Destin Jetties dive report 5/7/05

[seaangel]

It was a bright sunny day and had the promise of being the best dive in a while since the rain, clouds, and wind had stopped behaving badly. I drove down to the Destin bridge to check out what I was about to get into. Crab Island was a light green-blue, not as brilliant as when viz is a clear 40' but blue enough for me to rent an extra tank to try a second dive. I stopped off at ScubaTech and rented the tank and then on to the jetties to meet mike_s and paulwall. Parking was more full than it has been. I parked a good way down from the entrance and geared up. Walking back to the entrance, I met up with Paul and Mike. They finished gearing up and off across the sands we went. The Aquanaut from Emerald Coast Scuba and the Mongoose from ScubaTech joined us as we entered the water. The Mongoose was loaded with snorkelers and the Aquanaut had an OW class aboard. We started the dive and viz was about 30' with haze. Temperature at 50' was 68 degrees. Very little current on the whole dive. Spadefish, Puffers, and the usual small fish were sighted. The most impressive thing about the dive today was the number of crabs out there. There were blue and stone crabs all over the place. The blue crabs were very large and aggressive. Paul kept picking them up and checking for eggs. Many were females with eggs and we didn't keep any crabs at all for lunch. The crabs got back at Paul a couple of times by putting the squeeze on his fingers - I actually heard him yell from 10' away one time on our second dive! We went past the anchor a little way (Bugman's bike is still nearby) and then turned the dive. The way back was uneventful. We dragged ourselves back across the sand to swap tanks for dive number two. I geared up first and went back to the water and floated around until Mike and Paul arrived. As we were about to dive in what looked like the same conditions as the first dive, the water started feeling a little warmer and looking down we watched as our fins disappeared in murky brown liquid. I thought someone had flushed a boat nearby. We braved the brown water to find a halocline with hazy viz. Once passed the fog we found darker, tannin colored, slightly lower viz than first dive conditions. Temperature went up a degree to 69 but viz went to 20' with floaties. There was a slight current out as we headed toward the anchor. We investigated the rocks and played with crabs and then it was time to go home. By the rocks there was a nice small current flowing North so we got to drift dive back around the point. On the way, Mike found a toadfish on a steel line that had swallowed a hook and was caught on the rocks. I tried to get the hook out but he had it too far down. I carry some shears so I got them out - I hope I never get tangled in steel, the shears were useless. I took a glove off and tried to unhook the swivel - impossible with current, wiggly fish, and cold fingers. Mike and I were at about 500 lbs in our tanks so I decided to bring the fish to the shallows to work some more. When we got in the shallows I held the fish as Mike unhooked the swivel. I don't know if he will make it but he has a much better chance than he did before. I saw him slowly swim away into the brown murk. We drudged across the sand one last time to the cars and went to ScubaTech to drop off gear and air up my tanks. Mike left in search of steamed shrimp, Paul and I headed to Dewey Destin's for lunch (hey Mike, we found your shrimp ). After lunch we parted ways - thanks guys for the great company today. Here are some pics:

Hey, Bill!

Sounds like it was fun all in all. Pics are good too! I am still on my longest ever surface interval. Can't wait for June 4th to get here. That is when I will be getting in the waters in Bonaire, first dives since last November. I am truly miserable.

I am still recovering well though, I am back to work as of two weeks ago. This is 7 weeks post surgery for me today. We are still working on getting my medication stabilized, and from what I understand that it can be ok soon.

I have signed up to go with my dive shop to West Palm Beach on two dive trips. The first one is on July 1-4th and the second is on Labor Day weekend in Sept. I am so excited to be diving again. I have a new wide angle lens for my camera that I will get to start using soon.

I may get down to Destin in June, but if not will in July and August. Hope we can get some diving in then.

Keep up the good reports. I enjoy them.

 

[robycane]

It was a bright sunny day and had the promise of being the best dive in a while since the rain, clouds, and wind had stopped behaving badly. I drove down to the Destin bridge to check out what I was about to get into. Crab Island was a light green-blue, not as brilliant as when viz is a clear 40' but blue enough for me to rent an extra tank to try a second dive. I stopped off at ScubaTech and rented the tank and then on to the jetties to meet mike_s and paulwall. Parking was more full than it has been. I parked a good way down from the entrance and geared up. Walking back to the entrance, I met up with Paul and Mike. They finished gearing up and off across the sands we went. The Aquanaut from Emerald Coast Scuba and the Mongoose from ScubaTech joined us as we entered the water. The Mongoose was loaded with snorkelers and the Aquanaut had an OW class aboard. We started the dive and viz was about 30' with haze. Temperature at 50' was 68 degrees. Very little current on the whole dive. Spadefish, Puffers, and the usual small fish were sighted. The most impressive thing about the dive today was the number of crabs out there. There were blue and stone crabs all over the place. The blue crabs were very large and aggressive. Paul kept picking them up and checking for eggs. Many were females with eggs and we didn't keep any crabs at all for lunch. The crabs got back at Paul a couple of times by putting the squeeze on his fingers - I actually heard him yell from 10' away one time on our second dive! We went past the anchor a little way (Bugman's bike is still nearby) and then turned the dive. The way back was uneventful. We dragged ourselves back across the sand to swap tanks for dive number two. I geared up first and went back to the water and floated around until Mike and Paul arrived. As we were about to dive in what looked like the same conditions as the first dive, the water started feeling a little warmer and looking down we watched as our fins disappeared in murky brown liquid. I thought someone had flushed a boat nearby. We braved the brown water to find a halocline with hazy viz. Once passed the fog we found darker, tannin colored, slightly lower viz than first dive conditions. Temperature went up a degree to 69 but viz went to 20' with floaties. There was a slight current out as we headed toward the anchor. We investigated the rocks and played with crabs and then it was time to go home. By the rocks there was a nice small current flowing North so we got to drift dive back around the point. On the way, Mike found a toadfish on a steel line that had swallowed a hook and was caught on the rocks. I tried to get the hook out but he had it too far down. I carry some shears so I got them out - I hope I never get tangled in steel, the shears were useless. I took a glove off and tried to unhook the swivel - impossible with current, wiggly fish, and cold fingers. Mike and I were at about 500 lbs in our tanks so I decided to bring the fish to the shallows to work some more. When we got in the shallows I held the fish as Mike unhooked the swivel. I don't know if he will make it but he has a much better chance than he did before. I saw him slowly swim away into the brown murk. We drudged across the sand one last time to the cars and went to ScubaTech to drop off gear and air up my tanks. Mike left in search of steamed shrimp, Paul and I headed to Dewey Destin's for lunch (hey Mike, we found your shrimp ). After lunch we parted ways - thanks guys for the great company today. Here are some pics:

