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

Two good dives at Erik's Pinnacle and Octopus Reef with Beachhopper II September 4, 2019

Last Saturday Guy and Tessa Foster and I went out for a couple of morning dives on Beachhopper II. Sea conditions were very calm with very little swell and only light breezes. Our first dive was at Erik's Pinnacle, surface visibility was around 15-20 ft, down 40 ft it opened up to 30 ft. Water temp was 54 degrees. I was very pleased than my still quite new and little used DUI Yukon suit kept me bone dry and warm. Erik's Pinnacle is wonderful dive site, the pinnacle itself is a good dive plus there are lots of large rock structures nearby to it. I was pleased to see some Giant Kelp once again growing on the pinnacle and there were no huge hordes of sea urchins, finally. I had problems with my extremely trusty D-2000 INON strobe, which is a well used 14 years old, so my pictures below are taken with natural light, to see more pictures from the dive, please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/LGaFCpR5imgo3axx8 I was worried that I may have flooded the strobe, but this wasn't the problem. I'm hoping cleaning the battery contacts and maybe fresh batteries (my rechargeable batteries are over a decade old, too..) will solve the issue.

Looking up Erik's Pinnacle. It's good to see it with some Giant Kelp again, at last. Below: First, more large rock structure at the site. Second, the water was much clearer and bluer when you got out deeper from the pinnacle. Third, either a Copper or Gopher Rockfish

Our second dive was on a site called "Octopus Reef" because of the multiple arms of rock which radiate out from near Lover's Point. Another enjoyable dive, it was really good to get back in the water again. Because I refuse to open my strobe or camera unless I am in a very securely dry place, the pictures on this dive are also natural light, below. To see more please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/uPJ4ifX2KKLbiBwT9

Guy positioning to photo a large sea anemone.

Monolobo, Carmel Bay August 19, 2021

After far too much time due to a variety of causes, Greg Hoberg and I finally got out for a dive last Thursday, August 19th. Sea conditions were pretty good so we made a fast trip down to Carmel Bay. After we passed Cypress Point and entered Carmel Bay we encountered a very large group of Risso's Dolphins. As we passed the Pinnacles we were pleased to see that it finally has a substantial kelp forest, though it is dominated by Bull Kelp instead of the usually predominate Giant Kelp. We continued across the bay and dived on Monolobo. We had only ok visibility, it averaged 15 ft, 55 degree water, so not much evidence of any upwelling, hence the limited visibility. Greg saw two ling cod, one very large. I enjoyed some time with a curious Vermilion Rockfish. Below are several pictures from our dive, for a few more please go to: https://photos.app.goo.gl/L5M6yk9uv2WifMW9A

Greg making sure we'll be able to retrieve our anchor after we reboard his boat. Below, Vermilion Rockfish with natural light at 60ft (my strobe wasn't charged...), Vermilion Rockfish possing.

The kelp forest at Monolobo continues to recover, it is about 75% of "nomal" before the urchin plague. Below is a picture of one huge cluster of sea urchins that stripped a kelp holdfast. Elsewhere, there were a more normal number of urchins, mostly hidden in cracks.

Below: A distant female California Sheephead, a pair of Sea Anemones, and a Kelp Rockfish