I finally caught one my shallower grouper holes in Pensacola Bay with the right combination of conditions for me to freedive today. It was near high tide, so the current was very slight, and there had been clean gulf water coming in with little boat traffic all morning, so visibility was good by our standards (about 15-20').
So we marked the wreck with a buoy, and anchored up a short distance away so my boys could fish while I checked it out. I really didn't know if the conditions would be divable, so I figured I would make a quick bounce just to see and didn't take my gun. That won't happen again. The wreck (a 16' or so boat surrounded by about a dozen tires) is in 40' of water. At about 30' I paused and could see grouper everywhere. Quite a few looked legal, so I headed back for my gun, and the sweet floatline that John Hanson just built for me.
Armed now, I headed back down. Again, as I hit 30' or so, I had a clear view of the wreck, and a bunch of decent gags. I continued drifting down, and across the wreck, and lined up a shot on one. Right then, there came the strangest croaking sound. It was a very loud, BRRRUUP, BRRRUUP, and it was so forcefull that I actually felt it. Like when you drift over a little on the highway and hit those bumps they mold in the shoulder of the asphalt. Anyway, at the sound, every fish I could see, of every size and species, positively bolted. I'm not talking a little skittish flight here, and nothing like the way they ease off when I dive scuba. They dove immediately for any cover they could find. They were literally knocking each other out of the way to get into the wreck first. I made several subsequent dives, but only saw a fraction of the fish that were there at first.
This same noise happened when I last dove this wreck about 6 weeks ago. I have never heard it anywhere else. Anybody have any idea what it might be? On rare ocaisions, I have seen goliath grouper in the bay, but this wreck isn't big enough to hold one over 50 lbs or so.