Boat Info:  The boat ran fine until I chopped the throttle at the first dive site.  The next time I gave it some gas, a belt started squealing and the engine temperature started to climb.  After the first dive, I tightened the belt and it worked until I got to the second dive site.  This time it started squealing and wouldn’t stop.  I replaced the belt after the second dive.  This is harder than its sounds because I have to remove a pulley and the raw water belt to put on the circulating pump belt.

Prologue:  This was the first departure from our new location.  Light House Key Marina closed in March and we started renting a slip from a friend with a dock on Rocky Bayou.  We left the dock at 0900.  Winds started out at about 10 kts from the NE and seas 1 ft.  Gulf was still 1 ft at 1100, but built steadily to 3 ft by 1400.  The water temp is warming and we dove wet instead of dry.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:   Reef.  Small groupers and black snapper, and I didn’t pull the trigger. Got 2 lobsters, so we didn’t get skunked.  My BC seemed to be leaking a little.  Used the lift bag to get the anchor out of the rock field.

Dive Two:  Wreck.  Candy was too cold to dive again, so I dove solo. Vis was still about 40 ft. Shot a 36 inch AJ. He did the “stone-shot shiver”, but he woke up just as I put my hand on the shaft. Before I could get my other hand in his gills, the spear tip pulled out taking a small fillet with it. My BC stopped holding air completely. Used the lift bag to get the anchor up and over the wreck and into the sand.

Epilogue: I had to finish diving by 1330 in order to give myself  24 hours before a flight, so we headed home a lot earlier than usual. When I throttled up to 3200 rpm, the engine started missing. I throttled back to 2800 rpm and drove toward the Pass at about 12 kts. Once in the Bay, I pulled the flash arrestor to look at the carburetor. The flash arrestor was caked with a fine, black dust. When the belt was squealing, the rusty pulley acted like a belt sander (no pun intended) and blew rubber dust up toward the air intake. I cleaned the filter but the engine continued to miss at high rpm.

Trip Info:

  Boat Info: Since the last trip, I sand-blasted and painted the drive pulley and water circulating pulley. This should prevent a loose belt from turning into rubber dust.

  Prologue:  I cranked the engine, turned on the instruments, tossed the lines, and headed out of the bayou. The next time I looked at the instruments, the GPS screen was blank. I checked for power and determined the GPS was working, but the LCD was gone. It is 0830 on Sunday morning, I have the boat loaded for 4 dives, and I have no GPS. We docked the boat, drove to West Marine and asked what Furunos they had in stock (heck, I was even thinking of buying a GPS/Color fish finder). West no longer carries Furuno. After looking at Garmins for $500 and $800, we decided to special order a Furuno GP-32 for about $300. As luck would have it, buddy Tom was at home cleaning fish, so we dropped by and borrowed his handheld GPS. We finally got out of the dock by 1130. The boat ran fine at 3000 rpm to the first “dive site”.

  Crew:  Candy and Stone

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  After finding boats on the first 5 dive sites, we ended up on the Phoenix. Candy nearly decapitated a nice flounder, and I shot the only legal red snapper in 2 schools that swam by.

Epilogue: While we were driving around looking for dive sites, the engine started missing at lower and lower rpm. After the first dive, I dumped the fuel/water separator and it was almost full of water. I thought the problem was solved, but it wasn’t. I checked the flame arrestor and carburetor again and didn’t see anything obvious. Candy mentioned that the fuel filter looked dirty and I agreed. We limped back through the pass at about 10 kts. Once in the Bay, I pulled the fuel filter and watched sediment actually pour out of it. Obviously, the fuel filter was getting more and more clogged which was blocking more and more fuel needed at higher rpm. After replacing the filter, the boat ran great. Considering the amount of water in the separator and the goo in the filter, I probably got some bad gas or used some bad lead substitute.

 Trip Info:

  Boat Info:  I replaced my Furuno GP-31 with a GP-32 (WAAS).  I also replaced my old Furuno LS-6000 monochrome fishfinder with a Furuno FCV-600L color fishfinder.  After a little trial & error, I was able to get the GPS to talk to my radar and the new fishfinder.

