Dive Report - March 9 (The dive formerly known as PC Barge/Massachusetts)

OK bear with me as this is my first dive report, but the task has defaulted to me for reasons that will be explained.

My friend Dave and I arrived in Orange Beach on Saturday afternoon and we decided we wanted to attempt a shore dive. Since I needed to rent gear for the next day anyhow, we stopped by the shop, got everything I needed and took care of all the paperwork for the next day and headed for Alabama Point. We had tried to find someone who knew the area and would be willing to join us, but we were unable to, so because of the strong current and low vis, we played it safe and just explored along the rock wall for about an hour. I still ended up having fun and saw lots of beautiful shells, sea urchins, stone crabs, hermit crabs etc.

It was FREEZING the next morning as we headed for Gary's. We met up with ShagMan, Kris and S&V and everyone headed over to the Marina. As we got ready to board the Cat-N-Around, the weather was starting to warm up a bit.

We started heading out towards the PC Barge site, however the sea had not quite calmed down yet from the previous day, and the ride started to get really bumpy, so Gary decided try a different site called Ivan's Reef instead. We headed for that site, and it did seem a bit less choppy there, however John came back from the bottom reporting that visibility was near zero, so Gary said there was one more site we could try - the Navy Tug, which he said had the best chance of any for having good vis. While the 85' depth was beyond anything I had dived so far, Gary assured me that as long as vis was good, it was a really easy site to navigate and I shouldn't have any problems, so I said I was up for it. Heck, I'd come all this way, I wanted to dive!! We reached the site, John went under again and reported good vis and very little current at depth. Unfortunately, ShagMan, Kris and S&V had all started feeling the effects of the choppy seas and decided not to dive. (sorry guys!!) Dave and I felt fine and were really wanting to dive, so in we went! Dave, John and I started down the line, then noticed something was odd as the line was going straight down! (I may not be a boating expert, but I know enough to know that the line NEVER goes STRAIGHT down) As we reached the bottom, we found out what the problem was - the iron "arm" on the tug that John had tied the boat to had BROKEN! so we immediately (but carefully as we were already at 65 feet) returned to the surface and got back on the boat while John went down and retied in.

After John was able to secure the boat, we went back down. It was absolutely beautiful! Vis was a good 15', amberjack where EVERYWHERE, along with red snapper, flounder, spade fish, one really freaky looking toad fish (we think that's what it was) and more. Gary was right as the site was very easy to navigate. and the 3 of us were able to make 2 full circuits of the wreck before we needed to return to the surface.

Unfortunately because of all the other problems, the plan to do a 2nd dive was scrapped, but I very much enjoyed this dive and I am very happy to now have an 85' dive to my credit! (But one of these days I SWEAR I am going to get back to the Massachusetts and finish that dive I had to abort in January due to being underweighted!)

Thank you Gary and John for not giving up and letting us have a very enjoyable dive!

Thanks for the report Doll_Fin. We must have been typing at the same time, Not to take away from Your report but because I type slow I will go ahead and post My report the way it was written even though some of it is the same.

Everyone checked in at the dive shop Sun. morning at 8am (well some were late because the time change) and was away from the dock at 9:15. The wind was out of the northeast and quickly changed to out of the east at about 15 -17.
We were heading into the wind and taking some moderate head on 3 footers and building so decided to head south to Ivan's Reef instead of the PC Barge, This made for a somewhat more comfortable ride as we were what we call riding the trough.
We got to the site (Ivan's) and John (sharktrap77 on the board) the DM went down to tie off the line to structure and quickly returned to the surface with a report of less than 2 foot vis. At this point I made the decision to try the Navy Tug because it is known to hold good vis.
We arrived at the Navy Tug, at this point the seas were hitting 4' with a occasional 5 and people were starting to get a little green (if you know what I mean). Sharktrap77 went down and hooked in to the wreck. He returned and reported 15 - 20' vis which wasn't bad considering the seas. 3 out of the 5 divers went down to make there dive and the other 2 (not feeling well) were attempting to suit up.
With this day going the way it was what happened next was no exception. I noticed the boat turning side to the seas and quickly checked the GPS to see if the wind had changed directions or if we were adrift. We were indeed moving. The divers quickly returned to the boat and reported that a large piece of the wreck that John had tied in on had had broke lose and was dragging.
Well to put a end to the story we repositioned above the Tug, John went back down, tied in again and the divers that weren't hanging over the side had what they reported as a Great dive one even said it was well worth the effort.

