Dive Report: Navarre Beach Pier 07-26-2009

[MRXRAY]

A buddy called to see if I'd like to dive Navarre Pier this morning and since I hadn't rinsed my gear from yesterdays diving I said that a Salt water rinse would work for now!

So I headed to Navarre Pier and met up with my Buddy and we ended up splashing at 11:00. The viz looked like it would be excellent but there was a lot of June grass in several spots which made for spotty viz. I'd still call the viz 20 feet though. The bad news is that the pilings are still going in and there is a new set completely in the water now and they are starting to set another bunch further out. There were no issues with diving today (Sunday) as there were no workers at the site. We went to the end of the pier and on the way I saw a nice sized Barracuda hanging out under the pier as well as tons of bait fish. Most of the action for photography seemed to be on the pilings as nearly everything else is buried except for a small section of the old triangle rubble. I did manage to find one octopus who was very well hidden and we came across a loggerhead turtle which I shot video of. And just as he was settling back down into the June grass I came across a much smaller one and I tracked him on video to the surface until he swam out of sight. All in all a nice dive and well worth the time spent in the water. I also came across a new sea hare that I had not cataloged called a Ragged Seahare, so I got to add a sticky to my book!
Bottom time was 67 minutes with a max depth of 19 feet and a min water temp of 81*.

Here are some pics:

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Really like that last pic

 

[MRXRAY]

Here is the Video of the Turtles we encountered at Navarre Pier today!

Loggerhead Turtle at Navarre Pier 07-25-2009 on Vimeo

 

[Dave C]

I love the last pic, too. I haven't seen those before, and I just consulted Humann, and it looks like they are Atlantic bumper (a small jack). The arrow crab pic is pretty darn good too. The white background of the sponge makes for a striking photo. Also, the fish in the second pic, I've seen those plenty of times and have been trying to figure out what they are. In my mind, I always think of them as "baby barracuda", but I don't know what they are. I saw a sea hare once (and only once) a fews ago at the Destin jetties.

 

[MRXRAY]

I have a similar picture of the Atlantic Bumper as my screen saver. I have seen them several times, and very thick at Navarre. Thanks Dave for the kind words, coming from you that's a real compliment.

 

[MRXRAY]

Here is a picure of the Ragged Seahare. I had to hold it as I could not get a good picture with all the grass floating around in the water.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Those little turds sometimes march across the beaches UW in the thousands, pretty crazy when you're able to catch them out like that.

 

[MRXRAY]

Here is what I guess is an Atlantic Black Seahare. I had picked him up for a picture but he fell off my hand during my attempt to get him focused and this was the resulting picture. ****No Seahares were harmed during the making of this picture****

 

[jhayes75]

Very nice photos.

 

[Halftime]

Great pictures, we need to get together and get wet.