Weather was great for my first ocean dive of 2009. One of my students and I headed over to meet some others at Dive Locker and get tanks, then over to St Andrews State Park at setup. The park was pretty packed with divers and beachgoers, to the point that there were no tables available. We found a empty spot on the floor and got ready to dive. We also ran into other friends. One group would head over to the beach to do the long trip around the point, and my student and I headed over the rocks in the lagoon to work on his Underwater Naturalist dive.
We headed in at about 30mins before slack tide, to find non existent current, then dove down to about 35ft and swam around the rocks. We saw a lot of gag grouper, some sheepshead, arrow crabs, a large hermit crab, and the usual tropicals. Surface temp was about 82f, and bottom temp about 76f. My student and I were looking for evidence of symbiotic and predator/prey relationships, as well as human impact, and we found plenty of both. Not too much trash actually, but we took out a couple items. After about 40mins, the current started to head out, and we headed for the surface.
After a break, we headed to the beach side with snorkeling gear only, and checked out the rocks on that side a bit, but the surge was pretty annoying so we didnt stay too long. We met up with some more friends, who were heading in, and after they got done, we all headed to Scampis for dinner. While there we got to hear PCDC explode a couple buildings over. A bank tank had ruptured a smashed a hole in the wall. No one got hurt, luckily. I have a few pics and some video to post once I edit it. Good times at PC!
Pics - Pictures by jviehe - Photobucket
Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p-qiYOhhiI
We headed in at about 30mins before slack tide, to find non existent current, then dove down to about 35ft and swam around the rocks. We saw a lot of gag grouper, some sheepshead, arrow crabs, a large hermit crab, and the usual tropicals. Surface temp was about 82f, and bottom temp about 76f. My student and I were looking for evidence of symbiotic and predator/prey relationships, as well as human impact, and we found plenty of both. Not too much trash actually, but we took out a couple items. After about 40mins, the current started to head out, and we headed for the surface.
After a break, we headed to the beach side with snorkeling gear only, and checked out the rocks on that side a bit, but the surge was pretty annoying so we didnt stay too long. We met up with some more friends, who were heading in, and after they got done, we all headed to Scampis for dinner. While there we got to hear PCDC explode a couple buildings over. A bank tank had ruptured a smashed a hole in the wall. No one got hurt, luckily. I have a few pics and some video to post once I edit it. Good times at PC!
Pics - Pictures by jviehe - Photobucket
Video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p-qiYOhhiI
