Whiskey Wreck 5/30/2006 Dive Report

[jwhitlock]

Tuesday May 3rd I met up with Gary from Garys Gulf Divers along with a student of his from Birmingham at the Bahama Bobs to dive the Whiskey. We got in the water around 12 noon and man the vis looked like it was going to be great maybe between 20-30 ft. Vis on top of the was so good you could surface over the wreck and see the top of it from the surface. But the down side was once we got to the wreck it seemed like there was a murk layer all around the deeper parts of the wreck making the vis around 2-5 ft. The shallower parts of the wreck seemed to have better vis around 10ft. or better. Water temps were in the 80s and above all it was a fun dive, the Whiskey is ALOT more submerged from the sand that the last time I saw it.
Maybe the sand will continue to wash away leaving more of it exposed. J.Whit

 

[paulwall]

Care to dive the whiskey with me on a weekday next week?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thanks for the report Whitlock, we had similar conditions Monday. Its weird having a thermocline with warm clear water ontop to murky cooler water on bottom. I'm just hoping the current keeps coming from the East pushing that warm clear water over, and maybe it'll continue to push the cooler murkier junk out.

I hear the West Beach Paddlewheeler is divable again, still don't know its location though :huh:

Care to dive the whiskey with me on a weekday next week?

Make it a week night and you have a deal

 

[tom wicker]

Tuesday May 3rd I met up with Gary from Garys Gulf Divers along with a student of his from Birmingham at the Bahama Bobs to dive the Whiskey. We got in the water around 12 noon and man the vis looked like it was going to be great maybe between 20-30 ft. Vis on top of the was so good you could surface over the wreck and see the top of it from the surface. But the down side was once we got to the wreck it seemed like there was a murk layer all around the deeper parts of the wreck making the vis around 2-5 ft. The shallower parts of the wreck seemed to have better vis around 10ft. or better. Water temps were in the 80s and above all it was a fun dive, the Whiskey is ALOT more submerged from the sand that the last time I saw it.
Maybe the sand will continue to wash away leaving more of it exposed. J.Whit

I was down on the beach there last night looking out towards the wreck (Wednesday night around 9pm) I haven’t had the chance to dive it since before Ivan. With the beach house gone was it hard to get a bearing on the wreck with nothing to line up with? Its nice to see some place on the net with some local divers

Tom

 

[algulfdiver]

Tom,
You just line up the east Wall of Bahama Bobs and head south about 125 yards or so off the beach.
I've been diving this wreck off and on sence 1986 and have never seen this much of it. This Dive can be Crap one day and a Great dive the next.

 

[paulwall]

Thanks for the report Whitlock, we had similar conditions Monday. Its weird having a thermocline with warm clear water ontop to murky cooler water on bottom. I'm just hoping the current keeps coming from the East pushing that warm clear water over, and maybe it'll continue to push the cooler murkier junk out.

I hear the West Beach Paddlewheeler is divable again, still don't know its location though :huh:



Make it a week night and you have a deal

Well, of course that's what I meant.

 

[tom wicker]

Tom,
You just line up the east Wall of Bahama Bobs and head south about 125 yards or so off the beach.
I've been diving this wreck off and on sence 1986 and have never seen this much of it. This Dive can be Crap one day and a Great dive the next.

Thanks for the info Gary I believe I may have met you last week I dropped into your shop and bought a black framed purge mask from you if I’m correct I was also trying to track done an Gulf Shore dive shop owner that gave up their shop. The Whiskey wreck use to be a cool quick dive during the winter months I have helped out with a few students there and called upon to buddy a few Snow Birds when they came up short on dive personal.

A couple of years ago at one time we were getting clam shells from there as big as dinner plates only to give them up to the tourist as we beached . It didn’t take them long to figure out how to make us feel bad and give up our finds to them :0)

If I recall Downunder once told me the paddle wheeler was just beyond Callaway pass at mile marker 5. At the telephone pole street side walk straight to the beach and it lies between the first and second bar. It would be great if a group could get together and hunt that wreck down a few start from the East and a group start from the West.

We just may meet up on the Whiskey one day. I’m kinda lost at this time both dive shops I hung out with now over the years has pulled up roots and the old dive buddies have gotten away from diving I’m working on my new Son-in-law but boy dose here have a fear of sharks maybe to much to chance.

Tom

 

[paulwall]

I was also trying to track done an Gulf Shore dive shop owner that gave up their shop. I’m kinda lost at this time both dive shops I hung out with now over the years has pulled up roots ...



Tom

Would one of those shops be Pleasure Island? I used to dive with them all the time.

 

[tom wicker]

Would one of those shops be Pleasure Island? I used to dive with them all the time.

One was Pleasure Island it went through a couple of owners the last few years it was open. My favorite was South Bound it has been closed for about five or six years now. What made it so much fun was the road trips a group would just get together on a weekend and takeoff driving you might end up in the Keys, Texas, or anywhere. All that was invested was a little gas money and eats. They had one of the friendliest staff you would ever meet

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

If I recall Downunder once told me the paddle wheeler was just beyond Callaway pass at mile marker 5. At the telephone pole street side walk straight to the beach and it lies between the first and second bar. It would be great if a group could get together and hunt that wreck down a few start from the East and a group start from the West.

I have a hand drawn map to this wreck, but it was made in 1986 and I believe alot of the landmarks have either been rebuilt or wiped out. I searched for it a few times last year but I believe it was covered by sand(like the Whiskey post Ivan, up till about 3ish months ago). I was in Down Under earlier this week getting a fill and heard someone dove the paddlewheeler(3rd hand info), so it may be time to go wreck hunting again.

Welcome to ScubaBoard Tom.