Collecting animals while snorkeling (freediving)

[Mudfish]

South side of Haulover at low tide.

 

 

That was my guess, Haulover. Have you ever gone to the south side of Boca?

[tyty]

That was my guess, Haulover. Have you ever gone to the south side of Boca?

I don't often go that far north, is it worth the trip?

[Mudfish]

I don't often go that far north, is it worth the trip?

 

Soon as it calms down and warms up; far end of the outside of the south jetty. Zoa heaven!

[johnmaloney]

i found a small one in your backyard the other day mudfish. very small....but a local frag is always cool.

 

speaking of calming down:

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl...l/am/amz650.txt

 

looks like april is just going to go on the same way. April was gorgeous last year. The water is starting to turn really clear though, not sure if you noticed. It is still rough, but otherwise clear. Intracoastal night dives are awesome right now....even the lagoon had a clear day.

[yardboy]

I went to Crystal River to get to some warmer water yesterday, visibility sucked. all I saw were some sheepshead, rare and endangered (NOT) and enough chaetomorha to supply the world.

 

 

Went to the jetties today, not so cold as I feared, 72 degrees, but the urchins are only about 25% through the algae.

Found some stuff that looks like little kelp. Any idea John? Probably a noxious pest.

[johnmaloney]

gracilaria curtissae or something like that.

[Mudfish]

Went to the jetties today, not so cold as I feared, 72 degrees

 

 

Oh, god - 72 - BRRRRR! Man, it's gotta get warmer than that for me.

[yardboy]

I thought you were shucking me, as everyone's tolerance for cold is different, but actually after you get in it's not so bad. I've got a 3mm wetsuit, and periodically I can warm it up while diving.

[Mudfish]

Hahaha!

 

Local warming!

[johnmaloney]

hey yardboy, thinking of collecting ahead of the spill?

[yardboy]

I was out there last weekend, not a lot of activity yet, other than some macroalgae's. I probably should try and get some stuff, but I've just got no room right now. I'm in the middle of a reaquascape of my big tank and the frag tanks are full of the corals from there. Dam% majanos. My worst pest ever.

Everyone is pretty depressed about it. All we've been able to do is inventory our booms and oil absorbents, doubtful that will help if it gets really bad.

 

Spill, baby, Spill. I think I'm going to be sick. It's still blowing out too.

[johnmaloney]

Last year the winds were blowing in from the west in late May. (t least from my notes here). If it is the same way...maybe it would be worth at least taking some photos out there in case. How did the freeze affect you guys?

[Mudfish]

We heard last night (Monday) that it's supposed to hit the Panhandle parks by Thursday. Everybody's freaking out and very upset.

 

(I don't remember if I told you guys or not - I work for the Florida Park Service.)

[yardboy]

As of now the winds have been from the East and Southeast, but as of last friday they are tending to be from the Soutwest, which doesn't bode well. Predictions are that Pensacola will be hard hit, but nothing on Panama City. We're prepared to deploy barriers across the channel to hopefully keep it out of the Bay, but the beaches will be ruined. Saturday we walked the length of St. Andrews State Park (and got burned in the process! Stupid tourists!) to see it at it's best. If the spill comes ashore here that white sand will be ruined as will the economy.

There was a poll on yahoo last night that asked if I'd still want drilling offshore here even with the risk of spills. The vote was 70% - for, 30% - not. I guess most people don't live near the beach to see what would happen.

The normal pattern of succession here at the jetties is that algae (hairy, cottony, macro's (Codium, Ulva, Sargassum, Gracillaria, among others) predominates when the water gets to cold for the grazers like urchins, sea hares, and tangs. As it warms up the grazers come out and work it down to corraline rock. They're about half way there, but some cursory exploration (the water is just above 70 and the weather has been pretty unyielding) has shown only the corkscrew anemones and Oculina coral appearing. I haven't seen any of the maroon anemones at all, but they were always at fairly low population levels. I'm going to try and get out there within the next few days (but not today, it is really bad, double red flags and pouring rain) and see if I can find anything.

 

We heard last night (Monday) that it's supposed to hit the Panhandle parks by Thursday. Everybody's freaking out and very upset.

 

(I don't remember if I told you guys or not - I work for the Florida Park Service.)

 

I had not heard that. Everyone is freaking out here too, or worse, getting kind of catatonic as if there is nothing we can do. Unlike a hurricane, in which you can prepare, at this stage we've only cleaned the beaches of litter and inventoried our booms and made prep to deploy them.

God, it's raining so hard right now and the freaking wind is from the Southwest. It'll push that crap right over the booms.

I didn't realize how much I loved this place until this.

[Mudfish]

 

 

Good luck, brother. Good luck to us all. I think we're screwed...

[yardboy]

And good luck to you, my friend.

