Posts Tagged ‘Southern Stingray’
1.15.11 Blue Heron Bridge
Saturday, January 15th, 2011
My Ultra-Faboo dive buddy Joanie and I were back at Blue Heron Bridge today to “see what we can see”. She has predicted a manatee sighting today, so we are anxious to get into the water. Today, we are joined by Michelle and Josh, a couple of people from Scubaboard who have never been diving at the bridge before.
After getting geared-up, we head into the water and, almost immediately we see a manatee cruising by! I kick over on an intercept course and was able to get the manatee on video. It seemed to be in a bit of a hurry and didn’t want to hang around too much, but the video came out nice anyway.
After our manatee encounter, we see a Southern Stingray with a stubby tail, then head over to the bridge pilings where the visibility got really milky and made it hard for seeing things from a distance. So we all switched to close-up mode and started looking for smaller critters. We ended up seeing several small Spotted Eels, Banded Shrimps, Arrow Crabs, Sea Cucumbers, Lobsters, Juvenile Angelfish, Spadefish, Juvenile Filefish and a couple of small Yellow Stingrays. Overall, it was a great dive and Joanie and I got to see the excitement in the eyes of Michelle and Josh as they got their first experience at the bridge.
Yes, we dive here in January!
The Video Dude
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Tags: Arrow Crabs, Banded Shrimps, Blue Heron Bridge, Josh, Juvenile Angelfish, Juvenile Filefish, Lobsters, manatee, Michelle, ScubaBoard, Sea Cucumbers, Southern Stingray, Spadefish, Spotted Eels, Yellow Stingrays
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6.7.10 – Dive #600!
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Hello everyone!
Today marks another diving milestone for the Video Dude as I completed my 600th (non-teaching) dive. Super-FABOO dive buddy Joanie was my buddy for this momentous occasion as we boarded “Scubatyme III” and headed out to dive on the “Sea Emperor” and Lighthouse Ledge Reef. Captain Bob, Divemaster Amanda, and Owner Enzo were on board as well as 8 other divers as we headed out of Hillsboro Inlet to our first dive site.
In hardly any time at all, it seemed, we arrive at the “Sea Emperor” and Joanie and I are ready to get in first. We head down the line and find a good current on the bottom, but not so tough to swim into as we begin touring around the deck. Our friendly resident Southern Stingray came over for a visit and we played with it a bit before heading down to the sand to look for one of the resident Green Moray Eels that like to come out and check out the divers. We found the little eel pretty quickly (or did she find us?) and she came over to play with me while Joanie took pictures. Pretty cool being on the OTHER side of the lens for a change! After one more tour around the wreck, including a trip inside to rest from the current a bit, it’s time to head up to our safety stops, and then the boat.
After everyone gets their gear switched over, Captain Bob heads us over to Lighthouse Ledge Reef for a nice drift dive. This is my dive number 600 and Joanie and I get in first again and drop down to the reef and begin our drift. Since she is carrying a camera, I carry the flag and we drift lazily along until we encounter a couple of Spotted Eels, a Golden Eel, a couple of Pufferfish, Lobster, Grunts, Snappers and a Queen Angel or two. Very beautiful colors today and a nice relaxing drift dive.
After consulting my logbook, Joanie and I discovered that my dive number 500 was almost exactly 1 year ago (6.8.09) which was another reason to celebrate. 100 dives in a year! I am truly blessed! Thanks again to my Super-FABOO dive buddy Joanie and to everyone else I have met or dove with on the way to this milestone!
Keep on gettin’ wet!
The Video Dude
Tags: Captain Bob, Divemaster Amanda, Enzo, Golden Eel, Green Moray, Grunts, Hillsboro Inlet, Joanie, Lighthouse Ledge, Lobster, Pufferfish, Queen Angelfish, Scubatyme, Sea Emperor, Snappers, Southern Stingray, Spotted Eel, Video Dude
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10.20.09 – “Ancient Mariner” and “Abbey Too”
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Hello everyone.
Tuesday, October 20th finds the Video Dude out to shoot video along with Faboo dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie. We’re off to visit the “Ancient Mariner” and “Abbey Too” Reef. The gang at Scubatyme Charters made us feel right at home and, as we head out into 4-6ft seas and rainy conditions, we wondered if this was a good idea today. We both agreed it was better than being in a cubicle, so we made the best of it.
Shortly after we break the Hillsboro Inlet, we arrive at dive site #1, The “Ancient Mariner”. Conditions on the surface made tying off to the descent line a bit scary, so we jump in and drift over to the descent line and make our way to the bottom. Once we reach the wreck we notice a pretty good south current blowing and we use the wreck as a shield for a bit. We got a visit from a Southern Stingray who circled us for about 8 minutes and performed some interesting maneuvers before leaving to play with the other divers. We also spent some time looking for an octopus we were told inhabits the wreck, but couldn’t find it. We did one swim-through of the wreck, then headed back for the ascent line and ultimately the dive boat.
Back onboard, we do our best to change over our gear in the “sporty” conditions and talk about our next dive on “Abbey Too”. Joanie has gone out on a limb and made some predictions of what we will see again, and we get ready to jump back in. After reaching the bottom, we notice a little East/West surge in the current and begin to make our way over to the drop-off of the reef. Visibility is only about 40ft, but still good enough to check out all the schools of Grunts, Margates, Squirrelfish and Juvenile Hogfish. We also saw one Lobster but no Eels, Turtles or Sharks. Well, if we saw them on EVERY dive we’d be too spoiled, right?
Another great day of diving here in Paradise!
The Video Dude
Tags: Abbey Too, Ancient Mariner, Eels, Grunts, Joanie, Juvenile Hogfish, Lobster, Margates, octopus, Scubatyme, Sharks, Southern Stingray, Squirrelfish, Turtles, Video Dude
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