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Pensacola – Freediving Chevron Towers for Cobia

DiveBuddy.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 06:46:01 +0000

While on the boat after our dive of the Oriskany, we noticed several large weed patches floating a few hundred yards away from the wreck. We kept an eye on the flow and Captain Dalton of Due South Custom Charters means what he says about a ’Custom’ charter. He knew we were here to do some spearfishing and thought some dolphin (mahi mahi, not Flipper) might be cruising the weedline. We motored over gingerly and Armando sighted some blue and green torpedoes in the water. For the record, freediving after scuba diving is NOT advisable as the nitrogen bubbles dissolved in your bloodstream during scuba diving can collect as you descend in freediving and then expand into embolisms in your blood upon a rapid ascent in freediving. None of our divers swam more than 10 feet below the surface during our post-scuba freedives. For the most part, we were simply snorkeling at the surface. I slid into the water with my freediving gear and speargun and made my way over to the first weed patty. There two juvenile amberjack cruising just under the weeds, but no dolphin. I kicked over to the next patty and was absolutely stunned to see a school of approximately 100-200 juvenile or ’peanut’ dolphin. They were perhaps one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen underwater in quite a long time. I yelled to the boat that we had ’schoolies’ and Ann joined me in the water a few minutes later. We both floated in awe as the entire school surrounded us and generally stayed right around us for about 15 minutes as the boat checked out the next patty over. There were rumors of cobia, but none to be seen… YET. Armando handed me his video camera and I shot some footage of the dolphin. Link Forthcoming. Each of the divers on the Colusa IV made their way into the water and over to watch the dolphin before we made our way to the the next dive site. Just a few miles from the Oriskany are two towers, formerly Chevron petroleum platforms. The oil company cut the platforms off the legs and left them in place, the shallowest approximately 70 feet from the surface. Both are in approximately 135 feet of water. As we were locating the wreck, Dr. Jay and I made our way to the tuna tower on Captain Dalton’s boat to look for a buoy marker temporarily left behind by another captain. While trying to spot the marker, I sighted three black and white masses near the surface – COBIA! We were hoping to see some cobia on this trip as their annual migration in the area is apparently coming to a close for this year. We had heard reports of fish over 70 pounds and were just hoping to see one or two on our trip. Armando and I suited up and dropped over the side in a splashless entry so as not to spook the fish. Dr. Jay stayed on the tower to direct us to the fish. Captain Dalton maneuvered the boat to keep them in sight and to keep us pointed in the right direction. I powered past Armando just under the surface to gain some ground on the cobia. When I cleared my snorkel of water, I didn’t see anything but deep blue sea. I looked to the boat for guidance and Dr. Jay and Captain Dalton pointed us toward the fish. Within a half dozen kicks I swam up to a huge school of large barracuda, all gathered around the buoy marker we were seeking. Within the school of barracuda was a dark gray mass with white sides swimming among them. I swam toward the fish with my outstretched Riffe C3XS complete with Carbon Reel for freediving, but the fish kept its distance. Strategically, I paused and put my head down in a passive posture. Within seconds, the cobia had turned and was swimming directly at me. At first glance cobia look a bit like a shark or a large Remora in the water. They have a head similar to a catfish – flat, round, and bony. I knew a face shot would be iffy at best, so I patiently waited for the cobia to turn. As the fish closed in well within range, it slowly turned broadside. I ceased the moment and placed a perfect shot in the gills. Cobia are a very soft meaty fish and a body shot will typically tear through thus losing the fish. A gill shot is the most secure shot to make on a cobia aside perhaps from skewering it through the eyes or into the mouth. My shot found its mark and the fish drifted off toward the bottom. I pulled the fish smoothly toward me so as not to invite the barracuda in for a free lunch. The shaft had gone approximately half-way through the fish and the Hawaiian flopper tip opened exactly as it should. I grabbed the shaft and slid my hand down to pin the fish between my hand and the flopper. The f…

