Vortex and PC this weekend

[mrfish87]

Is anybody going to be at Vortex on Friday or Panama City on Sat and Sun. I am taking my Daughter on her check out dives and was just wondering if there is anybody who is going to be hanging around. I am also doing my 1st Divemaster training open water experience....should be fun....we have 12 OW and 7 Advanced.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'll be kinda North of PCB in Marianna taking advantage of my new Cavern cert

 

[mrfish87]

Cool. We wont be spending the night in the area. We are staying in PCB and diving the close wrecks on Sat and Sun. My Daughter will be looking for some more water time and the best place to get iti is in the springs. I'll probably take her to Morrison in a few weeks. Once it gets a bit cooler we will be camping at Vortex. Cant take the pregnant wife when it's hot.

 

[ClayJar]

You missed me by a week. I was at Vortex last Friday and off PCB for the rest of the weekend. I *certainly* have no daughter, but we had 18 students, and I was doing more DM-to-be work. :biggrin:

Good luck with the Gulf. We had great to respectable vis on three dives (Bridge Span 14, Black Bart, Hovercraft) but quarry-on-a-bad-day on the last (Stage 2). I must not be completely incompetent, as we didn't lose a student in my group, while the card-carrying DM with one of the other instructors lost *four* (of six!) on Stage 2. (I didn't see him lit up; I, on the other hand, had one light on my shoulder strap while I swung my primary back and forth behind me like a caboose man... oh, and I made a hawk look ADD by comparison.)

If I may ask, are you doing your DM with a shop out of NOLA? I'm not familiar with things that side of Pontchartrain, although I really ought to get to know some people so I can eventually get out to the rigs. (Seems just wrong to work up to DM in Louisiana without ever having been to the rigs, even if I spend most of my diving in the low-sodium waters of the cold, dark, and murkies.)

 

[Halftime]

What time do you plan to depart Sunday I should get to PC around noon we could get together and get 1 in if you are still there.

 

[mrfish87]

Well, we made the trip and it was great to see my daughters face in the water. Even the instructor called her a natural. She was in the water first on most dives.

On Friday we met up at Vortex with a group of 11 students and 1 refresher. The spring was the usual with fair viz for a class just being in. The class made it through the skills and we did a tour of the spring stopping over the hole. The water there was perfecetly clear. After dive 2 and the completion of day 1 skills for the students, the divemasters made a short dive to the cavern and the water there was absolutley beautiful. We did a few minutes in the cavern area and went up to make sure the students had there gear packed up for the trip to Panama City.

On Saturday we met up at Panama City Dive Center and grabbed tanks for Open water Dives 3 and 4. We were also joined by a few more certified divers. We had 21 divers all together and we boarded the Island Diver for a mid-day trip. On the way out we saw flying fish and I told the students that they were going to be in for some good viz. They were not dissapointed. We dove the USS Strength on the first dive and the viz from the top of the wreck was 80' plus. You could clearly see the ladders on the boat and the float line from the tie in point. The wreck was completely, and I mean completely covered in bait fish. They were being pursued by Spanish Mackeral and every so often a spanish would dart in and feed. The viz in the bait was about 1 foot. I was assigned to the refresher and she did great once she got down. We ended up with a 38 minute dive and moved to our second spot.
We arrived at Bridge Span 12 in short time and made a nice surface interval. When we hit the water the span was clearly visible. There was far less bait fish and the dive was great. There were several groupers and massive amounts of spadefish. There were also a good bit of angels and a flounder on the roadway. It was another great dive. We enjoyed Capt. Andersons for dinner that night.

On Saturday we did the same routine with the tanks and boat, but this time I was free to dive mith my daughter because she had finished all skills. We had the same great viz and dove the Bart twice. The Bart was loaded up with mangroves, angels, spades, AJ's and butterflys. We even found an toadfish and an octopus. We saw and almaco jack that had been speared but the spear tip had either broke or came loose from the shaft. The fish was non-the-worse-for-the-wear for having a spear tip in his back and was feeding with the rest of the school. The dives were great and I am happy to have a new dive buddy.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Congrats on the daughter getting certified. One of these days our schedules will work out to get some dives in.

 

[mrfish87]

Thanks and I am sure it will happen soon. We will probably be camping at Vortex when the weather cools.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'll surely be in the area!