The Bank really is out in the middle of no-where. Swells always seemed big because there is nothing to shield you from them and the wind picked up over the day generating 6 foot swells. Water was colder than I had hoped - about 62 degrees F.
The water was cloudy with vis ranging from 20 to 50 feet. I saw tons of bait fish on that first dive, but no game fish. Rich said he saw a lumbering school of nice sized yellowtail while he was hunting for lobster, but they didn't come close enough for a shot.
Divers returned from the frst dive without a single lobster. I could hardly believe it. This is supposed to be THE spot for lobster. I decided to give lobstering a try. I scuba dove to 110 feet and found two nice lobster in short order. Towards the end of the dive I found another walking in the sand. I ended the dive with three nice lobster. When I returned to the boat, I found no one else but the deckhand had got any (he got four!).
I began to remember how much fun lobster hunting can be. I did the third dive (to 106 feet) and caught two more nice lobster. I took my Riffe Competitor 3 down with me just in case something nice came by and a yellowtail did charge towards me. I waited until he got as close as he was willing (about 15 feet) I aimed and fired only to see my spearshaft stop 3 feet short of him. I wish I had my Alexander gun instead. It would have been an easy shot.
The best part of the trip happened on my next scuba dive. I caught one nice lobster and was looking for more when I felt something following me. I looked back and saw a giant black seabass - it was huge! and it was my first time seeing one. I paused just to take it all in. It was truely a surreal experience. He swam closer to me checking me out and I could make out all detail of his scales and imperfections in his texture. He was a beautiful slate grey towards the bottom turning darker towards the top. For a second I wondered if it could be a huge white seabass, but he had too much depth to be a white. He must have been nearly 500 lbs. I finally left and he followed for a while then lost interest and faded into the haze. We did two more dives and I got two more lobster just making the daily limit of 7.
At the end of the dive day, we were told one of the divers got bent and a chopper was called in to air-lift him to the chamber. It must have been those three 100+ foot dives we started the day with. (After chamber treatment he was fine.)
Next day, I was eager to catch some more lobster because we really didn't see many pelagic game fish. I felt pressure from others because I had done so well the first day. I did the first two dives (both deep) and began to feel sick. I sat out the next three dives and began to wonder if maybe I too was bent. The divers weren't getting anything at all, so I couldn't get motivated to push myself particularly how I was feeling. After the third dive I sat out, one diver returned with a 4 lb lobster, then one moment later another returned with a 10 lb'er. It was huge! Seeing that monster bug suddenly made me feel lots better. I suited up and made ready to make the next (and final) dive. We headed for the ship wreck and saw birds working the surface. One deck-hand threw a jig and instantly hooked up and landed a 10 lb yellowtail. Rich and I grabbed our freedive gear and jumped in as soon as the boat stopped. We both headed for the spot, but neither of us saw any game fish. The dingy came picked us up because the anchor had slipped, so I got a second chance to switch to scuba to look for bugs. I found one more to make a total of 8 for the two days.
The trip home took 10 hours, but it was smooth and a welcome relief from the two days of constant swells. Cortez was beautiful, but I was glad to get home.