Gulftrade Stern 8-25-13

Early this morning after arriving at the Independence II we took a vote and the majority sent us heading to the Gulftrade Stern. My first logged dive on the Stern of the Gulftrade was on May 30,1988 and I was still diving in a wetsuit!  In my logbook I noted that the wreck was covered in mussels and was a good sightseeing wreck.  Wow, hard to believe that I have been diving on this wreck for 25 years. Although, I am not sure exactly how many dives I have on this wreck over that time period.  I was last on this wreck on Sept, 25, 2011 and I posted a trip report located in my blog archive which you can refer to for a little history on the wreck, plus there were some old photos of the wreck in that post too.

Today it was a little bouncy on the ride out and it felt cool like the fall but, as usual I was thankful for another day out diving. This wreck sits at about 70-90' and I was planning on doing a longer dive to take advantage of that oxygen enriched air. I splashed to brownish green water filled with the typically summer luminescence and salps that yielded 30-40' of visibility on the bottom.  You could see the wreck from the carolina rig which always tells me the dive is going to be awesome.  The visibility was great yet it seemed a little more cloudy on the bottom since the water was so full of life.  We were anchored into a high piece right next to the boiler and I swam to the edge of the wreck and followed it down to the extreme stern to a large debris field.  This wreck has changed a lot of over the years and is slowly breaking down but it is still an interesting wreck with lots to see and do.  The wreck is great for photographing sea anemones.

  After checking out the stern debris field I headed to a few pieces off the starboard side of the wreck about 40' out in the sand.  This area was loaded with sea robins and I tried to coax them to come closer to my camera for a good macro shot but they were skittish.

 

 I went back towards the wreck and went inside the wreck to photograph some of the sea anemones since the water was a little clearer inside.  I had a great time looking at this wreck and didn't want to leave the bottom but that deco was mounting..During my hang all alone, I looked out and saw a large sting ray that spanned bigger than me.  It swam around me and then took off.  Sometimes when you see things like this all alone you realize that it was a gift for you and you were meant to be in this exact spot in time:))  For me it was the icing on the cake for an already fantastic dive.

During the surface interval lots of lobster and fluke were boated.  Some of the lobsters were quite nice.  The sun was shining and felt so good and the seas started to lay down.  A few divers on board were only doing 1 dive today, mostly rebreathers since they spend like 3 hours on the bottom but, me still on the old fashioned open circuit was definitely going in for dive #2.

The sun was sitting higher in the sky so it provided that extra light on the bottom that helped you to see even further on my second dive.  I went out into the sand near those sea robins I saw earlier and realized that the sea robins were collecting sand dollars in their garbage piles.  I collected about 15 sand dollars to bring home.  I then saw a dead crab and this blackfish was eating it.  He let me practically get my lens right on top of him and posed for a few photos when out of the corner of my eye I saw an ocean pout swimming in the sand.  He appeared to be yellow with some blue in it.  He was not scared of me so I took a few shots of him.  Kind of ironic because we were just talking during the surface interval about "some" divers fear of eel pouts and lobsters. I won't name any names...

 

 This dive too went by way too fast.  On my hang it was just Sue and I with out cameras and we took photos of each other.

 

 I ended the day with a nice cold beer at the dock laughing with the crew:)

I am taking Labor Day weekend off from diving but, look to get out to the Lilian and 56 Mile wreck in the following weeks.  Be Safe!