Fishing - Another hobby in addition to Scuba Diving

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to go fishing a few times a month with a couple of friends on the charter “Satisfaction” with Capt Brian McCadie out of Robbies Marina in Islamorada.

We always have a decent catch but on two trips offshore this month we caught our limit of Yellowtail Snappers in just a few hours. Both days were windy and it was a bit of a challenge, but the results were great. Lots of fish to share with friends and neighbors. This year Capt Brian has a mate (Dave - from Alaska) over the winter. We are also often joined by Florida FWC employee Joe - who does specimen charting, etc.

2-28-22 French Reef - Giant Goliath Grouper

Between lots of wind and J’s work schedule - it has been hard to find diving time. Monday February 28th was the day. Sunny with light breezes. My boat lift was rewired and finally working that morning. So late morning, J and I headed to French Reef to dive Sand Cave. No other boats on the reef for either of our 2 dives. Perfect!

Located in the middle of the reef, Sand Cave has a large opening on one end and a small slit in the top on the other end. When I dropped down the slit opening I was greeted by a huge Goliath Grouper - around 6’ long. It was quite the experience to share the cave with this creature.

We left the cave and he was still there when we returned 15 minutes later. For our 2nd dive we moved to the 2nd buoy in the front row. Lots of current here, so we couldn’t explore much. It looks a lot like Molasses Reef in this area.

2-12-22 Molasses Reef - Sand Cave area Buoy #4

Finally back on the water again. J was working during some good weather and then it got windy. Saturday was decent with winds around 10 knots our of the east. Boat lift problems (circuit popping). After some fiddling it started working again so we got the boat down and decided to head out. Unfortunately, upon return the lift would not work. I managed to get Custom Electric out around 4 pm and their troubleshooting showed wiring seemed Ok and right motor worked, but left kept popping the CGCI. So temporarily he put in a regular circuit and got the lift up. I’m getting a new motor installed on Friday.

Being a Saturday, the reef was fairly busy, but we found ball#4 which is just SE of where the cave is. We had no trouble finding the cave, but getting back to the boat was a little off. For our 2nd dive we remained moored and we to the SW this time. We had 2 good dives with highlights of nice coral growth on shoreward side of this location.

Below is a 4 minute video the 2 dives on YouTube

2-5-22 Pickles Reef - Eel and Shark and Cleaner Shrimp

Between many days of high winds and J having company, it took until Saturday to get back out diving. Visibility was poor after 3 days of high winds. But the weather was nice - warm, sunny and just 5-6 knot breeze. For our 1st dive we arrived at the Pickle Barrel wreck site just as another boat was leaving the mooring. Immediately upon entry in the water I notice a swimming eel heading toward a hiding spot under a rock. Turned out he joined a nurse shark in that spot. Visibility was diminished which made videoing difficult as it really washed out into the sun. Next up was a Moray eel that had a coral banded shrimp trying to clean its mouth. Perhaps I interrupted the event as the eel did not seem happy. The usual schools of fish were present.

We tried French Reef for our 2nd dive and visibility was probably 15-20’. Very difficult to navigate the reef and find Sand Cave. We were unsuccessful and the dive was less than satisfactory. But it did make us work on navigation skills. It took a couple of tries to come up on the correct mooring as you couldn’t see the boat until you were 10’ under it.

Video of the dive - Youtube link - click below

1/15/2022

After 2 weeks back north in Minnesota for Christmas and then being sick for a week upon return - it has taken awhile to get back diving and working it into J’s schedule. But today was the day with great conditions and a return to Molasses.

The reef was very busy on this Saturday, with few balls available. Luckily we tied up on shoreward buoy closest to tower From there we swam back toward the next buoy back and a little to the right to find the nice cave/grotto we have been trying to relocate. A very cool L shaped cave. Encountered a shark, but the highlight was a eel with its mouth being cleaned by Coral Banded Shrimp and then another eel swimming about the reef.

For our 2nd dive we moved to the N end of Molasses about the 3rd buoy from the end on the frontside. Not a lot to see in this area, but the structure is different with the large boulder like coral formations. Camera battery was dead - so no photos or videos. Dive boat pulled in right next to us and put about 20 divers in the water. My camera battery was depleted so no photos or videos for this dive.

12-9-21 Molasses Reef

12-7-21 Weather has been so good, that J and I decided we needed to go out again, even though we had just been diving yesterday. Forgot my camera though - so no photos or videos. One dive of nearly an hour. We tied up at buoy #2 at Pickles reef as #3 at the barrel wreck was taken. I had not tried that buoy before. We swam to the N to find the channel that brought us to the Pickle Barrel wreck by Buoy #3. Usual large schools of fish in the channel and also around wreck pieces. Not alot to see around the area of Buoy#2.

12-9-21. Still great weather - so off we went for more diving. This time at Molasses. Reef. 1st dive was to find the mid reef cave. No luck, but lots of critters and nice coral.

2nd Dive at Molasses. Tied up in 2nd row near tower. We headed toward the tower and the buoy closest in the front row and then back to buoy in 2nd row. Thats were we found the cave! It has a 90 turn in the cave and its quite roomy.

Stingray, turtle, shark eel and lots of tropical fish made for a great 2 dives.

12-6-2021 - Conch Reef and Pickles Reef

December weather is holding up well. Water temps are still in the mid 70’s J and I headed to Conch Reef for our first dive. A little choppy and visibility was a little diminished. Typical fish schools and eels. Nothing exceptional

For our 2nd dive we headed further up the reef line to Pickles- Pickle Barrel Wreck. Conditions were great, with good visibility, lots of schooling snappers and nice opportunity to capture images of a scorpionfish on the open sand seafloor.

But the highlight was 3 turtle sightings and J and I being able to slowly swim for over 2 minutes alongside a turtle as he cruised the reef. He seemed to enjoy our company!

Watch videos of the dive below.

11-26-21 French Reef

For our 2nd dive this day at French we moved off to the NE end where the are sand channels between reef structures. We saw a nice sized Goliath Grouper and a Moray Eel as well as great shots of a Queen Angelfish

The Grottos of French Reef - Nov 19 and Nov 26, 2021

Christmas Tree Cave

After our Benwood Wreck Dive on the 19th, J and I went to French to dive the Hourglass grotto. We tied up to the far SW buoys 1st or 2nd row depending on wind direction. Its located somewhere seaward from the outer buoy. Visibility was pretty poor . I almost accidentally touched a scorpionfish that was at the cave entrance. On the 26th we went back in search of Christmas Tree cave, which was a little harder to find. It is located between the 1st and 2nd buoys on the outside of the SW end of the reef. Luckily we got on the reef right below a boat load of divers from dive boat descended on the cave. Of the 3 caves I would rank Christmas tree at the top, then Sand Cave.

11-19-21 Diving the Benwood Wreck with J

Back out diving with J. It was a nice day with light winds and calm seas. For our first dive we went to the Benwood Wreck. Visibility was pretty good compared to other visits, so I got some good macro shots of the ship. The 2nd dive of the day was at nearby French Reef - Hourglass Cave. That dive video was combined with another cave dive at French a few days later.

11-14-21 - Dave R joins me for a couple of dives at Molasses

My friend and dive buddy Dave Rufft came back to visit for a few days. He sold his house here in the Keys in the Spring and will be spending winters in AZ. It looked today was the only day the winds would cooperate during his visit, so off we went to Molasses Reef. We encountered a nurse shark an eel and a nice Queen Angelfish.

Check out the video below .