8.30.08 - The "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too" Reef

Hello everyone.

Saturday August 30th finds the Video Dude, along with "Scuba Goddess" Terri aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out to dive The "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too" Reef. Surprise guest dive buddies today were "Dive Diva" Heather and Charlie "Tuna". Their boat trip had been cancelled so they showed up hoping to get a couple of seats, and they did!

Today we have Captain Jerry and Divemaster Dale as crew and, after Jerry gives his usual eloquent briefing, we get underway. Jerry has described today's sea conditions as "sporty" which meant we were in for a bit of a ride today. Seas were predicted to be in the 4-6ft range and we were not disappointed! In quick time, we arrive at the "Ancient Mariner". Divemaster Dale jumps in to tie off to the wreck and reports pretty decent conditions down below. Once we get the all clear, Terri, Heather, Charlie and I all jump in and head straight for the bottom. Heather and Charlie planned to spend most of their time out in the sand looking for shells and other small critters, and Terri and I plan to spend most of our time inside the wreck poking into places that most people won't go. Inside the wreck we saw two Sea Stars and we tried to find the "mutant" lobster again but he was nowhere to be seen. Outside of the wreck there were several beautiful "bait balls" swimming around the deck, a few Yellow-Head Jawfish dancing in the sand, and we saw a nice-sized Southern Stingray swimming around letting divers touch him. On our ascent to our safety stops we saw lots of beautiful Moon Jellyfish and another school of baitfish with a huge Barracuda swimming through it. We also were teased by a friendly Remora looking for something to attach to.

After our surface interval is up, Jerry takes us over to "Abbey Too" Reef. This time Terri, Heather, Charlie and I are all going hunting for lobster. We get dropped on the reef and start our search for the best bug hiding places. There are several different ledges on "Abbey Too" Reef and we spent a good deal of time on all of them. Charlie found a big Green Moray under a ledge and Terri found a Stone Crab. I tried to get a Lobster I found, but he was too small and too skittish to tease out of the hole. Terri ended up with three Lobster for the dive and Heather ended up with one. When we got back to the dock, I got the opportunity to try my hand at "tailing" the lobsters. I had been shown this technique before but never had a chance to practice it. Scuba Goddess Terri said I did an excellent job! So after all is said and done, it ended up a great dive day. We got to do several different things on the dives, and I learned a couple of new things as well!

Living the life in Paradise,

The Video Dude