Dive report for Panama city beach 24 July and Morrison springs 26 July

[divinginn]

I went out with the Dive locker 6-7 miles out to a sunken tug boat,vis was about 30 ft with some snot in the water,depth was 75 ft with a dive time of 41 minutes. Dives two was on a ww2 mine sweeper 79 ft for 31 minutes,the boats were covered with small fish and some how had a small Octopus stowed away on me and flopped out on the deck of the dive boat,I set him free back in the water but doubt he made it back down to the wreck without becoming dinner. On the way home I stopped off at Morrison springs to rinse off my dive gear depth of 85 ft and 35 minute dive time,the cavern was full of eels,I have never seen so many there,they were in every nook and crannie. It looks like the vent is getting larger and maybe one day it will be big enough for cave divers to dive the cave again,a sheriff dynamited it shut back in the 70s after some cave deaths. I posted some videos on facebook on the Lake Lanier divers group. My cavern pictures were too dark,I need much more light to come out decent.

 

[johnt47]

Stopped off at PCB on the way back from diving West Palm with a couple of folks from the Dive Shop in Marietta late August. Used Jim Abernathy's Diving Adventures. Nice Boat. Dove the Mizpah wreck corridor and saw about a dozen Goliath Groupers on the Mizpah. Ripping current one day, almost nothing the second day. Viz 50-60 first day, about 75 the second day. Conditions on the Mizpah the second day were so good, we did both dives on the wreck. Saw one lionfish as well, too bad we weren't looking for dinner.

While at PCB, Ddve the wreck of the Black Bart and bridge span 14. Lots of fish life on the bridge span. Viz about 45 - 55 ft. Able to get a few decent pics, but need to work with the camera and controls a lot more (new digital Coolpix, don't know if it's a keeper yet.)

Went to Morrison Springs (first time) on the way back for the rinse as well. Viz pretty bad until you get into the spring outflow. Diving solo so didn't do much more than get into the mouth of the spring, as I was trying out different ways to mount my pony. Not happy with that setup yet. My non diving friends were along with me, and since it was a Friday, not a lot of folks there at all (could be the high bacteria count from very high water levels in early August might have been the reason. Talked to a local diver who had just gotten out and saw a buddy team packing up and driving away, so I figured it couldn't be all bad. Just called the local county water testing facility before we went, and they were going to retest the next week).

The spring outflow was crystal clear of course, so I pretty much stayed around there, working with lights, gear, and buoyancy with new steel 120 and pony combo. Had a good time and my buds took me to a barbecue place just up the road, where we feasted and then headed back to Atlanta as they went back to PCB.

Great trip.