paulwall
Contributor
After pm'ing everybody I thought would be interested in a Pickens report, I made it out to Ft. Pickens with my BIL Keith and his son, Jeremy. Both are newer divers (Oct. 2008) without a whole lot of dives under their belts.
Apparently, Glen, Xray and all parked in the super-secret frequent diver parking lot around the bend, and I didn't see them until after emerging from my 2nd dip (here are the gory details).
I thought we'd drop in along the Western most jetty for reference and then swim East toward the debris field. Less than 5 mins into the dive, I feel a tug on my fin, and Jeremy indicates we lost Keith. Vis was 10-15 or so, so I felt like he aborted early. I made a U-turn and we surfaced in about 10 ft of water when Jeremy reports he lost my fin shortly after signalling me. To top it off, we were on the E side of the jetty and in some fisherman's way (He explained calmly in that great RR tradition).
I sent Jeremy up on the beach, Keith surfaced after having joined another group briefly, and we all regroup on the beach. I indicated I'd look briefly for the fin, but I hadn't much hope. After that dip, I came back and got Jeremy with securely attached Keith's fins, and took him around the debris field. Lots of spades, a puffer or two, a Red Grouper, some Red Snapper, a Queen Angel, and hermit crabs and urchins galore. I ran a line around some of the debris for easier navigation. On the way back, over the rocks, I found a decent sized flounder, and when I put my hand down next to him for reference, the whole bottom under me exploded into motion. I never saw what it was, probably another flounder, but it really suprised me.
After about 20 mins of that, I brought Keith in for a tour. The current had picked up, and vis dropped. On the way out, I reached out to pick up a 2oz sinker to try to make friends with the previously aggrieved fishermen, but the line was still attached to a 14" Flounder! Flounder, sinker and line took off and I continued the dive.
So, we putzed around the different pieces of debris for Keith to get comfortable for a bout 20 mins. I was running low on air, and we decided to turn the dive. I rolled up all of the line, retrieved the flag and headed in. I hit the beach with a little less than 100psi (which caused me to get a little vitriol back at Pro Dive).
De-stressed at the BNB Keith's CASA where his other half had whipped up Jambalaya.
Got ready for the next day's dives with Gary.
No pics due to task overloading, and crappy design of my new Fantasea single arm strobe kit.
Apparently, Glen, Xray and all parked in the super-secret frequent diver parking lot around the bend, and I didn't see them until after emerging from my 2nd dip (here are the gory details).
I thought we'd drop in along the Western most jetty for reference and then swim East toward the debris field. Less than 5 mins into the dive, I feel a tug on my fin, and Jeremy indicates we lost Keith. Vis was 10-15 or so, so I felt like he aborted early. I made a U-turn and we surfaced in about 10 ft of water when Jeremy reports he lost my fin shortly after signalling me. To top it off, we were on the E side of the jetty and in some fisherman's way (He explained calmly in that great RR tradition).
I sent Jeremy up on the beach, Keith surfaced after having joined another group briefly, and we all regroup on the beach. I indicated I'd look briefly for the fin, but I hadn't much hope. After that dip, I came back and got Jeremy with securely attached Keith's fins, and took him around the debris field. Lots of spades, a puffer or two, a Red Grouper, some Red Snapper, a Queen Angel, and hermit crabs and urchins galore. I ran a line around some of the debris for easier navigation. On the way back, over the rocks, I found a decent sized flounder, and when I put my hand down next to him for reference, the whole bottom under me exploded into motion. I never saw what it was, probably another flounder, but it really suprised me.
After about 20 mins of that, I brought Keith in for a tour. The current had picked up, and vis dropped. On the way out, I reached out to pick up a 2oz sinker to try to make friends with the previously aggrieved fishermen, but the line was still attached to a 14" Flounder! Flounder, sinker and line took off and I continued the dive.
So, we putzed around the different pieces of debris for Keith to get comfortable for a bout 20 mins. I was running low on air, and we decided to turn the dive. I rolled up all of the line, retrieved the flag and headed in. I hit the beach with a little less than 100psi (which caused me to get a little vitriol back at Pro Dive).
De-stressed at the BNB Keith's CASA where his other half had whipped up Jambalaya.
Got ready for the next day's dives with Gary.
No pics due to task overloading, and crappy design of my new Fantasea single arm strobe kit.
