SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Saturday morning started off pretty dreary. Grey skies and mean looking clouds jetting from the South and moving quickly. I headed out of Alabama early to get to Morrison Springs(Ponce DeLeon, FL) by 8AM. I managed not to run into any rain, thank goodness. After arriving at the spring, there was already a class looking out over the spring and doing a briefing on the dive site and the skills they would be performing. Water levels were showing around 4' and the water was quite clear and green/blue from the surface. Darcy showed up fashionably late, as expected 
and we geared up for our first dive. By this time, the skies were breaking a bit and the sun occasionally peaked through. Spring has arrived and the cypress trees are showing several shades of green. Air temps around 70F and warming to 75F before we left.
Visibility in the spring was 60-80' depending on who was diving around you. Water temperatures were the typical 68F. Tannic water couldn't be found in the basin, but around 100m down the spring run you'd find it. There was a ton of break feeding in the basin. We also saw pike, bass, striped bass, and turtles in the basin. The same cavern fauna could be fine as always, including eels, rock bass, catfish, ect. The bowling ball was missing from the fissure and the goose is gone, aside from loose broken pieces scattered in different parts of the cavern. I hit 92' max and the dive lasted for 56 minutes. My 200th dive was quite a bit of fun, since this was my first clear dive at Morrison in 2006!
After an SI of ~1:45, we hit the water again. This time we had to share the dive with a hoard of different classes. Visibility dropped to 20-30' due to the bottom being suspended midwater. The cavern was still crystal clear as always. By the time we burned 1/3rd our air supply and exitted the cavern, it was raining on the surface. We had quite a bit of fun just hovering inverted looking at the rain hit the surface of the water. I hit a max depth of 91' and we dove for 38 minutes.
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album58
Darcy and I hit Sally's for refueling before heading to Vortex to say hello to Rick Murchison and Tom Smedley. Afterwards, we headed south to Panama City Beach to check out the jetties. The surf had picked up from the front that moved through and the wind was kicking out of the South. Visibility seemed ok, so we headed to Dive Locker for some air.
Darcy and I met up with Capt Logan, Tim, Jim, and Christie and hit the water at the St. Andrews Jetties at 7PM and waded past the 'kiddie pool'. We headed over the rocks and down to the bottom where the rocks met the sand bottom and headed South. I was suprised by how many sponges covered the jetties here, not only a large number of sponges, but a wide variety of species. Definately made St. Andrews jetties stand out from Destin, Ft Pickens, and Alabama Point Jetties. Visibility was 5-10' with lots of particle in the water and it made sticking together difficult. There were quite a few fish schooling the jetties and the water glowed with bio-luminescense(sp butchered?). I managed to find a hole to 66' somewhere and the dive lasted for a little over 30 min.
No pics as I decided not to worry about the camera with limited visibilty during the night dive.
Another good diving weekend, can't wait till next time around
and we geared up for our first dive. By this time, the skies were breaking a bit and the sun occasionally peaked through. Spring has arrived and the cypress trees are showing several shades of green. Air temps around 70F and warming to 75F before we left.Visibility in the spring was 60-80' depending on who was diving around you. Water temperatures were the typical 68F. Tannic water couldn't be found in the basin, but around 100m down the spring run you'd find it. There was a ton of break feeding in the basin. We also saw pike, bass, striped bass, and turtles in the basin. The same cavern fauna could be fine as always, including eels, rock bass, catfish, ect. The bowling ball was missing from the fissure and the goose is gone, aside from loose broken pieces scattered in different parts of the cavern. I hit 92' max and the dive lasted for 56 minutes. My 200th dive was quite a bit of fun, since this was my first clear dive at Morrison in 2006!
After an SI of ~1:45, we hit the water again. This time we had to share the dive with a hoard of different classes. Visibility dropped to 20-30' due to the bottom being suspended midwater. The cavern was still crystal clear as always. By the time we burned 1/3rd our air supply and exitted the cavern, it was raining on the surface. We had quite a bit of fun just hovering inverted looking at the rain hit the surface of the water. I hit a max depth of 91' and we dove for 38 minutes.
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album58
Darcy and I hit Sally's for refueling before heading to Vortex to say hello to Rick Murchison and Tom Smedley. Afterwards, we headed south to Panama City Beach to check out the jetties. The surf had picked up from the front that moved through and the wind was kicking out of the South. Visibility seemed ok, so we headed to Dive Locker for some air.
Darcy and I met up with Capt Logan, Tim, Jim, and Christie and hit the water at the St. Andrews Jetties at 7PM and waded past the 'kiddie pool'. We headed over the rocks and down to the bottom where the rocks met the sand bottom and headed South. I was suprised by how many sponges covered the jetties here, not only a large number of sponges, but a wide variety of species. Definately made St. Andrews jetties stand out from Destin, Ft Pickens, and Alabama Point Jetties. Visibility was 5-10' with lots of particle in the water and it made sticking together difficult. There were quite a few fish schooling the jetties and the water glowed with bio-luminescense(sp butchered?). I managed to find a hole to 66' somewhere and the dive lasted for a little over 30 min.
No pics as I decided not to worry about the camera with limited visibilty during the night dive.
Another good diving weekend, can't wait till next time around
