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Posted by Elsa on 21:00:48 02/16/08
hello!
Went diving today just east of the boundary of Biscayne NP, to a deep wreck. On the way out I saw a common loon flying around (nice!) and then a magnificent frigatebird sitting on Pacific Reef marker with a bunch of cormorants, it looked rather out of place. Then on the Nuevo Rio (Doc DeMilly) wreck (120')I saw a really big shark (I'm not good at fish ID but it was not a hammerhead, nor a nurse shark - perhaps a mako or bull - swimming slowly and with a rather angular look to its lateral line - I tried to count the gill slits but remembered too late and it was gone) and when we surfaced and discussed it my buddy said there were TWO sharks! Wow. That was my first big shark sighting while diving (nurse sharks don't really count...). There were also lots of pretty bristleworms and one queen angelfish intent on lunging towards my unprotected fingers (I only wear one glove as a reminder not to touch coral) I actually had to finally swam out of its territory. Back on board I got sick because it was rather rough so I kinda stopped looking for pelagics :-( Then we went to go replace the missing mooring buoys at The Drop (you're welcome!) and set up to replace a missing pencil buoy at Boca Chita where I got to show my boat companions a Great Black-backed Gull, and they really liked that. Plus there were TONS of shorebirds on the Convoy Point Jetty. Altogether a nice day on the water (any loon day is a nice day), just wish more divers were birders (especially birders not vulnerable to motion sickness) as it would have been a nice time to look for pelagics.
Feathered pelagics, I mean. ;-)
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