  Prologue:  We left the dock a little before 0800 and crossed the bayou to BWB Marina to flush the holding tank and get gas.  The gas was $3.56, so we decided to just use the 60 gallons we had left.  When we checked the gas price just north of the bridge, it was $3.25, so we filled up.  Winds started out at about 10 kts from the NE and the swell coming out of the SW.  We headed into the swell.

  Crew:  Candy and Stone

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One: Wreck.  Our objective was the Timberholes, but the Butthead is on the same heading and gets us in the water sooner.  Vis was about 30 feet to start, but the Butthead sits in a silt bowl and any activity kills the vis pretty quickly.  We shot a few triggers.  My BC inflator hose had a catastrophic failure.  We carry spares, so I replaced it during the surface interval.

Dive Two:  Reef.  Monkey Boats and Charters were on the best relief, so we hit the flatlands.  Vis was 40 to 50 ft.  Candy shot a nice red grouper. I didn’t pull the trigger.

Dive Three:  Wreck.  Almost no relief, but there was a “fish show”, so we threw the hook.  Most of the “show” was from schools of short red snapper.  I shot a rather large trigger fish right away, but Candy was patient and picked out the 2 largest red snappers.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great.  The wind shifted to SW, so we had some help getting back to the Pass.  Got back to port around 1930.

Trip Info:

  Boat Info:  Nothing new.

  Prologue:  We left the dock at 0710.  Winds started out at about 5 kts from the NE.

  Crew:  Candy, Stone, and Jim

  Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  We tried the Angelina first, but it had 3 boats jockeying for position.  Vis was kind of smoggy in the first 30 feet, then cleared up, then got smoggy again near the bottom. Call it 40 – 80 – 40.  Jim retrieved an anchor and some line.  The current was pretty strong in mid water.

Dive Two:  Wreck.  The Odyssey is only .25 miles from the Belize Queen, but the vis on the bottom was better.  The current was just as strong.  You could see the bend in the anchor line and it vibrated like a guitar sting.  Shot one trigger.  Jim got another anchor and line.  Just after Candy and I headed to the surface, Jim had a Manta Ray show up with bunch of Cobia in tow.  Candy and I would have liked to have witnessed that show.

Dive Three:  Reef.  Saw a Loggerhead Turtle on the surface on the way.  Nice vis for inshore (30 - 40 ft).  I think this area gets hit pretty hard.  The corals and tropical fish were in good shape, but the larger fish were missing.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great.  By 1500, the wind was solid out of the SW at about 15 kts and the Gulf was white-capping.  The Bay was rather choppy as well.  We docked around 1700 after a trip of 67 statute miles.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Nothing new.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0700.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil with a core warmer.  Stone:  5-mil with a 3/5-mil hooded vest (22 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  We went to 18s first, but by the time we got there, the seas were 4 ft.  We could only make about 6 knots heading back into the waves and wind.  There were no fish, so we called the dive.  Vis was 40-50ft

Dive Two:  Wreck.  We didn’t even bother to change tanks.  At least there were some black snapper.  I shot two and one of them was a nice 25 inches.  Same vis.

Dive Three:  Natural Reef .  The reef was quite pretty.  We shot another black snapper and triggerfish.  Same vis.

Dive Four:  Natural Reef.  Same dive, same vis.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great.  By 1500, the wind was solid out of the SW at about 15 kts and the Gulf was white-capping.  The Bay was rather choppy as well.  We docked at 1730 after a trip of 62 statute miles.

Trip Info:

 Boat Info:  Nothing new.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0605.  We planned to go to the Oriskany, but a few things changed our minds.  First, there were only two of us on board, so our options for unhooking from the wreck were slim to none.  Second, we wanted to top off the tank in Destin, but the marina was out of gas.  Third, when we stopped at our “midpoint to the Oriskany” dive site, the current was ripping (3 – 4 knots?) out of the west.  We called the dive on the Zeus without getting in the water.  Next, we headed closer to shore to get out of the current.  We threw the hook on the Lost Tug, but the current was still pretty strong.  Since we know the wreck well and the dive is only 80 ft, we suited up and hit the water.  Candy’s spare 2^nd  pulled off her BC and started free-flowing.  Every time she stopped the free-flow and released the reg, it would start up again.  The granny line (with hang tank attached) was trailing behind the boat and had pulled the anchor line weight up to the surface, so there was no way to get to the anchor line without getting beat up on the boat hull.  Obviously we called that dive, too.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  We headed to the most inshore wreck in the area.  Finally, we were out of the current and the vis on the surface looked great.  The vis was 40-50 ft at 10 ft,  20 to 30 ft at 40 ft, and 10 ft on the bottom.  We shot some black and red snappers, and a couple of trigger fish.  The water temp was colder than it has been in a month.  I even checked Candy’s computer because I thought mine was reading low.  I saw readings of 66 F (as apposed to 73 F last week).  Maybe it has something to do with that killer current out of the west bringing an upwelling out of the canyon.

