SeaYoda
Contributor
MikeS and I had decided to give the jetties a try on Tuesday, even though the viz had been less than spectacular on my last two dives. I picked Mike up at the condo and we noted a lack of boat traffic along shore as well as the fact that he heard that ScubaTech had canceled their boat trip that morning (water was fairly calm). We were going to check out availability for a Wednesday morning trip when we got finished our jetty dive (more on what we found out later in this post). We loaded the gear and off we went to the swimming hole. Parking was easy and we negotiated the sand with my yacht. Mike loaned me one of his high pressure steel 100's so we would be better matched for the dive. We hit the water and the shallows were very warm. At 30 to 55 feet temps varied between 76* and 78*. Viz had improved from the last two dives but was not fantastic. The particles had settled down and given way to a heavy silt haze. On the north side of the jetty the viz was a dirty 15' and it opened up to a dirty 20' out by the anchor. The current was stiff at times and we saw one person give up about halfway to the anchor. The jetty crawl was the swimming style of the day. The current was acting odd as usual, sometimes coming in and sometimes flowing out. We spent a good while out by the anchor (which is pretty well uncovered). The mooring block with the big rusted chain is starting to uncover. It is sticking out of the sand about two feet. There seems to be lots of construction junk around. I'm not sure if this is not stuff from Ivan that is uncovering or some new source. All the usual small fish were out along with the blue, hermit, and stone crabs. A few comb jellies were around but no nettles. There were a couple of nice flounder and mid sized sheephead. We were sideswiped by blue runner schools a couple times during the dive. The wrasse are thick this year. I played with some that almost let you hold them. Beware of their friendly nature, when I stopped playing, one of them attacked my finger where my glove had worn through. Our dive lasted an hour and twenty minutes and the biggest surprise came at the end while we were making our way back to shore. I was looking at some of the small rocks and noticed one that looked a little different. It looked "spongy" so i investigated further. It turned out to be a baby frogfish. Just when I thought I had found great treasure, a second more "hairy" baby frogfish swam from behind one of the stones. They were both about two inches long and were perfectly camouflaged as light green/brown. The "hairy'" one had cool stripes and a prominent fishing lure on his head. Of course I had decided not to bring the camera since viz was going to be poor. I was able to share my find with Mike so all is not lost.
Now, back to the boat story. We made our way to ScubaTech to fill Mike's tanks and find out about a boat trip in the morning. Rabbi was there and said the boat was not going out in the morning and something about a BP contract. I was curious and asked Carla what was going on. They have contracted their boat as a "vessel of opportunity" with BP. They have got to be ready to put the boat in action at BP's call. That means no boat trips. They are scheduling trips and working with Diver's Emporium in Crestview. They have a boat called the Miss Teak. Here is the link to their web site
Diver's Emporium . The dives on Tuesday and Wednesday were canceled due to mechanical issues. I guess other boats in the area have sold their time to BP due to the fall off of visitors. According to Mark at the shop, BP will also pay for lost revenue but boat owners have to choose between showing losses and being a "vessel of opportunity". They can't get money both ways so I guess many are taking the contract route.
After all that I dropped Mike off at the condo and headed home - not a bad day of diving after all
.
Now, back to the boat story. We made our way to ScubaTech to fill Mike's tanks and find out about a boat trip in the morning. Rabbi was there and said the boat was not going out in the morning and something about a BP contract. I was curious and asked Carla what was going on. They have contracted their boat as a "vessel of opportunity" with BP. They have got to be ready to put the boat in action at BP's call. That means no boat trips. They are scheduling trips and working with Diver's Emporium in Crestview. They have a boat called the Miss Teak. Here is the link to their web site
Diver's Emporium . The dives on Tuesday and Wednesday were canceled due to mechanical issues. I guess other boats in the area have sold their time to BP due to the fall off of visitors. According to Mark at the shop, BP will also pay for lost revenue but boat owners have to choose between showing losses and being a "vessel of opportunity". They can't get money both ways so I guess many are taking the contract route.
After all that I dropped Mike off at the condo and headed home - not a bad day of diving after all
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