Dive Report: Twin Tugs/Dupont Bridge Span #1 04-25-09

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MRXRAY

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Location
Pensacola, FL
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As part of Springfest Lives4Sharks put together a dive Charter with the Dive Locker out of Panama City for Saturday Morning. We all met at the dive locker settled and headed to the boat for a 8:30 departure. On board and just under way the decision was made to head to the Twin Tugs first. I was up for anything as I had never dove out of PC before so anything sounded good to me. The ride was real nice and the boat is gorgoeus for diving from and except for some rollers it was gearing up to be a fantastic day! We were on site before you know it DM Joe was down and had us tied in. Out group splashed at about 10:00AM and we all made our way down the anchor line to the tugs below, The twin tugs are a very nice but unusual reef as one of the tugs rest on top of the other as a result of the last hurricane. We made our way around the wreck and I was honestly a bit disappointed at the lack of fish here on this particular day, but we did see some nice grouper, some snapper, AJ's, and a few different reef fish. We had a max depth of 97 feet and a bottom time of 33 minutes and the water temp was 68 at the bottom.

Some Pics:

Lives4Sharks showing her superman pose:
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Redeye:
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Sucks 'em Dry:
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Traffic Jam at the safety stop:

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We got back on board the boat and made our way to the next site. There was a fishing boat at the reef we were going to go to, so we opted for the new Dupont Bridge span #1 instead. I wish I had a picture of the Bridge before they sunk it, they showed us a picture on the charter and it adds a lot of prespective to the size of this dive, if anyone has one please post it here!

Anyways we splashed after a 57 minute surface interval and made our way down to the structure. Let me tell you that this site will be awesome once it has been established a few years it has a lot of great possibilities for big fish. We hadn't been on the top of the structure for 10 minutes when I looked up at this big school of amberjacks swimming in and right in the middle of it was a giant Manta Ray. You be the judge from the pictures but I'd put it's size which is measured wing tip to wing tip at 8-10 feet, just look at the diver in the picture and you'll get a good sense of size. Redeye cautiously approached the Manta Ray and then was able to swim behind and go for a short ride as poor Barry swam his ass off trying to keep up. They are deceptiviely fast swimmers for the amount the move and when the Manta Ray decided he had enough he was gone in a flash and there was no amount of kicking that was going to catch him! Honestly my legs are still feeling that swim today! Still high from the Manta Ray I went about exploring the Bridge and the culvert pipes that had been dropped near by. The AJ's really seem to like this structure as it affords them easy in and out and they were constantly in and then out of the structure. I again didn't see any larger grouper lurking about, but saw a couple nice Snapper and what appears to be a Eel of some sort in one of the culverts but I couldn't get the shy bugger to come out for a picture. Anyways a nice dive, highlighted by the Manta Ray. We ended up with a bottom time of 37 Minutes with a max depth of 93 feet and temp of 68*.

Here are some pics:

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I have some video I need to edit as well, so check back!
 
I like that one a lot too, I wish I could have had a few more pics w/out a diver in it!!

Thanks for the report

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This is a great shot!
 
I have finished a quick edit on the video and I'm uploading to youtube now.... stay tuned!
 
It was fun diving offshore with everyone from Scubaboard. There was another group on our boat so there were 10 divers total. Very comfortable on this particular boat. I estimate the Giant Manta Ray to be about 6-8' across from tip to tip. She is a juvenile since the adults average about 17' across from the wing tips. I wish there would have been alot less physical contact with her. She would have stayed on the wreck alot longer. As filter feeders, the rays tend to be attracted to diver's bubbles. There were no sharks that I could see and I was looking hard. They were being allusive. I was also surprised by how few fish there were on such large wrecks. Very little bait fish. But it was good to finally get out to the tugs.

I will be organizing another trip for Vortoberfest. I will probably be talking to Capt Pat and getting his boat for the next trip. Check out the forum for details.

Carolyn:shark2:
 
Nice shots Barry! Did the water have a green haze in Panama City like it did in Pensacola? I am assuming the blue in the pictures is after a little color correction?

Great report, although I have to say I just don't think touching or riding a Manta Rae is a good thing...for their protection not ours.
 

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