Saturday me and a Deep Diver student headed off to PC at 00Dark:30, to get in a couple deep wreck dives with Dive Locker. Weather hadnt been looking good, but it was in between go no go for me, so we went. Heading out of the pass, seas were about 3ft, choppy but doable. We only had 5 divers on the boat, giving us a lot of space. First dive was on Mac's Reef, a Navy Salvage training barge sunk in 100ft of water, sunk a couple years ago. Heres a pic PCDC took before it sunk.
We headed down the line in the 86f water, which cooled to mid 70s by the time we hit the bottom. Visibility was about 40ft. There isnt much growth on the wreck yet, lots of barnacles and sea urchins. We also saw the usuaul tropicals, angel fish, spade fish, a school of huge amberjack, arrow crabs. After 20mins, I had my student do a timed task underwater, and we headed back to the boat.
Next dive was Dupont Bridgespans, sunk last year, in about 100ft of water as well. These are larger than the Hathaway spans, so a bit more exciting, though not much growth on them yet. Before we headed in, we were treated to a visit by a pod of dolphins and we just managed to jump in a get a look at them underwater before they took off. HEading in, we quickly got down to the large bridgespan, took a look at some pressure sensative items I brought down for the student, which crush nicely, and then explored aroudnt the bridge. Same animals, different reef basically. I like to pick a fish I dont know, and this time it was the Cubbyu, which I only saw one of on this reef. And an shrimp? I couldnt identify (attached)
After another 20min dive we headed up into the bathtub water, and got out, to be greeted by some monster rain guarding our way back. We battended the hatches and headed in. Seas had calmed but we got a nice freshwater rinse on the way in. All in all a good day. Warm water, new dives, and some edumacation. And pirates!
Here is some video from the first dive.
http://northfloridadiver.net/video/pc718.wmv
We headed down the line in the 86f water, which cooled to mid 70s by the time we hit the bottom. Visibility was about 40ft. There isnt much growth on the wreck yet, lots of barnacles and sea urchins. We also saw the usuaul tropicals, angel fish, spade fish, a school of huge amberjack, arrow crabs. After 20mins, I had my student do a timed task underwater, and we headed back to the boat.
Next dive was Dupont Bridgespans, sunk last year, in about 100ft of water as well. These are larger than the Hathaway spans, so a bit more exciting, though not much growth on them yet. Before we headed in, we were treated to a visit by a pod of dolphins and we just managed to jump in a get a look at them underwater before they took off. HEading in, we quickly got down to the large bridgespan, took a look at some pressure sensative items I brought down for the student, which crush nicely, and then explored aroudnt the bridge. Same animals, different reef basically. I like to pick a fish I dont know, and this time it was the Cubbyu, which I only saw one of on this reef. And an shrimp? I couldnt identify (attached)
After another 20min dive we headed up into the bathtub water, and got out, to be greeted by some monster rain guarding our way back. We battended the hatches and headed in. Seas had calmed but we got a nice freshwater rinse on the way in. All in all a good day. Warm water, new dives, and some edumacation. And pirates!
Here is some video from the first dive.
http://northfloridadiver.net/video/pc718.wmv
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