SeaYoda
Contributor
I woke up this morning at 5:30 am to booming thunder and the sound of rain. My first thought was that the dive for this morning will never happen, roll over. I decided to check our local weather station for radar info, we were on the back end of a storm headed out into the Gulf. I made up my mind that I would get ready and go, even if only to eat breakfast with whoever showed up. As I got in the car the rain had stopped on the North side of the bay - a good sign. Little traffic out at 6:30 on a rainy Saturday morning. I got to the parking area and it was still rainy and a few lightening bolts flashing. There was only one car along the waterlogged parking area. Pufferfish was in his car with his gear outside taking a bath. We decided to make an exploratory walk to the beach - we were pelted with rain and a little sand as the wind had picked up. There were a fleet of boats waiting inside the pass - a good sign. The water was a little choppy but a nice shade of blue - a good sign. We returned to the entrance and met Tom Smedley and buddy on the way. We met seaangel at the entrance. We voted to wait out the storm for an hour past high tide (HT = 07:13). SA had not brought her gear, fearing the worst. She went back to get the gear and TS needed to make a nature run. PF and I sat in the car and watched the changing weather. Everyone got back together and at about 07:50 the wind died down and the thunder and lightening had moved far enough away that we started to gear up in the rain. Here are the soggy pictures:
The sun peeked out as we finished getting the gear ready - the rain was still falling.
We started the walk on the beach at about 08:00 - it stopped raining like in the movie Forrest Gump. The sand was pretty compacted and the air temp was not too warm so the walk was good. By the time we reached the water the sun was out and warming the air already. As we made final prep to dive, we saw a rainbow in the West.
As we descended, we were greeted by viz of around 30' with no June grass or Sargassum weed. The fish were abundant but less than the last few dives. Crabs were harder to spot as well. Current was flowing out toward the Gulf a little so it was kind of a light drift dive. TS and PF stayed by the point taking pictures:
SA and I headed out to the anchors:
Between the anchors I found my second dead shark - I gave it to SA as a present:
I witnessed a crab battle on the way to the second anchor:
At the second anchor I took this pic, how many toadfish do you see?
While at the second anchor I gained a friend that followed us back to TS, buddy, and PF:
We ended the dive watching fear on the faces of a newbie class. After a lazy float back to the entrance and the walk back to our cars to gear down, we went to Golden Coral
(Corral) for breakfast. TS and buddy left us for Panama City and the rest of us went to ScubaTech for fills and such. We then parted ways after a fun day of diving.
The sun peeked out as we finished getting the gear ready - the rain was still falling.
We started the walk on the beach at about 08:00 - it stopped raining like in the movie Forrest Gump. The sand was pretty compacted and the air temp was not too warm so the walk was good. By the time we reached the water the sun was out and warming the air already. As we made final prep to dive, we saw a rainbow in the West.
As we descended, we were greeted by viz of around 30' with no June grass or Sargassum weed. The fish were abundant but less than the last few dives. Crabs were harder to spot as well. Current was flowing out toward the Gulf a little so it was kind of a light drift dive. TS and PF stayed by the point taking pictures:
SA and I headed out to the anchors:
Between the anchors I found my second dead shark - I gave it to SA as a present:
I witnessed a crab battle on the way to the second anchor:
At the second anchor I took this pic, how many toadfish do you see?
While at the second anchor I gained a friend that followed us back to TS, buddy, and PF:
We ended the dive watching fear on the faces of a newbie class. After a lazy float back to the entrance and the walk back to our cars to gear down, we went to Golden Coral
(Corral) for breakfast. TS and buddy left us for Panama City and the rest of us went to ScubaTech for fills and such. We then parted ways after a fun day of diving.
