2/18/2006 - Wreck, reef and sandy bottoms

The weather report called for three days of rain this weekend. We headed out early this morning, hoping to get in a wreck dive before the wind came up. Naturally, it was a sunny, beautiful day. Our first dive was at the Fog wreck. A pod of Risso's dolphins greeted us as we arrived. As Jeff, Marc and I headed for the anchor chain we saw a single squid making a ten foot safety stop. As we approached the wreck, we could see many dead squid littering the sand and wreck. The fish on the wreck were feasting today. We looked for the three Wolfeels and finally found one just as we were about to leave. During our ascent we were treated to several hundred mating squid in mid water. I had never witnessed that before. I've only seen them mate near the bottom.

We then headed over to Marineland to try once again to locate the hidden platform. I found one of the fishing nets and some more teak from the deck, but no platform. I'm beginning to think it was moved during the high surf we experienced this year. Either that, or it was just a figment of our imagination. I found over a dozen Mantis shrimp, but forgot my camera on both dives. We later made a fourth dive at a "secret" lobster spot. Marc got three, I came home with only the memories of a great day of diving with friends.