Pensacola – Diving the Oriskany

DiveBuddy.com — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:43:22 +0000

Scuba Diving and Spearfishing on the Oriskany Image courtesy of MyFWC.com ’The Mighty O’ as she is called, is the largest artificial reef in the world. Formerly a US Navy Aircraft Carrier, the Oriskany was sunk 22.5 nautical miles Southeast of Pensacola Pass in May of 2006. The ship is 157 feet wide and approximately 800 feet long. The top of the ship is at about 68 feet with the top of the gun platform at 95 feet, the bridge at 106 feet and the flight deck at 135 feet. She sits in approximately 212 feet of water. Of course, reaching the flight deck actually exceeds recreational diving limits. Our friends at Team Chunky Love invited us up for a weekend of Gulf Coast diving and we jumped at the chance. Randy Docks, Ann Scutti, Armando ’The Mad Cuban’, Dr. Jay, and I reached the Oriskany courtesy of Captain Dalton Kennedy of Due South Custom Charters (850-565-7247). The trip out took just over an hour, but the sun was bright and the comfy bean bag chairs that Captain Dalton provided made the time fly by. Clay-Doh and other members of the team arrived about a half-hour behind us on Clay’s catamaran. We reached the ship and there were already several boats tied to the wreck. Some Tech Divers had already descended to dive the propeller area, which spooked the grouper up to the flight deck. As we descended to the flight deck, amberjack, red snapper, and grouper were everywhere. Unaccustomed to grouper that allow you to actually swim toward them here on the right coast of Florida, Randy, Ann, and I were all a little taken aback. Unfortunately, my pause would cost me a nice gag as my shot grazed the top of its head. Fortunately, Randy put a well-placed shot in the fish and boated it – a 26-inch gag. Ann also landed a very nice 29-inch gag. Armando lost another grouper and an amberjack, which Dr. Jay caught on film. Once the spearing began, the fish became a bit wary and I couldn’t get another decent shot and I returned to the boat empty-handed. Photo Courtesy of Armando of Team Chunky Love We were all amazed at the sheer numbers of red snapper cruising on and around the wreck. Snapper season in Federal waters doesn’t begin until June, so even though the temptation was HUGE, we didn’t shoot any red snapper. The Federal red snapper season will also be cut short this year as a conservation measure and will end in August not to reopen until June of 2009. However, red snapper season in Florida state waters opened on April 15th and will continue through October 31st. The sea life on the Oriskany is absolutely amazing. Large barracuda, swarms of amberjack, scamp, grouper, and numerous species of snapper all make their homes here. There are also plenty of photo opportunities, including a resident octopus in one of the pipe structures on the ship. Special Thanks to Captain Dalton for a perfect trip to the Oriskany! [ This is an external blog. Read complete blog here... ]…

Scuba Diving Tours Puerto Rico

DiveBuddy.com — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:42:38 +0000

Category: External Blogs

Welcome to Puerto Rico!
For centuries, travelers have known about Puerto Rico. It has long been a connecting point to all areas of the Caribbean. Today’s travelers are well familiar with the island as a major port of call for cruise ships, as well as for a major air terminal. Puerto Rico might well be the [...][ This is an external blog. Read complete blog here... ]…

Pelago Adventura dive company and lodge for sale in Mozambique

Melt du Plooy — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 06:41:43 +0000

Urgent sale of an established lodge property and scuba dive company in Mozambique.

All the dive equipment, boats, quad bike, a Dhow, a piece of land and the rights to Pelago as well as full ownership is included in the sale.

The website is also included in the sale: www.pelago-mozambique.com

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone to snitch it up.

Any interested parties can contact Jonathan Symmonds at nojule@hotmail.com

Incoming search terms:

lodge for sale mozambique

Choosing an Underwater Strobe for Point & Shoot Cameras

DiveBuddy.com — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 06:44:46 +0000

Jack, I have a Fuji E900 and Ikelite housing. What strobe would you suggest for this set-up and what price range am I looking at? I would appreciate your help. Thanks, Laurel The E900 is a great little camera, I shot mine for 1.5 years with good results. I get asked this same question by many underwater photographers looking for an external strobe to use with various cameras. The below information is derived from my experience and pertains to most point & shoot cameras and housings. An external strobe is a way for photographers to add more light to bring out colors and detail that would otherwise be lost and creatively light their subjects, to emphasize, or de-emphasize subject matter. Also by angling the light away from the subject directly, you can you can reduce backscatter; particles in the water that reflect light directly into the camera lens. When buying a strobe, you pretty much get what you pay for in terms of features, power, coverage and speed. It’s important to consider what subject matter and shooting conditions you will be diving in. Wide angle photography requires much more powerful strobes, really 2 strobes, for success. You have to light a wide swath of reef or larger subjects. For macro and fish portraits, you can get by with much less. In turbid conditions the same applies. I’m making some generalizations; it is quite possible to do close-focus wide angle photography and use only one strobe. It’s good to also consider your long-range photography goals as well, do you eventually want to upgrade to a DSLR for instance. There’s lots of manufactures and options for strobes. Remember that you will also need a tray, handles, arms and sync cord to use it. Here’s a few that I’m familiar with. I’ve used a variety of Inon strobes, they are very good, physically small, but sort of expensive. They also tend to be a bit negatively weighted in the water. The Inon z240 & 2000 has S-TTL and an external auto mode (works ok for close-up stuff), as well as 13 steps of manual control. The S-TTL mode will work with most any camera, measuring the light output automatically, but as it makes the camera do a full dump of light (instead of what’s necessary for exposure), it can be slow to use, around 11 secs between shots on the E900! I’ve used an Ikelite DS-50 with an external manual controller as well (the auto TTL controller is not compatible with the E900). Again, its very slow to work with that camera, due to making it do a full dump. It was better with the Fuji F810. I had problems with the manual controller flooding and it’s another piece of gear to mount and swim with, although a fairly powerful little strobe. I think overall the setup is bulky and not as full featured, when compared to other strobes on the market at a similar price point. I now sell the Fantasea NanoFlash ($99), the best-selling Sea & Sea YS-27 ($350) and the Sea & Sea YS-110a ($634). If you want a huge reef-lighter the Sea & Sea YS-250Pro is also available at $1069. New to the line up – and a great starter strobe – is the Ultramax UltraPower UDXL strobe that comes with a sync cord for only $148. It is a significant step up from the Na…