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September 2000 Dive Trips |
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All text and images copyrighted by Ed and Beth C., as attributed. They may be borrowed for non-commercial use only, provided credit is given to us and/or this web page
For full-size pictures, click on the photo or caption.
The Highlights From the Flower Gardens 2000: |
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 Stoplight Parrotfish |
Two Words on the Flower Gardens |
Two words: Visit daveread.com! Seriously, there's very little I can say about the incredible diving, the value, and the fun of the Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary that David hasn't said in far better words -- so check it out!
April 2000 - Cool Water, Rough Waves, Dead Computer |
 Beth Chillin' |
Beth and my first dive on the West Bank Buoy #5 - a glassy surface, easy entry, only downer was a water temp of 73 at the bottom which was a bit cool.
Our second dive at the same site added some mild waves, 0-2 feet,
but no wind, so the sidelines were all over the place and a little
annoying. One of these errant lines somehow wound itself around
my pony bottle... unhooking it! And Beth caught it! That woman
is amazing! (That's why I married her. 
)
 Light Sensor |
This picture is a light sensor, used by researchers to try and learn more about the way corals grow, spawn, and survive in the Flower Gardens. Don't touch! |
Our third dive was at the East Bank Buoy #7, an excellent dive! Increased chop with 2-4 foot waves, but had a great and relaxing time. A cool close-up scene with a Barracuda, slinking down around the coral heads.
UGH!! My Data Plus Computer died again, this time on only its fourth dive after replacement from Oceanic! I won't be buying any more Oceanic/Pelagic computers; this one claimed I hit 316 feet before it turned itself off a minute later. I switched to my backup Data 100 and completed the dive.
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Dive 4 was another pleasant dive, the same site for our night dive. The waves were now a solid four feet and the exit was tough. A medium current from 0-25 feet. Took some lovely photos -- and a pufferfish went nuts on us! I shined my light at it, and it charged me, circling around my head before it buzzed off. Bizarre! Beth wasn't feeling well, so Dave and I did the dive. I skipped the next two Sunday morning dives on Stetson Bank -- even though it's my favorite site, I had a killer sinus headache and the seas were 4-6 feet. My decision was good; on the second of the two dives, six people had to be tracked down with the chase boat! |
 Stoplight Parrotfish |
Then I saw something I hope I never have to see again -- a fouled ladder line. The rope trailing from the port ladder was fouled around the rudder, rendering the ship unable to steer. Captain Frank and Melanie both tried donning a mask and fifteen-foot regulator to try and free it, in 6 foot seas and with the boat slamming up and down perilously close to their head.
 A Delicate Shrimp |
It was pretty scary -- neither could get close to it without the boat slamming or twisting them around, and even with a long hooked pole it was a long, frustrating challenge. Finally, Cap'n Frank got angry enough that he went under a long time, let himself be scraped, banged, and bruised up, and finally freed the line! He came back with nasty scrapes on his back, leg and arm, but he freed us! We were finally able to motor back to pier -- skipping the rig dive, since it was obviously too rough to risk another mooring. |
August 2000 - Rodale's, Relaxed, Whale Shark!! |
 Ed Chillin' |
Dive #1 at the West Bank - spawning sponges!! Wild! The sponges were emitting tiny spawned nodules, and this was also my first dive on Nitrox (Oxygen-Enriched Air). The Nitrox turned out to be very nice, extending my bottom times, and making me feel a little less tired after a long day of diving. This proved extremely helpful during this first dive, since we experienced rather strong currents, and I spent much of the dive ducking down into the coral
And this was the Rodale's Scuba Diving trip as well! I was one of the Trip Divemasters, as my friend and mentor Dave Read had organized a bunch of our friends from the Rodale's Scuba Diving Message Board into a big trip, and I took turns filling tanks with air or Nitrox. That's hard work; you can just barely fill all 24 tanks on the two compressors in the 2-and-a-half hours between dives. (And don't screw up or you'll empty the banks, and have two dozen pissed-off divers in your face!
