Panhandle/ScubaBoarder Bonanza

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Diving this weekend didn't go exactly as planned but we still had fun and managed to pull 4 more dives under my belt. I also got to hang out with more ScubaBoarders in one weekend than ever before.

Some of the Dixie Divers from GA were planning a get together in Panama City to dive the St. Andrews Jeddies this past weekend so I figured 'd join them and bring a few friends(Trey and Trent). Despite everyone suggesting that we reserve a campsite, I neglected to do so, bringing our first problem to the table(no campsite). We arrived an hour early because I thought PC was located in EST, so we couldn't hit up the camping registration office to see about any cancellations for a bit. We visited Corigan and kyle before making our way to the office. Luck seemed to be in our favor since we managed to get one of the four open campsites free'd up from cancelled reservations. After setting up camp with a quickness we headed to the pavillions near the jeddies to suit up and get in the water. Trey, Trent and I met up with Corigan, kyle, JKSteger, ScubaPT and Jessy(?), darcy w/somebody from Divers Den, SeaYoda, and RookieJ - quite a group! A few of them entered the water while we were still suiting up and came back shortly with news of non-existant visibility. Ugh. The decision was made to head to Morrison Spring, water levels were looking favorable. My buddies and I decided it'd be best to abandon camp at St. Andrews and camp at Vortex since we would be making the rest of our dives for Sat and Sun at Morrison. Unfortunately, I was unable to hock the campsite-damn...

It was a beautiful weekend, not a cloud insite until Sunday evening and highs peaked in the mid-70s. This is great an all but it caused for one hellova crowd at Morrison. We usually try to arrive around 8AM to beat the crowds, but this wasn't a planned dive so we had to make do with whatever was dealt to us. Arriving, we found quite a few divers as well as classes going on. We also found WaterDawg and SCUBADIVINERIK onsite, they had been there since morning and said the visibility was excellent before the crowds(great news for our Sunday morning dives). NUTZ was also onsite, not sure if he was diving for fun or with a class. The water had a blue/green tinge to it, instead of the green/brown tinge we enjoyed the previous weekend. The bottom was kicked up so visibility was spotty between 5-25'. We managed 2 dives Saturday before calling it an evening and headed back to Vortex - making it by around 6PM. We cooked up some hotdogs and ate some smores before crashing out in the tents around 8:30PM.

Up at 6AM Sunday morning, the sun was coming up over the basin at Vortex making for a good picture I walked around a bit and talked to a few people who managed to wake up early as well. Ate some grub, filled our tanks, and we were back at Morrison by 8:15AM to meet up with Biggen. The bottom had settled and we enjoyed some pretty good visibility in the 20-30' range - the best I've seen the visibility since mid-November. Just as the day before, we ran across the usual suspects in the basin including bream, bass, rockbass, freshwater eels, catfish, freshwater flounder, freshwater sand divers, carp, pike, and we even came across a large gar.

Even though we didn't get to dive in salt, we had a good time with lots of great people. It was nice meeting up with all the ScubaBoarders I hadn't met and it was great to see old friends yet again. The diving was fun and the whole weekend was relaxed with some great weather. I also pulled off my 100th logged dive

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

More pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album61

 

[jviehe]

What happend at St Andrews to visibility? I notices high tide was at 10:30 CST. When did you guys get in? Also notice the difference in low to high tide was .5ft, maybe that makes a difference, not much water movement.

 

[WaterDawg]

As for SCUBBADIVINGERIK and I, we met up and went to Morison got there around 0900 we were going to do a few practice dives as Erik had a new BP/W and long hose, shortly after we got there NUTZ showed up, and somehow recognized us, hes a pretty cool guy and hope to meet up w/ him again.

Erik and I did some land drills and spent our first dive around the platform doing skills, then the second and third in the cavern. After our secong dive, on the way out of the water I notice a girl waving at me, from shore (whoo-hoo!) It t urned out to be Darcy. I was suprised to see her there and glad that the whole gang would be coming shortly.

Talked to Corigan (who was also sporting a new BP/W, Light Can), Kyle P and a few others, had a great time and then went to eat, yup you guessed it...at Sally's!

Matt congrats on your 100th dive!!!!!!

 

[Corigan]

I had a blast as well. Thanks for the pictures Mat. Congrats on your 100th! I still need to make a few small adjustments to the BP/W, but I can already tell that I have greater degree of control with it than my older setup. Looking forward to getting back to NFL sometime in the near future and diving with you all again,

Matt

 

[Desa]

Great pictures! I am confused. The last time I was at Morrisons it was closed and now I hear the state of Fl owns/controls it? Whats up and what do you have to do to dive there now?

I missed you all by one week. I will be camping in Panama City Beach from 19th through the 25th. Anybody gets bored, I am going to have my camper at Venture Out RV, site #585. They are on the left just before you get to St. Andrews park. Hoping to do the Jetties a couple of times next week, if anybody is interested.

 

[Corigan]

Great pictures! I am confused. The last time I was at Morrisons it was closed and now I hear the state of Fl owns/controls it? Whats up and what do you have to do to dive there now.

The state owns it. There is no fill stations, or anybody working out there. Everything has been gutted. There are however still showers and the restrooms work. It is free. All you have to do is show up and tote all your gear/air with you.

Matt

 

[JKSteger]

I just wanted to chime in and say that I had a great time this past weekend. It was a pleasure meeting so many ScubaBarder's at one time. I for one am looking forward to diving with you all again in N. Florida.

Great pics Superbugman and way to go with 100!

Hope to see everyone again soon...

Jeremy

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

What happend at St Andrews to visibility? I notices high tide was at 10:30 CST. When did you guys get in? Also notice the difference in low to high tide was .5ft, maybe that makes a difference, not much water movement.

I think the water exchange had alot to do with it, St. Andrews seems to be similar to Ft. Pickens in that its on a very large channel that takes a larger exchange to clear things up. Destin was clear that morning, we could see bottom from the bridge on 98 while on the way to Panama City - its a much smaller pass and I don't think it needs as much of an exchange to clear the baywater out(last I dove Destin was on a similar tidal period with .5-1' exchange - can't remember which - but it was a neap also and we still had clear vis). There was also a pretty wicked wind coming up out of the South, kicking up the water(it was extremely choppy - from what I understand offshore conditions weren't good enough to run boats from the local shops in PC). In hindsite, Destin probably would have been a better site to dive from, but nobody could have predicted bad visibility at PC either.

We had some good dives at Morrison so the weekend wasn't a waste by any means what-so-ever.

NUTZ recognized me at Vortex once, the dude has a sixth sense for recognizing people from just knowing their screen-names ... or maybe he looks at all the pics we post

Desa - Everything Corigan stated was true, but lemme add that the running water onsite is cold(showers, sinks, everything). Its also a good idea to bring some TP, they usually have some, but you don't want to be on the recieving end of the exception!

Thanks for all the congratulations on the 100th dive

 

[NUTTZ]

Destin diving sucked as well. I dove it friday morning and had maybe 10 ft. viz down to 22 ft then lights out. They were dredging out in the pass and they had the bottom stirred up. Saw several nice sheep heads and a few crabs, nothing like summer time diving.

Conditions at Morrisons was great. I have only seen it better and that was back in October 2004. We dove Morrison Friday afternoon and had it to ourselves and then Friday morning it was only a few people there (Waterdawg and SCUBADIVINGERIK cool guys) until around 10 or 11. We later dove Vortex and done a night dive there as well and it was packed there. Morrison is so much better hopefully the river levels will keep allowing us to dive there more often.

Bugman you are right the pics are nice for recognizing people and the underwater shots are always good so keep it up.