Pensacola Beach Dive Report 8-1-07

[wjefferis]

I met up with Halftime at 12:00 at Pensacola Beach and was welcomed to a beautiful sunny day with the wind coming out of the East. The water looked great and after almost sweating to death during my walk to the water I welcomed getting in as soon as possible. There was a bit of a long shore current running to the West generated from the East winds, but nothing major. Once I got in the water I noticed a three pound lead weight sitting in about 5 feet of water. Needless to say I was a little heavier going out to the site than normal. We surface swam to the site and I only noticed two jellies on our swim there. The algae that normally sits in between the beach and the site was there and was quite thick. I expected it to have all washed in towards the beach with the in-coming tide but for some reason it hadn’t. A little bit of the algae came all the way to the site as well. The visibility from the surface didn’t look as good as last weekend due in large part to the algae, but the site could still be easily seen from the surface. Once on the site I tied my flag off and looked around. Visibility was 15 feet, water temp was 81*, which was nice. I stuck my camera to my face and began taking pictures of everything that moved. When I was just looking around and taking in the site I saw maybe 5 more jellies. I think halftime counted something like twelve during the entire dive. Bottom line was that the viz was nice and the few jellies that were there were easily avoided and neither halftime nor I suffered any jellyfish stings. There was plenty of life swimming around the rubble and I tried my best to take a picture of all of it. About halfway through our dive the tide started moving out and the visibility drifted down to about 10 feet. After 75 minutes we decided it was time to call the dive and I untied my flag and underwater navigated through the algae on the way back to the beach, reaching the beach with 1000 psi still left in my tank. All in all I had a great time and it was cool to meet another person from the MBT Dive Forum and ScubaBoard. Halftime you are always welcome to dive with me anytime. Here are some pictures from the dive:

Me

Halftime

 

[paulwall]

Great shots!

This one:

is my favorite

 

[wjefferis]

I saw a few crab out at the rubble, but nothing worth taking in the up-coming crab grab.

 

[snepdiver]

Nice pictures. Thanks for the report.

 

[bottomfeeder22]

I concur, great pics! We had to call a dive out there on Monday morning b/c the jellies reminded us of that scene from finding nemo. Glad you guys had a good time.

 

[wjefferis]

The jellies at the beach have been very spotty. I quess I have just been lucky and haven't seen it really bad on the days I have gone. I got nailed last Saturday on the chin and side of my neck which sucked to say the least. I have been surface swimming out to the site lately and have had good results with avoiding jellies. Next time you go out try it. Just line up with the number#4 life gaurd tower and go due south. Back swim so that you can keep lined up with the life gaurd tower and count the pilons of the new pier. Once you are between the 13th and 14 pilon and lined up with the lifegaurd tower you are directly above the site. If you start looking down in the water around pilon #11 you can usually start to see bits of old rubble on the bottom. Or you could just get me to take you out there, i'm always looking for a reason to get in the water .

 

[bottomfeeder22]

sounds good, what are your rates? and do you carry my gear down the beach for me? I was good for the dive, but it was my buddy's first ocean dive(while he was getting certified), and the stress of the shore walk, the swim, and then the jellies proved to be a bit too much. I told him to call it if he wasn't comfortable, and he did, so I brought him back in.

 

[dford]

Nice Pic's.... I need to make it out to Pensacola Beach one day

 

[wjefferis]

sounds good, what are your rates? and do you carry my gear down the beach for me?

(1) No charge I am always looking for a reason to dive.

(2) You are definitely carrying your own gear .

Good call on allowing your friend to call the dive and making it ok, sometimes knowing your limitations and not diving in conditions you don't feel comfortable in is the hardest skill in diving to learn.

 

[denisegg]

No fair getting to dive in the middle of the week!!! I'd like a guide out to that spot too sometime. It must be nice living right at the beach...some of us wouldn't know...:shakehead