Title: Just back off the Blackbeard's trip! (Long read)
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Blog Entry: We had an absolute blast on this trip! Fri. Sept. 12th- I overslept & almost missed my 6:00am flight. I made it with 3min. to spare. I can't EVER remember hustling so fast. That afternoon I made it to the resort I had reserved. Fri. Night I met up with Martythehammer & Pirate's Lady's father Fri night when they arrived. Sat. Sept. 13th- I went on a couple of short, shallow dives from the resort to refresh my salt water diving skills. No problems there. Site: Blue Hole (a small fresh water spring), Max depth: 52ft, Bottom time: 49min. Site: Castle Reef, Max depth: 62ft, Bottom time: 45min. I then made may way to the boat (we were on the Pirate's Lady- the same boat I was on 2yrs ago) & met up with the rest of our group. Our little group consisted of Tradewinddiver, Pirate's Lady (who set the trip up), Pirate's Lady's father (Tim), her son (Joey), a friend of her son (Jarod), Martythehammer (Marty) & myself. We all stayed in the bunks in the main salon which worked out rather well for all of us. Tim & Marty were my dive buddies for the most part the entire trip, though Tim had to stop diving about Wed. due to a cold going around the boat (Pirate's Lady also got it & was out of the water for a couple of days). There were 11 other divers on the trip besides our group. It was crowded, but most everyone was civil & things went smoothly the whole time. Sat. afternoon we did a single shallow dive. Site: Shark Junction (coral heads), Max depth: 47ft, Bottom time: 46min. It was a site where shark feeding is commonly done by other dive operations. We saw 6-7 reef sharks,& a nurse shark & some groupers. Sun. Sept.14th- we were south of Grand Bahama. The vis really wasn't spectacular due to the recent storms but it was dive-able (kinda like home ). We saw more sharks &, for better or worse, a lot of lionfish. It seems the population around the Bahamas there has exploded recently. Site: Kubarra Cliffs (coral Heads), Max Depth: 78ft, Bottom time: 41min. The second site was about the same vis- wise. I had dove the spot before a couple of years ago. Site:Grouper on the Head, Max Depth: 48 Bottom time: 50 min. The third site was terrible. Vis was only about 10ft at most. There was also a very heavy current. It made for a rather difficult dive. It was also a short one because Tim, Marty & I kept losing eachother in the low vis. Site:Miami Rita (old wreck), Max Depth: 36ft Bottom time 23min. For the night dive we decided to go back to the second site. It was a nice dive, though there was some current that had started up there. Site: Grouper on the Head (coral Heads), Max depth:48ft, Bottom time: 46min. Mon. Sept.15th- We traveled down further south past Orange Cay. That morning, the water was like glass.... Absolutely still. It was actually eerie because there was also no sight of land anywhere. It was rather deep diving & for the remainder of the trip there were pretty stout currents to deal with. On the first dive there was a Spotted Drumfish in a shelf that was a treat to watch & Saw more sharks around. There were also some Spotted Moray eels around. Site: Highlander (a small seamount), Max Depth: 87ft, Bottom time: 29 min. The second dive was very much the same (deep & lots of critters around). Site: KC Hill (a small Seamount) Max Depth: 82ft Bottom time: 43 min. The third dive was quite different. It was shallow, but had a ripping current. There were no coral heads to say, but there were lots of holes with ledges to look under to find things. After wearing myself out trying to kick against the current, I found it easier to find sandy patches & carefully use my hands to pull myself through the current. We sort of went from "fox hole" to "fox hole" to try to stay out of the current. Site: Hog Heaven (holes with ledges), Max Depth: 26ft Bottom time: 49 min. During our surface interval came the best part of the trip. We were just swimming & jumping off the boat having some fun, waiting for dinner when we were visited by a pod of 6- 7 wild dolphins. Everyone grabbed masks, fins, snorkels & cameras. The dolphins proceeded to play with us for about 2 hours. It was a very neat experience. Once in a lifetime. That time made the whole trip in my book . The "dive gods" were smiling on us that day. On the night dive there was still a ripping current. Only 4 of us decided to take up the challenge. We all kept together & were pretty much on top of each other the whole time (looked like a football huddle). Made for some interesting diving. My first time night diving in a strong current. We saw some crabs, lobster, porcupine fish, scallops & such. Site: Hog Heaven (holes with ledges), Max Depth: 27ft, Bottom