SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Whiskey Wreck
I met up with SeaYoda and Gulf Gulper at the McDonalds in Loxley Saturday morning before heading to Gulf Shores, AL to dive the Whiskey Wreck. The surf report was calling for knee-thigh high surf in Pensacola, so we would have to make a judgement call onsite to decide if the dive would be worth it. Patrick arrived onsite about the same time as we did, so we were ready to go check out the water right away. Surf was running thigh high with bigger sets, but the seas were fairly glassy past the break so we decided to go ahead with the dive. The four of us geared up completely before entering the water(even fins) and made some of the most gracefull entries, ever, really.?. We found the wreck easily and even managed to tie the flag off, after a bit of struggle. The surge was pretty strong and it kicked up quite a bit of trash and sand on the bottom giving us around 5' visibility and less when you were caught up in area with bad surge. There really wasn't much current, so that was a plus
More fish are showing up, pinfish and spades have returned to the wreck and its still carrying the sheepshead and blennies its had over the last few dives. I managed to find a hole somewhere to 16' and our dive lasted a bit over an hour including the swim back to shore.
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album18
Alabama Point Jetties
We drove out to the Alabama Point Jetties to see dredge piping scattered across the beaches and the channel. Some of the pipes crossed our entry point with "No Trespassing" signs. There was another set of divers who had arrived before us and we waited to see what they would do before deciding to dive. They went ahead and entered the water and we didn't see anyone get sucked up into the dredger so we decided to follow after about a 2 hour SI. There was little current and while deeper, we didn't have to deal with the surge we had on the previous dive. We opted not to come around the point to avoid the surge and reduced visibility...and the extended walk back. Visibility was around 10-15'. My alt airsource had a slight leak so I figured I would be the one to turn the dive, and it was the case :11doh: We saw quite a few schools of baitfish in the area and even a butterfly fish, so hopefully the tropicals are on their way back. I maxed my depth at 28' somewhere in the channel and my dive lasted 51 minutes before I exitted at our entry point.
After exitting we headed to Tacky Jacks, but were discouraged by the wait time so we headed across the street to Calypso's and were seated immediately for a good late lunch. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did!
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album52 including a crappy panaramic showing the dredge plumbing across our entry/exit point.
I met up with SeaYoda and Gulf Gulper at the McDonalds in Loxley Saturday morning before heading to Gulf Shores, AL to dive the Whiskey Wreck. The surf report was calling for knee-thigh high surf in Pensacola, so we would have to make a judgement call onsite to decide if the dive would be worth it. Patrick arrived onsite about the same time as we did, so we were ready to go check out the water right away. Surf was running thigh high with bigger sets, but the seas were fairly glassy past the break so we decided to go ahead with the dive. The four of us geared up completely before entering the water(even fins) and made some of the most gracefull entries, ever, really.?. We found the wreck easily and even managed to tie the flag off, after a bit of struggle. The surge was pretty strong and it kicked up quite a bit of trash and sand on the bottom giving us around 5' visibility and less when you were caught up in area with bad surge. There really wasn't much current, so that was a plus
More fish are showing up, pinfish and spades have returned to the wreck and its still carrying the sheepshead and blennies its had over the last few dives. I managed to find a hole somewhere to 16' and our dive lasted a bit over an hour including the swim back to shore. Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album18
Alabama Point Jetties
We drove out to the Alabama Point Jetties to see dredge piping scattered across the beaches and the channel. Some of the pipes crossed our entry point with "No Trespassing" signs. There was another set of divers who had arrived before us and we waited to see what they would do before deciding to dive. They went ahead and entered the water and we didn't see anyone get sucked up into the dredger so we decided to follow after about a 2 hour SI. There was little current and while deeper, we didn't have to deal with the surge we had on the previous dive. We opted not to come around the point to avoid the surge and reduced visibility...and the extended walk back. Visibility was around 10-15'. My alt airsource had a slight leak so I figured I would be the one to turn the dive, and it was the case :11doh: We saw quite a few schools of baitfish in the area and even a butterfly fish, so hopefully the tropicals are on their way back. I maxed my depth at 28' somewhere in the channel and my dive lasted 51 minutes before I exitted at our entry point.
After exitting we headed to Tacky Jacks, but were discouraged by the wait time so we headed across the street to Calypso's and were seated immediately for a good late lunch. I think everyone had a good time, I know I did!
Pics at http://www.suprbugman.com/gallery/album52 including a crappy panaramic showing the dredge plumbing across our entry/exit point.
