Fat Tuesday 2-20-7 Whiskey Wreck Report

[SuPrBuGmAn]

After fighting traffic for more time than I allowed, I arrived at Bahama Bob's around 11:30 with no other divers in site. I figured everyone else had either gotten an earlier start and arrived at our scheduled 11AM and decided conditions weren't worth it, or they were still fighting traffic themselves. cmufieldhockey8 followed by GulfDiver77 arrived after a short wait and they indeed were caught in the Mardi Gras traffic.

We walked out to the water and sized up the surf. It was running fairly consistantly thigh high with some waist high sets on occassion. The water did have a blueish color so we hoped for the best and figured we'd give it a whirl - whilst being able to see something. Unfortunately, GulfDiver had some gear issues and had to abort after fighting the surf for a bit. CMU and I continued on past the surf and decsended to the bottom just before the wreckage and tied off the flag. Surge was a bit of an issue that required some carefull finning and occassionally crawling or pulling forward on the wreck. Water temperature was recorded at 55F according CMU's computer. Visibility was as good as 5-6' in places making navigation managable. Aside from the invertabrate life(sponges, corals, tubeworms, barnacles, ect), we spotted a sheepshead, small southern ray, pinfish, and even a small school of spadefish. We managed to explore the entire length of the wreckage, including the seperated west end. I hit a max depth of 17' for a dive lasting 45 minutes at which point I reached a turnaround pressure(I was the airhog of the dive :shakehead) and CMU got a bit cold. We retrieved the dive flag and headed north on the bottom until we were shallow enough to stand in order to fight the surf again.

Despite the bumpy conditions, we made the best of the dive and had a good time while even managing to spot some life in the cold water. As always, it was nice meeting another local ScubaBoarder(CMU) as well as diving with GulfDiver again. Looking forward to diving the Destin Jetties on Saturday

 

[utdivermatt]

...everyone is the airhog when you dive with CMU... Its just a sad, cold fact of life

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I was braggin on my air consumption before the dive, I've still yet to get all the foot out of my mouth.

Honestly, I was breathing more than usual for whatever reason. I'll blame the cold.

 

[mike_s]

Where's the pic of the stringer of fish?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

As soon as I finish off the flounder I took late last year, you'll start seeing those again

 

[seadoggirl]

Matt, you are a wild man. Are you blue from head to toe?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Actually, I'm feeling really sick... :/ I hope it blows over quickly. Achy and conjested, wonderfull

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

You may have been the airhog bugman, but I am cold blooded. That was the first ray I've ever seen on a dive by the way! And all the swirly sand let me feel like I was in a snow storm so it made me feel like I was home for a few minutes but minus the freezing temperatures

I'm feeling achy too. There must've been something in the water.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Hrmmmm...

Thats no good, I wonder if anyone else hopped in the water today in the area?

When the water warms up a bit, you'll have to join us for a night dive one day - you'll see literally dozens of rays and skates. Looking forward to diving with you again, you were always by my side despite the surge and visibility - not as easily done as it is typed It was nice not having to work to stick with my buddy in less than agreeable conditions.

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

You were a great tour guide. I can't wait to dive that again when you can see better. My sac was almost 3 times what it normally is, so we were both sucking down air! I def blame the conditions.