I hate to have to report all of this...probably the worst dive I have ever done.
My dive club was having their annual picnic at St. Andrews State Park in PC this weekend. High tide was 3:00 and should have been perfect timing for a great dive. Air temp was 87F. Water temp was 75F at surface and 73F at 50'.
The fam got suited up about 1:00...some wore 3mm suits. I wore my skin and jacket-shortie. I was thrilled with my fat fill of 3087 lbs, grabbed all my gear, and headed out. When I saw the water in the channel wasn't the normal beautiful green but had a yellow hue to it, I should have known something was up....ALGAE & SEAWEED!
Anyway...we waded out and put on our fins among all of the kiddies splashing and yelling, "Hey...there's another scuba diver!" (I don't like all of the pointing and staring, but anything for a dive, right?) Masks and snorkels on, we swam the 30 yards out to the jetties. (If you have never dived at the jetties, getting over/through the rocks is the tricky part, especially with all the urchins and the current beating the crap out of you and slamming you into the rocks). Nevertheless, over the rocks. The fam gathered, dive flag in tow, and we made our descent. Total crap viz. We're talking maybe 3 feet. In addition to all of the algae and seaweed, evidently we picked the perfect day for the first fish spawn...total yuck.
Had I have been by myself, I would have ditched the dive right then and there, especially since I scraped the back of my leg pretty good on the way over and was urchinized one time at least. But I was with the in-laws and decided to grin and bear it.
I would post some pics, but there is no need since I can't even tell what I was taking pics of 'cause the viz was so bad. Regardless, me and hubby managed 44 min, 54' max, average 23 feet. Temp was 73F. I was an air hog using 2118 as it was fairly disorienting trying to keep up with my hubby-buddy with viz so bad...if he was even 5 ft away, I couldn't see him or enough yellow on his gear to keep up. Total crap.
After the dive, we visited with the dive club, ate hotdogs, and headed home. Time to clean the gear...it was like slime revisited. That mess was in everything. It was totally gross when I cleaned out my snorkel. That junk was all in my suit. Yuck.
I was disappointed, but not all dives can be great. That's why I am looking forward to Blackbeards in a little over a week. Those should be much better! Too bad I couldn't have given a better report for this weekend, though!
My dive club was having their annual picnic at St. Andrews State Park in PC this weekend. High tide was 3:00 and should have been perfect timing for a great dive. Air temp was 87F. Water temp was 75F at surface and 73F at 50'.
The fam got suited up about 1:00...some wore 3mm suits. I wore my skin and jacket-shortie. I was thrilled with my fat fill of 3087 lbs, grabbed all my gear, and headed out. When I saw the water in the channel wasn't the normal beautiful green but had a yellow hue to it, I should have known something was up....ALGAE & SEAWEED!
Anyway...we waded out and put on our fins among all of the kiddies splashing and yelling, "Hey...there's another scuba diver!" (I don't like all of the pointing and staring, but anything for a dive, right?) Masks and snorkels on, we swam the 30 yards out to the jetties. (If you have never dived at the jetties, getting over/through the rocks is the tricky part, especially with all the urchins and the current beating the crap out of you and slamming you into the rocks). Nevertheless, over the rocks. The fam gathered, dive flag in tow, and we made our descent. Total crap viz. We're talking maybe 3 feet. In addition to all of the algae and seaweed, evidently we picked the perfect day for the first fish spawn...total yuck.
Had I have been by myself, I would have ditched the dive right then and there, especially since I scraped the back of my leg pretty good on the way over and was urchinized one time at least. But I was with the in-laws and decided to grin and bear it.
I would post some pics, but there is no need since I can't even tell what I was taking pics of 'cause the viz was so bad. Regardless, me and hubby managed 44 min, 54' max, average 23 feet. Temp was 73F. I was an air hog using 2118 as it was fairly disorienting trying to keep up with my hubby-buddy with viz so bad...if he was even 5 ft away, I couldn't see him or enough yellow on his gear to keep up. Total crap.
After the dive, we visited with the dive club, ate hotdogs, and headed home. Time to clean the gear...it was like slime revisited. That mess was in everything. It was totally gross when I cleaned out my snorkel. That junk was all in my suit. Yuck.
I was disappointed, but not all dives can be great. That's why I am looking forward to Blackbeards in a little over a week. Those should be much better! Too bad I couldn't have given a better report for this weekend, though!
