Rise Above. Jolly Rogers 2 In The Florida Middle Grounds

Guests
Jack Hill (The 66 Kid), his brother Nat (Lazy Bones), and their two buddies Mark Dahlmeier and Derrick Andres back for a reprise of last year's summer trip.

Sea Conditions
Unprecented Middle Grounds conditions. One every dive we would enter the bathtub temperature water, and 20' down descend into a layer of white material resembling a snowstorm that was 40' thick. Between 60'-80' there would be a complete blackout reminiscent of the murk layers you would see diving off the LA oil rigs with a wicked thermocline. Once we punched through we would find ourselves in clear, cold (65*-68*) water with about as much ambient light as a twilight dive. Sometimes the clear water layer was so thin that you would literally have to crawl along the bottom to see. The last time I was in the MG three weeks ago we had T2B vis with a ripping current that many speculated was a summertime gyre of the Loop Current. What is creating this aquatic layer cake we experienced is up for debate.

Slay Report
The box is getting filled no matter what Gulf of Mexico throws at us. Prior to arriving in the MG we spent the first day diving a couple of wrecks and rock piles which produced some quality red snapper and jacks. After arriving we moved quite a bit to find shootable vis and fish. By the middle of day two we were thick into the hogs working in tandem with the Miss Jackie, and were within a mile of each other for the balance of the trip. Talk about a reduction in effort! I think they were the only other boat in the MG this weekend. None others were sighted, and the VHF was absolutely silent. No worries though.....we had a great time in our private MG.
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Thank you for choosing the Gulf of Mexico. Your bag limit will be lowered in the order that it is received. All dive sites may be monitored for quality assurance purposes.


Mark with a couple of red snappers. This was second dive of the trip on a wreck drapped with shrimp netting, cables, and all manner of gnarly obstructions swarmed with jacks, mangos, and red snappers. Of course while tangling with the permit a 60#ish cobia swims right by me. I'll take the permit though....
 

Man, I hope the ridiculously low bag limits that we harvested didn't make red snapper extinct in the Gulf of Mexico ! Every successive year we see more and larger red snapper in the NE Gulf.

Derrick with a couple, Mark, Nat along with Derrick again, and yours truly with one donated to the south side of the fish box