Dive Trip Report to: Stuart Florida!
Purpose: To Dive For LOBSTER - last day of the season!

Dive Reports:

Dive #1: Friday, 31-Mar-2000, Morning Dive. My Dive #284
A. Dive Boat / Location: Just-U-And-I / Golden Arches - Peck's Lake
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 20 ft (not the greatest)
Seas: 1 ft
Water Temp: 74 - 76 deg
Skies: SCBS (Sunny Clear Blue Skies)
Air Temp: 80, wind 10 out of the west!
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - , 28 ft for 1 hour and 18 min! Analog - Didn't use it! Cochran Captain (Very Unreliable Dive Computer) - Didn't Use it
Air consumption: Me: 3500 lb to 500 lb (120 cu ft)
Current: mild
Description: Well this dive was to attempt to make a killing on Lobster! This was the last day of the season until August! We stayed in close to shore - Peck's Lake! This was about 3 miles south of the inlet and a mile off the shore. The bottom consists of massive rock formations - 15 ft high and 30 ft long! There were equally massive cracks and fissures. The bugs were not very obvious - ya really had to look for them! The Golden Arches is a real sight to see! It's a tunnel, about 15 ft height inside and maybe 30 ft wide! All around it are all kinds of cracks with bugs! This area in general has lots of rock structure. With the shallow depth, you get a lot of bottom time on a tank!

Dive #2: Friday, 31-Mar-2000, Morning Dive. My Dive #285
A. Dive Boat / Location: Just-U-And-I / High - Low (just south of the Golden Arches).
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 10 - 20 ft (not the greatest)
Seas: 1 ft
Water Temp: 74 - 76 deg
Skies: SCBS (Sunny Clear Blue Skies)
Air Temp: 80, wind 10 out of the west!
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 21 ft for 1 hour and 28 min! Analog - Didn't use it!, Cochran Captain (Very Unreliable Dive Computer) - Didn't use it!.
Air consumption: Me: 3500 lb to 500 lb (120 cu ft)
Current: mild.
Description: The rock structure was not as massive as at the Golden Arches. Here the rock formations were sparse and small. You had to look for the rocks and then look for the bugs! This was a lot of swimming, lots of bottom time! My dive partner spotted one monster under a ledge. As I was working my way under the 2 ft high and real long and 5 ft deep ledge, I turned to my right. Well, right there was a 6 ft nurse shark! It was a shock! I didn't expect it and it really shocked me for a minute. My dive partner was working on getting the monster (est at 10 plus pounds) bug out from a hole. Well, the silt came up, vis went to zero and we lost the bug! Towards the end of the dive, we lifted the anchor and drifted! While passing over one big rock (about 15 ft in height and 30 ft long), down a 2 ft wide crack was a monster bug! Legs as big as my arm! We tried for it, played with it - then I screwed up. I couldn't get down in the crack far enough and had gone back up to rid some extra stuff such as bug bag etc. When I got back, I had just missed catching the bug in my hands! It just walked just under me! This also was in the 5 - 10 pound range!

Dive #3: Friday, 31-Mar-2000, Morning Dive. My Dive #286
A. Dive Boat / Location: Just-U-And-I / To the south of the previous dive.
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 10 ft (getting bad)
Seas: 1 ft
Water Temp: 74 - 76 deg
Skies: SCBS (Sunny Clear Blue Skies)
Air Temp: 80, wind 20 out of the west - picking up!
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 33 ft for 50 min Analog - Didn't use it!, Cochran Captain (Very Unreliable Dive Computer) - Didn't use it!.
Air consumption: Me: 3300 lb to about 1300 lb of 38% NITROX, (80 cu ft)
Current: mild
Description: Well, this dive was unusual - lots of things happened. Out of air tanks, an 80 cu ft of 38% NITROX was used. The computer said for this dive, if I was on air, I'd have the following bottom times:

30 ft for 3 hours 11 min, 40 ft for 1 hour and 39 min, 50 ft for 1 hour and 02 min

Using the 38% NITROX, the following was obtained:
30 ft for 8 hours 18 min, 40 ft for 5 hours 24 min, 50 ft for 2 hours 40 min.

So, one can clearly see the advantage of using NITROX for this dive! Anyone out there dare to stay down at 30 ft in 75 deg water for 8 hours on one tank!??..

Well, as I jumped into the water, one fin split at the boot! Not wanting to quit the dive, I continued using mostly only one fin! It was a real pain - cut down forward speed! The vis was very poor. About every 5 minutes, a shark was seen just outside of my range of vision for a positive ID. They were not the same shark! I did get one big bug and missed one other that was just sitting on the sand! As I was letting the air out of my BC, the bug slowly moved under a rock - never to be see again. This was about a 6 pounder! Kind of getting a little shaken by the sharks, a little tired from all the bottom time, worn out from having only one good fin, I decided to return to the boat! Good thing - to the north was one heck of a massive storm! We managed to clean up and head back in! The storm hit just as we entered Stuart Inlet! Vis about 30 ft! By the time we docked, the storm passed, the sun came out! Great End Of Lobster Season!