SeaYoda
Contributor
The last two days of diving were more about the weather than the dives.
The Jetties 8/25/06
Friday morning was full of rain but it had cleared up around the house for a couple hours. As I was on my way and crossing the bridge I had on my left a picture postcard view of 3D clouds in a brilliant blue sky. There were low hanging puffy white clouds that seemed to be in motion as I drove by, thunderheads building in the distance, and feathery cirrus clouds high in the blue. On my right there was one dark cloud and of course it was hanging over the jetties. I parked the car at the marina and it started to drizzle. By the time I opened the back to get the gear, it was pouring. No thunder or lightening so I set up. The rain stopped by the time I was ready. I got to the water and found lots fewer people than the last couple weeks. The viz was not so great, a dirty 30'. I set the camera for macro shots and had a good time. I got out to the first anchor and stayed on the rocks watching all the fish go by. I had several curious fish swim nearby, a spade, a porgy, and a sandperch. The spade tried to use me as a reef
. Because the fish were so friendly, I changed my mind about aborting the second dive due to viz. I finished the first dive and swapped my gear at the car. I got back to the water and needed to extend my surface interval a little so I sat on the shore for a while. Dogs are not allowed on the beach so I was surprised to see a Boston Terrier walk around me. He had on a “life preserver” and as he came back down the beach I looked at him. That’s all it took, he jumped in my lap and demanded that I pet him. I saw his name on his collar, Wally. He finished with me and started walking down the beach. His owner (who had come by boat) was in the water and called Wally. Wally walked across a couple small waves and did the doggy paddle out to his owner - cool dog. When I was ready to change tanks and hit the water again, Wally swam up to me for a last good bye. The second dive had less viz (maybe 20') than the first and the current had changed direction (headed out to the Gulf). I made it out to the anchor again but no more friendly fish. I did discover two arrow crabs - a critter that I have not seen on the jetties before. It got dark while I was on the second dive and I thought that a rain shower had gone by. Upon surfacing, I saw Wally’s owner and friend by their boat and a guy asking them if they had seen the two water spouts. It turns out that there had been one that touched the water and one that didn’t somewhere outside the pass entrance. When I got to ScubaTech for fills, they said they had seen them from the shop. Not only was I almost sucked up in a spout, I heard air leaking from both my second stages at the end of the dive. If I breathed off one second stage they both stopped leaking until pressure built up again. Steve put a gage on at the shop and, as I thought, discovered that my first stage needed to be rebuilt. Great timing since I had paid for a boat trip the next day......
Here are some pics from the jetties:
The Jetties 8/25/06
Friday morning was full of rain but it had cleared up around the house for a couple hours. As I was on my way and crossing the bridge I had on my left a picture postcard view of 3D clouds in a brilliant blue sky. There were low hanging puffy white clouds that seemed to be in motion as I drove by, thunderheads building in the distance, and feathery cirrus clouds high in the blue. On my right there was one dark cloud and of course it was hanging over the jetties. I parked the car at the marina and it started to drizzle. By the time I opened the back to get the gear, it was pouring. No thunder or lightening so I set up. The rain stopped by the time I was ready. I got to the water and found lots fewer people than the last couple weeks. The viz was not so great, a dirty 30'. I set the camera for macro shots and had a good time. I got out to the first anchor and stayed on the rocks watching all the fish go by. I had several curious fish swim nearby, a spade, a porgy, and a sandperch. The spade tried to use me as a reef
. Because the fish were so friendly, I changed my mind about aborting the second dive due to viz. I finished the first dive and swapped my gear at the car. I got back to the water and needed to extend my surface interval a little so I sat on the shore for a while. Dogs are not allowed on the beach so I was surprised to see a Boston Terrier walk around me. He had on a “life preserver” and as he came back down the beach I looked at him. That’s all it took, he jumped in my lap and demanded that I pet him. I saw his name on his collar, Wally. He finished with me and started walking down the beach. His owner (who had come by boat) was in the water and called Wally. Wally walked across a couple small waves and did the doggy paddle out to his owner - cool dog. When I was ready to change tanks and hit the water again, Wally swam up to me for a last good bye. The second dive had less viz (maybe 20') than the first and the current had changed direction (headed out to the Gulf). I made it out to the anchor again but no more friendly fish. I did discover two arrow crabs - a critter that I have not seen on the jetties before. It got dark while I was on the second dive and I thought that a rain shower had gone by. Upon surfacing, I saw Wally’s owner and friend by their boat and a guy asking them if they had seen the two water spouts. It turns out that there had been one that touched the water and one that didn’t somewhere outside the pass entrance. When I got to ScubaTech for fills, they said they had seen them from the shop. Not only was I almost sucked up in a spout, I heard air leaking from both my second stages at the end of the dive. If I breathed off one second stage they both stopped leaking until pressure built up again. Steve put a gage on at the shop and, as I thought, discovered that my first stage needed to be rebuilt. Great timing since I had paid for a boat trip the next day......Here are some pics from the jetties:
