GLENFWB
Contributor
I met up with Cumfieldhoceky and Pensacolanewbie at the Walmart just outside of the Pensacola Naval Air Station. I followed them on the base and we headed to the marina where Pensacolanewbie had his 21 foot boat docked. We met Harry who was our bubble watcher for the day. He is a retired Navy friend of Pensacolanewbie. He was a huge help getting us geared up and in and out of the water each dive. We unloaded our gear, got everything secured in the cabin of the boat...and then made our way out of the harbor and headed toward the pass out to the Gulf of Mexico.
Skies were partly cloudy and the marine forecast said 1-2 foot seas offshore...light chop in protected waters. Stasia (Cumfieldhockey) was our captain for the day. She locked in the coordinates on the GPS for the Three Barges dive site, and we made our way to the Gulf. Seas were very nice. I would guess 1-3 foot rollers which made for a nice ride out to the dive site. Stasia did a great job getting us to the dive site. It helps to have two retired Navy guys on the boat to help.
As we approached the Three Barges dive site we could see three boats anchored at the site. All the boats were filled with fishermen aggresively fishing the location. We decided to go to an alternate site. We did not want to be dodging lines and hooks for our first dive. We decided to go about three miles further to the Tex Edwards barge. Stasia locked in the GPS and we were over the site before long. Ron (Pensacolabewbie) was on the bow ready to drop the anchor when Stasia gave the word. We circled the wreck a few times while Stasia wathced the sonar...when she felt like we were over the wreck she told Ron to "Drop It!" We all laughed because it wasn't a "ready, set, go....it was a sudden DROP IT!"
Ron made sure the anchor was holding our position. He let out a good bit of rope to ensure it wouldn't pull loose. We all started to gear up and get ready for our first dive. I saw some dolphins breaking the water at the Three Barges when we stopped. Two dolphins also broke the water after we dropped anchor at the Tex Edward dive site. When they saw we weren't throwing any bait in the water...they seemed to move on. Another boat came up after we anchored. Looked like two guys spear fishing although we never ran in to each other.
I don't like sitting on a boat rocking back and forth. So I geared up and back rolled of the boat, so I could get in and check water conditions. I decided not to take my camera on the first dive of the day. Ron is a new diver, so we all wanted to take things nice and easy. We discussed our dive plan. We would head down the anchor line, if we didn't see the wreck close to the anchor, Stasia would tie a reel off on the anchor, and we would see if we could find the wreck and tie off to the wreck.
After I splashed I went to the tag line to check the current. There was a moderate current which required that I hold on to the line. I looked down and was bummed to see that the water had an algae green haze to it. I could only see just beyond my fins so, I knew viz. at the surface was only about 10 foot. I reported the conditions to everyone on the boat, and hoped that things would clear up as we went deeper.
Stasia hit the water next and we laughed about how long it had been since we tasted saltwater....and yes, diving the freshwater springs the last couple of months, I forgot how bad green saltwater tastes!
Ron hit the water soon and gave us the okay. We had no line from the tag line at the back of the boat, to the anchor on the bow of the boat. I pulled out my pocket snorkel and began to swim to the anchor line. There was a stiff current at this time that was manageable, but it did tire you out some. I made my way to the anchor line....the boat was bouncing up and down so we all had to make sure we avoided the bow of the boat. After we all made it to the anchor line, we floated for a moment to let everyone catch their breath. We all gave the okay sign and I headed down the anchor line. I was first going down, Ron was next, and Stasia was last. Plan was to go to 15 feet and stop to make sure everyone was comfortable. I
stopped at 15 feet and we all paused for a moment. Everyone gave the okay so we continued. I kept hoping that as we descended that I would break through the green snot we found ourself in. When I looked back I could see Ron and only a glimpse of Stasia....and we were staying close together.
As we were following the anchor line I noticed that we were not descending very quickly...I was a little confused at how long it was taking to get down the anchor line. I saw some markers on the anchor line and realized that the line must have been stretched out much more then I thought. After a long time swimming in the green snot, I finally saw the anchor chain....it wasn't till then that I could get a glimpse of the sand bottom. When I got to the anchor I could NOT believe my eyes. The anchor literally was laying beside the right corner of the wreck. Stasia and Ron had placed the anchor literally 3 to 4 inches from the wreck. When Stasia got down to the anchor I pointed to the anchor and I began clapping. When she
realized how close the anchor was she began to clap too.
Visibility was 10-15 foot at best. The current was light, we had plenty of air, everyone gave the okay so we started to explore the Tex Edwards. I started to swim down the side of the wreck. We saw the typical fish...saw some nice red snapper, a bunch of spade fish as usual, and many, many other varities of fish. I didn't see any groupers and only saw one red fish. We took out our lights and explored around a portion of the wreck. For a new diver Ron was doing GREAT. Didn't seem to be having any bouyancy problems and his air consumption was good.
