SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Morning broke with clear skies and chilly temps(around 40F) as I loaded a couple 80s and headed south to Orange Beach(AL) to meet at Gary's Gulf Diver for a very inshore trip. I got there and Paulwall, Doll Fin, and GLENFWB were already at the shop signed off and ready to go. wjefferis arrived shortly after as well as our DM(Blake) and an OW student(Ron?). After the papers were signed we all headed off to Sportsman's Marina to meet up with the boat. Gary runs his own boat, a 6 pack Cat, named the Cat-N-Around which is stable and very quick. Instead of heading out the intercoastal, we hit Perdido Pass and into the Gulf and rode the beach out to Pensacola Pass. Seas were a bit choppy and 2-3' at best, nothing too sporty. The boat made quick time out and we decided on Fort Pickens Jetties first.
The boat anchored a bit out in the channel and we dropped Blake into the water. He was fairly quickly taken out a good ways before surfacing with tales of 5-6' visibility and a zipping current. We were diving at low tide, somewhat near slack. The jetty offered some protection from the current so Gary beached the boat and we made a beach(or atleast uber shallow water) entry to the jetties. After a chilly upper halocline of 59F, we went into a nice saltwater layer of clearer(fairly consistant 15' vis) water column at about 20' which was 62-64F. We(I dove with GLENFWB) explorered the jetties down to a max depth 47' as well as some of the various other landmards onsite(Jeep, cages, toilet, organ, ect). This was the first time I dove this site since Ivan and it was nice to see the majority of my old landmarks mostly intanct! There was some life out as well, lots of crinoids have made a home on the rubble that makes up the Fort Pickens Jetties. Anenomies, mangroves, sandfish, scamp, couple small gag, cowfish, filefish, and an assortment of crab could also be found. The dive lasted a total time of 50 minutes, including the time it took me to retrieve a dive flag.
Gary had orange slices waiting on us on the boat as we peeled wetsuits down and threw on sweaters, jackets, whatever to warm back up. The sun was out and the air temps were climbing to around 60F so we warmed fairly quickly after drying out a bit. The trip out to the USS Massachusetts was quick, its only a mile offshore and the seas seemed to have calmed a bit, getting both smoother and smaller. Blake tied us into the bow of the battleship and I splashed just short of an hour from surfacing from our last dive. GLENFWB and wjefferis were right behind me, both loaded with cameras and strobing away throughout the dive. After a shallower thermocline, we were in saltwater with 62-66F temps and visibility ranging from 15-25' throughout the beginning of the dive. Lots of life out, cowries, anenomies, blennies, sandfish, damsels, bluefish, filefish, sheepshead, some BIGOLE drum, couple bull redfish, scamp, spades, and even a couple gag(including one fat legal). The USS Massachusetts is an old battleship from the turn of the 1900s that saw battle in the Spanish/American War(I think) as well as being used as a training vessel in WWI. It was later used as target practice by onshore batteries and has sat just off the inlet of P'Cola Bay since. It was almost salvaged when Pensacola rallied behind the wreck making it the first Historical Florida UW archeological preserve. Max depth of 30' for a dive time of 55 minutes. Towards the end of the dive, a nasty silt cloud enveloped a good portion of the front portion of the wreck dropping vis to 3-5'. The wreck itself's gun turrets break the Gulf's surface on every passing wave's trough. So there's relief from surface to sand. Blake came away with a damned nice recently lost anchor(rubberized too) and there were no hiccups in the dive(accept for a starfish attack).
With a bit of luck, GLENFWB and wjefferis will be posting pictures shortly.
After the dive, the majority of us hit up Doc's Seafood in Orange Beach for some oysters and other seafoods of choice. Had a great lunch with great company! I gotta thank Glen again for the boat trip, and thanks also to whoever picked up my lunch ticket!
I made out pretty well for the day - LOL!
The boat anchored a bit out in the channel and we dropped Blake into the water. He was fairly quickly taken out a good ways before surfacing with tales of 5-6' visibility and a zipping current. We were diving at low tide, somewhat near slack. The jetty offered some protection from the current so Gary beached the boat and we made a beach(or atleast uber shallow water) entry to the jetties. After a chilly upper halocline of 59F, we went into a nice saltwater layer of clearer(fairly consistant 15' vis) water column at about 20' which was 62-64F. We(I dove with GLENFWB) explorered the jetties down to a max depth 47' as well as some of the various other landmards onsite(Jeep, cages, toilet, organ, ect). This was the first time I dove this site since Ivan and it was nice to see the majority of my old landmarks mostly intanct! There was some life out as well, lots of crinoids have made a home on the rubble that makes up the Fort Pickens Jetties. Anenomies, mangroves, sandfish, scamp, couple small gag, cowfish, filefish, and an assortment of crab could also be found. The dive lasted a total time of 50 minutes, including the time it took me to retrieve a dive flag.
Gary had orange slices waiting on us on the boat as we peeled wetsuits down and threw on sweaters, jackets, whatever to warm back up. The sun was out and the air temps were climbing to around 60F so we warmed fairly quickly after drying out a bit. The trip out to the USS Massachusetts was quick, its only a mile offshore and the seas seemed to have calmed a bit, getting both smoother and smaller. Blake tied us into the bow of the battleship and I splashed just short of an hour from surfacing from our last dive. GLENFWB and wjefferis were right behind me, both loaded with cameras and strobing away throughout the dive. After a shallower thermocline, we were in saltwater with 62-66F temps and visibility ranging from 15-25' throughout the beginning of the dive. Lots of life out, cowries, anenomies, blennies, sandfish, damsels, bluefish, filefish, sheepshead, some BIGOLE drum, couple bull redfish, scamp, spades, and even a couple gag(including one fat legal). The USS Massachusetts is an old battleship from the turn of the 1900s that saw battle in the Spanish/American War(I think) as well as being used as a training vessel in WWI. It was later used as target practice by onshore batteries and has sat just off the inlet of P'Cola Bay since. It was almost salvaged when Pensacola rallied behind the wreck making it the first Historical Florida UW archeological preserve. Max depth of 30' for a dive time of 55 minutes. Towards the end of the dive, a nasty silt cloud enveloped a good portion of the front portion of the wreck dropping vis to 3-5'. The wreck itself's gun turrets break the Gulf's surface on every passing wave's trough. So there's relief from surface to sand. Blake came away with a damned nice recently lost anchor(rubberized too) and there were no hiccups in the dive(accept for a starfish attack).
With a bit of luck, GLENFWB and wjefferis will be posting pictures shortly.
After the dive, the majority of us hit up Doc's Seafood in Orange Beach for some oysters and other seafoods of choice. Had a great lunch with great company! I gotta thank Glen again for the boat trip, and thanks also to whoever picked up my lunch ticket!
I made out pretty well for the day - LOL!