Dive Two:  Reef.  We took an easterly heading fairly parallel to the shore.  We decided to check out some numbers about 2 miles west of the Destin Liberty Ship.  I ran over some hard bottom, a couple of small areas of relief, and a small show of fish.  The vis turned to crap again on the bottom and all we found were two pillars about 3 feet in diameter and 5 ft tall.  The bottom was covered in a lot of broken up hard coral.  I’ve heard that some of our reefs are remnants of petrified forests and those two pillars sure looked like tree trunks.  We saw a few small snappers, but didn’t spend much time looking around.  The only entertaining part of the dive were the spotted dolphins hanging out around the boat.

Epilogue:  Boat ran great, but we burned a ton of gas for two dives.  We docked at 1730 after a trip of 91 statute miles.  FF meter read 21.1.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Nothing new.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0650.  There were 4 of us with ice coolers, weights, and tanks for 3 dives plus the 4 trimix tanks from the aborted Oriskany trip.  Needless to say, the boat was really heavy.  We could only make 12 – 14 knots. 

Crew:  Candy, Stone, Jim, Sid

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  Reef.  These are the craters that are away from the main ledge.  The vis was about 80 ft in the top of the water column, but dropped to 30 at the bottom.  Candy’s inflator hose QDC disconnected and it took me a few minutes to get it worked out.  There were a few small triggers and small AJs.  I shot the only legal fish around, a decent sized red grouper.  A lone dolphin was hanging around when we started the dive and stayed with us during the surface interval.

Dive Two: Reef.  Same dive, only one flounder this time.  Candy went into deco and took a nice long safety stop.  We dove the same profile, but my computer was set for 33% and Candy’s was set for 32%.  I used up all of my yellow, but never went into deco.

Dive Three:  Reef.  The main rock on 18s was clear of fishing boats, so we moved the anchor.  There were more fish in this area, including some decent sized black snapper, but I didn’t pull the trigger.  After 2 previous dives to 110 ft, we didn’t have a lot of bottom time.  Candy was on the anchor line just above me about 50 ft off the bottom.  Her dive watch came undone and I saw it start for the bottom.  I finned straight down as hard as I could for about 20 ft, but couldn’t catch it.  Since I was about to go into deco when I started up the rope, I definitely would have gone into the red if went to the bottom, so I ended the chase.

Epilogue:  At 1500, the wind was firmly of the SW at 10 -15 kts.  By the time we got to the Pass (about 1600), there was even some white capping.  The Bay was a little rough and we made it home about 1640.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Nothing new.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0650.  At about 0710 I hit the sandbar that hugs the west side of the Bay between Boggy Bayou and Rocky Bayou. (I was playing with my radar, and let the boat drift west of my waypoint).  We hit at about 16 mph.  Jim and I hopped out of the boat and started pushing to deeper water.  Of course, the deeper water was into the wind and current.  We got the boat floated and I tried to idle us out of the sandbar.  Candy and Jim were on the bow to keep the prop and rudder out of the sand.  I hit another shallow spot and watched Candy go over the bow rail into the drink.  About the same time we re-floated the boat, a good Samaritan in a flat bottom boat showed up and helped us into the channel.  When I throttled up, the boat started vibrating.  Our first assessment was a bent prop.  We limped back into home port.

Crew:  Candy, Stone, and Jim

Gear:  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  My Dock.  I geared up and took a look at the prop.  One blade had a bent tip.  I removed the shaft nut, but could not get the prop off.

Epilogue:  We did all we could do by about 0830 and went home to watch TV.

Boat Info:  Bent prop.

