I just got back from famlily vacation in Gulf Shores Al. Where I got to make four dives. Michelle was with me for two.
Dove with Down Under dive shop on their brand new 46ft custom boat. I like it. It is certifed to carry 33, but they calll a trip full at 16.
Dive 1 Allen Liberty ship. Max Depth 91 feet for 32 min. The vis was good up to about 4 feet from the top of the wreck. Then it went to 20ft. This is a shell of an old liberty ship. Plenty of places to look in and under. Swam thru some door ways. There are no over heard spots. Found a small octopus in a hole and a scorpion fish. The only reason I saw the scorpion fish was he moved.
Dive 2 Atlantis Bridge...Max depth 76 ft 33 min There was a loggerhead turtle crammed as far as he could go under a pipe like structure and about 6 remora just hanging out waiting for him to wake up and move on. One of the dive masters tugged on a rear flipper a little and woke him up. He backed out to see what was bothering him sat and stared at us for a bit and move on. He came back about 10 min later slid back into his hole and went back to sleep. Found arrow crabs, a spotted drum, and a fish one of the dive masters was calling a rock fish. I found four others on my next two dives. Not sure what they were. There are three differnt structures here and we checked out two of them.
Day two. Dive one. Statler Barge. Max depth 97 feet. 29min. Garden eels galore. These are some neat critters. Found another octopus. Vis was about 50 feet. Some hydroids. Not much in the way of coral on any of these dives.
Dive two. 151 barge. Max depth 83 feet 31min The resident nurse shark and octopus were absent. There was obvious sign the octopus had been there from all the crab shells and other leavings. Vis much better around 70feet. There is quite a bit of structure on this wreck. Lots of holes and crannies. Lots of snapper and some legal amber jack.
I did not go into deco on any dive.
Thee coal barge has had a problem with a resident loggerhead biting divers. One of the dive masters got bit while I was there. Overall nice to be diving there agin.
The whiskey wreck only has about 3 feet of wreck sticking up from the sand. Maybe some other time.
TwoBit
Dove with Down Under dive shop on their brand new 46ft custom boat. I like it. It is certifed to carry 33, but they calll a trip full at 16.
Dive 1 Allen Liberty ship. Max Depth 91 feet for 32 min. The vis was good up to about 4 feet from the top of the wreck. Then it went to 20ft. This is a shell of an old liberty ship. Plenty of places to look in and under. Swam thru some door ways. There are no over heard spots. Found a small octopus in a hole and a scorpion fish. The only reason I saw the scorpion fish was he moved.
Dive 2 Atlantis Bridge...Max depth 76 ft 33 min There was a loggerhead turtle crammed as far as he could go under a pipe like structure and about 6 remora just hanging out waiting for him to wake up and move on. One of the dive masters tugged on a rear flipper a little and woke him up. He backed out to see what was bothering him sat and stared at us for a bit and move on. He came back about 10 min later slid back into his hole and went back to sleep. Found arrow crabs, a spotted drum, and a fish one of the dive masters was calling a rock fish. I found four others on my next two dives. Not sure what they were. There are three differnt structures here and we checked out two of them.
Day two. Dive one. Statler Barge. Max depth 97 feet. 29min. Garden eels galore. These are some neat critters. Found another octopus. Vis was about 50 feet. Some hydroids. Not much in the way of coral on any of these dives.
Dive two. 151 barge. Max depth 83 feet 31min The resident nurse shark and octopus were absent. There was obvious sign the octopus had been there from all the crab shells and other leavings. Vis much better around 70feet. There is quite a bit of structure on this wreck. Lots of holes and crannies. Lots of snapper and some legal amber jack.
I did not go into deco on any dive.
Thee coal barge has had a problem with a resident loggerhead biting divers. One of the dive masters got bit while I was there. Overall nice to be diving there agin.
The whiskey wreck only has about 3 feet of wreck sticking up from the sand. Maybe some other time.
TwoBit
