Florida Dive Trip Report - Diving for BUGS

Bobs 21 footer

Here's Bob's Boat. Bob's been solo diving for tropicals and lobster since the 1990's. He's done 3 dives a day to 80 ft on 38% NITROX, 6 days a week. 52 dives a day for over 10 years. That's more dives in on year than an aggressive diver will do in a lifetime. I've been bug diving with Bob for 5 years and he's taught me a lot about bud diving and solo diving! A

A Pony is a Must


Date: Sunday, 19-Feb-2006

Lobster Dive Trip Report to:

Purpose: To Get BUGS!!

Dive Reports:

Got some over the weekend small bugs Here's where we went: Here's where we went pdf map

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1. Day / Dive #: Sunday, Morning / My Dive #531 [ of the ones that I've rememberd to log! After a while ya just stop keeping track ]

A. Bug Dive Location: Loran Towers

B. Conditions:
Visibility: 30 - 40 feet, not bad!
Seas: Yech! well they were 2-3 on the way out, but were 3-5 while we were diving with a fairly strong N to NE wind at maybe 15 knots and white caps all around. Not very good diving conditions in a 21 ft boat!
Water Temp: 67 on the bottom. On the second dive, as I was descending and the water was running down my back - I had said that this was my LAST dive of the day - COLD!!
Skies: Sunny clear blue skies on the way out, low hanging clouds for the 1st dive, then cleared up to clear blue sky!
Air Temp: 70's

C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 69 ft for 2 min
Air consumption: Me: 3700 lbs - 3400 lbs, [ Stell 120 with 35% NITROX ]
Current: Mild to the North - maybe a knot. Ya could hold your ground, but could not swim against it and make progress to the south.
Description: Well this being my 1st dive since Oct and shoulder surgery, I want to have a nice La-La dive - flat seas, warm water, slight current. This twas not so. We had seas, we had wind, we had cold water. The first dive put us on rock with no structure. Bob had gone in ahead of me. It was taking me time to re-adjust the straps and get situated to dive. By the time I got to the bottom, Bob signaled to go up. So up we went and moved the boat!

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2. Day / Dive #: Sunday, Morning / My Dive #532

A. Bug Dive Location: A little further north than the 1st dive - see pdf map

B. Conditions: Same and getting worst!
Visibility: 30 - 40 ft.
Seas: Still 3 - 5 with wind etc etc etc
Water Temp: Still a COLD 67!
Skies: Typical Florida Sunny Clear Blue Skies!!
Air Temp: 870's

C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - up for 26 min then 80 ft for 32 min.
Air consumption: Me: 3400 - 1000 lbs, Steel 120 with 35% NITROX
Current: 1 knot to the north
Description: Well we finally got in and on some reef structure. Very Pretty. Very easy to get back into it and relax underwater - execpt for the COOL Water. The reef structure was 10 ft in places, with boulders and ledges all around. I saw at least 3 big nurse sharks under ledges and decided not to poke in there for bugs. There was one BIG Shark - maybe 10 ft or bigger about 30 ft away and moving away even more - thank goodness. Several sting rays. A school of snook - Yummy! One medium size Jew Fish, I'd say 5 ft long. He just swam around us about 20 ft away. Schools of spade fish and more. Our catch for this dive was only a few bugs. I saw two on the whole dive. Bot got a few more. Pretty dive, lot's of life, few bugs!

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3. Day / Dive #: Sunday, Noon Time / My Dive #533

A. Bug Dive Location: A little further north than the 2nd dive - see pdf map

B. Conditions: Same and getting worst!
Visibility: 30 - 40 ft.
Seas: Still 3 - 5 with wind etc etc etc
Water Temp: Still a COLD 67!
Skies: Typical Florida Sunny Clear Blue Skies!!
Air Temp: 70's

C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - up for 1:10 then 78 ft for 45 min.
Air consumption: Me: 3900 - 1500 lbs, Steel 120 with 35% NITROX
Current: 1 knot to the north
Description: Well in we went. This time I asked Bob for us to stay together as I didn't want to surface far from the boat in the rought seas. Nice ledges again. Lot's of fish. Some bugs. After looking around a while, we found one 10 ft long rock with LOT'S of bugs under it. We got about a dozen, but it took quite a bit of time. After the last bug, Bob was heading back to where the anchor line should be. We couldn't see it and it was about 100 ft or more away. We couldn't find it. We went up, bob got a site on the boat, we went down and headed north. He finally started up, probably out of air on his main and on the pony. He pointed for me to continue swimming. I did so for a little while, but decided I'd be better on the surface where I could see where things were. So up I came. We were both a short distance from the boat, got in and decided to call it a day and skip the 3rd real dive. I hadn't done a hang on either dive and did not want to push mother nature. I didn't come anywhere near a dive limit on the NITROX, so I felt I'd be Ok and I was - just took it easy! Got some bugs, got back ok!

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Last Updated: 30-July-2004

The Irishman Software's, West Melbourne, Florida
E-Mail at: Irishman AT Sprynet DOT Com
http://www.IrishmanSoftware.com/