SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
5-19-7
Destin Jetties
I actually made it on time for the meet time Saturday morning, infact, early. Air temperatures in the upper 70s, maybe low 80sF at best, and blue skies prevailing. The Gulf looked awesome from the bridge crossing East Pass. The meet time was for 10:30 and I was looking for parking at 10:15AM. There was a couple empty spots with a gorilla in a foldout sitting in the middle. I asked if he was saving the spots and he said yes. The gorilla had a name, people on ScubaBoard know him as Saltydog. A bit further up and Captain Grumby recognized me and waved me into a spot they had made for me. Score one for the early guy. Shortly afterwards, I see SeaYoda driving to the end of the parking lot - LOL. We gear up and start walking up towards the beach access where we see Mike_S and KchFLA gearing up. We're introduced to Saltydog and his wife(newly certified) and head out to the beach. denisegg and her son Andy met us on the beach, where they were given instructions on how to get in my car so she could pick up her new Transpak. I decided to go ahead and take both my tanks out, 1/4 mile through the sand with two tanks sucks balls. Atleast I didn't bother with a wetsuit - diving in trunks, so nice.
Captain Grumby and two of his buddies, Mike_S, SeaYoda and I hit the water earlier than the predicted high slack tide for our first dive. The water is still sitting in the low 70s, my computer is showing 71F. Visibility was anywhere in between 10-25' depending on how much sand the currents were kicking up in the area we were in. On the first dive, the currents were steady, but managable, easier if you wanted to do a bit of pulling on the rocks. The life is getting more and more prevelant onsite, tropicals are making there way in(damsels, razorfish, filefish, were making appearances). Pinfish, pigfish, wrasse, mangroves, small grouper, bluefish, and blue runners were also zipping around. Look into the rocks and you'd find toadfish, scorpianfish, stonecrab, gobies and blennies. Our first dive led Captain Grumby, Mike_S, and I to the point where we waiting on everyone else. The two with Captain Grumby had turned back and we ran back into SeaYoda along the backside(southside) of the jetties. We crossed back over to the northside of the jetties and drifted back to the trough at around 30' to breath off our remaining gas. Dive was to 56' and lasted 38 minutes.
I walked my empty tank back to my vehicle during the SI and ran into denisegg and Andy finally making there way to the beach while using SeaYoda's sand yacht. By the time I made it back to our little slice of beach, cmufieldhockey8, KchFLA, and Saltydog had just gotten out of the water from their first dive. We socialized a bit and Mike_S, Captain Grumby(+2), SeaYoda, denisegg and Andy, and I all hit the water again 1:17 after our first dive. Andy had some clearing trouble and ended up exitting early while Mike_S showed denisegg around the shallows(he stuck with the same tank as the first dive). Captain Grumby's two buddies turned at some point before the point as well. The currents were a bit weaker this time around and Captain Grumby, SeaYoda, and I made a quick run to the point to hang out for awhile, before exploring the southside of the jetties up until we got around 15' of depth. At this point, we turned around and headed back to the point and then drifted back closer to our entry. Currents were a bit less predictable(direction), but still a bit more managable. A bit more junegrass on this dive creating for slightly less visibility(that still varied with current and particulate at around 5-20'. We observed the same life as our first dive. Just over 40 minutes, I led Captain Grumby back to the shallows for him to exit and I turned around and headed back down to meet up with cmufieldhockey, KchFLA, and their buddies who we crossed pathes with on our way shallow. My dive stretched out to 73 minutes with a max depth of 54'.
Unidentified Okaloosa Island Sailboat
A bit more than an hour and a half later, cmufieldhockey8 and I were in the water again. This time on the bayside of Okaloosa Island's Gulf Island National Seashore Park. The water was a bit funkier, diving the bay with a now outgoing tide, but visibility stuck around 10' which was mroe than managable. Different from my last dive on this site was the thermocline, there simply wasn't one on the wreck, but if you missed the wreck and hit slightly deeper water, you'd find it... Hmm. The sailboat seems to be a nursery for pinfish and mangroves, juvenilles everywhere. There are some big sheepshead and bluecrab onsite as well. Blennies and arrowcrabs hide amongst the seasquirts and oyster shells growing over the entirety of the wreck. The random spadefish and filefish could be observed as well. I found a digital watch, which still works. We were diving the bottom of our jetty tanks, giving us a run time of 28 minutes with a max depth of 19'.
ScubaBoard invaded KchFLA's house and Saltydog(Kch's brother by the way) boiled up some crawfish that he had brought from LA with him. We had our fill and then some, with lots of leftovers. The food was great and the company was topnotch. Thanks for the great time everyone!