Prologue:  I borrowed a prop-puller from a local prop-shop.  At home, I drilled some holes in the bottom of a plastic bucket, collected my tools, and headed for the boat.

Crew:  Stone

Gear:  Stone:  3-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  My Dock.  I geared up and did my best impression of Cuba Gooding Jr. (see the movie “Men of Honor”).  The prop-remover was a home-made device which probably works fine on large props, but I couldn’t get my prop to budge.

Epilogue:  Went home. 

Boat Info:  Prop still bent and still stuck to shaft.

Prologue:  Buddy Jim suggested automotive gear puller.  I went to AutoZone and got a loaner.

Crew:  Stone

Gear:  Stone:  3-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  My Dock.  Geared up and dropped the tools (via the bucket) into the bayou.  About 45 minutes later, the prop came off.

Epilogue:  Went home 

Boat Info:  Replaced the prop on 3 June 06.  I got a little nervous when the prop nut didn’t want to go on by hand, but the threads were okay and I got it on with a wrench.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0700.  There were 3 of us with tanks for 4 dives plus the 4 trimix tanks from the aborted Oriskany trip.  Another heavy boat, but we made 14 – 15 knots. 

Crew:  Candy, Stone, Jim

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One: Reef.  These are the craters that are away from the main ledge.  The vis was about 40 ft in the top of the water column and dropped to 30 at the bottom.  Very noticeable thermocline at about 50 ft.  There were a few small triggers.  Just like last week, I shot the only legal fish around, a red grouper.  The same lone dolphin was hanging around while we geared up.  We believe it’s the same dolphin due to the damage on his dorsal fin.

Dive Two: Reef,  Still in the area, but a different ledge than last week.  We saw some decent sized black snapper, but didn’t pull the trigger.

Dive Three:  Sand Dive.  We saw a big fish show in the middle of the water column and what looked like some fish on the bottom.  We drove over the spot a couple of times and kept getting a return, so we did the dive.  The vis was only 10 or 15 feet, so there may have been some flat structure nearby, but all we saw was sand and a bunch of broken shells.  We may try the area again if we get another show.  Wind was solid out of the SW and the waves were building.

Dive Four:  Baker’s Rack.  Small structure that held small fish.  Candy shot several triggers and I shot 1 red snapper and a couple of triggers.

Epilogue:  The wind was steady out of the SW at 10 -15 kts.  About 5 miles from the Pass, the engine started stalling intermittently at higher RPM (about 3200).  Once we got past the northern Pass day marks, I killed the engine and replaced the fuel filter.  I didn’t get any sediment out of the old filter like I did the last time the boat started stalling, but the new filter seems to have fixed the problem.  The Bay was a little rough and white-capping, and we made it home about 1730.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  The fuel filter we replaced last week did the trick and the boat ran great.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0715.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One: Reef  We have had good luck on this spot for the past two weeks, but we were skunked this time.  Nothing but squirrel fish and 10 inch triggers.  The vis was 20 ft on top and got better all the way down. . .  call it 40 ft on the bottom.

Dive Two:  Sand Dive.  On the way to another site, we saw a nice fish show.  I marked the spot and even saw what looked like a show near the bottom (no obvious structure, but a lot of 18s is flat).  We hit the bottom, saw nothing, and headed back up the rope.

Dive Three:  Old #1.  It’s almost gone, but we got 3 lobsters and 3 triggers.

Dive Four:  Old #2.  Best vis I have ever seen on this old spot.  I shot 1 red snapper and 1 black snapper.  Candy shot triggers.

Epilogue:  After the last dive, the winds had steadied out of the south at 10+ knots, we headed back toward the pass around 1600 and were back in the slip by 1730.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Replaced the fuel-water separator and did a visual inspection on belts and fuel filter.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0800.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  Before the dive, Candy noticed my speartip had come loose; not the threaded part, but the swivel part (replaced tip).  When I tried to set my computer, it wouldn’t stay on (replaced computer).  The vis was 80 ft on top and dropped off to about 40 ft on the bottom.  Found a few lobsters, but didn’t shoot anything.  I saw an anchor and we knew there were more lobsters, so we decided to dive it again.