We stayed close to each other so we wouldn't get separated in the low viz. We made our way around about half of the wreck. I am not sure how much of the wreck we saw since viz. was so low. Stasia gave me the turn signal so we turned around and headed back to the anchor line. Once we were back to the anchor, we explored around for a while and then began to ascend. We made a slow ascent. I like to take a half stop so at 35 feet I paused for a minute. We all got together and paused for a minute. We began to slowly make our way up till we hit our 3 minute stop at 15 feet.
We surfaced and made our way to the back of the boat. The waves made getting up the ladder a little tricky. But with Harry's help we were able to get aboard with no problems.
Max Depth was 77 feet
Dive Time was 35 minutes
Water Temp was 67 degrees
We decided to stay on site and do a second dive on the Tex. After about a 90 minute SI, we started to gear back up. I was first in the water again. This time I brought my camera with me. I back rolled off the boat and Harry handed me my camera. Our plan was similiar to the first drive, except this time we were going to go around the right side of the wreck since we went to the left on the last dive. Visibility actually seemed to have dropped since our fist dive. We estimated that it was down to 10 feet max.
Stasia
Does Anyone See the Sea Monster??
Pretty Nasty Water
Toad Fish
I took a few pictures on the way down and around the wreck. There was so much particulate in the water, that it made taking pictures difficult. More importantly, I did not want to get separated from my buddies, so I only snapped the pictures I could get, while still keeping our three man team together.
When the turn signal was given I tried to fin ahead a little to get a few pictures of Stasia and Ron swimming toward me. I pulled the anchor a little bit away from the wreck just to make sure the anchor was loose enough to pull up. We made our way up and boarded the boat again with the help of our bubble watcher Harry.
We packed our gear up and after a short dive debriefing with refreshments we headed back toward the Naval Air Station Marina. Stasia headed the boat back
home and got us there with no problems. On the way in the pass we followed the H2O Below as it was returning with divers...I think they dove the Oriskany on that day??
H2O Below
After we docked, Stasia had to make a quick exit to head to work that afternoon. I stayed around and unloaded the boat with Ron. We talked diving and dive gear for a while. It was a great day of diving with some awesome dive buddies. Even with low visibility, we had two great dives. Ron is so far ahead of where I was with his amount of dives.
Ron and Stasia, thanks for a fun day of diving....even though it will be known as the Tex Edward green snot dive!
Max Depth: 73 feet
Dive Time: 40 minutes
Water Temp: 67 degrees
More pictures can be found on my Photobucket site in the Tex Edwards album: Tex Edwards April 23 2009 pictures by glenfwb - Photobucket
Skies were partly cloudy and the marine forecast said 1-2 foot seas offshore...light chop in protected waters. Stasia (Cumfieldhockey) was our captain for the day. She locked in the coordinates on the GPS for the Three Barges dive site, and we made our way to the Gulf. Seas were very nice. I would guess 1-3 foot rollers which made for a nice ride out to the dive site. Stasia did a great job getting us to the dive site. It helps to have two retired Navy guys on the boat to help.
As we approached the Three Barges dive site we could see three boats anchored at the site. All the boats were filled with fishermen aggresively fishing the location. We decided to go to an alternate site. We did not want to be dodging lines and hooks for our first dive. We decided to go about three miles further to the Tex Edwards barge. Stasia locked in the GPS and we were over the site before long. Ron (Pensacolabewbie) was on the bow ready to drop the anchor when Stasia gave the word. We circled the wreck a few times while Stasia wathced the sonar...when she felt like we were over the wreck she told Ron to "Drop It!" We all laughed because it wasn't a "ready, set, go....it was a sudden DROP IT!"
Ron made sure the anchor was holding our position. He let out a good bit of rope to ensure it wouldn't pull loose. We all started to gear up and get ready for our first dive. I saw some dolphins breaking the water at the Three Barges when we stopped. Two dolphins also broke the water after we dropped anchor at the Tex Edward dive site. When they saw we weren't throwing any bait in the water...they seemed to move on. Another boat came up after we anchored. Looked like two guys spear fishing although we never ran in to each other.
I don't like sitting on a boat rocking back and forth. So I geared up and back rolled of the boat, so I could get in and check water conditions. I decided not to take my camera on the first dive of the day. Ron is a new diver, so we all wanted to take things nice and easy. We discussed our dive plan. We would head down the anchor line, if we didn't see the wreck close to the anchor, Stasia would tie a reel off on the anchor, and we would see if we could find the wreck and tie off to the wreck.
After I splashed I went to the tag line to check the current. There was a moderate current which required that I hold on to the line. I looked down and was bummed to see that the water had an algae green haze to it. I could only see just beyond my fins so, I knew viz. at the surface was only about 10 foot. I reported the conditions to everyone on the boat, and hoped that things would clear up as we went deeper.