time: 41 min. Tues. Sept.16th- We made our way up near Bimini. The reefs seemed to be in better shape than I remember 2yrs ago. We did a deep dive on a wall. Marty & I dropped down deep to try to spot some Hammerheads, but no luck. Got rather Narc'd on that one (Gosh , I hate that feeling ). Site: Krispy Kreme (wall dive), Max Depth: 131ft, Bottom time: 36 min. The second dive was the shark feeding dive. Afterward the exciting frenzy, I looked around & found a shark's tooth & gave it to Joey to commemorate his first shark feeeding dive. I couldn't find one for poor Jarod, though I tried. Sorry Jarod . Site: Bull Run (shark feeding dive), Max depth: 58ft, Bottom time: 51min. The third dive I remember well from 2yrs ago. At that time, all seemed to be rather dead with not much life to see. This time was quite a treat. It looked like the reefs had recovered some & there was plenty to see. There was a large green Moray eel, arrow crabs, & I loved playing with the Sargent Major fishes guarding their nests. I also prevented Marty from getting a "hicky" from a free swimming remora that was following him. Site: Big Greeny (big "EPCOT" shapped coral head), Max Depth: 36ft, Bottom time: 53 min. Of course, we stopped in Bimini for a "real" shower & some serious partying. I stayed on the boat with a bad sinus headache. No fun . I called home to my parents & found out that the remnants of Hurriane Ike had passed through my hometown. It did some major damage around the area with high, 100mph winds . I was lucky & the only damamge my property had was a couple of wooden fence slats blown down, which my neighbor repaired. My parents lost power for almost a week. They stored their perishable foods at my house (I had power) to keep from losing it. Wed. Sept. 17th- We did more dives around Bimini. We saw a couple of spotted Moray eels, a shark & a stonefish. Marty had me to try (& I say try) to navigate back to the boat. I had no idea where we were . I got turned around & went the wrong way. When Marty corrected me, I then took us through a swarm of jellyfish . Neither one of us got stung, but it still wasn't pleasant. We finally made it back & non the less I got all kinds of ribbing about it . I had warned him that my navigation wasn't the best from the start . Site: Moray Alley (close coral heads), Max Depth: 51ft, Bottom time: 51min. The next dive was really short because I lost Marty. Saw a puffer fish but not much else because of trying to find Marty . Site: The Strip (a couple of fair sized corals), Max Depth: 40ft, Bottom time: 25 min. The afternoon & night dives were on one of my favorite spots,... The Hesperus. Lots of stingrays, turtles, eels,oceanic triggers & now, lionfish. So much to see there. Moderate current. Site: Hesperus (old barge wreck), Max depth: 18ft, Bottom time: 40min. The night dive was interesting as the current had picked up. There were several turtles sleeping in the area & there were stingrays & lionfish everywhere. It seemed like a poisonous pin cushion just waiting for someone unlucky . Everyone made it back OK though, with lots of very good pictures of sleeping turtles. Site: Hesperus (Old barge wreck), Max depth: 19ft, Bottom time: 30min. Thurs. Sept. 18th- We did a night trip back to around Freeport. We did 4 more dives, however, I only made 1 of these. It was a rather deep dive around & inside a wreck. I didn't pay enough attention to my computer & wound up with 3 min. deco . I did the appropriate stop & even though everything seemed kosher, I thought I would be prudent & err on the side of caution & decided to sit out the second dive . Site: Sea Star (large freighter wreck), Max depth: 94ft Bottom time: 32 min. The 3rd & 4th dives were within the 24hr no fly time, so I had to sit those out also .Because I didn't dive the last 3 sites, I failed to get the names of them . Perhaps Martythehammer, Tradewinddiver or Pirate's Lady knows what the were & will fill it in. I just chilled out for the day, cleaned, dried & prepped my gear for packing to go home. I did 19 dives total for the week. Not bad in my book. Both Marty & Tim were wonderful dive buddies. I couldn't have asked for better. The comedy during the suface intervals also made the trip quite delightful! Although Marty & Tim tried to help me to prepare for a lecture presnetation for my instructor course while on the boat, I wasn't able to get much done because of the pitchng & rolling of the boat made me queasy when trying to read or write & a lack of computer (I can't read my own hand writing) . Fri.- I was traveling all day & got home about 9:30pm. Glad to be back home . Did I leave much out guys (TWD, PL, Marty)? Please feel free to add, subtract & such as you'd like.
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