Latest I heard is that it's shifting westward. Also that the capping dome they are building has a high probability of working so that at least the leak will stop. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Nanobuds]

damn, i love these tanks. i love catchin animals and keeping them in a jar or small tank for the day. the problem is, i only go to florida once a year

[johnmaloney]

this is all a shame. every time i hear one of those bp people say "they will clean it up" it makes me more upset. i swear i will push my car to the next gas station before i step foot in a bp again. it is like you said yardboy, you don't really appreciate it until something is coming to wipe it out and there is nothing you can do about it. There is going to be oil coming up for years on the shores. They might clean up the bulk but are they going to get all the sargassum drift cleaned? No...(insert ranting)

 

In good news though I was out there last night and the wind blowing in from the East was strong, and the seas are kicked up again today. I am hoping the unseasonably cold weather and higher winds keep up. Maybe this years bad weather will spare the rest of Florida. Sorry to hear that is going to affect Pensacola, I truly am.

 

mudfish-

do they have a plan to protect the inlets here?

[johnmaloney]

water will be nice this weekend, who else wont be indoors?

[yardboy]

Me.

Obligations to the local reefers society. A fundraiser for wildlife cleanup whenever it starts here and in Fort Walton Beach, where the Gulfarium is that is sponsoring the fundraiser.

The local dolphin entertainment center is also a certified aquaculture facility, using their "Aquafarm" as a display and behind the scenes a coral purchase facility. Too cool. Seems more small "SeaWorld" kind of places could do that.

I've been going down to the jetties nearly every day but it's been quite rough and murky. The water's still cold here, relatively, too. Found it interesting that the predictions are again gllom and doom for the hurricane season this year. Don't any of those meteorologists stick their toes in the water? If we do have a bad season it'll be late as there isn't enough heat in the water to make a loud fart, and what there is has been steadily bled off by the onshore winds. But then what am I, a freakin' weatherman?

There's bound to be some wishful thinking in there too as a bad storm would wreack havoc on any Rube Goldberg device they've got set up to capture the oil, and blow all the booms to shore and have oil all in the marshes, even inland.

[johnmaloney]

I am still in utter shock they didnt have a backup plan on shore waiting to head out to sea...all local safety measures...well dont get me started. I read the latest today...these guys are working around the clock to do things that should have been...well there I go again.

 

Is that the Panhandle Reef Society? If so say hi to "scootman" for me. Not much of a cover, but I will respect it nonetheless...

[yardboy]

Is that the Panhandle Reef Society? If so say hi to "scootman" for me. Not much of a cover, but I will respect it nonetheless...

 

Yep, that's it. Major upheaval recently. Started with Scoot being promoted to president due to resignation, then resignation of most of Board, leaving Scoot, me, and the treasurer. Then someone hacked our site, twice, the second time attacking the server it was on also. So hopefully, like a coastal town rebuilding from a hurricane, we will be better in the end for it. Going to IP.B., same as NR.

A local club has a big advantage over great sites like NR, by eliminating overnight shipping! Plus support groups in an emergency.. and sharing of the best collection sites, and no one trying to tell you that you can't collect in Florida, as we all have our fishing licenses!

I hear you on the rage of BP's preparedness. And if you question the coziness of past administrations you get stomped on pretty fast.

[johnmaloney]

So much for his cover...

 

If you question the coziness of any administration I will have to question your ex-patriotism. I thought you were all disenfranchised. Your just going for the view then huh? As for me, I am typing up a resume. That 5k BP is giving out minus the lawyers share, random fee, booking fee, and additional fee won't last long after they shut down the fishery.

[yardboy]

Everyone around here with a boat is jumping on that bandwagon. The numbers they are throwing around sound good, but I see you are based in reality with your expectations.

I wonder what souvenirs the tourists in Key West are bringing home?

[johnmaloney]

Not sure, when I am down there this weekend I will let you know.

 

It makes me really nervous that they want to buy people off before they get the leak fixed. It makes me think their best options failed and we got another 3 months of this before a relief well might work.

 

Well in better news, I feel like the local officials are on the ball and have a plan and are getting prepared. Time and a much more diluted if any threat makes it easier though.

 

edit - I should post something related to the topic.

 

One tip I learned is that you don't want stretch in the material of your netting. The knots shouldn't slide, or widen when you apply pressure to them, at least not much. If they do a fish will ram into the netting at some point and force himself half way through the net. This is called "gilling a fish", and is to be avoided at all costs. If you do gill a fish resist the temptation to push them in one direction or another. You will feel bad and will want to react quickly to save your fish, but it is more likely you will kill him. Grab your knife, scissors etc...and cut the net. If none, look for a barnacle edge or something else sharp that is out there. This worked for me with success when a small snook was gilled in a cast net I threw, should have had a knife or something but it worked in a pinch.

 

now I feel better about the post.