Two very good dives off Clearwater Beach, FL, Clearwater Wreck and Spooky Ledge

Yesterday I was out for a second great day of diving with Tanksalot Dive Charters on their dive boat Orion. Sea conditions were quite calm for the run out and we went further offshore to 65 ft of water, diving first on Clearwater Wreck (an old steamboat wreck that was on charts 55 years ago when I first started going offshore fishing and diving), which I had never dived before and then on Spooky Ledge, also in 65 ft of water. We had 20 ft visibility and 80 degree water. Clearwater Wreck did not disappoint, though little of the hull remains there is still a lot of large structure on the bottom with clouds of fish. Immediately after descending I encountered a nice sized Nurse Shark and then soon began seeing Goliath Groupers in clouds of small fish. Below are some photos from the dive, to see more, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/i9uyRQTyWwGZZ7ft6

I spotted this Nurse Shark right after descending.

A diver over part of the wreck.

I soon spotted a Goliath Grouper through the clouds of small fish on the wreck.

There were at least five Goliath Groupers at the wreck. Seeing them and getting pictures through the thick schools of fish was a challenge.

Next, I was visited by "Barnie" so named for the barnacles on his shell, the loggerhead turtle.

The wreck also had several barracuda lurking about.

Our second dive was to the south of Clearwater wreck, still in 60-65 ft of water on a site called Spooky Ledge. It's a very long, beautiful ledge. I was very entertained by the juvenile Amberjacks, and really pushed my bottom time to photo them after everyone else was gone (I was first down, last up and spent some extra time on my safety stop...). Below are some pictures, to see more, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hNj7ji6XNAnE14ao8

Small Red Grouper

Blue Anglefish

Curious juvenile Amberjacks

Natural light photo of swirling Amberjacks.

Good dives off Clearwater Beach, FL on Brian's Ledge and the Airplane Barge October 23,2021

I made two dives with Tanksalot dive charters on their dive boat Orion (instead of CanTANKerous) because there were about 12 divers, too many for CanTankerous. We dived about 15 miles offshore in about 43 ft of water with about 20 ft of visibility. The run out and back were easy with about a 2 ft chop and light breeze. It was great to be diving in my old stomping grounds again. Brian's Ledge is quite long, I didn't get to either end of it from where we were anchored. Lots of grunts, some small hogfish, small grouper, a few triggerfish, etc. I saw one very large, probably Goliath Grouper, but didn't get close enough to see clearly or photograph. Below are pictures from this dive, a few more can be seen at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6pESi5ZorrcUhqvP8

Black Sea Bass

Lizard Fish

Key West Grunts

Black or, more correctly, Gag Grouper and, second photo, Triggerfish

Barred Butterfly fish

Juvenile Red Grouper Our second dive was the Airplane Barge, so named because airplane body was strapped to it when it was sunk. After the passage of a hurricane, there is no sign of the plane's fuselage but it's wings are on the bottom off opposite sides of the barge. There were some beautiful, nice sized snook on the wreck, at one point I counted a dozen. There was one Goliath Grouper but he was shy and I didn't get a picture of him. There were also Hogfish, Atlantic Spadefish, and Blue Angelfish. Below are some pictures from the dive, to see more please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/82PBC832mR9TXMTf7

Snook at the Airplane Barge

Barracuda

Snook with huge school of bait

Sheepshead (top) and Atlantic Spadefish

Blue Anglefish

Hogfish