First Meeting a Success! (with photos)

[Hetland]

Gulf Coast Diving Society's first event in 2008 took place Saturday, October 18th at St. Andrews Park in Panama City Beach, Florida. I arrived late (per usual) and found between 20 and 30 people returning from their first dives, and having a snack. Malcolm cooked us up some delicious hot dogs and hamburgers to enjoy, and the weather could not have been more perfect. While shooting the breeze with a few folks, I learned that current and visibility were both negative factors in the dive, so I took my time getting kitted up, and let tides work a little more while I checked my gear, and traded a few war stories with XRay, and some society members.

Once I finally got around to getting wet, I found that current was still strong in certain areas, but for the most part it was short lived. Vis was around 10-15, with lots of sediment, making for poor photography conditions. I did not let that bother me, and marveled instead at all of the colorful corals and sponges that I found. I saw more than a few critters that were new to me, and got some closer looks at ones I had seen before. I was saddened, but not surprised to find some hard corals that had bleach spots. I ended up with a bottom time of one hour, and spent most of that between 25 and 35 feet, which is where the majority of the life I saw was located.

I returned with my dive chums to our tables, and scarfed down a hot dog and hamburger. Most folks were getting ready to head back, so we worked on a plan to skip our second day dive, and come back after dark. Sadly, the 60 degree air temp and 10-15kt winds ended our thoughts of night-diving the jetties :depressed:

Glen, Jan and I returned to the Jetties early (for us) the next day. The sun was out, there was less wind, and the water looked great! We kitted up, and hit the water for what was a dive that lasted about an hour. Current was almost non-existent, and there were far fewer particles in the water, making for a brighter dive than the day before. Plenty of cool critters were still out, but there seemed to be many more fish about. They did not seem skittish at all, and one sheepshead followed me around while I took photos, and scraped a few barnacles off the rocks. I think he felt safer with me there, but he was pretty stout, so I worried that whatever wanted to eat him, might want to eat me too.

(I believe this guy had a shell between his "wings". Can anyone identify for me?)

All in all a GREAT TRIP. Special thanks to Malcolm and his minions for putting together a nice event. I look forward to our next meeting, and hope to make it a little earlier

Best Regards,
ap

PS: To my knowledge, we still do not have a director for our November event(s). Please let us know if you want to plan something for us.

 

[Dave C]

Great photos! Your unientified sea slug sure looks like a sea hare (scientific name Aplysia). I saw one once when I was snorkeling at the Destin jetties. However, the sea hare's shell is small and internal, not "between the wings" as you report. Here is a picture I found on the web of a sea hare that occurs in the Gulf of Mexico:
The Sea Slug Forum - Aplysia brasiliana

 

[Mrs.Fish]

This is the information received about the next social event:
6pm November 11th at the Blue Gill, music starts at 7.

I will be posting more info on our web site soon.

 

[Hetland]

Great photos! Your unientified sea slug sure looks like a sea hare (scientific name Aplysia). I saw one once when I was snorkeling at the Destin jetties. However, the sea hare's shell is small and internal, not "between the wings" as you report. Here is a picture I found on the web of a sea hare that occurs in the Gulf of Mexico:
The Sea Slug Forum - Aplysia brasiliana

Thanks! I've seen small ones actually swimming several feet from the bottom, but I had no idea they got so large! This guy was somewhere between 12 and 16 inches. I couldn't be sure it was a shell I saw, and I didn't want to harrass him just to find out. Thanks again for the i.d.

 

[<*}}><(]

Thanks to Hetland for the report, and as always, the great pics! Thanks also to Malcolm and everyone else responsible for the great grub!

I wish we'd been able to get there earlier to be able to meet up with more of the folks who left before we arrived.
Thankfully, the kind folks here at Scubaboard.com have given us this wonderful little area of cyberspace that we can all use to keep in touch when we're not at a function together. If you haven't already, PLEASE take a minute to register (it's free, and nobody spams you) and then post something!

Hope to see you all here, and in person very soon!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Congrats on the successful meeting and thanks for posting the great photos!

 

[Dave C]

If it was over 12 inches, that pretty much confirms it was a sea hare. Some of these can get huge. I've seen some off So. Calif. that were at least 18" long. It's good you didn't disturb it; when disturbed, they eject ink just like octopuses.

I've heard there is a lot more invertebrate life at the Panama City jetties in comparison to the Destin jetties. Your photos show this. I'll have to visit Panama City some time to check this out.

 

[Hetland]

If it was over 12 inches, that pretty much confirms it was a sea hare. Some of these can get huge. I've seen some off So. Calif. that were at least 18" long. It's good you didn't disturb it; when disturbed, they eject ink just like octopuses.

I've heard there is a lot more invertebrate life at the Panama City jetties in comparison to the Destin jetties. Your photos show this. I'll have to visit Panama City some time to check this out.

I also noticed lots of potential octopus dens, and a few crab-part piles at PCB. Mr.Xray spotted two in the daylight, but I never got to make a night dive there. I'm guessing there's significant octopus activity there after dark.

If it's snail and oyster kin you are interested in, I would try the Ft. Pickens Jetties in Pensacola. I usually see a good mix of the mollusca phylum there. If that's too far West for you, check out the Miss Louise about two miles south of the beach in Destin. For some reason she seems to hold a good selection too. I don't know why there is not much snail-n-oyster traffic at Destin Jetties. My only guess is the high dive traffic in the area.....

 

[scf1999]

Just wondering what the Gulf Coast Dive Society was, is it a club? If so how do you join, etc.
I'm new to the area and have been looking for a club or something to meet some local divers.
Thank

 

[Hetland]

Just wondering what the Gulf Coast Dive Society was, is it a club? If so how do you join, etc.
I'm new to the area and have been looking for a club or something to meet some local divers.
Thank

We are a group of divers from all skill levels and all walks of life, dedicated to meeting new people interested in SCUBA and related activities along the central Gulf Coast. We're not a diving "club". The word "club" implies that certain folk are included, while others are excluded. That's not what we are about. Our purpose is to organize informal social and scuba events, where new divers and old salts can get to know each other and have a good time together. We hope to have one scuba dive event, and one social event each month.

There are currently about 20 people that are involved in the planning of the events, but as we grow, we would welcome additional planners. We are "based" in Mobile, but will be planning events all along the gulf, and possibly overseas trips as well (we'll have to see).

We're just starting out, and we still have details to hammer down here and there, but there is an informal social event scheduled for November 11 (see our calendar on scubaboard), and you're welcome to come on out and share some grub with us.

-h