Fantastic End of Season Event
It was one of the best end of season events between the sunny warm weather, crystal clear visibility, spotted eagle ray sightings, a delicious BBQ and fabulous raffle prizes.
Happy divers at the Bridge: front row (from left): Bruce Garber on the megaphone, Amber Laureano, Mario Moya, Kyle Weisenberg, Jessica Bochenek. Back row: John Davis, Angelica Cookson, Evelyn Brow, Barbara Hoffman, Laura Geselbracht, Steve McPhillips, Maureen Niland, Deborah London, Ann Spagnolo, Arnaud Giraud, Marisol Beleche, Juan Merino, Rachel Davis, Anand Ranganathan, Sam Bochenek, Cheri Craft, Russell Levene, Steve Moore, Luz Marie Moore.
The day began with a early high tide about an hour after we arrived at 7:30. It was gear up and go with the safety briefing and divers entered the water.
If it looks like the divers are sitting in the water, it's because the king tide made the water rise above the concrete wall. But it also made for warm 84 degree water and excellent 30-35 feet visibility.
The highlight of our dive was midway through just south of the west bridge we saw two spotted eagle rays who kept circling around us. One stopped right in front of us to dig some food out of the sand. We were close enough to see its eyes and snout in a very impressive display.
Later on out on the snorkel trail we saw a huge spotted moray eel freeswimming between the structures like a beautiful ribbon moving with the current. He was on a mission headed out toward the shipping lane. We followed him a ways. We later saw a yellow stingray and the usual schooling tropical fish all over the various structures.
After the dive we had a delicious BBQ prepared and cooked by Maureen Niland and Juan Merino. Then it was time for the raffles. In addition to the usual gently-used dive gear, the club funded $300 worth of brand new raffle prizes from Force E. The bigger winners were Barbara Hoffman with a Neretic 2500 dive light and Angelica Cookson winning the 10 air fill card donated by Force E. Everyone walked away with a prize and after all tickets were drawn we had the grab fest where members could take anything and everything off the table.
Thanks to long-time member and Force-E liaison Amber Laureano for organizing and calling the raffle with her hot pink megaphone, and helping us to obtain the prizes and donations from Force-E.
A fabulous time was had by all and we're already looking forward to the 2027 dive season.
Underwater photos by Steve Moore. Additional photos by John Davis and Luz Marie Moore.