SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Kenny R and I headed to Gulf Shores this afternoon for a dive at the West Beach Paddlewheeler. Kenny was my buddy during the exploration that helped me locate the dive site. This was his first time back to dive the boat. The day we found it, there was a nasty thermocline with no visibility(well... 6" or so) below 8-9', so he only got to see the upper 2-3' or relief near the boiler section and easternmost paddle.
We got there at sunset and it was already a bit chilly, surf was flat and water tempertures were ~77F. He wore a 5mm Pinnacle, I wore my 1/2mm
The water was noticably clear from the surface and averaged around 10-15' around the divesite. There weren't many mangroves left onsite, and no legal ones, not even close. The sheepshead have made their way back to the shallows though, and some were decently sized. Kenny shot a nice one, his first fish with a new JBL 38 Special. I sported a polespear and took 6 flounder, two of them were nice(one ~2.5lbs and the other was very nice at 3.5lbs, maybe better?). We saw a couple of octopii and a ton of stingrays, mostly electric skates, but a few southerns and some of the yellow, really wide rays that kinda look like batrays in shape with stubby tails.? Course the spades, pinfish, and pigfish were around. No stinging nettles, but there were about a half dozen moonjellies onsite. Most of the seaweed has moved out, but there were a couple of patches here and there. Hit a max depth of 16' for a dive lasting 64 minutes before we called it. I was getting chilly and Kenny had some mask issues. We both had nearly a half tank left. It was a cold walk back to the truck and gearing down was frigid. Great dive though!
We got there at sunset and it was already a bit chilly, surf was flat and water tempertures were ~77F. He wore a 5mm Pinnacle, I wore my 1/2mm
The water was noticably clear from the surface and averaged around 10-15' around the divesite. There weren't many mangroves left onsite, and no legal ones, not even close. The sheepshead have made their way back to the shallows though, and some were decently sized. Kenny shot a nice one, his first fish with a new JBL 38 Special. I sported a polespear and took 6 flounder, two of them were nice(one ~2.5lbs and the other was very nice at 3.5lbs, maybe better?). We saw a couple of octopii and a ton of stingrays, mostly electric skates, but a few southerns and some of the yellow, really wide rays that kinda look like batrays in shape with stubby tails.? Course the spades, pinfish, and pigfish were around. No stinging nettles, but there were about a half dozen moonjellies onsite. Most of the seaweed has moved out, but there were a couple of patches here and there. Hit a max depth of 16' for a dive lasting 64 minutes before we called it. I was getting chilly and Kenny had some mask issues. We both had nearly a half tank left. It was a cold walk back to the truck and gearing down was frigid. Great dive though!
