SeaYoda
Contributor
We had an SB mini mega dive at the Destin jetties on Saturday. In attendance were Gulf-Gulper, SeaSquirrel, kchFLA, mike_s, SuPrBuGmAn, Knight1989, photohikedive, his anonymous buddy, and myself. There were nine SBers in all.
The dive was supposed to start with Gulf-Gulper and I helping his son (SeaSquirrel) with a science experiment before going on the real dive. I found that my inflator had a problem with sticking open so I disconnected it before the dive and planned on manually inflating my BC as needed. I planned to use my pony for the experiment and save the AL80 for the main dive. SS was snorkeling while GG and I went to 33' to conduct the experiment. GG began to feel dizzy after just a few minutes so we headed slowly back to the surface. During this time I sucked the pony dry and switched to the AL80 - no problems with manually inflating the BC. We got GG to the surface and he had the symptoms of inner ear trouble. We got him to land and he laid there being watched by SS. We were hoping his dizziness would clear since we had a long walk back. A local on a jet ski offered to take him back close to the entry point when we were ready. He said he had seen this before and called it "the spins". There seemed to be no increase in symptoms as the other SBers arrived so we decided to give him some time while we made the dive - more on GG's condition later in the report.
PHD and buddy went to the far side of the finger jetty to start their dive, they reported seeing a dolphin - I'm jealous, I've only heard them. The other five of us dove the normal route around the point to the anchor. The viz was great - about 40' but was still a little milky. I got a temperature of 75 degrees at 30', I was too busy to check it any deeper. The crabs were everywhere eating fish parts and striking weird poses on rocks. There were lots more fish and some new faces returning for the warmer water. Besides the regulars, I saw filefish and a burrfish. At one point in the dive we were surrounded by a huge school of 20 - 25 pound jack cravalle. They stayed and circled us for a while - what a treat!. We turned the dive in shifts and all met back by the beach to share stories.
GG was still laying on the beach as we finished the dive and had gotten to feel well enough to get on the jet ski. We got him and all our gear back to the cars without too much trouble. As we parted, some went home, some to eat, GG - SS - and I headed to the emergency room to see if they could help GG. He is feeling a little better, diagnosed with barro-trauma to both ears. The best we can figure is that he had some sinus blockage and 30' plus ear clearing was enough to cause the problems. He'll be heading to his ENT to get himself back on track.
Here are some pics from the dive:
The dive was supposed to start with Gulf-Gulper and I helping his son (SeaSquirrel) with a science experiment before going on the real dive. I found that my inflator had a problem with sticking open so I disconnected it before the dive and planned on manually inflating my BC as needed. I planned to use my pony for the experiment and save the AL80 for the main dive. SS was snorkeling while GG and I went to 33' to conduct the experiment. GG began to feel dizzy after just a few minutes so we headed slowly back to the surface. During this time I sucked the pony dry and switched to the AL80 - no problems with manually inflating the BC. We got GG to the surface and he had the symptoms of inner ear trouble. We got him to land and he laid there being watched by SS. We were hoping his dizziness would clear since we had a long walk back. A local on a jet ski offered to take him back close to the entry point when we were ready. He said he had seen this before and called it "the spins". There seemed to be no increase in symptoms as the other SBers arrived so we decided to give him some time while we made the dive - more on GG's condition later in the report.
PHD and buddy went to the far side of the finger jetty to start their dive, they reported seeing a dolphin - I'm jealous, I've only heard them. The other five of us dove the normal route around the point to the anchor. The viz was great - about 40' but was still a little milky. I got a temperature of 75 degrees at 30', I was too busy to check it any deeper. The crabs were everywhere eating fish parts and striking weird poses on rocks. There were lots more fish and some new faces returning for the warmer water. Besides the regulars, I saw filefish and a burrfish. At one point in the dive we were surrounded by a huge school of 20 - 25 pound jack cravalle. They stayed and circled us for a while - what a treat!. We turned the dive in shifts and all met back by the beach to share stories.
GG was still laying on the beach as we finished the dive and had gotten to feel well enough to get on the jet ski. We got him and all our gear back to the cars without too much trouble. As we parted, some went home, some to eat, GG - SS - and I headed to the emergency room to see if they could help GG. He is feeling a little better, diagnosed with barro-trauma to both ears. The best we can figure is that he had some sinus blockage and 30' plus ear clearing was enough to cause the problems. He'll be heading to his ENT to get himself back on track.
Here are some pics from the dive:
.
