Hetland
Contributor
Got up at the ungodly hour of 4:45am this morning in order to meet up with XRay in Navarre. We consolidated our gear, and headed out to PCB Jetties to beat the high tide.
It was a beautiful day. The kiddie pool was stained with tannin, but the seaward side of the jetty was nice and green. We met some other divers in the parking lot, but they opted against diving. Something about red flags and terrible viz. XRay and I thought this was a good sign, so we kitted up as quickly as we could, and splashed in.
Temp was 66F, and once we got past the jetty, the water cleared significantly. Viz topped out at about 25, but was variable depending on one's position relative to the rubble piles. We saw the usual denizens plus very, very large sheepies and queen angles. When I say large, think large red-snapper size :shocked2: I also spotted a hogfish, which I've yet to see until today. I was able to snap one crappy photo before he turned tail, and headed South.
Our second dive was much like our first except we encountered the tide change, which resulted in significantly darker, dirtier, and redder water. The water was so red, I considered the possibility of a boating accident topside (think blood). In reality, it was just the fresh tannin-stained water moving into our area. We also encountered a 15 foot thermocline that offered us a nice blurry ending to our underwater explorations for the day.
Debriefing was at McGuires in Destin where we both inhaled our food, and reviewed the day. Despite what we expected to be bad conditions, the dives of the day turned out to be pretty damn good.
It was a beautiful day. The kiddie pool was stained with tannin, but the seaward side of the jetty was nice and green. We met some other divers in the parking lot, but they opted against diving. Something about red flags and terrible viz. XRay and I thought this was a good sign, so we kitted up as quickly as we could, and splashed in.
Temp was 66F, and once we got past the jetty, the water cleared significantly. Viz topped out at about 25, but was variable depending on one's position relative to the rubble piles. We saw the usual denizens plus very, very large sheepies and queen angles. When I say large, think large red-snapper size :shocked2: I also spotted a hogfish, which I've yet to see until today. I was able to snap one crappy photo before he turned tail, and headed South.
Our second dive was much like our first except we encountered the tide change, which resulted in significantly darker, dirtier, and redder water. The water was so red, I considered the possibility of a boating accident topside (think blood). In reality, it was just the fresh tannin-stained water moving into our area. We also encountered a 15 foot thermocline that offered us a nice blurry ending to our underwater explorations for the day.
Debriefing was at McGuires in Destin where we both inhaled our food, and reviewed the day. Despite what we expected to be bad conditions, the dives of the day turned out to be pretty damn good.