Yesterday was the last day for my scuba diving class. We went to Bradenton FL for our open water dive. We went out about 7 miles to a location that was a wreck of a barge on our first dive and moved to another spot that was a old pile of pilings and rocks. The water temp was in the low 80s and about 1-2 foot seas and nice and sunny. Depth we dove to was 40 feet and the visibility was 50 feet and absolutely spectacular. There were gray snapper, hog fish, sand perch, a hugh school of amberjacks went by at least 100+ fish, plus schools of small fish and alkinds of colorful reef fish and the best was the Snook. The Snook were all over the place 6-10 in a school and no less the 3 foot long. We had 2 dives, on the first one I wore my wetsuit that was a mistake. After my first dive I was not feeling that good, thought I was going to have another puking thru my reg moment. I sent my buddy ahead of me on our second dive since I was not feeling good. My instructor told me to take my suit off and see how I feel. What a change, I felt great, good enough to slap my gear on and the Capt of the boat helped me off the boat and I managed to catch up to my buddy with in minutes. My buddy is my best friend and he went thru the class with me. We seen alot of fish and marine life that he would love to catch and put in his saltwater fish tank. I picked up two hugh sand dollars (not alive) about 8-9 inches in size in great shape. We picked up a underwater camera at CVS that you can dive to 95 feet, took some pictures and forgot to turn the flash switch on inside the housing and the pictures came out ok but grainy from no flash (i will post pics after I get them scanned in).
Well all in all what a great day. If you have never dived, you have to try it. What a great experience and its a whole new world down there that seeing it on tv does not do it justice, looks absolutely spectacular live and in person. Give it a try. I could keep on typing about this experience but do not want to bore you all.
Thanks for reading and happy hunting.
John SwFl
Well all in all what a great day. If you have never dived, you have to try it. What a great experience and its a whole new world down there that seeing it on tv does not do it justice, looks absolutely spectacular live and in person. Give it a try. I could keep on typing about this experience but do not want to bore you all.
Thanks for reading and happy hunting.
John SwFl