RDP
August 4th, 2004, 12:46 PM
My wife and I recently returned from a trip to Destin, FL. It was my first saltwater dive experience, and it was nice. The temp. @ 70ft. was 84F. That's better than the usual Indiana surface temp.
We started with a charter through ScubaTech on the Sea Cobra. We explored the 'Old Destin Bridge' rubble that has been underwater for almost 30years. It has become a decent little reef. We saw the usual reef fish, starfish, and some barracuda. The real treat was a Spanish Dancer. I didn't even know they existed! :jawsdown:
The second dive was on the 'Miss Louise' tug. It was pretty much the same except for a very large resident jewfish, Goliath. The guides estimated him to be around 180 lbs. He looked like a rock on the bottom until a dive master speared a passing fish and fed it to him. After that, Goliath followed all the divers around allowing them to get face-to-face with him. Also, I saw millions of fish swimming in columns almost blocking out the surface light at times. It was quite the experience. There was a little storm coming through as we finished the dive. This made exiting interesting. All considered the Staff & Crew on the ScubaTech charter was excellent!! :thumb:
I also got to the Jetty on two occasions. The first I met with texdiver38. My skill level was not quite up to that of texdiver38, but it was a good dive. I witnessed a couple of toadfish, blue crabs, and sand dollars galore in the channel. There were quite a few jellyfish from 10ft-20ft, but after that they were pretty thin.
The second dive on the jetty was with my brother, and it turned out to be a bit of a cluster. Upon entering the water my octo started trickling bubbles. I couldn’t get it to stop. Anyone that has been to the Destin Jetty to dive knows the hike and parking situation. I hauled *** to the ScubaTech dive shop where they immediately helped me with my problem. I was really impressed as this was my equipment, not a rental. They got right on it and I was out of there in 20min. They didn't even charge me for the fix!! After that, finding a parking place took about a half an hour which put me back in the water a little bit later than desirable. Remembering the abundance of sand dollars and shells, I took a collection bag along. The dive was nice, but the current was much stronger than the previous dive. I used a landmark, a kitchen sink, to surface inside the East Jetty. Man, the current heavy on top! I was quickly pulled around the tip of the Jetty and headed for Cuba! The excessive amount of gear hanging from my BC didn’t help the situation. By handing the collection bag off I was able to fight the surge and dart my way back to the jetty and did the rock crawl around to the inside. Can you say exhausted! :dozingoff
This trip was a great experience. I met a fellow ScubaBoard member and learned a great deal in a short period of time. Oh yes, did I plug ScubaTech in Destin,FL. They were an awesome outfit to deal with!!!
Happy Diving
:scubadive
We started with a charter through ScubaTech on the Sea Cobra. We explored the 'Old Destin Bridge' rubble that has been underwater for almost 30years. It has become a decent little reef. We saw the usual reef fish, starfish, and some barracuda. The real treat was a Spanish Dancer. I didn't even know they existed! :jawsdown:
The second dive was on the 'Miss Louise' tug. It was pretty much the same except for a very large resident jewfish, Goliath. The guides estimated him to be around 180 lbs. He looked like a rock on the bottom until a dive master speared a passing fish and fed it to him. After that, Goliath followed all the divers around allowing them to get face-to-face with him. Also, I saw millions of fish swimming in columns almost blocking out the surface light at times. It was quite the experience. There was a little storm coming through as we finished the dive. This made exiting interesting. All considered the Staff & Crew on the ScubaTech charter was excellent!! :thumb:
I also got to the Jetty on two occasions. The first I met with texdiver38. My skill level was not quite up to that of texdiver38, but it was a good dive. I witnessed a couple of toadfish, blue crabs, and sand dollars galore in the channel. There were quite a few jellyfish from 10ft-20ft, but after that they were pretty thin.
The second dive on the jetty was with my brother, and it turned out to be a bit of a cluster. Upon entering the water my octo started trickling bubbles. I couldn’t get it to stop. Anyone that has been to the Destin Jetty to dive knows the hike and parking situation. I hauled *** to the ScubaTech dive shop where they immediately helped me with my problem. I was really impressed as this was my equipment, not a rental. They got right on it and I was out of there in 20min. They didn't even charge me for the fix!! After that, finding a parking place took about a half an hour which put me back in the water a little bit later than desirable. Remembering the abundance of sand dollars and shells, I took a collection bag along. The dive was nice, but the current was much stronger than the previous dive. I used a landmark, a kitchen sink, to surface inside the East Jetty. Man, the current heavy on top! I was quickly pulled around the tip of the Jetty and headed for Cuba! The excessive amount of gear hanging from my BC didn’t help the situation. By handing the collection bag off I was able to fight the surge and dart my way back to the jetty and did the rock crawl around to the inside. Can you say exhausted! :dozingoff
This trip was a great experience. I met a fellow ScubaBoard member and learned a great deal in a short period of time. Oh yes, did I plug ScubaTech in Destin,FL. They were an awesome outfit to deal with!!!
Happy Diving
:scubadive