New Natural reefs

[sharpshooter]

Can expect Ian to shift a lot of sand around. There will be some nice honey hole reefs covered up or further exposed. Last hurricane left about 2"-3" of a 1' foot high ledge exposed. Totally filled in the cracks and holes . A 2 sided ledge like a finger that was great on one side ended up 2/3 filled in. The other side that had 3 small holes ended up losing a lot of sand and being better than the other original side . Might even get a few new wrecks to dive. Good thing hunting season is now open while the vis will take a long time to clear up .

[Gary Schulte]

Interesting thought. Hurricanes uncover treasure on the Florida east coast. I’m thinking mostly in shallow water. Come back with a report in a few weeks

[Marcus]

I like the way you think. I've certainly witnessed natural reefs disappearing/appearing over the years.

[sharpshooter]

Originally Posted by Marcus

I like the way you think. I've certainly witnessed natural reefs disappearing/appearing over the years.

That's why you should always run your bottom machine. Never know what will show up.

[Doc]

Once upon a time we had the "four storms" where no one dove for a month at least as there were constantly hurricanes and rough water and no vis.

We were one of the first groups to venture back out. First stop was a 4' ledge with huge deep undercuts... it was totally gone on the machine. We were preplexed so dropped on it and could just make out some exposed rock right where it should have been... it was almost all sand. One of my favorite inshore spots I had dove for years was gone... totally gone.

Second drop we pull up on a public very well known wreck... the Tramp Steamer.... the bottom machine looked like the wreck was on fire.

We dropped in and it was insane... big gags were EVERYWHERE... like an overcrowded homeless shelter... like all the displaced gags who lost their homes just kept swimming till they found this wreck. Two of us shot a four man limit (then 20 fish) of LARGE for inshore gags in 20 minutes.

[sos26]

It has surly happened again ,,, Here west of Captiva the reefs have taken a beating (along with my house in St James City) ..... some ledges are covered,
and a lot of exposed rock looks like it snowed a couple inches of mud on top..
I think from the few dives that i got in ,, the deeper ya go the less siltation
(not sure if that's a word)......
I have heard that the mighty Mohawk (coast guard cutter) is scrap across the bottom ,,,, but I have not been there yet .....
Certainty hope your right Jose ,, I would love to find some new spots because
the couple hundred spots I have now are mostly dead around here...
The bad red tide we had here a few years decimated some fish populations..
I don't think I've seen a shootable hog in 4 years..
So about all I can do is hope that things get better before I croak !

[sharpshooter]

Originally Posted by sos26

It has surly happened again ,,, Here west of Captiva the reefs have taken a beating (along with my house in St James City) ..... some ledges are covered,
and a lot of exposed rock looks like it snowed a couple inches of mud on top..
I think from the few dives that i got in ,, the deeper ya go the less siltation
(not sure if that's a word)......
I have heard that the mighty Mohawk (coast guard cutter) is scrap across the bottom ,,,, but I have not been there yet .....
Certainty hope your right Jose ,, I would love to find some new spots because
the couple hundred spots I have now are mostly dead around here...
The bad red tide we had here a few years decimated some fish populations..
I don't think I've seen a shootable hog in 4 years..
So about all I can do is hope that things get better before I croak !

Am sure you'll find some new spots this spring if you troll for kingfish and mackerel while watching the bottom machine .

[gcracker89]

The power of the waves is amazing to see their work sculpting the bottom. Before seeing and diving the area I would fish with charter captains and sooner of=r later the conversation would turn to old spots that disappeared. the advantage we have as divers we see what there or not. The first time I saw this was the No Name Storm in 1993 or 4 It flattened the sand bar north of Anclote and pushed it over the East side of the bar. instead of a slope it was a drop off to deeper water, for a while you could step off the back of your boat on to dry sand.
Well there should be lots of new "Secret Spots" to be found now.