DocCarl
Contributor
We spent the afternoon over at Ft. Pickens scouting some sites for our wedding. The tides and weather looked favorable, so we tossed the dive gear in the car, too.
About 4:15 we headed over to the dive site to take a look. The water looked beautiful and clear. Sunset was at 5:38, So we planned to splash around 5 in order to experience both day and night on the site. After a some minor trouble with a slipped bungie cord, we actually hit the water right at sunset.
Visibility was at least 20' at the beginning of the dive, dropping down to 15 towards the end. High tide was supposed to be around 8:30, but we experienced a slight outgoing current the entire time.
The golf cart is mostly covered now, as well as the jeep frame. Reef life looks especially healthy- - - almost every square inch of substrate is covered with encrusting sponges, coral, or anemones. We swung by the rocket launcher about 20 minutes in, hoping to see an octopus or two, but no such luck.
Most of the larger fish were out for the day, but we did manage to find a couple of decent sized sheepshead later on. Tiny, juvenile flounder were all over the place, as well as lots of sea robins. Kate managed to catch two porcupine fish (no fair when they're sleeping!) and I gently scooped up a snoozing cowfish and carried it over to her a little while later. Kate did find a squid- - he didn't ink her, but he didn't like that light in his eyes too much, either.
Even though I've been to Ft. Pickens several times, It's amazing to me how easy it is to get turned around out there at night even with 'good' visibility. We spent the last third of the dive on a casual search for the dive flag! Fortunately, we stumbled on it with about 700psi left and came on in shortly thereafter.
A great dive and an AWESOME night dive!!
44' max, 54 minutes. The water was a balmy 55 degrees.
About 4:15 we headed over to the dive site to take a look. The water looked beautiful and clear. Sunset was at 5:38, So we planned to splash around 5 in order to experience both day and night on the site. After a some minor trouble with a slipped bungie cord, we actually hit the water right at sunset.
Visibility was at least 20' at the beginning of the dive, dropping down to 15 towards the end. High tide was supposed to be around 8:30, but we experienced a slight outgoing current the entire time.
The golf cart is mostly covered now, as well as the jeep frame. Reef life looks especially healthy- - - almost every square inch of substrate is covered with encrusting sponges, coral, or anemones. We swung by the rocket launcher about 20 minutes in, hoping to see an octopus or two, but no such luck.
Most of the larger fish were out for the day, but we did manage to find a couple of decent sized sheepshead later on. Tiny, juvenile flounder were all over the place, as well as lots of sea robins. Kate managed to catch two porcupine fish (no fair when they're sleeping!) and I gently scooped up a snoozing cowfish and carried it over to her a little while later. Kate did find a squid- - he didn't ink her, but he didn't like that light in his eyes too much, either.
Even though I've been to Ft. Pickens several times, It's amazing to me how easy it is to get turned around out there at night even with 'good' visibility. We spent the last third of the dive on a casual search for the dive flag! Fortunately, we stumbled on it with about 700psi left and came on in shortly thereafter.
A great dive and an AWESOME night dive!!
44' max, 54 minutes. The water was a balmy 55 degrees.
