SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Packed up the Miss Jellyfish and Kenny R and headed out to Gulf Shores with the intention of locating and diving the West Beach Paddlewheeler. The paddlewheeler was washed onto the sandbar in the hurricane of 1906 and surf overtook her.
Last year while the Whiskey Wreck was buried in sand, I looked about a half-dozen times by boat(the capable Miss Jellyfish) for another beachable shore wreck called the West Beach Paddlewheeler. At first we searched by word of mouth and then I came upon an old, outdated map from 1986 with landmarks that no longer exist. We had no luck and come to find out, the wreck was also probably covered in sand.
Fast forward another year and I hear that the Paddlewheeler is uncovered and being dived again by some of the staff from Down Under Dive Shop(Gulf Shores, AL). I had heard that the paddlewheeler was pretty close to the end of the road, also that it was only 4 power poles down from the West Pass, and also that it was a mile from the West Pass!?!?.. Finally, one of the tank monkey's at Down Under(thanks James) was able to get some more information from some of the other staff who had dived it. We're looking for a beige house with seashells on front. There was an empty lot next to it that they used to park at, but it was supposed to be under construction for a new house at this point.
Kenny and I set out down the road in the Bronco(of Doom) for a little land recon before getting the boat out into the water. We counted several beige houses, none with seashells. Some with empty lots, some without, none with construction next door...
Off to West Pass to launch the deep explorer, Miss Jellyfish. West Pass is currently 6" deep throughout alot of the channel so we had to walk her out alot of the pass fighting an incoming tide after getting her setup. We took only snorkel gear for our initial boat recon. Earlier in the morning, I checked the surf cam to see glassy seas with very small lines running in, but at this point we had 3' surf to contend with after towing the boat against current. Through, and over, the waves we crashed before planing out and heading west on a choppy Gulf. We headed out a bit more than a mile to be sure we didn't cut short our search area. Our first beige house with an open lot next to it was pretty far down, but we anchored infront of it, about 100m out and started snorkeling. We found nothing, boarded back up and headed East to our next beige house. This time, as soon as I backrolled into the water, I heard barnacles cracking. After a short swim I spotted a large school of spades and dove down and nearly face planted into a barnacle covered chunk of paddlewheel wreckage.
We headed back to the truck and grabbed our gear and went back to the wreck for a dive. Surf seemed to be getting bigger, but not unmanagable... plus we had gotten so far. We relocated the wreck easily the second time and dropped under the surface in full SCUBA. Visibility within the first 10' of water was 5-8' with alot of particle. Surge pushed us every which way. Beneath 10' visibility dropped to 3"(inches) and by the time you found bottom at 16', you were hitting the backlight on the computer because the sun was nearly completely blocked out. Luckily the Paddlewheeler has quite a bit of relief and it stood 10-12' off the bottom, so we dove the top of the wreck and watched a ton of spadefish play around. We also saw some nearly legal mangroves and large sheepshead around the wreck. The wreck is nearly completely covered in barnacles, many which house blennies and small stone crab. We dove for 49min before deciding to come up. As we surfaced, a dark cloud was just offshore with a waterspout coming down off it. We couldn't tell if it was actually surfacing on the water, and we didn't wait around to find out - we headed out.
The paddlewheeler looks to be a great dive when visibility is good. I can't wait to get back out there, now that I can find it, when it clears up again so I can get a better idea on its layout.
Kenny and I headed to Hooters for a few beers and some food.
Afterwards we took the boat up Magnolia River hoping to find a decent spring head feeding into it, but the river became a creek, then not much more than a ditch and we couldn't fit through and turned around... Need to look for another way... but thats another story all together
Last year while the Whiskey Wreck was buried in sand, I looked about a half-dozen times by boat(the capable Miss Jellyfish) for another beachable shore wreck called the West Beach Paddlewheeler. At first we searched by word of mouth and then I came upon an old, outdated map from 1986 with landmarks that no longer exist. We had no luck and come to find out, the wreck was also probably covered in sand.
Fast forward another year and I hear that the Paddlewheeler is uncovered and being dived again by some of the staff from Down Under Dive Shop(Gulf Shores, AL). I had heard that the paddlewheeler was pretty close to the end of the road, also that it was only 4 power poles down from the West Pass, and also that it was a mile from the West Pass!?!?.. Finally, one of the tank monkey's at Down Under(thanks James) was able to get some more information from some of the other staff who had dived it. We're looking for a beige house with seashells on front. There was an empty lot next to it that they used to park at, but it was supposed to be under construction for a new house at this point.
Kenny and I set out down the road in the Bronco(of Doom) for a little land recon before getting the boat out into the water. We counted several beige houses, none with seashells. Some with empty lots, some without, none with construction next door...
Off to West Pass to launch the deep explorer, Miss Jellyfish. West Pass is currently 6" deep throughout alot of the channel so we had to walk her out alot of the pass fighting an incoming tide after getting her setup. We took only snorkel gear for our initial boat recon. Earlier in the morning, I checked the surf cam to see glassy seas with very small lines running in, but at this point we had 3' surf to contend with after towing the boat against current. Through, and over, the waves we crashed before planing out and heading west on a choppy Gulf. We headed out a bit more than a mile to be sure we didn't cut short our search area. Our first beige house with an open lot next to it was pretty far down, but we anchored infront of it, about 100m out and started snorkeling. We found nothing, boarded back up and headed East to our next beige house. This time, as soon as I backrolled into the water, I heard barnacles cracking. After a short swim I spotted a large school of spades and dove down and nearly face planted into a barnacle covered chunk of paddlewheel wreckage.
We headed back to the truck and grabbed our gear and went back to the wreck for a dive. Surf seemed to be getting bigger, but not unmanagable... plus we had gotten so far. We relocated the wreck easily the second time and dropped under the surface in full SCUBA. Visibility within the first 10' of water was 5-8' with alot of particle. Surge pushed us every which way. Beneath 10' visibility dropped to 3"(inches) and by the time you found bottom at 16', you were hitting the backlight on the computer because the sun was nearly completely blocked out. Luckily the Paddlewheeler has quite a bit of relief and it stood 10-12' off the bottom, so we dove the top of the wreck and watched a ton of spadefish play around. We also saw some nearly legal mangroves and large sheepshead around the wreck. The wreck is nearly completely covered in barnacles, many which house blennies and small stone crab. We dove for 49min before deciding to come up. As we surfaced, a dark cloud was just offshore with a waterspout coming down off it. We couldn't tell if it was actually surfacing on the water, and we didn't wait around to find out - we headed out.
The paddlewheeler looks to be a great dive when visibility is good. I can't wait to get back out there, now that I can find it, when it clears up again so I can get a better idea on its layout.
Kenny and I headed to Hooters for a few beers and some food.
Afterwards we took the boat up Magnolia River hoping to find a decent spring head feeding into it, but the river became a creek, then not much more than a ditch and we couldn't fit through and turned around... Need to look for another way... but thats another story all together