 Balloonfish (Puffer) |
Whale shark!! A baby, maybe 30 feet long, swam right by us on the second West Bank dive. After the first pass, it turned around and swam through our group of divers! He was only about 10-15 feet above me, and his tail's backwash almost knocked one diver aside! What a magnificent creature! Sorry, no pictures, I had the Aquashot, which just ain't up to this kind of challenge. This dive was also unique, in that David was teaching Nitrox to seven divers, and I assisted him as a Divemaster, helping keep a watchful eye on his charges (who were all great divers, and needed me as much as a fish needs wings. :) |
The third, fourth and fifth dives - Serious Relaxation! I'd been busting my a$$ for six hard weeks, helping launch our new startup, Legerity! and I was putting in 60, 70 or even 80 hours a week sometimes. So for the remaining dives I gave Beth the camera, and I spent the dives simply floating and bobbing, and occasionally giving a relaxed "OK" sign whenever Beth looked at me. :)
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Dive six was one of my favorites - Stetson Bank! Huge adult Drums, aggressive and territorial. Also a mated pair of Queen Angelfish, went in close to one, and the mate roared in out of nowhere to "defend" the mate. The only bummer was that the !@#$%^ Boat Divemaster woke Beth and I only 5 minutes before the dive started, so we really got a late start. But I guess that's better than sleeping right through it! |
 Pufferfish on HI-389 |
Dive seven! Dropped off the wall, slipped down to a cool and relaxing 94 feet, again just hanging and chillin. I was really impressed with how energetic and comfortable I felt by using 32% Enriched-Air Nitrox instead of air; it meant the drive home wouldn't be so tiring.
For this was our last dive. We wanted to dive an oil rig, but the weather was perfect, and every rig had a boat occupying it. (The Mobil HI-389 picture above was taken the next day, where I was a Divemaster for the Pisces Scuba Rig Dive - rah! Two dive trips back to back!
September 2000- Sharks, Idiots, Rough Waves |
 Blue Angelfish |
The Labor Day Trip - a three-day trip, thanks to the Monday off from work. Labor Day is usually the calmest, nicest weather in the FGNMS, and a good time for Whale Sharks. At the helm, our favorite Cap'n Frank, and Melonie back serving as one of the Boat Divemasters. All was set for a great trip!
Dive one - West Bank Buoy #1. Quiet and relaxed dive, although there was a great deal of pitching and tossing, and several seasick folks. (I wasn't at my finest, but I start taking Dramamine two days before a trip to make sure my senses are deadened.) Beth ended up a little short on weight, so we didn't do much travelling, just enjoyed the varied fish life around the U-bolt. (Plus there was a moderate current, which really lessens the fun of swimming around).
Fire! The Spree's sister ship, the M/V Fling, had a small fire in the wheelhouse! Some wiring started smoldering, and their Captain ended a radio transmission to the Spree with, "Got a fire in the wheelhouse, call you back." Yikes!
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Fortunately it was a small one, and apparently it isn't that uncommon to have some water get into wiring and short it out... so the Spree sent over a chase boat with a spare radio. The Fling still had a spare, but the Spree had three and could afford to donate a backup. |
 Back of the M/V Spree |
Dive #2 was awesome!! I was the first in, and Beth was right behind me. A Juvenile Grouper, Blennies, mostly relaxing and having a nice time!
 Spanish Hogfish |
For dive #3, we motored to one of my all-time favorites: Mobil HI-389 Oil Rig! Toward the head of the pack, saw a huge Balloonfish, Pencil Urchins, Orangespotted Filefish, Rock Hinds, everything you'd expect from 25+ years of Oil Rig that they have never cleaned! Dive #4 was at East Bank Buoy #2. For starters, a black-tip Reef Shark in the distance just over the coral heads! Mating pairs of Creole Wrasse, a little blue one chasing the much larger and colorful female. |
And of course, the "Idiot Pairs" -- on the sideline, working our way to the back of the boat, here were these two morons in front of us and two in back, all with screwed-up buoyancy. The two in front were negative, and kept dragging us too deep while we were trying to do our safety stop at fifteen feet. At the same time, the rocket scientists in back were way too positive, pulling the rope up to the surface. In frustration, finally, Beth and I just gave it up and did our own "best effort" to hold at 15 feet since the sideline was clearly not working.
Dive #5 was a night dive on East Bank #5, another very nice dive. I had a bit of "task juggling", trying to handle the camera, my "Super8" light, the ropes and equalizing, but it worked out just fine. Lovely photos of black and white Butterflyfish, Balloonfish, and others. There were plenty of other boats, we could see strobe lights flashing all over.
