Hey guys.
We made the trip Saturday about 30 miles offshore. We dove a ledge in 70-85 ft, surface temp was 74, bottom was 79. Visibility was 60ft plus. We had a great group for our first charter, and everything went smoothly. We left Patriots Point at 7:00 am, and we were 30 miles offshore, anchored, and putting divers (there were 13 of us) in the water by 9:20. The boat ran GREAT, thanks to Steve Little, Hamilton Foster (captain) and TowBoat US. The plan was to run out and dive “Bulls Ledge,” then come in and dive some live bottom near the 60’ or dive the APC’s depending on the weather. However, we were so thick into fish, we agreed during our surface interval that we would stay on the huge ledge system to do dive #2. There were a lot of AJ in the column, and I only saw ONE small ARS. We hit the ground hard taking 3 gags, 2 scamp, 8 trigger, 2 AJ, 4 lionfish, 2 spades, and 1 grunt. 2 of our divers got to come fin-close to a nice 4.5 foot sand shark (or sharp nose maybe) which was only interested in the 25 pound gag bleeding on their stringer. We saw some remoras, plenty of sheeps head, a few rays, one turtle, and we picked up a nice 7-8 lb lobster too. All in all the day was a complete success. Thanks to a great crew and good divers for making it a great trip. I am really forward to the next one (which is October 17th, by the way). The ride out only took about 1:45 minutes, and this was my first time diving this boat too, and I think everyone would agree, this is a great stable dive platform. There was just so much room, and we still cruised at 18 knt fully loaded! Loren took pictures, a select few of which are here: www.charlestondiving.com. I forward to diving with you on the next one!
-Vic