Dive West Palm Beach 11-Oct-98

West Palm Beach - 3 Tanks and Lunch, 04-Oct-98
Kollers Reef Dive Charters This Dive Boat is Highly Recommended


Sponsering Club: Space Coast Descenders

Dive Reports:

Dive #1: My Dive # 154
A. Dive Location: Mizpah et al
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 50'
Seas: The sea's were perfectly FLAT!
Water Temp: 84 deg on the bottom (not as cold as we expected). I has started to take my full wet suit, but backed off to a skin and a shortie!
Skies: SCBS - Sunny Clear Blue Skies!
Air Temp: low 90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 87' for 28 min, Me: Analog - 87', Dive Partner: Cochran Dive Computer (Not Recommended device) - 84' for 27 min., Analog - 83'
Air consumption: Me: 3250 lbs - 750 (80 cu ft)., Dive Partner: 3200 - 750 lbs (80 cu ft).
Current: Medium
Description: The group spend 10 minutes on the Mizpah! This 185' Greek luxury liner is in 90' of water just outside the WPB inlet. We went down to the port side of the ship and worked our way up towards what we thought was the bow - but it was the stern. We got a look at the prop shafts, there were lot's of fish! We worked our way down the Starboard side to the bow. At the broken off section, the vis was great. The bright sunlight really lit up this wreck. There were lot's of schools of small fish. No eels or grouper were to be seen!!!! After swimming around the busted up bow sections for a while, the group drifted while kicking east and moved over to the 165' Patrol Craft. It's pretty much destroyed - just lots of ribs remain. Our Dive Master and several others saw a very very large Bull Shark circling the wreck. They were startled by the size of the SHARK! We missed this awsome sight!!! From the PC we continued the drift to the rock pile and to the 441' steel freighter Amarilys! This ship is very very large. Again, there's not much left of her - just the lower ribs remain and lots of round cargo pieces. Our air supply was down to 1000 lbs and the dive time limit was up. On our ascent and 15' decompression, there were lot's of 1' dia jellyfish to dodge!

Dive #2: My Dive # 155
A. Dive Location: Paul's Reef
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 25'
Seas: The sea's were perfectly FLAT!
Water Temp: 84 & 82 deg on the bottom
Skies: SCBS - Sunny Clear Blue Skies!
Air Temp: low 90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 54' for 40 min, Me: Analog - 54', Dive Partner: Cochran Dive Computer (Not Recommended device) - 51' for 40 min., Analog - 54'
Air consumption: Me: 3250 lbs - 1150 (80 cu ft)., Dive Partner: 3200 - 700 lbs (80 cu ft).
Current: Medium / Mild
Description: This was a slow to medium rate drift dive. Again, lots of school's of fish. One bug was sighted early on - I managed to prod the bug out of the hole and while reaching to grab it - it took off! Shouldn't have missed that one! We saw one 1 1/2' spotted eel and a small grouper staying together in a small sandy area. They were in the open and moving slowely to a side. The grouper was on top of the eel's head most of the time - they seemed to be bonding!!!

LUNCH - And, as part of the usual Kollers Reef Dive Trip - the Capt moved the boat near the shore and made a great sub lunch for all!

Dive #3: My Dive # 156
A. Dive Location: TearDrop and Ron's Rock
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 30'
Seas: The sea's were perfectly FLAT!
Water Temp: 84 deg on the bottom
Skies: SCBS - Sunny Clear Blue Skies!
Air Temp: low 90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 61' for 39 min, Me: Analog - 62', Dive Partner: Cochran Dive Computer (Not Recommended device) - 58' for 35 min., Analog - 58'
Air consumption: Me: 3050 lbs - 700 (80 cu ft)., Dive Partner: 3200 - 1000 lbs (80 cu ft).
Current: Medium / Mild
Description: This was a first dive on this reef for us. Tear Drop is just south of the Breakers. At the north end of the reef is a large broken off reef section called Ron's Rock. We all dropped to the bottom together, but, unfortunately with minutes we found we were on our own due to the poor vis! There was noone else in sight! This had been discussed prior to the dive. We all were to drift to the north and stop at Ron's Rock. This we did. We were the first to get to the rock. It's as big as a small house section. My dive partner spotted a 300 lb Grouper - by the time I got over to it, it had disappeared under a very large ledge. We swam around Ron's Rock several times. The rest of the team showed up in time to end the dive. Again, while decompressing at 15', there were lot's of 1' jellyfish to dodge! There were lot's of schools of fish on this reef. No eels, no cuda! This reef is also a MUST DO AGAIN!

Last Updated: 10-July-2002

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