First, thanks to member Harry Finke for finding and scheduling this Dive Operator/Trip. Five of us and one fill-in by the dive shop left yesterday morning for a two tanker in the Gulf. Capt. John (8 of us on the boat, and four of us were named John) headed to a group of rock piles called the Waz piles, about a 20 min. boat ride. Seas were less than 1 ft and the 32ft Twin Vee's ride was smooth. Only complaint is there's not a lot of places to sit. Lots of room on the boat though. 12 ft beam with the dive seats/tanks down the middle. Sides low and easy to backroll off of. There is a swim platform and nice ladder if you want to giant stride off instead. First location was Southernmost point, a large pile of large culverts, giant slabs and thick beams. It was absolutely covered in bait fish, and the nooks and crannies held lots of large mangrove snappers. One medium sized goliath and one baby goliath were around and a couple of tropicals. Gray angel, blue angel, and a few butterfly fish, as well as a large, resting nurse shark. Water temp was probably 88, vis was 15-20 with lots of particulate in the water. They had a divemaster in the water with us (another John) who kept group together in the low vis and pointed out various life.

Second dive was in the same group of reefs, but was unnamed, so they named it Caloosa in their plotter for future reference. This was two piles fairly close to each other. Not as many baitfish, but a good school of Atlantic Spadefish and lots of snapper. Also found a couple of crabs. Back on the boat, in the cooler, were numbered water bottles from the dive shop in a can coozie that were for each diver to take home with them, as well as sodas, and snacks. 

The dive shop is small, but carries lots of gear. The operation is very laid back, but professional. boat schedules are flexible and try to go out on a slack tide. If they give you a time, that is a show time. They transport your gear and load it onto the boat for you, leaving you a short, one block walk to the boat. The Snook Inn is close to the boat, so food after the dive is handy. I like these guys. We had a good time with them, and they were appreciative to have a boat full of experienced divers.  I'm sure the club will use them again in the future.  They go out almost every day as long as they have 3-4 divers and the weather is good.  They'll also call it off if the vis is horrible. They want you to have a good experience.