Pensacola: San Pablo Freighter and Ocean Wind Tug

[Skeptic14]

Our local dive club went out with Scuba Shack on the Wet Dream last Sunday; great operation, and they really feed you: hot dogs, homemade ice-cream, cookies, fresh fruit.

The surface was quite murky due to lots of recent rain and west winds (see cuda photo at the safety stop) but below around 30-40 feet it opened up to 40' of visibility at the San Pablo and on the Ocean Wind it was probably 60'.

The highlight of the day for me was a very accommodating goliath on the ocean wind. There was tremendous amounts of bait in the water at both sites, at times concealing the goliath they were so thick!

A few photos:

 

[sportxlh]

Great shots of the Goliath..... glad you were able to get up close and personal

 

[They call me Tater]

Very nice. I'm mulling over a trip down there and your pictures add to my interest.

 

[Skeptic14]

Great shots of the Goliath..... glad you were able to get up close and personal

It was a cool experience!

Very nice. I'm mulling over a trip down there and your pictures add to my interest.

Come on down, from Pensacola to Panama City, there is some good diving to be enjoyed!

 

[Wayward Son]

we dropped on the ocean wind on saturday afternoon. nice dive. looks like you had a bit better viz than we did, but it wasn't bad.

 

[They call me Tater]

It was a cool experience!



Come on down, from Pensacola to Panama City, there is some good diving to be enjoyed!

You available as a dive guide?

 

[Skeptic14]

we dropped on the ocean wind on saturday afternoon. nice dive. looks like you had a bit better viz than we did, but it wasn't bad.

Here's a shot of the ocean wind; I think it's an 87 ft tug and you could see along its length pretty well. Of course it was dark because of the surface murk and there was the usual gulf particles but it was not bad at all sunday afternoon.

You available as a dive guide?

I'm not a guide, but most of the boat operators on the panhandle will put a guide in with you if you want one. Most of the sites in this area are not bad to navigate and typically there isn't a lot of current to deal with. We had a little current on sunday but nothing extreme. It can be nice having a guide familiar with the sites for critter spotting or if you've never dove the area for the first couple dives.

 

[Wayward Son]

we had a slight current running in one direction & the wind in another direction. it resulted in our tag line going 90 degrees to starboard rather than off the stern, but it wasn't enough to be a problem.

this was my first time diving out of Pensacola, we hit this and a barge in 50 FSW. both frequently hit sites but as I haven't done any boat dives in quite a while I wanted a couple of easy dives to start with.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

Great shots. I'm in Pensacola right now. We'll be diving with Scuba Shack all weekend. Don't know where we're diving tomorrow but, we'll be diving the "O" and Chevron Oil Rig on Saturday. I'll post a report when I get back home.