dawnskies
09-03-06, 04:31 PM
Well Ed and I went to the Flower Gardens this past week and it was great. The conditions overall were the best since I started going to the Gardens last year. West Bank had very little current, vis was about 90-100', saw a juvenile blacktip shark. It even swam down into one of the sand flats right by some divers that never even saw it. It was funny seeing their faces when we told them it swam right by them. They had no idea. Got a close-up of a Porgy that basically stopped in front of my camera.http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN0999c.jpg
Then we were off to the oil rig HI-389A, we all swam down the sideline to the rig, and I wasn't there 5 min before one of the resident turtles swam by us. There was a slight current, but it was mild. There were a lot of Crevalle Jacks swimming all around the upper portion of the rig.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1128c.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184088339.jpg
saw lots of Angelfish, several fireworms and some really neat coral.
On East Bank, conditions were good, also very little current, about 80' vis,
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184068394.jpg
Surface was fairly calm. Lots of cools stuff to see underneath.http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1018c.jpg
I got to see my first ever moray on East Bank, found it all by myself.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1171c.jpg
The night dive was spectacular, saw all kinds of Banded Coral Shrimp, Arrow Crabs, sleeping fish and lots of other critters.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1227c.jpg
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1241c.jpg
Day 2 on Stetson was like I have never seen it. Water was calm, basically no current, and the vis was 100+.
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184068389.jpg
Saw more morays than ever before, Green, Spotted and Goldentail. Saw a lot of other fish I had never seen before, it was just overloaded with more fish than either of the other 2 banks. Stetson is always like that, seems the fish are on steroids. One of my favs was seeing the tiny spotted trunkfish, they were no bigger than one of the tips of my finger.
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184088356.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092151.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092088.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092165.jpg
And of course on the way back to the boat we came across a Sea wasp that was swimming our way and Dennis, my dive buddy, convinced me to get close enough to get this pic. http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1278e2c.jpg
Sadly enough the little fish that was outside on the pic got too close to the bottom and it was sucked up into the sea wasp for its demise. Poor fishy.
Anyway, there is our trip report. I got some great pictures thanks to Dennis Fanning, who is also one of the DMs w Gulf Diving, he was spotting for me since he did not have his camera with him. This was probably the best trip I have ever had out at the Gardens. I can't wait to get back out there this coming weekend, I'm working on the Fling!!
Then we were off to the oil rig HI-389A, we all swam down the sideline to the rig, and I wasn't there 5 min before one of the resident turtles swam by us. There was a slight current, but it was mild. There were a lot of Crevalle Jacks swimming all around the upper portion of the rig.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1128c.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184088339.jpg
saw lots of Angelfish, several fireworms and some really neat coral.
On East Bank, conditions were good, also very little current, about 80' vis,
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184068394.jpg
Surface was fairly calm. Lots of cools stuff to see underneath.http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1018c.jpg
I got to see my first ever moray on East Bank, found it all by myself.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1171c.jpg
The night dive was spectacular, saw all kinds of Banded Coral Shrimp, Arrow Crabs, sleeping fish and lots of other critters.
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1227c.jpg
http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1241c.jpg
Day 2 on Stetson was like I have never seen it. Water was calm, basically no current, and the vis was 100+.
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184068389.jpg
Saw more morays than ever before, Green, Spotted and Goldentail. Saw a lot of other fish I had never seen before, it was just overloaded with more fish than either of the other 2 banks. Stetson is always like that, seems the fish are on steroids. One of my favs was seeing the tiny spotted trunkfish, they were no bigger than one of the tips of my finger.
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184088356.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092151.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092088.jpg
http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL997/4978045/11077722/184092165.jpg
And of course on the way back to the boat we came across a Sea wasp that was swimming our way and Dennis, my dive buddy, convinced me to get close enough to get this pic. http://www.zendiving.com/gallery/data/628/DSCN1278e2c.jpg
Sadly enough the little fish that was outside on the pic got too close to the bottom and it was sucked up into the sea wasp for its demise. Poor fishy.
Anyway, there is our trip report. I got some great pictures thanks to Dennis Fanning, who is also one of the DMs w Gulf Diving, he was spotting for me since he did not have his camera with him. This was probably the best trip I have ever had out at the Gardens. I can't wait to get back out there this coming weekend, I'm working on the Fling!!