Ft.Pickens/Russian Freighter/Pete Tide II AOW Training 05/28/2010

[jhayes75]

I headed over to Ft. Pickens today for 3 of the 5 dives required for AOW. In our class we had 4 St. Charles Parish police officers from Louisiana and me. Our first dive was peak buoyancy. We explored around a little bit and performed our 1 minute hover at 20ft. This turned into a drift dive since the current decided to head back into the gulf 1 ½ before high tide. Then we did our underwater navigation dives. The police dive team decided to do search and recovery skill for their third dive while I chose the underwater photography. I would call the viz at 25ft to 30, the best I have seen all year. Since the dive team only dive in 0 viz situations, they did their search and recovery blind folded with duct tape. I had the privilege of videoing and taking Pictures.

On day two our game plan was to head out to the big O. The instructor Rob and I headed over to prep the boat for the trip at 6:00am. We loaded all the tanks, drinks, Ice and fuel and had the boat ready to go by 7:00am. Well we thought we were ready. One of the hydraulic steering rams was locked up solid. After 2 hours of labor and dedication we managed to get it free. Now we are 2 hours behind schedule and we decided to still give the O a shot. After battling 3 to 4 ft sees we decided not to go and settled on the Russian Freighter. This would be our deep dive and we wound up with 1 ft viz on the wreck. We picked up here and then headed over to the Pete Tide II for our wreck dive. As soon as we tied in Hetland, Mrxray, and Recharge showed up on site for some spearfishing. The viz here was about 15ft. I logged a bottom temp of 65*. The storm had passed and the sea laid down for a nice ride in. After packing up I met up with Hetland, Mrxray, and Recharge for some dinner at Fuji Seafood and debriefed on our day of diving adventures.

The Pictures from Ft. Pickens were long after high tide and viz was not as good so the quailty is not there.



http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW021.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW009.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW002.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW001.jpg


http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW058.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW074.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW071.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW061.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW035.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW031.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW026.jpg


http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW019.jpg

http://i599.photobucket.com/albums/tt80/jhayes75/AOW/AOW017.jpg

[sontek]

Thanks for the report and pics! :)

[Spd 135]

Cool report. I made a trip with Rob, to the O, in 2007.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Thanks for the report

[Hetland]

Glad we could get together for lunch Jason.

Have fun on vacation and take lots of photos!

[jhayes75]

Glad we could get together for lunch Jason.

Have fun on vacation and take lots of photos!

It good to see you guys again. Maybe one day I will enjoy sushi as much as you do and I will take plenty of pictures. I just got my strobe diffuser in and can't wait to try it.:D

[Recharge]

Congratulations on your new achievement as a certified O. W. Diver:snorkel2: Thanks for letting us tie off at the Pete Tide II,Enjoy your time in Cozumel.

[jhayes75]

Congratulations on your new achievement as a certified [-]O. W.[/-] AOW Diver:snorkel2: Thanks for letting us tie off at the Pete Tide II,Enjoy your time in Cozumel.

Thanks

Fixed it for you. The crazy thing was our DM untied our boat before we finished our safety stop and I don't think you guys were tied in yet. Our captain's quick response kept him from smashing into your boat. There was some kind of miscommunication.

[Kevin Carlisle]

Great report and congrats Jason.