(yet another) Ft. Pickens Dive Report - 5/25/09

[Hetland]

My brother John is in town, and wanted to go diving, so we met MrXRay at the newly opened Ft. Pickens. We got there just before 8:00, and made haste getting geared up while making introductions. I briefed John on the site while we were driving, so we got splashed-in pretty quickly. Viz ranged from 10-20 depending on depth and location. We did hit a pretty bad pocket of grass, that blacked us out and reduced viz to 8" or so. I needed a flashlight for my comp, and had to use the compass to navigate out of it. We saw the usual suspects plus a few treats. We got in two dives lasting about an hour each, and hit just shy of 50ft. Water was warm and walks were short

 

[GLENFWB]

How was the current today? Yesterday it was pretty strong.

 

[Hetland]

Current was significant, but didn't bother us (we're all strong swimmers though). Chief complaint was the instant drop in viz to almost zero. However, the areas in the 3-35ft zones were pretty clear, even though there was sand and grass everywhere. For some reason 99% of my photos were overexposed. Haven't figured that one out yet, but current suspect is operator error.

Also, Barry saw the guitarfish, and got a shot or two of it.

 

[MRXRAY]

Alex, Hit the high points. I'll add that I showed the min temp at 77* today and except for the real drop in viz I had no complaints. Glen, The current was about the same as the day prior on the first dive but for both of the dives. According to my current charts it should have been about .5-1.0 knts. I was really excited to get a good glimpse of the guitar fish (Actually in the Shark/Ray family) I didn't realize it was so long until I had snapped a few pictures of its head and then saw it take off away from me (Flash shy I guess) I never did get a good whole body picture....Darn it! We didn't see a single octopus on the two dives today which was a bit disappointing but I was real happy to see the frog fish in about the same spot as yesterday! I also got a picture of a Mantis shrimp which I had no idea what it was until Alex debriefed me on the surface, it was really big at about 2 inches around so I'd bet this bad boy could inflict some serious damage. Warning....Do not stick your finger in it's hole!!!!
We also saw quite a few other interesting things including some big schools of spades some big grouper, snapper, and of course lots of reef fish, and to my suprise the French Angelfish that I didn't get a good photo of yesterday showed back up and gave me ample opportunity for some nice pics!....Show off!
I really enjoyed the dive and the company and of course the Debrief at McGuire's was a plus!!

Here are some of my Pics from today:

Guitar Fish:

 

[GLENFWB]

Current was significant, but didn't bother us (we're all strong swimmers though). Chief complaint was the instant drop in viz to almost zero. However, the areas in the 3-35ft zones were pretty clear, even though there was sand and grass everywhere.

That is how it was yesterday...I don't mind the current until I am holding a camera with double strobes trying to take a picture.

For some reason 99% of my photos were overexposed. Haven't figured that one out yet, but current suspect is operator error.

Yeah, I have a love-hate relationship with my camera.

Also, Barry saw the guitarfish, and got a shot or two of it.

That is great...I hate that I couldn't get a picture when I saw it yesterday. Can't wait to see it.

 

[MRXRAY]

Couple more:

I could use some help on this last one. I just got a quick shot off on it, but I'm not sure on the ID. Any thoughts? Dave C. ?

 

[GLENFWB]

Great shots Barry. Glad you got a shot of the guitar fish. Can't wait to get back there for a dive.

 

[jhayes75]

Great shots Barry as always.

 

[Hetland]

Great mantis shot Barry! I hate that I missed the french angel.

Mantis Shrimp

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Mantis Shrimp But Where Afraid To Ask

Betty Davis Eyes

Fastest Claw In Town​

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Great photos and another great report, thanks