Guests
Bubblejunkie, Tropical Diver, Fish Fryer, Frog Legs, and Catfish. Memo to Bubblejunkie: Dude, I love you like a brother, but please for the love of all the saints in heaven never bring another Harry Chapin CD on the boat again. If I have to listen to Capt. Jim sing "Cats in the Cradle" one more time, I am going to fall on my SS Rhino gun like a condemned Samurai warrior committing hara-kiri .

Sea Conditions
Man, whoever canceled a trip this weekend based on the NOAA forecast made a big mistake! The seas were 2'-4' on Friday laying down to long period 2' rollers by Saturday. Chopped up a little to 2'-3' on Sunday, and laid down to glass for the ride in. Bottom temps in MG varied from 60-63 degrees, as did vis which ranged from 40'-80' depending on the site. A midwater current ripped on Sunday providing some loooong boat recoveries for divers. Other than that we had mostly sunny skies, and moderate air temps, life is good!!!

Steelslingin', Tiger Shark Wrasslin', and Blue Nun Drinkin'
We left early Friday allowing us all a round of dives inshore in 80-100 fsw which produced nice gags and inshore hogs. Got to the MG Friday night, and attempted to fish. There was barely a moon which went down early to add insult to injury. Combine that with a strong current, winter water temps, and what you get is a recipe for a measly few beeliners, porgies, and mangos. Diving the next day produced drastically different results however as most everyone consistently brought up stringers of very nice gags averaging 12#-14# along with a few mangos and hogs. Acting on a tip from someone who did a trip a couple weeks past, we starting heading towards a wreck. We struggled to find good spots along the way, but managed to score on almost every drop by being very picky on what dive sites we threw the jug on.

Sunday morning we dropped a team on the wreck who came up with their aj's, and a few rustbelly gags. A couple backdives later, and we were at our jack limit. From there we headed to an area that the JR2 had not been to in a couple years which ended up being the highlight of the trip.

Capt. Jim dropped Frog Legs, Catfish, and myself on a classsic MG ledge: 90 fsw on top dropping to 120 fsw on the sand, deeply fissured with cracks, crevices, and caves. The ledge was electric with activity as sea turtles, jewfish, schools of spadefish and tropicals as well as clouds of baitfish were all visible in one dramatic vista. Did I mention large gags, hundreds of them? After a few minutes I had three respectable gags between 16#-21# when I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. I turned, and saw a 10' shark circling me which lit up with stripes and spots like it had gotten plugged into a wall socket the second we made eye contact. Holy sh*t, my first tiger! It starting swimming slowly, yet deliberately towards me, not showing the arched back or lowered pectoral fins of a threat display, but not veering one iota. When it got within six feet of me, trying hard not to involuntarily gunnel hunch, I pulled to trigger, and let a shaft fly which barely cleared the muzzle burying itself right in the tiger's nose. What followed was the usual reflexive biting, and thrashing about while I performed an Olympic u/w backstroke. Frazzled by the encounter, I found Frog Legs, and we dove the rest of the dive together shooting a couple more gags. Two backdives were conducted there with no drop in productivity, and no sign of my buddy which I helped transform into a subsea unicorn.

OK you ask, what the f*ck is up with Blue Nun wine? In an effort to provide fanatical customer service, Capt Jim, and I went on a quest to find the perfect beverage to complement the Jolly Dog, that most sublime of Middle Grounds delicacies. We scoured the vineyards of California, Australia, and France. We attended countless wine tastings. We consulted the sommeliers (that's a wine steward you uncultured rube !) at some of the finest five-star restaurants. Success came to us in the form of an azure blue bottle of Blue Nun Liebfraumilch (available at your most distinguished convenience stores ). It's slight floral nose, crisp flavor, yet soft persistent finish was a perfect match for the traditional Jolly Dog feast. Liberal amounts consumed Saturday night fueled the usual socio-political debate dominated by Capt Jim, Frog Legs, and Fish Fryer running the gamut from the legacy of the JFK administration, the authenticity of the Apollo lunar landings, the innocence of Kobe Bryant, the impact of comm. vs. rec. fishing, overpopulation, to the environment. Having heard all of this 10,000 times already, I could only bury my head deeper into my pillow, and hope that an alien mothership would hover overhead, and abduct me in glowing teleportation beam.

Another great trip, thanks to all the guys (and girl) who came this weekend. It really is a blast taking people out, especially those that are experiencing the MG for the first time. Speaking of the girl, Tropical Diver did great! Man, she is tough, and dove harder than some guys that have been on the boat before. She won't say it, but I think she might have her eyes on that SB Open top female spearo prize. Sheri Daye, watch out !!! Standing by, keeping my fingers and toes crossed for next weekend.

AJ Suarez

Slaytistics
gag grouper=61 (almost all over 10#)
amberjack=14
mango snapper=17
hogfish=18
red grouper= a few
porgies and beeliners=please not another one