paulwall
Contributor
The day dawned a little overcast. The forecast called for 0% precipitation for an offshore trip with a full boat in Pensacola.
Air temps were in the upper 70s and a little humid.
Arrived at the boat at 7am ready to go offshore. A little bumpy near the pass caused us to take a little longer than expected to get to our first site - the Dredge Avocet.
Hurricane Sally has not been kind to the poor Avocet, having stripped its cabin off and dropping it in the sand adjacent to the wreck. On the plus side, nearly all of the deck plates have been removed, so the wreck is totally different than it was the last time I dove it in 2019. Vis was a good 60' and the site was swarming with almaco, amberjack, barracuda, triggers and seemingly millions of baitfish. Water temps were 80-82 and max depth was 107' for a 40 minute dive.
The second drop was on a new site (to me) a series of pyramids called (I think) TDC1. The other divers wanted to shoot lionfish, and I was looking for shovelnose. Vis was similar to the first site with 50-60' horizontal viz and I could easily see from one pyramid to the next. I'm told there are 50 pyramids in the area, but I could only reach about 10. Max depth 93 ft for a 45 minute dive time. The waves laid down once we were out from under the clouds, and the air warmed up to the upper 80s.
Air temps were in the upper 70s and a little humid.
Arrived at the boat at 7am ready to go offshore. A little bumpy near the pass caused us to take a little longer than expected to get to our first site - the Dredge Avocet.
Hurricane Sally has not been kind to the poor Avocet, having stripped its cabin off and dropping it in the sand adjacent to the wreck. On the plus side, nearly all of the deck plates have been removed, so the wreck is totally different than it was the last time I dove it in 2019. Vis was a good 60' and the site was swarming with almaco, amberjack, barracuda, triggers and seemingly millions of baitfish. Water temps were 80-82 and max depth was 107' for a 40 minute dive.
The second drop was on a new site (to me) a series of pyramids called (I think) TDC1. The other divers wanted to shoot lionfish, and I was looking for shovelnose. Vis was similar to the first site with 50-60' horizontal viz and I could easily see from one pyramid to the next. I'm told there are 50 pyramids in the area, but I could only reach about 10. Max depth 93 ft for a 45 minute dive time. The waves laid down once we were out from under the clouds, and the air warmed up to the upper 80s.
