Stone
Contributor
Apologies to DivingGgal for the mis use of her thread title. Heres a report on diving from the other side of the state:
We normally dive from the Sea Cobra out of Destin, FL, but the morning trip was called due to heavy fog. We were offered space on the afternoon trip, but that meant a boatload of OW students. I dont mind the students, but their cert dives guarantee a trip to the Miss Louise which is a nondescript wreck in 60 fsw. I vowed to the Sea Cobra captain that if she took me there again, she would lose a student or two (I spearfish).
After a few calls, we found a charter that would take us out. We departed Ft Walton beach at 0900 on the Golden Sand Dollar. The boat (31 ft six-pack) is being renovated and is not a pretty sight, but it has plenty of space and a head. More importantly, the boats GPS was working and the captain knew how to use it. The topside viz was about 50 ft and we navigated out of the intercoastal waterway by taking headings on successive buoys until we were through the Destin Pass.
Our destination was Amberjack Rock, a natural limestone reef in 88 fsw just a couple of miles south of Destin. The air temp was around 70F, the surface temp was 62F, and the bottom temp was 58F. The seas were running 3 to 4 feet, but the period between swells was long, and the wind and current were almost nil.
My wife and I were entertaining a friend from out of town who doesnt dive often, so my wife left her speargun at home and we dove as a 3-buddy team. My friend had a little trouble clearing, so we took several minutes to get to the bottom. The viz was as good or better than topside. There were tons of Black Snapper, Spade Fish, and Porgies. We also saw a couple of the largest Queen Angels weve ever seen before (and that includes the Caribbean and GBR). There was a grouper that was at least 36 inches, but he stayed just out of range. The reef is made up of ledges and narrow crevasses where the Black Snapper like to hide. I took a couple of shots from above the fish into a crevasse, but missed. We managed about 35 minutes of bottom time.
We decided to stay on Amberjack Rock for the second dive. . . (I certainly like the flexibility of a real charter). On this dive, I made a couple of mistakes. The first thing I did was forget to put on my gloves. The second thing I did was to not deploy my diaper-pin stringer while descending. I always clip the stringer to a D-ring and slide it in my waist strap to exit the boat. While descending, I forgot to pull it free and, unbeknownst to me, it slid through the bottom of my waist strap. A few minutes later I found a nice congregation of Black Snapper in another crevasse and took a shot. I pulled the fish up, trying not impale my bare hands on his fins, and tried to string him. The stringer was fouled in my waist belt, so I held onto the spear with my left hand (a not-happy and not-dead 2 foot snapper flopping around), and unclipped my stringer from the D-ring. A moment later I watched the stringer drop into the hole I had just pulled the snapper from. . . my first piece of lost dive gear.
Even a big snapper doesnt feed four people, so we went out for steaks instead. My buddy paid for dinner, so Im going to rationalize that Im still ahead. A good time was had by all!
We normally dive from the Sea Cobra out of Destin, FL, but the morning trip was called due to heavy fog. We were offered space on the afternoon trip, but that meant a boatload of OW students. I dont mind the students, but their cert dives guarantee a trip to the Miss Louise which is a nondescript wreck in 60 fsw. I vowed to the Sea Cobra captain that if she took me there again, she would lose a student or two (I spearfish).
After a few calls, we found a charter that would take us out. We departed Ft Walton beach at 0900 on the Golden Sand Dollar. The boat (31 ft six-pack) is being renovated and is not a pretty sight, but it has plenty of space and a head. More importantly, the boats GPS was working and the captain knew how to use it. The topside viz was about 50 ft and we navigated out of the intercoastal waterway by taking headings on successive buoys until we were through the Destin Pass.
Our destination was Amberjack Rock, a natural limestone reef in 88 fsw just a couple of miles south of Destin. The air temp was around 70F, the surface temp was 62F, and the bottom temp was 58F. The seas were running 3 to 4 feet, but the period between swells was long, and the wind and current were almost nil.
My wife and I were entertaining a friend from out of town who doesnt dive often, so my wife left her speargun at home and we dove as a 3-buddy team. My friend had a little trouble clearing, so we took several minutes to get to the bottom. The viz was as good or better than topside. There were tons of Black Snapper, Spade Fish, and Porgies. We also saw a couple of the largest Queen Angels weve ever seen before (and that includes the Caribbean and GBR). There was a grouper that was at least 36 inches, but he stayed just out of range. The reef is made up of ledges and narrow crevasses where the Black Snapper like to hide. I took a couple of shots from above the fish into a crevasse, but missed. We managed about 35 minutes of bottom time.
We decided to stay on Amberjack Rock for the second dive. . . (I certainly like the flexibility of a real charter). On this dive, I made a couple of mistakes. The first thing I did was forget to put on my gloves. The second thing I did was to not deploy my diaper-pin stringer while descending. I always clip the stringer to a D-ring and slide it in my waist strap to exit the boat. While descending, I forgot to pull it free and, unbeknownst to me, it slid through the bottom of my waist strap. A few minutes later I found a nice congregation of Black Snapper in another crevasse and took a shot. I pulled the fish up, trying not impale my bare hands on his fins, and tried to string him. The stringer was fouled in my waist belt, so I held onto the spear with my left hand (a not-happy and not-dead 2 foot snapper flopping around), and unclipped my stringer from the D-ring. A moment later I watched the stringer drop into the hole I had just pulled the snapper from. . . my first piece of lost dive gear.
Even a big snapper doesnt feed four people, so we went out for steaks instead. My buddy paid for dinner, so Im going to rationalize that Im still ahead. A good time was had by all!
