Offshore Orange Beach Report - May 15, 2011

[paulwall]

Awoke to 54^o air temps to make it over to the SanRoc Marina to join the DownUnder crew for a set of offshore dives. The forecast called for 2-4' seas, but we all were willing to brave it on Down Under's 46' Newton custom Dive Boat.

We finally shoved off at 8:20 after 19(!) waivers were signed and the boat had been filled with fuel. Headed out the pass with a brisk NW wind and sun promising warmer weather, which is nice, because I didn't bring a jacket. Air temps quickly rose to about 73^o but the wind never quit all day. Fortunately, the seas were much less than forecast and the trip was uneventful.

First Dive: The Liberty Ship Allen. A 500' Liberty ship which was one of the first artificial reefs sunk offshore Alabama. Still pretty much intact, with tons of interesting shapes lining its bathtub-like hull. Kept on the lookout for shovelnose lobster, although I couldn't collect on this charter. Found two abandoned newer anchors, and pulled one's chain off of some sea fan growth. I've dived the Allen before, and as usual enjoyed the peace and ghostly environs. Saw a couple of large flounder, no shovelnose (wasn't looking hard enough), lots of snapper, and a few other divers. The trip back up the anchor line was a CF, as an AOW class of about 8 kept hanging on the trailing line and not making speedy ascent up the ladders. I guess I should have stayed down longer, and vowed not to make the same mistake again. I was testing out my new IST dual-gas computer, which is more conservative than my Aeris Nitrox computer and didn't want to violate it on the first dive. Water temps: 68^o at depth, 73^o on the surface, vis a murky 40'. It was dark down there with a 30' murk layer at the top. Current was moderate on the surface, the assist line was useful, although they rigged it on the port side, so it was dragged under the boat. Fresh Pinapple awaited us on the boat.

 

[jhayes75]

Thanks for the report. I canceled my trip this weekend because of the forecast. Looks like that was a mistake. I did manage to re-mulch my front garden and the normal yard work stuff though.

 

[paulwall]

I'm not sure what Captain Bert was thinking taking a full boat to this very limited site. There are at least fourteen areas of bridge rubble to dive on, but this boat keeps hitting this same piece, which is 3 sets of 3 columns each that have been down for more than 20 years.

We had to wait (more than 30mins) for some H&L fisherman to make room on this relatively small site. The 3 coal barges, or the San Pablo would have given us more room for the number of divers, or even one of the larger piles of bridge rubble with the actual bridge decking might have been more interesting. At least it was wet and salty.

Current was ripping on the surface, and the family that splashed in front of me had trouble grouping up on the tagline. I hopped in and got in front of them. As I made my way down the current line, it seemed unusually difficult to pull myself down the line. I guess it was passing between my shoulder and tank valve, because I was making very slow progress until I rolled to my left to make sure I was completely free.

I was first down and got kicked by nearly every one of the subsequent groups while chilling around the site. Found a HUGE Tulip snail (14") and what looked like a couple of basket stars on the coulumns. Really reminded me of brain coral, but with a softer look. Lots of Queen Angels, and butterflyfish, Spadefish, and sheepshead were cavorting around the columns.

After the crowd left, a large school of 12-14" fish started buzzing through. In my mind, they are bluefish, as they are long and thin, but have a scissor tail like a blue runner.

Vis was about 25'-30' and murky, dark again. Temp at depth was 67^o (brrr!) and 73^o on top. I hung out for a time at 38' watching a lone diver look for his buddies and warming up above the thermocline. He eventually came to the anchor line and began his ascent. I was the last diver to come up the anchor line.

When I got to the back of the boat DM J.T. had a poly line feeding out behind the boat with a rescue buoy on it. Three divers had been performing a free ascent as a skills test, and were WAAAAAAAAY off the stern of the boat. So, we had to play diver recovery for a while.

I then heard that two divers had gone missing the day before from a Pensacola charter, and were found two hours later by the Coast Guard. Does anybody have any more information?

 

[denisegg]

I hope conditions improve soon. That murk layer is no fun and I don't like the sound of those temps or vis. Thanks for the report Paul.