SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Headed out early Saturday morning on the SeaHunter out of Panama City Beach for an offshore dive to be followed by an inshore dip. Seas were running 2-4' with a bit of chop, nothing unmanagable. Sun was out and air temps in the 70sF while we were on the water. I dove in shorts. The rest of the divers thought I was hardcore or something while they suited up and I simply put on some gloves and booties. In reality, I forgot my wetsuit in the car 
Our first dive was on the Twin Tugs. Darcy tied the boat in and I met her shortly after she splashed. The first five minutes of the dive had me breathing due to the cold water. I relaxed quickly though. Water temps in the upper 60sF dropping to the mid 60sF around 60' at a murky thermocline. Visibility dropped to around 30', which might as well have been a mile . I hit a max depth of 102' and I circled the wreck several times. The site is made up of one tug laying across the top of another, pretty interesting. Both tugs are fairly intact and you can get some mild penetration in the pilot house and cargo holds. There were schools of spades, small amberjack, and small red snapper around. I found a few legal red snapper, but they weren't that big so I left them. The dive was great and I managed to drag it out 49 minutes before being back on the boat. One of the other divers on the boat nearly got himself killed after running empty at 90' and shooting to the surface. He showed no symptoms and felt fine throughout the rest of the day - he was lucky.
47 minutes later we were splashing down again on the Black Bart, which is a 165' freighter that stands about 3 stories high. This site is dived often by all the operations in PCB, but its fun regardless of the traffic. Visibility was around 20' onsite, below the thermocline. Life was similar here as the previous dive. I did come across a pair of Amberjack and managed to take one. Shot was clean to the point of me not ruining any meat, but at below and infront the eye, it was no kill shot; and therefore the fish beat me against the wreck a bit - rough without a wetsuit. :shakehead. I hit a max depth of 82' for a dive lasting a mere 23 minutes(OK, I got cold...). After surfacing, apparently a Bullshark came to visite the remaining divers onsite. Some people get all the luck.
Great set of dives though, post dive debriefing and libations at Spinakers.
My pockets are empty, but my stomach is full
Our first dive was on the Twin Tugs. Darcy tied the boat in and I met her shortly after she splashed. The first five minutes of the dive had me breathing due to the cold water. I relaxed quickly though. Water temps in the upper 60sF dropping to the mid 60sF around 60' at a murky thermocline. Visibility dropped to around 30', which might as well have been a mile
. I hit a max depth of 102' and I circled the wreck several times. The site is made up of one tug laying across the top of another, pretty interesting. Both tugs are fairly intact and you can get some mild penetration in the pilot house and cargo holds. There were schools of spades, small amberjack, and small red snapper around. I found a few legal red snapper, but they weren't that big so I left them. The dive was great and I managed to drag it out 49 minutes before being back on the boat. One of the other divers on the boat nearly got himself killed after running empty at 90' and shooting to the surface. He showed no symptoms and felt fine throughout the rest of the day - he was lucky. 47 minutes later we were splashing down again on the Black Bart, which is a 165' freighter that stands about 3 stories high. This site is dived often by all the operations in PCB, but its fun regardless of the traffic. Visibility was around 20' onsite, below the thermocline. Life was similar here as the previous dive. I did come across a pair of Amberjack and managed to take one. Shot was clean to the point of me not ruining any meat, but at below and infront the eye, it was no kill shot; and therefore the fish beat me against the wreck a bit - rough without a wetsuit. :shakehead. I hit a max depth of 82' for a dive lasting a mere 23 minutes(OK, I got cold...). After surfacing, apparently a Bullshark came to visite the remaining divers onsite. Some people get all the luck.
Great set of dives though, post dive debriefing and libations at Spinakers.
My pockets are empty, but my stomach is full
