex and I surface a good bit North of Hibiscus. We floated on the surface and drifted back to the exit point.
**Soapbox on**
The first 5 ft of water was a dark chocolate brown. I know that South Florida Water Management was empting lake Ochachobee. I believe the water is pushed down the Everglades and then pumped out to the ocean through the canal system. FOS had pictures of black water running through the Indian River and heading out to the ocean. I know there is a balance between living here and managing the environment, I hope we can get closer to equilibrium in my life time.
**Soapbox off**
--Matt
Photos at:
http://www.geocities.com/tiswango/0309hibicus/
Team: Matt Hoelscher, Alex B
Seas: Less 1ft
Temp: 86 surface, 83 5ft plus
Depth: 18ft
Bottom Time: 1 hour 28 minutes
Gas: 32%
Current .02 knot south
Visibility: Poor @ 10 ft
Location: Hibiscus Street is 2 blocks South of Commercial Pier, its the next block South of Datura. Meters enforced 24hour, NO 9 PM night parking limit. Shower and bench available. Only about 7 parking spots.
Report: Alex and I showed up at 6:15 PM for a quick afterward night dive. We have dove the heck out of Datura Street and wanted to explore further South. The concrete cylinder I use as a mark to turn West and head home also has a swim further South and I was guessing it marked Hibiscus. I never surfaced to check, that would be cheating :) We swam out on our backs past the swim buoys and then dove.
The first reef line was really nice, it was twilight so we could look around. There was a lot of bottom structure for stuff to grow. The first reef line is really nice between these two streets. A manytooth conger eel popped out and there were Ocean Surgeonfish all over the place.
Perhaps our pace was slower, but the trip over the sand to the second reef line seemed a lot longer. When we did get there, we swam right into the concrete cylinder I call the "alien probe" Andrea was telling me she "heard" that these cylinders were mock bombs the Navy used for training. I would love to hear if anyone else has an opinion? I have gone North of the probe previously. The reef is really good for 10 minutes, then flattens, then gets really good again as you approach the Datura street probe. Even though we were going with the current, we drifted South to explore new area.
This section of the 2nd reef is excellent! There were large corals all over and tons of fish. At one point I found a small Mountain star coral colony flipped over. I'm confessing right now to a misdemeanor of touching a coral colony, which is illegal. But it was only to flip it over and place it back in the sand. You can see the white area where the coral bleached and died. I bet 90% of the white area will come back. I tried to make a mental note of the large Mountain Star Coral colony next to it so I can check back and see how its doing in a couple of weeks.
After a few minutes dinner swam by, or I mean a hogfish, and me without my gun? I swam up to him and told him it was past his bed time and he should go to sleep (my only chance to knife him), but he didn't listen. We also found a couple of bugs in the ledges. After drifting 22 minutes South Alex passed a wetnote to swim over to the first reef and swim back North. I agreed for a change a pace.
The first reef line didn't have much to see. I remember one huge dead coralhead that was probably only 5 feet from the surface. Alex tried bare-handing a lobster out for a walk and only touched his tail before it shot off. We didn't have a place to put him if we caught it. There were several large Porcupine Pufferfish out swimming around. One wouldn't stick around for a Kodak moment. The green water was foggy. Several times a school of silvery fish was reflect the HID light in the distance. I always wonder what is chasing them? There were also two schools of Glassy Sweepers hunting above the reef. There were also a lot of Stoplight and Redband Parrotfish asleep on the reef. I couldn't get close enough for a photo before they would wake up and take off.
Since Alex had been to this site before I had him lead with the flag. I like to lead dives due to my supervised type A dominate personality. I had a hard time following Alex and slowing to his pace. With a 20 minutes drift I figured we would need 30 minutes swim North to get back to where we started. When we started heading North I lost my internal sense of where we were at and resigned myself to trusting Alex to get us back to the spot or we might be going for a walk up the beach back to the car.
Once we got off the reef and into the sand I found the last Yellow Stingray of the dive. It was just a baby lying in the grooves of the sand. We swam East and hit a few Flagfin Mojarra before the water got noticeably warmer.
Alex and I surface a good bit North of Hibiscus. We floated on the surface and drifted back to the exit point.
**Soapbox on**
The first 5 ft of water was a dark chocolate brown. I know that South Florida Water Management was empting lake Ochachobee. I believe the water is pushed down the Everglades and then pumped out to the ocean through the canal system. FOS had pictures of black water running through the Indian River and heading out to the ocean. I know there is a balance between living here and managing the environment, I hope we can get closer to equilibrium in my life time.
**Soapbox off**
--Matt
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