paulwall
Contributor
Sorry this post is so late.
I had scheduled a weekend of diving with my brother in law and his son, and a co-worker 7/14 and 7/15. 7/14 was supposed to be with Nihui, whom I haven't used before, but have heard good things. Their boat is docked across from H2O Below and about 10mins from my condo.
I was awakened at 0430 by rain pelting the windows and idly hoped that it would blow through before I had to leave for the dock. By 6:30, the rain had let up, and I was on my way to meet Capt. Andy for the trip.
Apparently, a front was coming through, and the wave height jumped to 3-4' at 5am with 15-20kt winds out of the E. There were a lot of divers hanging out waiting on word from Nihui, H2O Below, and Blue Water Adventures. Word finally came down at 0800 that the trip was scrubbed. Too bad, I was looking forward to having Barry(MrXray) do the dive sherpa thing for me. Forecast for 7/15 wasn't much better, but we kept fingers crossed.
Anyway, back to the condo, and on to Johnson beach to evade the raindrops.
On 7/15, the winds were still 10-15kt out of the east, but the 3-4' waves were in a 3 sec period, so Capt. Tim of Viking diving said we were good to go. Just to make sure, he stopped at the sea buoy and verified that we were all ok with continuing. "It won't get any better than this" he said as the Viking rolled in the waves. Undaunted, we all gave a thumbs up and headed out to the Pete Tide II. By the time we got there, I was a little pale, the DM was a little sick, and my BIL wasn't feeling well at all. I checked in with my buddy and as soon as the pool opened, rolled off and down to 20' to settle my stomach and nerves. Vis was beautiful in the top 50' of water, but was murky around the wreck and bottom. I recovered an anchor off the port side and coiled the line, chain and anchor on top of the pilot house near where we tied in. Tons of baitfish schooled around, some jacks shot through and there were snapper, and a big barracuda in the wheelhouse. I poked around looking for slipper lobster. I know they were there, but I couldn't find them. Max depth: 90ft, temp 84*, TDT 1hr. Capt. Tim had to untie us because Thor was feeling unwell.
We then motored to the San Pablo/Russian freighter. There were 3 other boats on site, including Dr. Dive, and 2 H&L fishers. We took our time dropping Thor over, to make sure we were safe, and Thor tied in near (aft of) the boilers. I was once again first in the water and we were to be a 3-man team, as my BIL was content feeding the fish. I made arrangements to meet at the anchor line. My nephew joined me shortly and took off forward to look for shells. My co-worker couldn't find his weight belt, determined it had washed out the scupper hole and spent a little time rigging a new one with the Capt.'s weights. Lots of Toadfish, some jacks, including rainbow runners, butterflyfish, and snapper. Swimming forward was a new experience for me, as I'd only really ever examined the flattened part of the wreck and the boilers. Two huge fish hung out under the remaining standing hull. I think they were ARS, but only got a glimpse. Definitely not Grouper. Got to turn time with the Nephew, who was on air, and headed back to the anchor, riding the current like a drift dive. Poking around the area I found an octopus out in the open and brought the nephew over to see it. It crawled under a piece of steel, and when I put my hand down to engage it, it shot out of it's hole, straight up, inked in front of my nephew and shot back into another part of the wreck hitting him in the arm. His time was up and we headed up. TDT 45mins, excellent vis to 50' then 30' or so below that. 84* water temp. Capt Tim once again had to do DM duty because Thor was once again under the weather.
The seas had calmed down a little (2-3') on the way in but the pass was nasty, and my coworker and I nearly slid off the forward bench into the water when the boat rolled starboard pretty hard. I love diving with Capt. Tim and the Viking, but his boat is very top-heavy and rolls even in gentle swell. We were fighting an outgoing tide, and east wind and a south push. It was very much a washing machine as we approached Ft. Pickens, but dead calm inside the bay.
I had scheduled a weekend of diving with my brother in law and his son, and a co-worker 7/14 and 7/15. 7/14 was supposed to be with Nihui, whom I haven't used before, but have heard good things. Their boat is docked across from H2O Below and about 10mins from my condo.
I was awakened at 0430 by rain pelting the windows and idly hoped that it would blow through before I had to leave for the dock. By 6:30, the rain had let up, and I was on my way to meet Capt. Andy for the trip.
Apparently, a front was coming through, and the wave height jumped to 3-4' at 5am with 15-20kt winds out of the E. There were a lot of divers hanging out waiting on word from Nihui, H2O Below, and Blue Water Adventures. Word finally came down at 0800 that the trip was scrubbed. Too bad, I was looking forward to having Barry(MrXray) do the dive sherpa thing for me. Forecast for 7/15 wasn't much better, but we kept fingers crossed.
Anyway, back to the condo, and on to Johnson beach to evade the raindrops.
On 7/15, the winds were still 10-15kt out of the east, but the 3-4' waves were in a 3 sec period, so Capt. Tim of Viking diving said we were good to go. Just to make sure, he stopped at the sea buoy and verified that we were all ok with continuing. "It won't get any better than this" he said as the Viking rolled in the waves. Undaunted, we all gave a thumbs up and headed out to the Pete Tide II. By the time we got there, I was a little pale, the DM was a little sick, and my BIL wasn't feeling well at all. I checked in with my buddy and as soon as the pool opened, rolled off and down to 20' to settle my stomach and nerves. Vis was beautiful in the top 50' of water, but was murky around the wreck and bottom. I recovered an anchor off the port side and coiled the line, chain and anchor on top of the pilot house near where we tied in. Tons of baitfish schooled around, some jacks shot through and there were snapper, and a big barracuda in the wheelhouse. I poked around looking for slipper lobster. I know they were there, but I couldn't find them. Max depth: 90ft, temp 84*, TDT 1hr. Capt. Tim had to untie us because Thor was feeling unwell.
We then motored to the San Pablo/Russian freighter. There were 3 other boats on site, including Dr. Dive, and 2 H&L fishers. We took our time dropping Thor over, to make sure we were safe, and Thor tied in near (aft of) the boilers. I was once again first in the water and we were to be a 3-man team, as my BIL was content feeding the fish. I made arrangements to meet at the anchor line. My nephew joined me shortly and took off forward to look for shells. My co-worker couldn't find his weight belt, determined it had washed out the scupper hole and spent a little time rigging a new one with the Capt.'s weights. Lots of Toadfish, some jacks, including rainbow runners, butterflyfish, and snapper. Swimming forward was a new experience for me, as I'd only really ever examined the flattened part of the wreck and the boilers. Two huge fish hung out under the remaining standing hull. I think they were ARS, but only got a glimpse. Definitely not Grouper. Got to turn time with the Nephew, who was on air, and headed back to the anchor, riding the current like a drift dive. Poking around the area I found an octopus out in the open and brought the nephew over to see it. It crawled under a piece of steel, and when I put my hand down to engage it, it shot out of it's hole, straight up, inked in front of my nephew and shot back into another part of the wreck hitting him in the arm. His time was up and we headed up. TDT 45mins, excellent vis to 50' then 30' or so below that. 84* water temp. Capt Tim once again had to do DM duty because Thor was once again under the weather.
The seas had calmed down a little (2-3') on the way in but the pass was nasty, and my coworker and I nearly slid off the forward bench into the water when the boat rolled starboard pretty hard. I love diving with Capt. Tim and the Viking, but his boat is very top-heavy and rolls even in gentle swell. We were fighting an outgoing tide, and east wind and a south push. It was very much a washing machine as we approached Ft. Pickens, but dead calm inside the bay.
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