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In the morning we'd motored over Buoy #7, where in Dive #6 I managed to wrench my arm slightly on a faintly challenging ladder exit -- 3-4 foot waves, I just timed it wrong. We saw a turtle far off in the distance, and generally had a pleasant but brief dive so we'd have plenty of air for the exit process. |
 Side of the M/V Spree |
Dive #7 was at the glorious Stetson Bank! What an awesome dive! It started off with a small current, building steadily to a medium pull once we moved away from the shelter of the U-bolt. We followed a deep-water side line (see the picture below) to the pinnacles, where large rock outcroppings jut up from the depths.
A large Juvenile French Angelfish posed for me, plus a Trunkfish. The fish were amazingly calm and relaxed, almost begging me to take their picture! And of course, the strange, almost moonlike terrain of the bottom provides plenty of food for the fish but almost nowhere to hide, so everything's right out in the open to view. Excellent dive!
 Stetson Sideline |
Night dive #8 on Stetson!! -- a fun dive but it took some work. Beth had an equalization problem, I had mask leakage, visibility was noticeably lower than this morning, but incredible fish everywhere. Back to the pinnacles, where I saw a Brittle Star that scurried out of the light from my dive lamp. We were the first two in, so it was delightfully eerie and dark. Fun! The exit was just a bit rough, with 2-4 foot waves and the boat line swinging all over. All in all, Stetson and Night Dives are my favorites. |
Dive #9 was on Stetson Buoy #1, and we went back to the Pinnacles and had another pleasant, early-morning dive. Waves had built up to 4-5 feet so exiting became even more challenging. Starting to wonder whether we'll be able to do all our dives this trip...!
... but we did get in one last dive on Stetson Buoy #1. Pleasant, not especially noteworthy, except the current was moderate and the exit challenging. On the way back to the pier, the entire dive group received Kudos from Captain Frank -- this was all tough diving, yet not a single diver got lost or hurt, and nobody had to be chased down. We rock!
 Logbook Pages |
Ed's Dive LogHere are the rest of the details from my dive log. Specifics about each dive are in the write-up above, with only brief comments here for reference. |
Ed's Dive Log - April 2000 Dive Location Depth Time Comments Number (FSW) (min) ------------------------------------------------------- 1 West Bank #5 76 33 Glassy, relaxed, Pompanau 2 West Bank #5 77 28 Tiny Moray, swinging lines 3 East Bank #7 66 37 Dead Computer, Barracuda 4 East Bank #7 69 29 Shrimp, Puffer Attack August 2000 Rodale's Trip. Missing some buoy numbers, the boat DM wasn't really communicating with us. Dive Location Depth Time Comments Number (FSW) (min) ------------------------------------------------------- 1 West Bank 77 29 Sponge Spawning, Nitrox 2 West Bank 78 33 Whale Shark, help w/EAN class 3 East Bank 74 34 Relaxin' and Chillin' 4 East Bank 70 36 Relaxin' and Chillin' 5 East Bank 65 30 Tiny Shrimp, Chillin' 6 Stetson Bank #3 83 36 Adult Drum, Queen Angels, Puffer 7 Stetson Bank #3 94 35 Down off the wall September 2000 Dive Location Depth Time Comments Number (FSW) (min) ------------------------------------------------------- 1 West Bank #1 75 26 Current, Dramamine, Fire 2 West Bank #1 76 35 First in, Grouper, Urchins 3 HI-396A Oil Rig 74 38 Ballonfish, Filefish, fun 4 East Bank #2 65 40 Shark, Creole Wrasse, Idiots 5 East Bank #2 64 36 Night, Many boats, Butterflyfish 6 East Bank #7 69 28 Rough exit, Shark, Turtle 7 Stetson Bank #3 80 33 Current, Pinn., Juvy Fr. Angel 8 Stetson Bank #3 83 31 Night, brittle star, rough exit 9 Stetson Bank #1 76 28 Early AM, relaxing, rough exit 10 Stetson Bank #1 78 31 Relaxing, current, bit rough exit
Camera Gear |
Camera and Gear |
A list of the gear that we used on the dive trip. My last trip with the Aquashot 3e + SS50, before I jumped wholeheartedly into my new Nikon N90s and Ikelite SLR housing, and Beth took over the fine photographic arts of the Aq3E!
We are not professional photographers and really are still newbies (although improving). If you want to see truly spectacular photos check out Dave Read's Page!
That being said, it's just a bit sad to say "goodbye" to the Aquashot. As you can see, you can take some very nice photos with it, and it requires a fraction of the work of the Nikon. But you don't get omelettes without breaking a few eggs. :)
So that's the trip. Keep an eye open, the Bonaire 2001 Honeymoon Trip write-up is coming any day now!
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