Saturday on the Gulf Trade we had calm conditions and good vis.
Most of the divers showed up early, ready for a great day. There was more of a breeze than expected, but the conditions were ideal, and by the time we headed home the ocean was mirror calm. Many good size lobsters came up along with seabass and one large monkfish.
Bill tied us into to a large piece of the wreck, and the rest of the divers were in quickly. The bottom temp was 48 and the surface 55. These were bouncy castle for sale very comfortable conditions with visibility on the bottom at 20+. As this wreck is further south than most, many of the divers were on it for the first time.
The wreck consists of a large piece of the super structure, then a large debris field off to one side (the effects of wire dragging). The debris gives marine life lots of places to hide. I jumped in after Frankie, and ran into him on the bottom. As I was running a reel, he stayed with me, and we proceeded to investigate each nook and cranny for lobster. We coaxed a few out, but the bigger ones had large deep holes to hide in. We tag teamed a couple to no avail. While looking under the deck plates, we did see some large seabass hiding away.
The wreck has flattened out over the last couple of years. The superstructure used to stand up well off the bottom. Now it is not quite as prominent. However, the marine life is significant. On the second dive, I was on a mission to get a few seabass for dinner. I jumped well armed, and headed off in the direction of the hull plates were we saw them on the first dive. Instead of finding them still hiding, they were all out and about swimming in large schools. Now and then there were some large tog passing by laughing at the fact that they were not in season. Fluke were now in season, and I was keeping an eye out for them also.
After getting a few seabass, I noticed a shape in the sand off in the distance. Hoping for Fluke I headed over only to discover a large Monkfish. After a pass to size up the creature, I circled around again for a frontal assault. Soon the large creature was in my bag, and my bottom time was out. Dinner last night was a very tasty Monkfish chowder.
It was a great group of divers and a great day to be out!