No problem Gary, glad to have your perspective from Topside! (I was the one who said it was worth the effort - I believe my words were "Wow, THAT was worth the price of admission!")

Here's the dive report for myself and my buddy Kris

1) ride out, gear up and be about two minutes from being in the water
2)suddenly experience the :l:
3) gear down, and enjoy the view instead

I don't know if it was the phase of the moon, or all the constricting cold-water gear, but it just wasn't in the chips for me to dive yesterday... ohwell!

I'll catch a ride with you later on this spring when I can wear my trusty 3mil Gary

Great report Dollfin, sorry I didn't meet up with you guys on Sunday but it sounded like you guys were ready to hit the water by the time you were on the beach. I didn't want to make the trip down without some sort of verification that the water would look decent

First weekend I've had to do nothing, and I have to admit, it was kinda nice.

Wow!! That was a gallant effort on everyone's part to get a dive in!! Great job!!

ShagMan:

Here's the dive report for myself and my buddy Kris

1) ride out, gear up and be about two minutes from being in the water
2)suddenly experience the :l:

Click to expand...

That's funny dude!

I don't care who you are! That's funny

No worries, Mat! We just wanted to try to get SOMETHING in before it got too dark (and too COLD!!!!) Glad you enjoyed your weekend off and hopefully we'll catch ya next time!

Well, what do I say that has not already been said? Sorry for the people that got sick. It happens to the best of us. For those that got to splash- good job! It ended up being a good dive. There was a lot of life on the wreck. Wish I had a gun!!! Once we got down everything went well. There were no problems other than almost no viz on the first spot and the Tug not holding up. That will NOT happen again- we will drag the wreck first! I guess sometimes Mother Nature makes you work a little harder to enjoy her beauty and other times she just lets you see for free. I thought it was worth the effort. I do not mind working hard as long as I get to splash at the end!!!

John

My report is pretty short, but just as an add-on to Capt Gary's event sequence:
I splashed last and followed Doll_Fin, Dave, and John down the vertical anchor line, which was taut but didn't have that real sense of tension a line has when it under a strain - so those were clues 1 and 2 that something was amiss, but I was in follow-the-leader mode, so continued on down to the point where there were a couple of knots. I stopped and observed them briefly and remember thinking I must be getting close to the chain tie-in point, but I'm only at 44 ft and the tie-in was supposed to be at approx 75 ft (that was clue 3), so looked back down the line - no chain, no wreck, and no other divers in sight - viz was maybe 20 ft. Hmmm, well, I know they'll be at the end of the line, so I started down again, now noticing that the line was moving up/down a lot - clue 4. I got about 5 ft more and saw the group coming up toward me. I figured the viz must be poor and that John had called the dive, so I hung there a few seconds while they passed around me and headed on up, still trying to see down the line to where I thought the wreck should be - just wanted to at least see it. I stopped at about 18 ft, the line still moving a lot with the 4-5 ft waves above, but I'm thinking if we're done for the day I at least want to get a quick buoyancy check with my new rig and extra neoprene for the 62 deg water. So I'm thinking about how much my tank weighs at this point to try to run a quick number when John reappears and gave me a "now" ascent signal, so, OK, up we go. I still hadn't figured out that we were not and had not been attached to the wreck for the entire dive, and that John and Capt wanted me back in the boat so we could give it another shot. Sorry, guys!