Well, we arrived at the boat for the afternoon dive and found the boat filled with divers. It seems the Adjacent Dive Boat broke down and the divers were moved to the Rampage. We did not want to go aboard such a filled boat and declined the trip! (A Big first for me!!)!!
Dive Trip Report to:
West Palm Beach
Dive Reports:
Purpose:
TO DIVE
Dive #1:
My Dive # 165
A. Dive Boat / Location: Rampage / Juno Ledges
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
30' (Not the greatest)
Seas:
2'-3' (Some were getting Sea Sick)
Water Temp:
75 deg on the bottom
Skies:
Clear Blue Skies, Some Wind
Air Temp:
70 - 80
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 91' for 31 min
Me: Analog - 92'
Dive Partner: Cochran Captain Dive Computer (Unreliable) - 88' for 30 min
Dive Partner: Analog - 90'
Air consumption:
Me: 3600 lb to 1500 lb (120 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3200 lb to 600 lb (80 cu ft)
Current:
Almost none. Every once in a while the slight current would switch directions
making us swim a little harder!
Description:
This was my first dive with a good underwater camera! I had recently
purchased a Nikonos V (35 mm FF2.5 and an Ikelite Substrobe MV. It was an
experience! Lot's of work cleaning 'O' rings etc. And, there were a few good
shots!
The dive went well. We arrived at the bottom a few feet from the ledge. With
no current, it was a diver-moves-by-kicking! The ledges were their normal
Great Dive. The poor vis did hurt some. There were no large fish (Grouper,
Cuda, Turtles, Moray's etc) seen - but there were a lot of ledge's to swim
around. My Dive Partner saw seveal Big Grouper - I was looking the other way
and missed them!!!
Dive #2:
My Dive # 166
A. Dive Boat / Location: Rampage / Juno Ledges (Yea, Again!)
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
30'
Seas:
2' - 3' and still some getting sick! My Dive Partner found out that you can
BARF at 90' and your reg will clean itself out!
Water Temp:
74 degrees on the bottom
Skies:
CBS, some wind!
Air Temp:
70 - 80
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 91' for 26 min
Me: Analog - 90'
Dive Partner: Cochran Captain Dive Computer (Unreliable) - 87' for 26 min
Dive Partner: Analog - 90'
Air consumption:
Me: 3600 lb to 1500 lb (80 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3200 lb to 600 lb (80 cu ft)
Current: Again, Nill
Description:
See above description. The Ledges are one of the greatest dive locations on
the East Coast of Florida!
Dive #3:
My Dive # 167
A. Dive Boat / Location: Rampage / Princess Ann
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
40'
Seas:
1 - 2' (One diver did feed the fish)
Water Temp:
75 / 76 on the bottom
Skies:
Sunny, some clouds
Air Temp:
70 - 80
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 96' for 29 min
Me: Analog - 97'
Dive Partner: Cochran Captain Dive Computer (Unreliable) - 94' for 29 min
Dive Partner: Analog - 94'
Air consumption:
Me: 3300 lb to 1400 lb (120 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3250 lb to 700 lb (80 cu ft)
Current: Very Slight!
Description:
Again with a camera, it was an interesting trip. It took a while to get to
the bottom due to ear clearing problems - thanks for the nil current! We
worked our way to the stern and the Right Side four bladed prop. I tried to
get a picture of this 6' blade with my 35 mm / strobe that gave me a max range
of 3'. I did get the tip of the blade. We did something different this time,
we swam under the stern of the boat between the two drive shafts to the left
side. There's about 5' of clearance from the sand to the hull bottom and the
entire width of the boat up foward about 50'. The area was loaded with fish!
We continued up the Left side to a point about 2/3 the way up. As mentioned
previously, there is a very large hole in the ship's side. You can see the
entire insides. You can see the upper deck on the opposite side with several
openings - almost big enough for a diver!!!! Hmmm!!! From here, as our
computer time was running low, we started up to the deck level. Here, we swam
around for another 5 minutes. Got a few pics of some big Cuda! The Princess
does keep her supply of Cuda around (Just look up).
Dive #4:
My Dive # 168
A. Dive Boat / Location: Rampage / Breakers
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
30'
Seas:
1' - 2'
Water Temp:
76 deg on the bottom
Skies:
Some Sun / Some Clouds. It was raining when we were decompressing at 15'
Air Temp:
70 - 80
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 62' for 40 min
Me: Analog - 64'
Dive Partner: Cochran Captain Dive Computer (Unreliable) - 62' for 40
Dive Partner: Analog - ?
Air consumption:
Me: 3200 lb to ? (80 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3200 lb to 800 lb (80 cu ft)
Current:
Mild to the South
Description:
The Breakers always hold a great dive. At first we ran into a grass spot, but
ventured West some to the reeef. There were seveal large outcropings - all
with lot's of fish. No Big Fish!??.. We got some pictures, one of a spotted
eel. Towards the end of the dive we spotted a big ocapus! It was heading back
towards a hole. Amazying how a 5' dia ocatpus can get into a 6 inch opening.
But, it's eye was visible along with some tentacles. We tried for a picture -
haven't looked for it yet. An, on looking up, there was another big Octapus!
We continued our dive. Nearing the end of the dive, we finally spotted a big
green Moray. I've been looking for one for the past 3 dives. We did get two
pictures of the green beast, trying to get one with it's mouth open. As we
were leaving, the green monster started to come out of it's hole after us in
defiance of us being there.
.