 This
article is being written on the first day of summer. To divers, that
means the season is really here. Over the spring, the wind has not
always cooperated with the dive schedule but right now the summer
pattern has settled in. Hot, steamy mornings and thunderous, wild
afternoons are the pattern.
A few short weeks ago, the waters of the southwest Florida Gulf
offered up some of the most spectacular diving anywhere. It’s always
best when the wind dies down and the rainy season hasn’t settled in. The
releases from Lake Okeechobee have slowed and the summer storms haven’t
stirred up the shallow Gulf waters too much yet.
“Slowin Down” rounded the tip of Sanibel just before the sun began to
heat the sand on the deserted beach. The early morning air was still
damp and cool by the time the first dive location blipped on the GPS –
just west of here.
The dive group included 4 local Florida divers and a visitor from
California who was making his second trip to dive in the area. He has
been diving all over the world but he swears that his last dive
experience in the local Gulf area was some of the best he has done.
Divers who are lucky enough to visit the natural ledges and artificial
reefs of the southwest Florida Gulf are a small population. In this
area, it’s probably more common to be a boater who likes to dive than it
is to be a diver with a boat. The challenges are many and the rewards
can be few but on the perfect day, it is priceless.
The Radio Tower was a good start to the day. Divers in this area are
not surprised at the number and size of Goliath Grouper (formerly known
as Jewfish) that are seen on any given day. It’s always amusing when
dive operators in Key Largo tell divers that there is a Goliath Grouper
on the dive site and it turns out to be a single, small creature. Most
Gulf divers believe that anything under 300 pounds is small and they
would be surprised if they had a dive where they didn’t see one of these
mammoth fish. A visit to the Radio Tower almost guarantees a sighting.
Nine days after the tower was put in place, the Goliath Groupers had
settled in. This day was no different except that the visibility was
amazing. The first diver in the water only had to look down to see the
entire structure of the radio tower as well as the sandy bottom. The
plan was to make a short dive and get some photos. The California diver
was even rewarded with a “sonic boom” from one of the local residents
who thought he might have gotten too close.
The next site was geared for the pleasure of the underwater
photographers on board. This site, a scuttled sailboat, was a nice
change from the usual Gulf scenery. Again, the visibility was
unbelievable. Just a short distance down from the marker, the entire
wreck was visible. It was broken into two distinct pieces and it was a
short swim to scan the entire wreck. The fish population consisted
mostly of small snapper and baitfish. There was one teensy Goliath
Grouper that quickly disappeared into the innards of the wreck when it
spotted the human visitors. Divers usually describe wrecks as “natural”
or “artificial”. Natural wrecks are those sunk unintentionally and
artificial wrecks include those that are stripped and placed at a given
location. This was an artificial wreck but it did have a few areas that
were interesting.
Hoping for good luck, the next site was a natural ledge. The Gulf is
loaded with natural ledges. Some are under a foot in height but many
boast higher elevations. Natural ledges are loaded with life. It’s not
unusual to see Blue Angelfish, Red Grouper, Barracuda and Triggerfish
sharing the same geographic area. The Gulf is also home to some very
colorful starfish, nudibranchs and beautiful live sea shells. It’s a
mistake to look at a ledge and think that there is nothing to see. A
close inspection and a little time will reveal some of the most
beautiful colors and textures that you can imagine. It was sad to
discover that this ledge was the victim of huge red algae. Most of the
area was covered in what looked like slime and the visibility was
definitely down from the previous dives. Still, there was a significant
amount of activity. It only takes a few seconds to peer under a ledge
and find a juvenile High Hat. The tiny fish looks like a flowing ribbon
of black and white stripes and spends its day twisting and turning over
the sandy bottom.
A dive in the Gulf is a rare treat. While the Florida Keys and other
popular dive destinations suffer from overcrowding and the impact of
dumping hundreds of divers in the water every day, the Gulf only gets a
very small percentage of that traffic. It’s true that the water can be
very green and the visibility can sometimes be described as “snotty”,
but the Gulf is home to some of the best diving in the world. There is
no other place like it. |