Dive Two:  Same Wreck.  We got the other lobsters and I got the anchor (8 lb Danforth with 4 ft of chain and about 100 ft of line).  I’ve experienced this type of anchor problem myself.  It was obvious that a wind shift had caused the boat to swing around and drag the anchor line under the structure.

Dive Three:  Another Wreck.  First time on this one.  After 2 dives to 120 fsw, this one was pretty short.  Just as I completed swimming the perimeter (and about to go into deco), a nice sow snapper swam into range.  Something spooked the school and the sow bolted, but they calmed down and swam back toward me.  Sow was 15 lbs and 30 inches.

Epilogue:  After the last dive, the winds had steadied out of the south at 10+ knots.  We headed back toward the pass around 1500 and were back in the slip by 1720.  There was some white-capping and the outgoing tide from the Bay created some 4 footers.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Running Great!

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0500.  As dawn started breaking, I increased my speed, but it still took 45 minutes to get to the Pass.  We watched the sun rise behind the condos as we negotiated the “No-Wake” zone.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy:  7-mil.  Stone:  5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:  Wreck.  New wreck for us.  The vis was incredible.  Even with the sun low on the horizon, I could see the bottom from about 30 ft.  I shot a nice red snapper (15 lb – 30 in) as soon as I dropped over the gunnel toward the sand.  A little later, I saw Candy moving pretty quickly.  A lobster had escaped her and it was moving my way.  I missed it on the fly, but cornered it in the wheelhouse.

Dive Two:  Another Wreck.  Same awesome vis.  This time a flounder on the wreck got away from Candy, and he swam right at me.  I pinned him to the deck and strung him.  Candy got one more flounder.

Dive Three:  Another Wreck.  Same awesome vis.  Very small relief and no fish, so it was a bounce dive.

Dive Four:  Sand Dive.  We drove over the same numbers as our 10 Jun 06 and saw the same nice “show”.  This time, the vis was so good that we thought we could find the relief.  We got skunked, but I think we have the answer.  This spot is a fairly large depression.  The bottom has accumulated a ton of shells and sand dollars which gives me a “return” on the fish finder that looks like a low relief limestone reef.  To make matters worse, a lot of organic matter hangs near the bottom, out of any current, and this makes the area look even more like a reef with growth and fish on it.  Just 100 feet from the anchor, the vis was 80 ft.  On the anchor, the vis was only 20 ft.

Dive Five:  Natural Reef.  Since we started so early, we had time for another dive.  Unfortunately, the only tanks left on board were trimix (wasted $).  Nice vis (40 – 50 ft), but no fish except for a large (8 ft?) bull shark which would not leave us alone.  At least the vis was in our favor.

Epilogue:  The winds were pretty steady out of the southwest at 10 knots from the 3^rd dive on.  We were back in the slip by 1720.  It is always nice to have a tail-wind going and coming.

Trip Info:

Boat Info:  Boat ran fine, but I’m having a gear shifting problem that I will have to trouble shoot before the next trip.

Prologue:  We left the dock at 0730.

Crew:  Candy and Stone

Gear:  Candy: 7-mil. Stone: 5-mil (18 lbs)

Dive One:   Reef. Since we were headed well off-shore, we stopped at reef a few miles from the Pass. The vis on top was 50 – 60 ft and about 30 ft on the bottom. The only fish around were tropical, and the only lobster I found had eggs. Pretty dive, but we got skunked.

Dive Two: Wreck. The vis was still great on the top, and about 40 ft on the bottom. I shot an AJ in the shoulder just above the lateral line and it pulled off. Just as soon as I stopped cussing and reloaded my gun, I swam around the corner of the wheelhouse and right into an even bigger AJ. This time I put the spear through the lateral line and sent him into about 90% paralysis. He was 35 inches to the fork and 25lbs.

Dive Three:  Another Wreck (or what’s left of it). Vis dropped to 20 ft or less on the bottom. Very small relief and no fish.

Epilogue:  The winds were pretty steady out of the southeast at 10 knots by the time we finished our 3rd dive. We stopped at Blue Water Bay Marina to pump out the holding tank. I took the boat in very slow because it has started getting hard to put it in reverse. When we pushed off, it hesitated before going into forward. I hope it is the linkage and not the transmission. We were back in the slip by 1620.

Trip Info: