Reefchief's oceanic adventures

    Quote from Reefchief

    He was super friendly. Me Frank Job and Xan pretty much hung out with him for like 45 minutes although Judah was actually trying to spearfish too. Dan was recuperating on the boat after hunting his big doggie.


    At one point Xan gave it a high five.


    :thumbsup5: awesome

    Scupper Pro Gives You Wings!

    Great Pictures

    "Whiskey don't make liars, it just makes fools. So, I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said."
    -James McMurtry

    Quote from sdeisen

    alright red-chief! Did Jeb and hardline get to see it too or were u the only lucky witness


    It was an insanely cool experience. The ray did not enjoy my presence however. Mark and xan were diving and just hanging out with him and every drop I made he'd clear the area and do a big circle.
    I was giving him/her a wide berth so as not to mess it up for the others. I was rewarded on one dive when, as though we had made peace, I dove and slowly made my way to the ray and he raised one flap and turned vertical, as he had so many times, and then leveled off, as if forgiving me and inviting me over. I swam right over top of it and mimicked its swimming and was lucky enough to get a gentle rub of its back before it waved goodbye as my pesky need to breathe showed up


    We have some different levels of diving ability among our group. Xan and mark are both mermen who only breathe to make others feel better. Frank is somehow never tired and manages to horse like 157 lbs of lead around on his weight belt. Dan had not dove in a while and , even though he was dissappointed in his performance, he stil was dropping 50' and aspettoing to entice fish to appear. And then there is me. Lets just say that my hunting instincts allow me to overcome many of the shortcomings of my diving ability hahaha


    All that as introduction. One of the coolest things I have ever seen was xan dive to the sand in 55' and then do a sort of yoga cross legged pose on the sand and just hang out with this ray. Literally! The guy just plopped down like he was in a recliner and the ray was just a neighbor over to watch the game.
    I was suspended about thirty feet down just watching and I swear I did not need to breathe. The experience, quite literally, took my breath away



    Thanks for a great day guys

    i like to spear fish

    Oh and the same wreck where we first saw the ray. There was a Goliath grouper well over 150 lbs probably three times that buy I never got super close to him

    i like to spear fish

    Hank, one of your dog snappers escaped and made its way up here. Don't worry though Dan recaptured it. He had to use lethal force though.



    Xan sitting on the bottom with the ray swimming around him really was just awesome.


    Some moving pictures of the coolness
    Manta Ray - YouTube


    Xan you gotta post some of that footage I know its got to be really cool.


    Low five bro



    Its such a chill dude. Look at its fin. It knows how to low five.

    Edited 3 times, last by Reefchief ().

    Those rays are amazing. I was able to go diving with them at night. If you gather enough lights and shine them together in the water column you attract plankton and then the big 20 foot rays. Its really cool. Love the pictures.

    We had some very decent vis. I felt I really earned this 7lb snapper, played hide and seek with him for what felt like 20 minutes in 45ft, and finally got a shot. I didn't know it was a dog until I had him in my hands. He was white on the bottom, and I took the shot hiding behind a rock from further than I would've liked to.


    Nice fish and pictures guys. ive had one manta encounter so far in my time in florida and it was in Jensen beach... big one in 10 feet of water that scared the crap out of me, I think i scared the crap out of him too the way he booked it and took off!

    Thats one positive of being a shrimp like me. Big tall dudes like Dan and Judah make really nice fish look small lol. It really was a beautiful dog snapper. Biggest I've seen around here.


    Watching Dans battle from the boat was fun. Not to mention i think he covered a damn square mile around the boat before finding and hunting the snapper. After the first spot we all piled on fishless except Dan who was still out working a spot. We saw him diving and diving and then finally surface with a fist in the air. I figured he missed and was uppercutting mother ocean as I like to do. But he swam back towing his gun and pulled out that pretty dog.

    Dan, thats a solid dog for down here. I got lucky and pulled two in one day diving off lauderdale a few months back. Were yall south or north of haulover? amazed at that viz you had!

    I have hundreds more to go through but here are a few pics I got with my cam. Everyone seemed to forget to mention the giant sea turtle! (Facebook's compression destroys the crispness of the GoPro Black)




    Of course the infamous Manta



    Dan ascending off the wreck


    Awesome pics! The forum resizing them makes them look janky but if you click they look much better. I think facebooks compression is doing that.

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