The Stolt Dagali 9-17-16

Here we go again!!! It is just so weird that I can't seem to get out on the days that the destinations are to offshore wrecks or to any wreck other than the Stolt or Resor but, at least I am out diving!!  I was actually going to take Friday off to dive on the Dina Dee but, that good ole wind was blowing pretty good so I worked instead and jumped on the Independence II dive via Diveseekers at the very last minute.  

As we broke the inlet there were some rollers but, no chop so it was a pretty smooth ride out.  This was my first time in the water since Hermine came through.  I was hoping it mixed up the water and that pea soup layer was gone.  As I splashed I had already heard that the visibility was awesome top to bottom and it seemed like I just cleared my ears at 10-20' and I could see the wreck.  It was a full moon the night before but, there was no current which also was so nice.  Once on the wreck I noted two things, I could see forever and it was warm, almost too warm like your were not even in the water.  I quickly started shooting photos and swam the entire wreck.  I was on the lookout for tropical fish and did not see any.  My computer said it was 71 degrees on the bottom, that is super warm.  I saw some larger tautog and plenty of sea bass.  

Since I have had the ability to dive this wreck so much this year I have noticed that each time I am diving it, the marine life is different.  Earlier in the season, the wreck was pretty grey and had just a few sea anemones, bergols, and spotty areas of mussels but, the wreck had those cool nudibranchs.  Then mid summer the wreck was full of sea anemones and a lot more mussels had taken over, flounder were abundant, and the nudibranchs were still there.  Now, the wreck has less sea anemones, is be taken over by those red colored hydroids, the nudibranchs are no longer on the wreck, and there are lots of sea bass, tautog and bergols.  Most of this year the water was real cold on the bottom and now that it warmed up the wreck is changing.  It is kind of neat to observe.  

I did a pretty long dive and enjoyed my hang watching the comb jellies float by.

On my second dive I went down near the break and was going to go in the engine room to shoot some photos since the other divers said it was crystal clear inside.  I also heard some of them say the water was even warmer inside the wreck.  Once I got in the engine room it was silted up a bit from some other divers so, it was not too ideal for photos.  I then swam back out and spent my dive shooting photos all over the wreck.  Towards the end of my dive the current did pick up and kind of went in circles and made it hard to swim near the top of the wreck, it also felt like the water was cooling down a bit.

Tiles..

Today I had two great dives and I am so glad I decided to go diving.  It was so awesome that I wanted to head out again on Sunday even though I had plans to go to the Valenzano Wine Fest with all of my friends.  However,  boat was full for Sunday, so I was not fortunate to have 2 days of diving this weekend but, I ended up having a lot of fun at the wine fest so...till next week as more diving adventures are sure to be had!!!