A Day in the Gulf of Mexico

One of my Favorite Things

By Jeannine Lehman

PADI Master Instructor, IDC Staff Instructor

It was one of those days that create memory videos in your mind - a clear blue sky, tranquil water and the bright May sun not too warm yet. I was accompanying one of my newly certified divers ( Kink Crowley ) on her fifth open water dive in the Gulf of Mexico. We were diving from our charter boat the Giant Stride. A perfect day for one of my favorite dives of a lifetime.

As we skirted remnants scattered about the wreck of a barge in 65' of water, we became enamored watching the darting antics of a robinfish in the sand bed. It reminded me of seeing a flying grunard (sp?) in St. Martin.

As we watched it leap across the bottom, we became aware of the sun becoming dimmer. We looked up to discover our "cloud" was a school of amberjack, 400-500 in number and up to 80 pounds in size.

My heart pounded. My hands shook. This was probably my 4500th dive. I gave my new diving partner a high 5 with wide, excited eyes. She didn't know whether to be nervous or excited.

We ascended to get closes to the AJs. They parted slightly and welcomed us to become radius of their family. They circled us slowly and we were mesmerized. It was like we were the center of attraction for them.

Knowing it was time to surface we started swimming slowly in the direction of the boat. The massive sheath of fish accompanied us, fining slowly around us even as we did our safety stop. As we ascended, it was with both joy and sadness that we waved goodbye to our wonderful escort. They had given us a moment to remember and a dive of a lifetime.

This dive was in my backyard too. I have traveled the world over diving in all the exotic locations too.