West Beach Paddlewheeler 4-8-7 Dive Report

[SuPrBuGmAn]

After a large Easter lunch with the family, I headed to Gulf Shores to get another dip in Gulf with our current, super awesome fantastic shore diving conditions. Like yesterday, the water was clear, no current, no surf, and no surge, making some of the most relaxing diving imaginable. cmufieldhockey was my dive buddy, and she approved of conditions as well - much better than her last Gulf Shore's beach dive conditions(medium sized surf, surge, and 3-5' of visibility). Visibility was 15-20', maybe slightly better, but water temps were down to 66F after the cold snap. I had sleet on the back porch this morning...

Sheepshead are thick and you can find flounder onsite already. Lots of damsels, blennies, and gobies on the wreck. You can also find pufferfish amongst the rubble. I don't think I've ever dove this particular site with the amount of visibility we had today(course, I've only been diving this site for about a year). Spadefish schooled around the middle of the wreck and wreck itself was decorated in different sponges and the occasional anenome and tubeworm. We looped the wreck's relief several times and explored through the middle. Ended up stretching the dive out 81 minutes with a max depth of 17' before getting chilled enough to call the dive. It really was an excellent dive, with warmer temps, it would have lasted much longer.

Post dive debriefing and libations at Bahama Bobs - food is always good and the beer is always wet!

 

[philmottrek99and02]

Mat. Thanks for the report. I'll have to dive that spot, possibly in May on the way back from Largo. I still have room in the condo.
Howard

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

Fabulous dive! I bet we could've stayed down there 2 hrs if it hadn't been chilly.

 

[mwhities]

Dang it. :| I want to go diving. *cries*

Great report Mat. Maybe I will be able to start reporting like this more often.

Michael

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Mike, its time to get back in the water dude!

Fabulous dive! I bet we could've stayed down there 2 hrs if it hadn't been chilly.

...and if my pressure gauge wasn't possessed! Atleast it stopped leaking before it dumped too much air. I'm just glad we had our fill of the temperature before I could be held responsible for turnaround pressure - LOL.

 

[tom wicker]

Mat with the dive fresh in your mind did it seem possible the hull was 225ft with a 30ft beam? To me it seems at the most 150ft.

Sounds like you too had a awesome dive I'm missing all the great viz but I'm getting to old for the cold

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

Oh and I found another dollar bill I forgot to mention. Shoulda put it toward dinner.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Mat with the dive fresh in your mind did it seem possible the hull was 225ft with a 30ft beam? To me it seems at the most 150ft.

Its hard to tell, most of the hull is under sand. If you look at the distance between the hubs of the sidewheelers, it looks at the very least 30' wide. The relief doesn't consist of much hull, its mostly boilers, machinery, rigging, that were all found above deck. I'd imagine you need some kind of sidescan or magnometer or similar to view whats beneath the sand to get a more accurate measurement.

Seems to me that it could easily be 225' long, considering the amount of sand its resting in the middle of.

 

[sandersondiver]

I've seen the bow just out of the sand several years ago to the NNE of the boiler. It would be interesting to see a magnotometer image of what's underneath the sand.

 

[mwhities]

Mike, its time to get back in the water dude!

Yeah, I know. I'm spending my would be "gone diving" money on a BP/W setup. Also, I think I have my wife talked into a set of doubles for me.

Just think how long my gas hog self could stay down with the Whiskey with a pair of 133's on my back.

Michael