Stone
Contributor
Date: 26 Jul 05
Wx: Clear, winds SSW 10 kts, 74 F
Seas: Glass in Boggy Bayou, calm in the Bay, and less than a foot in the Gulf
Temp: Bottom finder read 88 F on the surface. My computer read 83 F on the surface and 73 F on the bottom. Switched to the three-mil wetsuit.
Prologue: Departed the marina around 0630 and watched the sun rise through the dust cloud that has blown over from the Sahara. . . very pretty. We headed west to hit some wrecks off of Navarre. About 10 miles out of the Pass, the engine started missing every few minutes. I stopped the boat and replaced the fuel/water separator and the problem was resolved.
Dive One: Butthead Tug. This may be our last dive on the Butthead. Even though the vis was 40 50 ft in the top of the water column, as soon any movement is made near the wreck, the silt comes up and the vis can drop to zero. The fish in the hold stir it up on purpose, so its no use looking for hiding fish. If you scare a flounder on the outside of the wreck, all you can see is a cloud about 3 ft high, 3 ft wide, and 8 ft long where the flounder use to be.
Dive Two: Navarre Barge. Not as silty as the Butthead, but the vis wasnt great. . . maybe 20 ft. We shot a grouper and a few triggers. Picked up a beach ball.
Dive Three: Elmore Barge. The sand has piled so high on the south side of the barge that it is even with the top. You have to trust your numbers or have a good bottom machine because there is almost no relief. My machine just shows a thicker bottom line when I pass from sand to steel. We shot some more triggers and a couple of red snapper. Picked up another beach ball.
Dive Four: Fort Walton Barge. Another wreck I may never dive again (unless the resident Jewfish departs). If the vis is good, it is kind of fun swimming through the inside of the barge. I dont know how stable the structure is, and it might not be very safe. There are no fish to spear because the Jewfish has eaten everything in sight. Believe it or not, we picked up a third beach ball.
Epilogue: The wind picked up to about 15kts in the afternoon, but the seas never got over two feet. We made it back to port by 1630. I parked the boat to have the holding tank emptied, but hurricane Dennis had put the pump-out station out of commission. When I cranked the engine to pull the boat into the marina, I heard the screeching sound of a loose belt and I watched the temperature gauge start to rise. The screeching stopped abruptly and the temperature started coming down. Im guessing the water pump is seizing and I will probably replace it before next weekend.
Wx: Clear, winds SSW 10 kts, 74 F
Seas: Glass in Boggy Bayou, calm in the Bay, and less than a foot in the Gulf
Temp: Bottom finder read 88 F on the surface. My computer read 83 F on the surface and 73 F on the bottom. Switched to the three-mil wetsuit.
Prologue: Departed the marina around 0630 and watched the sun rise through the dust cloud that has blown over from the Sahara. . . very pretty. We headed west to hit some wrecks off of Navarre. About 10 miles out of the Pass, the engine started missing every few minutes. I stopped the boat and replaced the fuel/water separator and the problem was resolved.
Dive One: Butthead Tug. This may be our last dive on the Butthead. Even though the vis was 40 50 ft in the top of the water column, as soon any movement is made near the wreck, the silt comes up and the vis can drop to zero. The fish in the hold stir it up on purpose, so its no use looking for hiding fish. If you scare a flounder on the outside of the wreck, all you can see is a cloud about 3 ft high, 3 ft wide, and 8 ft long where the flounder use to be.
Dive Two: Navarre Barge. Not as silty as the Butthead, but the vis wasnt great. . . maybe 20 ft. We shot a grouper and a few triggers. Picked up a beach ball.
Dive Three: Elmore Barge. The sand has piled so high on the south side of the barge that it is even with the top. You have to trust your numbers or have a good bottom machine because there is almost no relief. My machine just shows a thicker bottom line when I pass from sand to steel. We shot some more triggers and a couple of red snapper. Picked up another beach ball.
Dive Four: Fort Walton Barge. Another wreck I may never dive again (unless the resident Jewfish departs). If the vis is good, it is kind of fun swimming through the inside of the barge. I dont know how stable the structure is, and it might not be very safe. There are no fish to spear because the Jewfish has eaten everything in sight. Believe it or not, we picked up a third beach ball.
Epilogue: The wind picked up to about 15kts in the afternoon, but the seas never got over two feet. We made it back to port by 1630. I parked the boat to have the holding tank emptied, but hurricane Dennis had put the pump-out station out of commission. When I cranked the engine to pull the boat into the marina, I heard the screeching sound of a loose belt and I watched the temperature gauge start to rise. The screeching stopped abruptly and the temperature started coming down. Im guessing the water pump is seizing and I will probably replace it before next weekend.
. It was good to meet you and the other folks at the ECRA meeting. I look forward to seeing you all after the reef clean-up Saturday.
