Linda Susan & Eckstein - May 15, 2009© Photos by Mark Miller © Hi-Res Source
This was a trip to FH-13 to conduct Dive Surveys of the Linda Susan and Kay Eckstein for MGFB. The crew consisted of myself and 2 of my boys Ben (15) and Luke (11), along with their friend Danny Collier. Conditions were fair considering the past weather pattern with seas running 2-4 and winds about 12 knots. Visibility was much better than it had been with about 20-30 feet at the surface, 50-70 feet in the mid-water, and 15-20 at the bottom. The Linda-Susan was sunk in late June of 2006 and still proves to be one of my favorite Dive Sites. The Kay Eckstein was sunk late May of 2005 and was a large River Tug very similar to the Linda Susan. However, Hurricane Katrina struck in late August of 2005 and pretty much demolished this Reef. Most of the Vessel is submerged below the mud line and wallowed into a 10 foot hole. All that is left now is the Stern Starboard Quarter sticking up perhaps 8 feet. A Shrimp Net was entagled on it with the Turtle Extruder Device hanging another 10 feet above it due to floats on it. I have dove this reef a couple times since Katrina to try and visually see what happened to it but never got enough visibility until this trip. Of course we also fished some during the day and you can see the prductive nature of the reefs. There was no shortage of Red Snapper themselves, just a shortage of recreational regulations to allow taking them. The commercial boats however are allowed to fish right along side and put them all in their boat. On June 1, we can start keeping 2 fish per person. We were lucky today and were able to bring home a few Grouper that usually seem to ellude us. Everyone had a great time. Total trip encompassed 62.5 Miles, 10.6 hours, and 33.2 gallons ($77) of fuel.
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