LOBSTER SERVED UP WITH SCALLOPS = MY DINNER!!
Monday was as perfect a day on the ocean as you are likely to ever see. Dead calm seas, sunny skies, air in the 70’s, a dive on the west coast on the agenda. What could be better?Heading out of Grand Harve for the first time this year, and making our way through the mine field of outer reefs that make up the west coast we set a course to our favorite spot to look for a brill or two. The tide was still very low with rocks sticking out everywhere. Every time I head out on this side of the Island it always looks different. Having such a large tidal range of 10 metres makes a big difference between high and low tide. As it was a really low tide the reefs seem to be everywhere just waiting for some poor boat to run a ground on them. After a 10-minute boat ride, we arrived at the spot and started getting kitted up, we were ready for some flattie action, with good reports of plenty of flats being caught on the Shoal Bank my hopes were high. Rolling over the side I was disappointed by the viz. The last time I dived the viz had started to look more like pea soup, but now it has turned to mud with lights out at 25 metres due to the spring tides and plankton bloom. As we descended into the briny depths in search of our prey we soon touched down onto a sandy/gravel bottom and started the hunt by brail over the sand waves as the viz was down to a metre or so. Drifting down the bank in the tide looking for the tell tale sign's of that little bump in the sand and two green eyes sticking out looking at you never came. Peering into the soup ahead of me I made out a small reef sticking out of the sand, drifting over it, there to greet me was a blue bug, poking its head out of a hole in the reef. Unfortunately, there was no way to get my hands behind him, so I perched myself on top of the reef and tried to stay as quiet as possible.Then I tried an old Guernsey myth. I was once told that if you hum under water the lobster becomes inquisitive and comes out his hiding place to take a peek. It knew I was there, but was foolhardy enough to stick out its claws to take a look, so made a grab for them. Unfortunately, a clumsy grab, the nipper claw came clamping down on my right thumb. Yeeeooow! Playtime is over! I pulled my finger away and held on, thinking they don't have much stamina. That delusion shortly got put to rest when it twisted the nipper away and gave me another nice squeeze. Argh, bug 2, Philski 0. (Note to myself again) Wear Kevlar gloves. So now I've spent 3 minutes at 20 metres' getting my ass kicked by a crustacean. I had the last laugh when I finally pulled him out his hole and spent the next 5 minutes rolling around in zero viz trying to get him in my bag. So the Guernsey myth was put to the test and worked.
Dive team:
Phil
Paul
Boat man Len
Bottom Time 25 minutes
Depth 22 metres
Visibility 1/2 metres
Bottom Gas 32% nitrox
No comments:
Post a Comment