Cat & Dog's Page
SCUBA Diving on the Diversity December 29, 2007 |
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Today will go down as another great day of diving. I went for a morning dive with 4 other divers on the Diversity. http://thediversity.com/diversity.htm
The boat holds up to 12 divers so there was lots of room, almost as good as diving on a Private Charter.
The air temperature was 82 deg. F and mostly sunny with a moderate wind out of the South East. Seas were 2 to 3 ft. The water temperature was 76 deg. F. The dives consisted of two drift dives on reefs approximately 1 mile offshore. We went out though Boca Inlet and headed South between Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach.
I dove solo and my first dive was to 75 ft on a beautiful reef with ledges and fingers. The visibility was 75 ft. and there was almost no current, therefore it allowed searching all around the reef and rocks in any direction.
I shot two really nice fish, caught two lobsters and I found a nice anchor which I floated to the surface with lift bags.
After a 45 minute surface interval, I dropped on a shallow reef with a maximum depth of 44 ft. The second dive produced only one lobster. The West edge of the reef has 10 ft. to 15 ft. of relief in spots and is where a tremendous number of fish congregate. This area makes for a very scenic dive.
Diving Pictures from Dive Trip.
Captain Tony Coulter - keeping a watchful eye on the dive flags.
DiveMaster Shari Tellman - This divemaster is no-nonsense and a joy to be on the boat with.
Young diver from Australia.
Don with his prize fish. This is a 26" long, 13 pound Hogfish.
Picture of same fish. I stalked this fish for 10 minutes swimming along side and 15 ft. over it to keep from spooking it. He knew of my presence and kept swimming away from me. A fish of this size does not get to be this large by being stupid. I have learned that if the spearfisherman does not present an offensive posture, the fish is less likely to be spooked and bolt away. Since there was no current, I was able to keep up with the fish no matter which way he turned as he tried to shake me loose. After 3 attempts of dropping silently on top of him I took the shot and as you can see from the hole just above the gill plate, it was a perfect shot.
Say Cheeze! The smaller fish was really a great fish but paled in comparison to the larger fish. See picture below.
Yep, that is one happy Spearfisherman!!!!!! My experiences diving with the South Florida Spearfishing Club and the hunting knowledge acquired during numerous dives over 3 years provided me with the expertise to stalk and shoot these fish. www.spearfishing.org.
Rodney on left, Sheri, and Dave on right. Heading back to the dock. We all had a great day. Among all the commercial boats in the Broward County Area, I strongly recommend giving Capt. Tony and the Diversity a try.
