DocCarl
Contributor
Thursday afternoon Tessunderwater and I loaded up the Scion and made our way out of Mobile. The plan was to meet up at Ft. Pickens around 6pm for a two tank night dive. We pulled in at 6 to find GlenFWB, MrMcCoy, and GChaney already on site, as well as a few fishermen on the rocks. We were treated to a beautiful fall sunset while we geared up!
(I snapped this while driving down Ft. Pickens road)
This was to be Tess's first night dive- - - pretty amazing for someone who has only been diving since August!
While discussing the dive plan, it was decided that Tess and I would pair off as a buddy team, while Glen, MrMcCoy, and GChaney would dive as a three man group. The main objective was to head towards the golf cart. From there, we planned to just 'take the tour' and see what there was to see. I was pretty sure I could find my way around to the golf cart, even though this was my first night dive at Pickens. Hit the water at 6:42pm, and I knew within about a minute that I'd messed up. We put in a little to far to the west, which resulted in us making it down to almost 40' without hitting any rocks. Viz was a snotty 10' or so, which didn't help matters much. After what ( to me at least ) seemed like forever, We started to cruise over the tires scattered about near the toilet. A minute or so later, I was relieved to see the rocket launcher come into view. At least I would be spared the ridicule of being 'that guy' leading the dive that took everyone precisely nowhere anyone wanted to go!!!! I knew that, using the rocket launcher, we could get to the jeep frame, the golf cart, and the "junk pile" that Walter discovered with Denise and I last month. Anyway, we were pleased to find two octopus hanging out on top of the rocket launcher, one of which was pretty friendly! After playing with them for a few minutes, we headed over to the jeep frame, where I finally tied the flag off. I took a compass heading to the golf cart, tied off a line on the jeep, and took off hoping for some luck. A minute later we swam up on the golf cart. The golf cart ( and everything else, for that matter) was almost completely covered by some flavor of seaweed. No matter though, we were just happy to be in the water.
Shortly after everyone arrived at the golf cart, we did have one small problem. Tess somehow had her mask dislodged- - - which she handled like a champ. However, the blurred vision and ensuing disorientation did lead to the two of us thumbing the dive- - -a very good decision on Tess' s part, I might add. We ended the first dive after 27 minutes. Max depth 41', Lowest temp 74 (according to my computer). Greg, Glen, and Jonathan arrived on shore about five minutes later.
Tess decided to sit the next one out, so the four of us hit the water at 8:07 for tank #2. Covered the rubble field, found a very active torpedo ray that I think followed us for a while. One octopus was still hanging out by the rocket launcher. We did head north to the 'junk pile', which was almost completely covered by algae. Almost everywhere we went, I saw cowfish. I'm used to seeing them at Ft. Pickens, but I've never seen as many as I did Thursday night.
As the dive progressed the viz did worsen slightly, and we begin to feel just a little bit of current. Total bottom time = 44 minutes. Max depth 44'. Lowest water temp 69.
After leaving the park, Tess, Jonathan and I struggled to find a restaurant still open- - and not so busy that people were spilled out in the street ( Hopjacks. . . . .). We ultimately just gave up on the idea of a post dive dinner
Tess and I grabbed some Whattaburger on the way home, and I finally hit the sack a little after midnight.
All in all a great time with some great people.
Can't wait to do it again!!!
Carl
(I snapped this while driving down Ft. Pickens road)
This was to be Tess's first night dive- - - pretty amazing for someone who has only been diving since August!
While discussing the dive plan, it was decided that Tess and I would pair off as a buddy team, while Glen, MrMcCoy, and GChaney would dive as a three man group. The main objective was to head towards the golf cart. From there, we planned to just 'take the tour' and see what there was to see. I was pretty sure I could find my way around to the golf cart, even though this was my first night dive at Pickens. Hit the water at 6:42pm, and I knew within about a minute that I'd messed up. We put in a little to far to the west, which resulted in us making it down to almost 40' without hitting any rocks. Viz was a snotty 10' or so, which didn't help matters much. After what ( to me at least ) seemed like forever, We started to cruise over the tires scattered about near the toilet. A minute or so later, I was relieved to see the rocket launcher come into view. At least I would be spared the ridicule of being 'that guy' leading the dive that took everyone precisely nowhere anyone wanted to go!!!! I knew that, using the rocket launcher, we could get to the jeep frame, the golf cart, and the "junk pile" that Walter discovered with Denise and I last month. Anyway, we were pleased to find two octopus hanging out on top of the rocket launcher, one of which was pretty friendly! After playing with them for a few minutes, we headed over to the jeep frame, where I finally tied the flag off. I took a compass heading to the golf cart, tied off a line on the jeep, and took off hoping for some luck. A minute later we swam up on the golf cart. The golf cart ( and everything else, for that matter) was almost completely covered by some flavor of seaweed. No matter though, we were just happy to be in the water.
Shortly after everyone arrived at the golf cart, we did have one small problem. Tess somehow had her mask dislodged- - - which she handled like a champ. However, the blurred vision and ensuing disorientation did lead to the two of us thumbing the dive- - -a very good decision on Tess' s part, I might add. We ended the first dive after 27 minutes. Max depth 41', Lowest temp 74 (according to my computer). Greg, Glen, and Jonathan arrived on shore about five minutes later.
Tess decided to sit the next one out, so the four of us hit the water at 8:07 for tank #2. Covered the rubble field, found a very active torpedo ray that I think followed us for a while. One octopus was still hanging out by the rocket launcher. We did head north to the 'junk pile', which was almost completely covered by algae. Almost everywhere we went, I saw cowfish. I'm used to seeing them at Ft. Pickens, but I've never seen as many as I did Thursday night.
As the dive progressed the viz did worsen slightly, and we begin to feel just a little bit of current. Total bottom time = 44 minutes. Max depth 44'. Lowest water temp 69.
After leaving the park, Tess, Jonathan and I struggled to find a restaurant still open- - and not so busy that people were spilled out in the street ( Hopjacks. . . . .). We ultimately just gave up on the idea of a post dive dinner
Tess and I grabbed some Whattaburger on the way home, and I finally hit the sack a little after midnight.
All in all a great time with some great people.
Can't wait to do it again!!!
Carl