Destin Jetties
I actually made it on time for the meet time Saturday morning, infact, early. Air temperatures in the upper 70s, maybe low 80sF at best, and blue skies prevailing. The Gulf looked awesome from the bridge crossing East Pass. The meet time was for 10:30 and I was looking for parking at 10:15AM. There was a couple empty spots with a gorilla in a foldout sitting in the middle. I asked if he was saving the spots and he said yes. The gorilla had a name, people on ScubaBoard know him as Saltydog. A bit further up and Captain Grumby recognized me and waved me into a spot they had made for me. Score one for the early guy. Shortly afterwards, I see SeaYoda driving to the end of the parking lot - LOL. We gear up and start walking up towards the beach access where we see Mike_S and KchFLA gearing up. We're introduced to Saltydog and his wife(newly certified) and head out to the beach. denisegg and her son Andy met us on the beach, where they were given instructions on how to get in my car so she could pick up her new Transpak. I decided to go ahead and take both my tanks out, 1/4 mile through the sand with two tanks sucks balls. Atleast I didn't bother with a wetsuit - diving in trunks, so nice.
Captain Grumby and two of his buddies, Mike_S, SeaYoda and I hit the water earlier than the predicted high slack tide for our first dive. The water is still sitting in the low 70s, my computer is showing 71F. Visibility was anywhere in between 10-25' depending on how much sand the currents were kicking up in the area we were in. On the first dive, the currents were steady, but managable, easier if you wanted to do a bit of pulling on the rocks. The life is getting more and more prevelant onsite, tropicals are making there way in(damsels, razorfish, filefish, were making appearances). Pinfish, pigfish, wrasse, mangroves, small grouper, bluefish, and blue runners were also zipping around. Look into the rocks and you'd find toadfish, scorpianfish, stonecrab, gobies and blennies. Our first dive led Captain Grumby, Mike_S, and I to the point where we waiting on everyone else. The two with Captain Grumby had turned back and we ran back into SeaYoda along the backside(southside) of the jetties. We crossed back over to the northside of the jetties and drifted back to the trough at around 30' to breath off our remaining gas. Dive was to 56' and lasted 38 minutes.
I walked my empty tank back to my vehicle during the SI and ran into denisegg and Andy finally making there way to the beach while using SeaYoda's sand yacht. By the time I made it back to our little slice of beach, cmufieldhockey8, KchFLA, and Saltydog had just gotten out of the water from their first dive. We socialized a bit and Mike_S, Captain Grumby(+2), SeaYoda, denisegg and Andy, and I all hit the water again 1:17 after our first dive. Andy had some clearing trouble and ended up exitting early while Mike_S showed denisegg around the shallows(he stuck with the same tank as the first dive). Captain Grumby's two buddies turned at some point before the point as well. The currents were a bit weaker this time around and Captain Grumby, SeaYoda, and I made a quick run to the point to hang out for awhile, before exploring the southside of the jetties up until we got around 15' of depth. At this point, we turned around and headed back to the point and then drifted back closer to our entry. Currents were a bit less predictable(direction), but still a bit more managable. A bit more junegrass on this dive creating for slightly less visibility(that still varied with current and particulate at around 5-20'. We observed the same life as our first dive. Just over 40 minutes, I led Captain Grumby back to the shallows for him to exit and I turned around and headed back down to meet up with cmufieldhockey, KchFLA, and their buddies who we crossed pathes with on our way shallow. My dive stretched out to 73 minutes with a max depth of 54'.
Unidentified Okaloosa Island Sailboat
A bit more than an hour and a half later, cmufieldhockey8 and I were in the water again. This time on the bayside of Okaloosa Island's Gulf Island National Seashore Park. The water was a bit funkier, diving the bay with a now outgoing tide, but visibility stuck around 10' which was mroe than managable. Different from my last dive on this site was the thermocline, there simply wasn't one on the wreck, but if you missed the wreck and hit slightly deeper water, you'd find it... Hmm. The sailboat seems to be a nursery for pinfish and mangroves, juvenilles everywhere. There are some big sheepshead and bluecrab onsite as well. Blennies and arrowcrabs hide amongst the seasquirts and oyster shells growing over the entirety of the wreck. The random spadefish and filefish could be observed as well. I found a digital watch, which still works. We were diving the bottom of our jetty tanks, giving us a run time of 28 minutes with a max depth of 19'.
ScubaBoard invaded KchFLA's house and Saltydog(Kch's brother by the way) boiled up some crawfish that he had brought from LA with him. We had our fill and then some, with lots of leftovers. The food was great and the company was topnotch. Thanks for the great time everyone!