After lunch, we picked up an extra diver and headed to one of our shallower spots since the viz had not been shaping up too well for us. Getting to the spot, we unfortunately found more of the same. This spot is no more than 20 feet deep and we could barely spot the silhouettes of the fish at the bottom. We worked it anyway and were able to shoot enough fish to make it worth the work. By this time we needed to head to the spot we wanted to hit for high tide. When we got to the first location, we found that the high tide had not cleaned up the way we had hoped and had to search for a shallow spot so we could see. We had almost given the tide up for lost when we decided to hit one of our productive ledges just so we wouldn't completely waste the effort.
Approaching the ledge I didn't see much of anything out in the open, but decided to peer under and in to see if anybody was home. I was able to see a good size squared off grouper tail just before the whole ledge got stirred up. We ended up working the ledge for a good while because the two goliaths that have taken up residence here kept thumping and clouding everything up. Unfortunately after a while, we gained the interest of a bull shark that passed right over the ledge while two of our guns were sitting on the bottom trying to gain position on the grouper under the ledge. It had been a few weeks since I had bagged a grouper so I wasn't going to be easily discouraged. I dove and retrieved my brother in law's gun so he could keep an eye out while I kept trying to bag the grouper. I had been able to make out the fish on the back wall of the ledge, but couldn't get an angle from where I could see her. I needed to be sure and careful because of the two goliaths that were residing in this ledge as well. So after positioning the light from the left side of the ledge, I headed over to the front of the ledge, looked for the beam of light and took the shot. A few seconds later, she started thrashing and I was able to pull her out without too much trouble. Luckily we didn't attract the attention of the bull shark again and headed home with the fish. After two dives that day, we decided to simplify the menu to just the staple fried snapper and forego any appetizers. Good thing too, cause I was beat.
Sunday was a bit lazy as we all seemed to have slept in a little. But we noticed that we weren't the only ones. It seemed like the entire campground had given up Sunday for lost and was staying in port. We decided to head out anyway and got to our spot to find that the water had actually gotten even dirtier from Saturday and after spending about 30 minutes scouring a reef we couldn't even spot until we were less than 10 feet off the bottom we decided to call it a day. We spent the rest of the day grilling and drinking before packing up and heading home that night. Hopefully that SW wind will let up during the week and let the water clean up soon.
