Jmneal107
Registered
Just returned from my open water check out dives weekend and it was about as good as it gets.
We spent Saturday at Vortex Spring in Ponce De Leon, FL. While it was a little crowded at times, the weather was perfect and we got three dives in the log book. My biggest takeaway from the first day was how important buoyancy control and trim are. This affected the vis as other divers were silting the place up to heck and back with their fin work. I plan to work a lot on buoyance in the coming months, both at the pool and local dive spot in Birmingham.
We then drove to Panama City Beach to dive the St. Andrews State Park Jetties. High tide on Sunday was at 9:20am so we were there and ready to go around 9am. It has not rained in the panhandle in weeks and that lead to some of the best visibility I have seen in the area in a while. I felt like I was diving in the Bahamas. 50-60ft vis at high tide. We did two dives before the outgoing tide started to affect current and vis. The jetties is a phenomenal dive spot , whether you are a beginner or experienced, particularly when the conditions are great.
I now have the itch to dive more and learn more! I plan to take the nitrox course and some other courses to work toward the AOW cert. as well as get on some shallower gulf wreck trips this summer. If there are any local Birmingham divers, I'd love to connect and maybe dive Blue Water park come this summer. Cheers!
We spent Saturday at Vortex Spring in Ponce De Leon, FL. While it was a little crowded at times, the weather was perfect and we got three dives in the log book. My biggest takeaway from the first day was how important buoyancy control and trim are. This affected the vis as other divers were silting the place up to heck and back with their fin work. I plan to work a lot on buoyance in the coming months, both at the pool and local dive spot in Birmingham.
We then drove to Panama City Beach to dive the St. Andrews State Park Jetties. High tide on Sunday was at 9:20am so we were there and ready to go around 9am. It has not rained in the panhandle in weeks and that lead to some of the best visibility I have seen in the area in a while. I felt like I was diving in the Bahamas. 50-60ft vis at high tide. We did two dives before the outgoing tide started to affect current and vis. The jetties is a phenomenal dive spot , whether you are a beginner or experienced, particularly when the conditions are great.
I now have the itch to dive more and learn more! I plan to take the nitrox course and some other courses to work toward the AOW cert. as well as get on some shallower gulf wreck trips this summer. If there are any local Birmingham divers, I'd love to connect and maybe dive Blue Water park come this summer. Cheers!