18 Oct 2020
The weather calmed down enough for the boats to go back out so I figured I’d check out another wreck.
Dive #5 – Duane
Sitting in 125′ of water, the Duane is a 327′ ship sunk as an artificial reef back in 1987. Because of her proximity to the Gulf Stream, currents can be quite strong, and many times she is not diveable. It had been a couple weeks since they were able to dive the wreck, and quite a lot of fishing line had accumulated on the decks, so several of us cut it off as we went.
This flag gets changed out several times a year by a local Vietnam War vet!
Sharpnose puffer!
Oo, barracuda!
The downside to the deep wreck is the short dive time 🙁
Dive #6 – North Star (Molasses Reef)
First thing I saw when I dropped down was a tag on this coral:
(which reminds me, I still never check out that coral’s website)
This jelly was just randomly floating around- didn’t seem like it had much life to it 🙁
Spotlight parrotfish (terminal phase):
Spanish grunt:
This schoolmaster had a funky lip:
(I totally didn’t see the tag on that coral until I loaded up the pictures on my computer)
another schoolmaster
Blue chromis:
Smooth trunkfish:
These little yellow guys were everywhere! I think they’re juvenile bluehead wrasses:
Hogfish, swimming:
hogfish, eating
(from big to small): Stoplight parrotfish (initial phase), Puddingwife (initial phase), Juvenile bluehead wrasse:
Spotted drum! (not a great picture, but these guys aren’t very common)
Green eel:
Gray angelfish:
This, believe it or not, is a sea slug!!! The Lettuce sea slug / Elysia crispata:
I think this is a Goldentail moray, though I couldn’t actually see his tail:
Rough fileclam (I think they look like aquatic venus flytraps):
Atlantic spadefish:
Another hogfish!
Stoplight parrotfish (initial phase):
A pair of Banded butterflyfish:
And another Sharpnose puffer, because I really like these little guys 🙂
Dive #7 – Snapper Ledge
My camera started alarming right before I jumped, so I left it on the boat this dive and checked it during the surface interval. No water inside, vacuum was holding, so I’m not sure why it went off.
Dive #8 – Pillar Coral
I think nudibranchs are just about the coolest things ever, and when I first started diving, that’s what I most wanted to see. It wasn’t until a trip to Hawai’i, after I’d been diving for a couple of years, that I finally saw my first one. And today, I saw my first Florida nudibranch, a pair of Purple-crowned sea goddess / Felimare kempfi:
Brindled goby:
Spotted scorpionfish:
look at that face!
the underside of his pectoral fins is so pretty!
Redspotted hawkfish:
Gray angelfish:
Spotted spiny lobster:
he came out of his hole far enough that you could see his side-fins (no idea what they’re actually called)
This crab just looks mad:
Green moray:
I just liked how wiggly that clown wrasse is 🙂
