SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
With the Pensacola Surf Reports showing a small ground swell and south winds picking up in the afternoon, I wasn't sure how this dive would go... That and we were running late, without full tanks. A quick call to Down Under and they were happy as can be to hold the doors open for us a few extra minutes after closing in order for us to get some fills. Its great having nothing but top notch dive operations in Baldwin County.
Finally making it to the beach, the water was choppy, with knee high surf, and the occassional thigh high set. Water was a greenish/blue tint and seemed worthwhile enough, so we geared up and hit the beach. Once in the water, Mikey P and I were pleasantly suprised that the visibility wasn't more stirred up. We had 10-15' throughout the dive in waters no colder than 77F. I didn't bother with a compass and we hit the wreck without too much difficulty. The Whiskey is looking GOOD! She may not be as uncovered as she was 4-5 years ago, but she's very uncovered... and in some parts definately more uncovered than the last time. While the rudder and stern hadn't unburried as much as last time, the break mid-ship had more relief than I had ever seen it. Both sides of the hull were visible but sand still covered the interior of the wreck. A few of the cargo holds are out enough to swim through again and all the cross beams are easily swam through again - unsuprisingly. There's alot of life on the wreck, easily more than what I saw on the jetties. The bow of the ship is visible moreso than I had ever seen, further west than the majority of the wreckage. Spades, sheepshead, mangrove, pigfish, and pinfish surrounded the wreck. Flounder could be found fairly easily, although most were smallish. Saw several puffers, blennies, juvy barracuda(I think), couple blue crab, and a few electric rays. Hit a depth near 20'ish, maybe a bit more(left the computer in the car) and our dive time was around 45 minutes, leaving me with better than 1700psi in the tank(enough to use for next weeks beach dive).
Excellent dive, the Whiskey Wreck was awesome, still beats some of the sites I've been dropped on by charter boats. There's better than 200' of wreck right now and its just sitting off the beach.
Finally making it to the beach, the water was choppy, with knee high surf, and the occassional thigh high set. Water was a greenish/blue tint and seemed worthwhile enough, so we geared up and hit the beach. Once in the water, Mikey P and I were pleasantly suprised that the visibility wasn't more stirred up. We had 10-15' throughout the dive in waters no colder than 77F. I didn't bother with a compass and we hit the wreck without too much difficulty. The Whiskey is looking GOOD! She may not be as uncovered as she was 4-5 years ago, but she's very uncovered... and in some parts definately more uncovered than the last time. While the rudder and stern hadn't unburried as much as last time, the break mid-ship had more relief than I had ever seen it. Both sides of the hull were visible but sand still covered the interior of the wreck. A few of the cargo holds are out enough to swim through again and all the cross beams are easily swam through again - unsuprisingly. There's alot of life on the wreck, easily more than what I saw on the jetties. The bow of the ship is visible moreso than I had ever seen, further west than the majority of the wreckage. Spades, sheepshead, mangrove, pigfish, and pinfish surrounded the wreck. Flounder could be found fairly easily, although most were smallish. Saw several puffers, blennies, juvy barracuda(I think), couple blue crab, and a few electric rays. Hit a depth near 20'ish, maybe a bit more(left the computer in the car) and our dive time was around 45 minutes, leaving me with better than 1700psi in the tank(enough to use for next weeks beach dive).
Excellent dive, the Whiskey Wreck was awesome, still beats some of the sites I've been dropped on by charter boats. There's better than 200' of wreck right now and its just sitting off the beach.
atleast not underwater.