Stasia hit the water next and we laughed about how long it had been since we tasted saltwater....and yes, diving the freshwater springs the last couple of months, I forgot how bad green saltwater tastes!
Ron hit the water soon and gave us the okay. We had no line from the tag line at the back of the boat, to the anchor on the bow of the boat. I pulled out my pocket snorkel and began to swim to the anchor line. There was a stiff current at this time that was manageable, but it did tire you out some. I made my way to the anchor line....the boat was bouncing up and down so we all had to make sure we avoided the bow of the boat. After we all made it to the anchor line, we floated for a moment to let everyone catch their breath. We all gave the okay sign and I headed down the anchor line. I was first going down, Ron was next, and Stasia was last. Plan was to go to 15 feet and stop to make sure everyone was comfortable. I
stopped at 15 feet and we all paused for a moment. Everyone gave the okay so we continued. I kept hoping that as we descended that I would break through the green snot we found ourself in. When I looked back I could see Ron and only a glimpse of Stasia....and we were staying close together.
As we were following the anchor line I noticed that we were not descending very quickly...I was a little confused at how long it was taking to get down the anchor line. I saw some markers on the anchor line and realized that the line must have been stretched out much more then I thought. After a long time swimming in the green snot, I finally saw the anchor chain....it wasn't till then that I could get a glimpse of the sand bottom. When I got to the anchor I could NOT believe my eyes. The anchor literally was laying beside the right corner of the wreck. Stasia and Ron had placed the anchor literally 3 to 4 inches from the wreck. When Stasia got down to the anchor I pointed to the anchor and I began clapping. When she
realized how close the anchor was she began to clap too.
Visibility was 10-15 foot at best. The current was light, we had plenty of air, everyone gave the okay so we started to explore the Tex Edwards. I started to swim down the side of the wreck. We saw the typical fish...saw some nice red snapper, a bunch of spade fish as usual, and many, many other varities of fish. I didn't see any groupers and only saw one red fish. We took out our lights and explored around a portion of the wreck. For a new diver Ron was doing GREAT. Didn't seem to be having any bouyancy problems and his air consumption was good.
We stayed close to each other so we wouldn't get separated in the low viz. We made our way around about half of the wreck. I am not sure how much of the wreck we saw since viz. was so low. Stasia gave me the turn signal so we turned around and headed back to the anchor line. Once we were back to the anchor, we explored around for a while and then began to ascend. We made a slow ascent. I like to take a half stop so at 35 feet I paused for a minute. We all got together and paused for a minute. We began to slowly make our way up till we hit our 3 minute stop at 15 feet.
We surfaced and made our way to the back of the boat. The waves made getting up the ladder a little tricky. But with Harry's help we were able to get aboard with no problems.
Max Depth was 77 feet
Dive Time was 35 minutes
Water Temp was 67 degrees
We decided to stay on site and do a second dive on the Tex. After about a 90 minute SI, we started to gear back up. I was first in the water again. This time I brought my camera with me. I back rolled off the boat and Harry handed me my camera. Our plan was similiar to the first drive, except this time we were going to go around the right side of the wreck since we went to the left on the last dive. Visibility actually seemed to have dropped since our fist dive. We estimated that it was down to 10 feet max.
Stasia
Does Anyone See the Sea Monster??
Pretty Nasty Water
Toad Fish
I took a few pictures on the way down and around the wreck. There was so much particulate in the water, that it made taking pictures difficult. More importantly, I did not want to get separated from my buddies, so I only snapped the pictures I could get, while still keeping our three man team together.
When the turn signal was given I tried to fin ahead a little to get a few pictures of Stasia and Ron swimming toward me. I pulled the anchor a little bit away from the wreck just to make sure the anchor was loose enough to pull up. We made our way up and boarded the boat again with the help of our bubble watcher Harry.
We packed our gear up and after a short dive debriefing with refreshments we headed back toward the Naval Air Station Marina. Stasia headed the boat back
home and got us there with no problems. On the way in the pass we followed the H2O Below as it was returning with divers...I think they dove the Oriskany on that day??
H2O Below
After we docked, Stasia had to make a quick exit to head to work that afternoon. I stayed around and unloaded the boat with Ron. We talked diving and dive gear for a while. It was a great day of diving with some awesome dive buddies. Even with low visibility, we had two great dives. Ron is so far ahead of where I was with his amount of dives.
Ron and Stasia, thanks for a fun day of diving....even though it will be known as the Tex Edward green snot dive!
Max Depth: 73 feet
Dive Time: 40 minutes
Water Temp: 67 degrees
More pictures can be found on my Photobucket site in the Tex Edwards album: Tex Edwards April 23 2009 pictures by glenfwb - Photobucket
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