2022-2023 dive season was not off to a good start. I injured my leg right before we left Minnesota in late October and it got infected. Doctors orders were to stay out of the ocean until it healed. Then when we arrived in the Keys our house was found to have termites so we had to move out for a few days while they tented the entire house. I was finally cleared to dive in late November. I was able to get some successful Yellowtail fishing in Nov and December
I finally got back underwater on November 28, 2022, but realized I had left my GoPro Camera back home. Jay and I did dives at Conch Reef and Pickles on 11-28 -22 after dealing with 2 dead batteries and then realizing when we got out there that we had no ladder. So we rigged up some ropes and took off our gear to crawl back into the boat after the dive. It was very calm though. Next up was an afternoon dive at Conch Reef on 12-10-22. There is an interesting new island forming near the reef. The next day our last dives of the year 2022 were 2 at French Reef and a 3rd at Molasses on a calm day where we sighted a turtle, a stingray and a reef shark. No camera though. Camera will have to wait until I return to MN over Christmas to retrieve it!
My longtime friend Bob Bauman came in early January for his annual dive trip. We got decent weather and did 7 dives in 5 days! 4 at Molasses and also Conch, Snappers and Pickle Barrel reefs. I now had my GoPro 10 so images and videos were taken. But before diving, we got a very successful morning of fishing in with our limit of yellowtail snapper and some mackerel .
I prepared the fish Matecumbe style and Lazy Days style - both delicious!
Below is a slideshow from those dives with Bob
I got 6 more dives logged in January 2023 at Molasses, French and Conch. Below are some images from those dives. ALso got to try my New Subnado underwater propulsion
Here are links to the YouTube videos of the January 2023 dives with my dive buddy Bob Bauman. Sea turtle, Goliath Groupers and sharks and eels and lots of tropical fish. The weather cooperated during his 1 week annual visit.
