joe8mofo
Contributor
My wife and I decided to take a long weekend break so we drove to PCB. We booked a three-tank dive with Panama City Dive Charters for Saturday morning. Patrick had booked us on a 6-pack boat called "Downtime" and we would be diving with 3 other divers. The boat arrived late due to technical difficulties and we boarded and headed out towards the Bart. Unfortunately we made it 3 miles out and then the transmission began leaking fluid and ceased to function. So stranded we were; so the captain called Sea-Tow and after quite some time they arrived and SLOWLY towed us the 3-miles in. While being towed I contacted PCDC and inquired as to whether or not we could grab an afternoon charter so that the day wasn't entirely shot. Luckily 1 other person by the name of Matt wanted to do an afternoon dive so we had the necessary 3 people to do a 2-tank charter with the Wreck Raider at 1 PM. We made it back to shore and grabbed lunch and met up at the Wreck Raider. The wreck raider was a much newer boat with twin 4-cycle engines and quickly got us to the Bart. We jumped in, and when I jumped in my brand-new Dorcy 220-Lumen light disconnected from my D-Ring and sank immediately to the bottom. We descended to the Bart and on the wreck the vis was 40 ft. I located my light laying on the sand off of the starboard side of the wreck and retrieved it at 82 feet depth. There was a slight current but nothing overbearing; also the Bart is much larger than you realize until you are on it. There was also a desktop computer in one of the open areas on the wreck, sitting there gathering rust and sea life. It was 69 degrees on the wreck and I had a max depth of 82 ft and dive time of 34 min.
The second dive was to a limestone reef in about 84 feet of water. The line ran to the reef seemed to be at a 30 degree angle; while descending I noticed my spool of line had somehow managed to come unclipped from my D-ring at about 30 ft depth. I released from the line and swam to the spool, grabbed it and swam back to the line against the current, rewinding the line as I returned to the down-line. The reef had some lobsters on it and a variety of fish but visibility was poor at 15-30 ft. Temperature was 67 degrees and dive time was 30 minutes.
On both dives, Matt had issues equalizing and went very slowly; which is good as these were his 7th and 8th dives.
On Sunday, Tina and I hung out at St. Andrew's park and I did 50 minutes of solo diving at the jetties during low tide. Visibility was poor (5-15 feet) but there was no noticeable current. There is a ton of life along the Jetty and I found a fishing lure that was in good condition so I took it. There was some fishing line hung up on some of the rocks but I didn't see it as a major hazard. Max depth was 46 feet and I left the water with 1200 lbs of air left.
I would definitely book a charter again through Panama City Dive Charters, but never on the Downtime boat. We had a great time with Captain Rod on the Wreck Raider and will be diving with them next time.
The second dive was to a limestone reef in about 84 feet of water. The line ran to the reef seemed to be at a 30 degree angle; while descending I noticed my spool of line had somehow managed to come unclipped from my D-ring at about 30 ft depth. I released from the line and swam to the spool, grabbed it and swam back to the line against the current, rewinding the line as I returned to the down-line. The reef had some lobsters on it and a variety of fish but visibility was poor at 15-30 ft. Temperature was 67 degrees and dive time was 30 minutes.
On both dives, Matt had issues equalizing and went very slowly; which is good as these were his 7th and 8th dives.
On Sunday, Tina and I hung out at St. Andrew's park and I did 50 minutes of solo diving at the jetties during low tide. Visibility was poor (5-15 feet) but there was no noticeable current. There is a ton of life along the Jetty and I found a fishing lure that was in good condition so I took it. There was some fishing line hung up on some of the rocks but I didn't see it as a major hazard. Max depth was 46 feet and I left the water with 1200 lbs of air left.
I would definitely book a charter again through Panama City Dive Charters, but never on the Downtime boat. We had a great time with Captain Rod on the Wreck Raider and will be diving with them next time.
oooh or maybe Hydrospace. 
