Panama City 9/16/2007

[Rick Murchison]

The forecast was for 3-4 foot seas, but we decided to go ahead, fully expecting a rough ride... but the chickens Smedley'd sacrificed must've been good ones; the Gulf was as flat as a pond, water warm, air not too hot, sun out... beautiful conditions.
Here are a few shots from the day:

As we descended it got a little darker than the visibility would seem to dictate. Looking back overhead, I see why... skies are broken variable to overcast - with fish!

As we got down closer to the bottom the vis deteriorated... again, due to fish! I hate it when that happens

This fellow has decided his own spines weren't enough, and so has picked up a little extra armor to carry with him...

The duty Blue Angelfish was there to greet us, so graceful, so colorful...

A dive wouldn't be complete without a few smiling Blennies

This octopus didn't want to play... on close examination I found out why, and why that Belted Sandfish was hanging around waiting for his chance. She had a clutch of eggs in there with her... so we left her in peace after giving her a nice pile of shells she could use for cover.

This one, on the other hand, did want to play! A tug-o-war ensued where he tried to take my hand into his lair...

All in all another great day of diving!
Rick

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Great report Rick, and as always, fantastic pictures!

 

[Tom Smedley]

Despite warnings that the water may be bumpy, this past weekend turned into an absolutely outstanding experience.

Saturday morning started off with the St Andrews Jetties. Low tide happened early but with only six-inches of change the current flowed mildly along. I slid across the rocks and found visibility as far as I could see. I went toward the south and out into the channel. Then back to the rocks and saw a grand variety of marine life. Mullet and snapper and angel fish and puffers and of course the singing toadfish covered every nook and cranny. I saw hundreds of stone crab and a bunch of his little cousins the arrow crab. I tied off my flag because I didn’t have enough line on it so I went back to locate the flag and spent a surface interval against the rocks. My flag is on the pole upside down and I think often of changing it but am glad I didn’t because I spotted my own with no problem and retrieved it.

For my second dive I went north into progressively shallower water. By this time the tide changed to incoming and the water started to clear. In the shallows of the north end of the rocks I saw small tropical fish, angel fish, and still more crabs. I swung around the end of the jetty and back into the lagoon and looked around at small stuff until the water became too shallow. What a great couple of dives to start my day.

Our six hour trip with PCDC aboard the Reef Runner started late. We loaded and waited for Capt Rambo to get back in on the Island Diver and we were under way. He suggested that we dive the SS Tarpon and his suggestion proved good. This is an actual wreck site from August of 1937 and is a protected refuge on the National Register of Historic Places. We found scattered wreckage and loads of marine life. The fish swarmed so thick that we had to fight our way through them. The SS Tarpon is a true adventure. Rick used a low pressure tank with a “cave” fill and figured he must have had in excess of 140 cubic feet. He sat on the edge of the wreck like an ancient aviator slapping and tapping his computer trying to squeeze another minute of bottom time.

The boat experienced mechanical problems and we figured that once the motor started we better not stop it so we didn’t get to do a second dive. The cool and pleasant evening air atop smooth water mesmerized us as we limped in on one engine. We came down the beach headed for the pass and all almost cried as we passed row after row of ugly unending concrete structures where sea oats used to sway in the wind atop sugar like dunes of sand. What vile and vain monuments to man’s insatiable greed.

Billie’s Oyster Bar fit the bill for our end of day decompression stop. A dozen Apalachicola mollusks and a couple of pitchers of ice cold Amber Bock set the stage for some interesting conversation late into the evening.

Sunday we almost backed out but decided to go anyway. Despite weather warnings of four-foot seas we charged forward and found four-inch waves instead. It felt good to pass the parking lot atop the Black Bart and anchor on the rubble pile at Bridge Span 16. A sea turtle on the surface circled the boat as he caught a few breaths and enjoyed warm sunlight. This seldom dived site met us with great numbers of fish, shells, sand dollars lying about and two curious octopi less than two feet apart in their respective holes. Like the SS Tarpon, this site has little relief and you have no opportunity for multilevel profiles. A little geezer gas gave us ample time but once again we just hated to ascend. These were two absolutely fantastic sites in little more than 24 hours.

For the second dive we went to Bridge Span 14. We wanted to do the live bottom at Warsaw Hole but an open boater had run low on gas the first dive and we needed a shallow site for him. Old number 14 proved magnificent as usual. Bait fish swarmed and blennies stood tall in their barnacle shell homes. Great Barracuda circled slowly and gave menacing stares as they passed. A small remora attached itself to Adrian’s fin. Remarkably enough, the same diver ran out of gas again. Maybe he needs to consider another sport or learn to watch his gauges. With strained reluctance we surfaced and headed home.

Ray wanted to stop at Cardenas’s Seafood for some crab dip and ended up taking home sixty pounds of oysters.

Decompression and grand conversation convened at Boondocks Restaurant. We relaxed and watched traffic lazily plying the Intracoastal Waterway as we enjoyed a seafood feast. Adrian, Beth, and Dustin stopped at Morrison Spring for Dustin’s fiftieth logged dive. Congratulations man! Beth finally got her night dive

All-in-all, those of you who missed this one missed a lot!

 

[Rick Murchison]

So where are your pictures, Tommy? I know you got some good'n's
Superb narrative as usual, by the way.
Rick

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

Wow is all I can say. Can't believe I missed a good trip like that due to work. I would hate to know I run out of gas once, much less doing it on the same boat on the same day!! Makes you wonder how he is still breathing.

 

[snepdiver]

Nice report and great pictures. Thanks.

 

[Halftime]

Thanks for the reports and as always great pics.

 

[sarita75]

How beautiful!! And you know, I the blenny photo!!!!

 

[aquaknott]

Those sure are great pics Rick. I need to catch up with you all and go diving with you guys soon.