Article Author:

Eric
Open Water Scuba Instructor

With tropical storm Faye making her presence we employees at Rainbow Reef had a few free days to play around. Captain Bill was gracious enough to take us out for a couple deep dives on the Bibb and Duane wrecks. For those who aren’t familiar with these beautiful ships, there previous lives were as Coast Guard Cutters. And both had colorful careers in the military. Now they lay in 125 foot of water for the thousands of divers that visit them annually. The seas were still a bit green from the storm and there was a pretty good surface current. Our hopes of decent viz was gradually disappearing. But as we descended upon the Bibb the clouds parted and the current subsided and what lay before us was The Bibb covered in aquatic life, our hopes were renewed. Divers included Cherry, Jack, Heather, Raph, Brad, James and myself. With Brad, James, Jack and I spearfishing.

Many people who aren’t truly educated about the sport of spearfishing may find it inhumane or unsportsmanlike. This could not be further from the truth. As spearfishermen we can be the most sportsman like fishermen taking only the fish we’re hunting and only enough for our personal consumption.

The Bibb had more life on it than I’d had ever seen in the past. Schools of Bar Jacks, Hog fish and juvenile grouper. Even a 400 lb Goliath Grouper was hanging out as well. As we hit the wreck Jack and I went for the stern as Brad and James made there way to the bow. As we rounded the stern 4 big Amber Jacks came into view and I was able to land one of them, after quite a fight. James and Brad had similar luck with a nice black grouper. Bibb hunt = success!

After a long surface interval we made our way to the Duane, my favorite wreck in the Keys. Down we went and hitting the wreck at 100 feet we all were in awe. The Bibb had a lot of life the Duane was engulfed in it! Schools of snapper, spade fish, barracuda, sharks, sting rays, goliath grouper and on and on and on. Not to mention the biggest Hog fish I’ve ever seen, which James was fortunate enough to land. I was equally happy after landing a huge grouper that holed up under the hull at 125 feet. Jack was excited after stoneing his first fish, but that excitement didn’t last long as a barracuda promptly thanked him and took it off his spearshaft. Undaunted he was able to stone a hog fish which was part of our celebretory BBQ that night. Its hard to explain the satisfaction you get as you prepare a delicous BBQ with friends and share stories and a couple beers of the days hunt. I love this life!!!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Diving Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.