Destin Florida Diving: Scuba Tech Review

[Skeptic14]

One other thing I forgot to mention. We had a bent diver one day, so I got to see the crew in an emergency situation..... they responded excellently: very prompt action with no hint of panic. They were in control of the situation and got the diver on O2 immediately with quick calls to EMS. We had a police boat escort as we took the diver to the dock near the bridge (which I think is the coast guard location). A diver would be in good hands with these folks in an emergency situation.

Do you know details leading up to the event? Did they have an uncontrolled ascent or ignore NDLs? Good to know the crew was on top of the situation though.

 

[sportxlh]

He dove within NDL limits on air (barely) and was not believed to have ascended too quickly. He just got unlucky, not unlike the story in this months Sport Diver magazine about the experienced diver that got bent while diving a normal profile. Sometimes it just happens

 

[Lorenzoid]

@sportxlh , are there any sites that you would NOT recommend for macro life? Or are all the sites Scubatech visits pretty good for macro? When I inquired with Scubatech about a dedicated macro trip, mentioning that I had read a glowing report, they gave the old "we can't guarantee what sites we will visit" reply. The last time I dived off Destin, it wasn't with Scubatech, and whatever sites we were on were terrible for macro.

 

[Skeptic14]

@Lorenzoid fwiw, I went out this past Sat. on a private boat to a ledge just south of Whitehill Reef and from the surface the water looked nice, at around 40-50 feet it looked like you were approaching the bottom, but it was just an all encompassing cloud of particulate that continued to the bottom. Visibility was less than 5 feet, we ran a reel from the anchor line and tried to make a dive of it, but thumbed it after a few minutes, I never saw a single fish.

We moved 6 miles further east (up current) hoping it would be more clear at a different site, only to find slightly worse conditions.

Scubatech reported vis of 30' yesterday I think at the bridge rubble sites (much closer to shore) so it's possible that things aren't as stirred up with particulate closer to shore.

Not sure when you plan to try to come down, just an fyi.

My least favorite sites are the barges in general. Any of the natural reefs are pretty good for macro and the bridge rubble sites too.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Thinking of two weeks from now.

So is your advice to just give it a go, and accept the fact that they can't guarantee a macro safari?

 

[Skeptic14]

By then hopefully things wont still be as stirred up from Irma.

There's a local diver that always seems to be on the boat when I am that only shoots macro. I've never heard her complain about any of the sites (well maybe the miss louise) and she always seemed happy with the bridge rubble sites. She seems to dive very regularly with them year after year too, fwiw.