Well, by now mini-season is over and the regular lobster season has begun. I’ve been away from the writing on the blog and diving since mini-season so this is my first chance to report in on how we did. Where was I? I was busy welcoming my newborn baby girl into the world! The day after mini-season ended, August 1st at 8:05 Abigale Grace was born! She weighed in at 6lbs 4oz.
Thank you, thank you! Now - back to the lobster. Well, we did manage to get a few that matched Abi for size but the pickings were pretty slim. Day one wasn’t a good start, we spent about five hours in the water and only came out with eight lobsters to show for it. The bugs we got were all of good size, most of them four pounds or over but there just wasn’t many of them.
The year before we did well but had to pick through a bunch of females with eggs to get our limits, this year we just didn’t see many bugs at all. Day two ended up being only slightly better with nine lobsters, a small Spanish lobster got us up that one little notch. Again, we caught all we saw but just weren’t to many to be had. Not many shorts or pregnant females to throw back. I don’t know but I’m guessing they were just late coming in this season? I hope anyway.
The bugs we did manage to catch were mostly on deeper tank dives. We dove in the 50 foot range and both days got the vast majority of our catch in a single dive. After exhausting two tanks each we went inshore to try to supplement our haul on an air bouey but ended up just getting a good workout swimming across an empty reef. After about two hours I managed to only pull out two lobsters from the shallows. Again, just not many to be had. Didn’t even see many legs or antennas from any divers who may have hit the water overnight. At least the water was pretty clear on day two - making for at least a pleasant dive.
Lionfish, a non-native fish to the Atlantic Ocean could soon be invading local waters here in Stuart according to scientists. The Pacific Lionfish is already taking over parts of the Caribbean and the Bahamas and will soon be moving to waters here. The fish reproduce rapidly and are being introduced into our ecosystem both by aquarium owners releasing them as pets that get to big into the Atlantic and from migrations from the Caribbean, Bahamas and Mexico.
It’s open season on Lionfish here because the fish is not indiginous to our waters and has no natural predators here. So they will spread rapidly and do severe damage to the aquatic ecosystem. Destroying the reefs and causing havoc among local populations of lobster, grouper, snapper and many other local species. The above video shows how to spear Lionfish and avoid being stung by the toxic fish. It even shows a few recipes for the fish which is a Chinese delicasy. If you are out diving or snorkeling soon and see some of these fish on our reefs - please feel free to take them as a souvenir. Lobster mini-season is coming up soon and with all the divers out crawling the reefs for lobster they could make a big impact on the Lionfish invasion if they killed any they saw. Spread the word!
Stuart, FL - Bathtub Beach is FINALLY going to be re-opened to the public this coming Monday. Everyone had been expecting the beach to open for about a week now but delays in hiring life guards for the beach have kept it closed until now. According to a story I read over at TCPalm, there are still waiting for up to four more lifeguards that haven’t responded to the job offers they made them but are planning to open Monday anyway.
The city has cleaned up the parking lot and the bathrooms in preparation for the re-opening but warns there are still under water dangers that were not there the last time you went! Be cautious the first time you go remembering there are things there you can’t necessarily see, like tree stumps!
Overall it should be a fun and safe place to go to the beach with the Bathtub Reef still providing a barrier from the waves making it a calm place to enjoy a dip or a cool place to go snorkel. If you do decide to snorkel or just venture out to the reef itself, PLEASE keep in mind that it’s a living reef and is very fragile to the touch. Look but don’t touch! Enjoy!