When high tides is over, the brown muck cometh. Nice pics.

 

[SeaYoda]

...I am still recovering well though...

It's good to hear from you again - it's great to have you amongst the living again . We have the water at the jetties just above the temperature of the springs so it should be to your standards by the time you get here.

 

[mike_s]

Here's a pic of SeaYoda(Bill) after he geared up, one of the crabs, and a nice photo I took of the beach.

I was very dissappointed in the underwater photo's I took as they all came out "green". I forgot to put the camera into "Sea(underwater)" mode and I think that was the cause of the problem......
There were a few that I took on the first dive in shallow water that looked
good (colorwise) but the rest were green. Hopefully this was just
bad beginners luck and next time I'll remember to see how to change
the mode on the camera. (Of course remembering to bring the camera
manual would have helped greatly).

Hopefully next time I'll get better. I'll definately need a couple practice trips
to the local quarry before going somewhere nice.

This is my first time attaching thumbnails. Hope it works.

-Mike

 

[jviehe]

NIce job Mike. I always say any pic is better than no pic.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Hey Mike, was your flash shooting? That usually puts more color into the foreground of the pic at the very least. The green pics aren't unusual in green water, not sure if the water was that great out there or not, but a flash usually helps a bit. White Balancing at depth is also a great feature that fixes most of this. You can also probably try 'correcting' the pic in PS or similar. I gave it a whirl on a program called CompuPic that I have on my computer at work - basically just fuxing with the red/green/blue bars PS will probably work better.

 

[mike_s]

Hey Mike, was your flash shooting? That usually puts more color into the foreground of the pic at the very least. The green pics aren't unusual in green water, not sure if the water was that great out there or not, but a flash usually helps a bit. White Balancing at depth is also a great feature that fixes most of this. You can also probably try 'correcting' the pic in PS or similar. I gave it a whirl on a program called CompuPic that I have on my computer at work - basically just fuxing with the red/green/blue bars PS will probably work better.

The flash was shooting. I didn't notice every shot, but it was shooting on some shots that I noticed.

However, I know some of the shots I took that came out "really darK" was most likely because I almost had the camera (w/ Macro lens) stuck up in a crack trying to take a pic of a crab, etc and the strobe wasn't pointing in the crack, thus the darkness.

The water wasn't "that green" though. The light wasn't great at depth but all the shots, even the ones I'm sure the flash went off on, came out green. Except the ones I took in less than 10 feet of water on the first dive. The flash didn't go off then because it was so shallow and had very much light, but they came out nice looking. (they just didn't have anything in the pic worth posting on here).

I called the LDS where I bought it and they asked if I put it in "sea" mode, which I knew I hadn't and they said they had seen this before like this.

I guess I'll have to brave the cold waters of the local quarry to test it here in the next few weeks before my Key Largo trip (as I want to make darn sure it's working right by then!).

I took a land pic of Sea Yoda between the dives and the color on it "came out great". I'm sure this is just "poor beginner problems" and with some playing with the camera that it'll come out much better.

I was just really bummed that they all came out green though!!!!!

-mike

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'm sure alot of it had to do with the water itself, the camera is probably picking up and reflecting alot of the nastier stuff in the water The strobe distance is even limited, but if you were using macro lenses, I would think you'd be close enough for more color. *shrugs*

http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album14
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album16?page=1
http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album03?page=1

I got lots of green pictures with my buddies DC310 too, PS helped em a bit though.

 

[seaangel]

The flash was shooting. I didn't notice every shot, but it was shooting on some shots that I noticed.

Mike, I take it you are using a SeaLife digital? I have found that with my Macro Lens I need an external strobe, is that what you were using?

Another little tip, I shoot on land using the land/sea mode and works. But, when doing alot of diving, I just leave it set on Sea that works ok on land too.

 

[seaangel]

Bill,
It is great to be amongst the living. And I can't wait to get in that water again. I am going crazy with missing it.

I was looking at my calendar and doubtful will make it in June to Destin. But, definitely July and August are looking good. Even September-October look good. Hope the hurricanes are not going to join us this year.

Catch you later.