SeaYoda
Contributor
Gulf-Gulper decided to join the dive today and we got a little late start but headed toward the water anyway. A stop at ScubaTech for fill was first on the list and we decided to cross the bridge and check conditions before we drove down to Gulfshore Drive. We pulled into the parking area on the West side of the bridge and the water was blue but milky. I've dove in lots worse so we headed to the jetty parking area. The water was pretty calm so we checked out a new path around the mountain of sand. We pulled the sand yacht between the mountain and the water on the hard pan. No one was in the way and the walk was much better. We set up camp and hit the water for dive one. The viz was pretty bad, about 15' with lots of particles and silt. Pictures were hard to take without the sand getting on the port and the camera had a hard time focusing in the haze. Water temp was back down to 71 degrees but felt OK. There were still lots of blue crabs out today, they are getting more skittish and aggressive. They will hide in the rocks until you pass over them and then pop up and hit you between the legs! I learned to hover a little higher above the rocks in order not to get a humongous case of the crabs 
. I did get boxed in the hand by two or three that "owned" the rock I rested my hand on while taking a picture. I found a couple crusty looking males and chased them around for a picture - I guess that makes us even. After we got out for our surface interval a couple snorkel boats pulled up. The guy that practically parks on your dive flag is back again! GG looked pretty tired so I asked how he was. He said he wasn't feeling too great. Turns out to be that nasty sinus gunk many of us have. He sat out dive two and didn't miss much. The dirt had increased and the current started to pull toward the Gulf so the swim was a little harder. After the dive we took the sand yacht back out along the hard pan. This is going to get ugly when more people try to take their sun bath in the four foot patch of sand between the water and the mountain. There was a guy fishing on the low side of the sand pile near the entrance. He had his poles and gear in the sand and the lines ran right across the hard pan. He said he had caught a one foot shark - I never got a look at it. Back to the Jeep and home for a gear rinse. Here is a slide show of what I could salvage - just click on the picture:
. I did get boxed in the hand by two or three that "owned" the rock I rested my hand on while taking a picture. I found a couple crusty looking males and chased them around for a picture - I guess that makes us even. After we got out for our surface interval a couple snorkel boats pulled up. The guy that practically parks on your dive flag is back again! GG looked pretty tired so I asked how he was. He said he wasn't feeling too great. Turns out to be that nasty sinus gunk many of us have. He sat out dive two and didn't miss much. The dirt had increased and the current started to pull toward the Gulf so the swim was a little harder. After the dive we took the sand yacht back out along the hard pan. This is going to get ugly when more people try to take their sun bath in the four foot patch of sand between the water and the mountain. There was a guy fishing on the low side of the sand pile near the entrance. He had his poles and gear in the sand and the lines ran right across the hard pan. He said he had caught a one foot shark - I never got a look at it. Back to the Jeep and home for a gear rinse. Here is a slide show of what I could salvage - just click on the picture:
