Labor Day weekend Diving in Pcola

[Smappy]

My wife and I will be in town for Labor Day and would love to meet some new people and get some diving in. We are fairly new divers so we won't be going out to the [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]Oriskany or the like, but I am sure there is plenty of other things to see. If anyone is interested, let me know!

 

[ReefHound]

I'll be there with a group diving Pickens jetties, if they are still there.

 

[Lizard Leg]

Pickens is still there and right down the road is Portofino Reef (Pensacola Park East). Man made reef "christmas trees". Google eart portofino resort, follow the road down to the big parking lot, and look straight out in the water and you can see them.

 

[ReefHound]

I mean after the hurricane that looks to make a direct hit Tuesday or Wednesday...

 

[Lizard Leg]

Oh yeah, that...

 

[scubamiller]

Pickens is still there and right down the road is Portofino Reef (Pensacola Park East). Man made reef "christmas trees". Google eart portofino resort, follow the road down to the big parking lot, and look straight out in the water and you can see them.

Are the Christmas Trees a decent shore dive (they are on the gulf/south side of the island, correct? any idea what the average depth and visibility is this time of year? I have dove Fort Pickens several times and would love to see something different in the P'cola area. Am I looking at the right place on Google earth? Iit looks like a dozen side by side in a line from North to SOuth a couple hundred yards off the public beach/parking area east of the portofino resort.

 

[ReefHound]

I've tried to find it twice without success. I was in the right parking lot and close to the right entry point. The first time I was just a little too far west and the second time the viz turned to 2 feet after the first sand bar. You certainly couldn't see them from the beach when I've been there.

 

[Smappy]

if it stays a cat 1, shouldn't be a big deal, but vis may be trashed. I'm not sure how much it will effect it.

 

[Hetland]

You can't predict viz in the Gulf of Mexico. Generally it's poor in the Spring, and slowly improves until November or December when it heads downhill, and drops off a cliff with the Spring thaw. But this year we had fantastic viz all Spring that generally declined as the months passed.

Just before, and for a full week or so after a tropical storm or hurricane, things will be wildly unpredictable. You may have 200ft viz or 0 viz, but you will almost definitely have strong offshore currents, and tons of debris inshore. A diver disappeared in declining conditions just before a hurricane in 2007 or 2008. Currents were very strong after a hurricane in 2009 when a diver passed out underwater and died.

I'm not saying don't dive (I'm diving tomorrow ), but I am saying that you should pay extra-special attention to conditions.

 

[Smappy]

Good to know Hetland. I have no experience with the area so will plan accordingly. There till around the 18th so, we will see.