Ft. Pickens Report 9-6-10

[Puffer Fish]

Well, I was planning on being there, but got to do a dive to a location I have never been to before...So, thanks to Dave, got several amazing images (will do a whole trip report tomorrow...

Normally, this guy would make a whole dive:

But we found a hole area with a lot of these guys:

So, feel terrible about not going to Pickens... but excited about a new fish.

 

[joe8mofo]

I made it out to Ft. Pickens today and met up with DocCarl, Kmenees, Tessunderwater, and Bamascubacat. The skies were clear and so was the water! High tide was at 08:44. I think we hit the water at about 07:30-07:45. I went down and tied off my dive flag while everyone was finishing gearing up. The viz was great, I would say it was at least 35 feet. To give an example of how clear the water was, when I tied off my flag to the tire/cage I could look up and clearly see my flag through the water flapping in the breeze. We went for a round trip of the area and had a great dive lasting 62 minutes. We sat out for an hour surface interval and then splashed for a second dive. The viz had diminished to 15-20 (still great) and this time we went out to the toilet and then over to the fishing pyramid which I found to be almost totally covered. However, on the upside the golf cart is now almost totally uncovered (the Gulf is fickle ). While we were playing around out in the bay area I found some structure that I had previously never seen before NorthWest of the jeep frame. I ran some line from the jeep frame out to it and tied it off so that I can find it again. Once I am able to reference its location in my mind I will cut the string (if someone hasn't already). The structure has quite a bit of relief and is pretty big (not sure what it is). I ended dive number two at 57 minutes. I saw a couple of stingrays out in the bay area and was happy to start seeing some more of the regular life at Ft. Pickens starting to come back. I was great to meet up with some SB'ers and have a couple great dives .

My wife and I were also there around the same time. Visibility definitely differed depending on where you went in the water. And the tide change came early and the current started to rip around 8:20 am, so we cut our first dive short (40 min) and got back in at around 9:20 to find absolutely no current but visibility had dropped a lot. We got an hour dive in for the second dive and saw 2 manta rays and a large (3.5 ft grouper) as well as many other fish. Our flag was the inflatable one tied to the frame.

 

[wjefferis]

My wife and I were also there around the same time. Visibility definitely differed depending on where you went in the water. And the tide change came early and the current started to rip around 8:20 am, so we cut our first dive short (40 min) and got back in at around 9:20 to find absolutely no current but visibility had dropped a lot. We got an hour dive in for the second dive and saw 2 manta rays and a large (3.5 ft grouper) as well as many other fish. Our flag was the inflatable one tied to the frame.

Were you the guys that splashed right at 07:00 or the couple that was parked right next to us by the showers?

 

[joe8mofo]

Were you the guys that splashed right at 07:00 or the couple that was parked right next to us by the showers?

I wish we had splashed at 7:00AM :cool2:.... if you are referring to the couple who parked by the showers to wash off a few items a leave in a black toyota matrix, then that was us.... if not then we totally missed each other.

 

[kmenees]

Great dive, great dive buddies! We will have to do it again. DocCarl and I are eventually going to get into a camera, although I don't know enough about photography underwater to know what to get, but when we decide to go for it we will hit you guys up. DocCarl - great imitation of the warhammer above the toilet, too many spiny urchins to sit on it!

 

[Hetland]

I beg you to stop the discussion of any new cameras coming out!! I refuse to look at any advertisements or reviews of new cameras! I really wish my camera had HD! I will not get a new camera.....I will not get a new camera!

For the same price you could just get the JVC 1080p stick cam AND the matching Ikelite housing...... Then you could keep your current rig, and have a separate rig just for movies

 

[GLENFWB]

Hetland you are evil! But I have thought about this back when they first came out. I even looked in to seeing how I could mount it to my existing rig. I thought I would keep my eye out for one when someone gets tired of one, and is looking to sell it. Now stop talking about cameras!:mooner:

For the same price you could just get the JVC 1080p stick cam AND the matching Ikelite housing...... Then you could keep your current rig, and have a separate rig just for movies

 

[Puffer Fish]

For the same price you could just get the JVC 1080p stick cam AND the matching Ikelite housing...... Then you could keep your current rig, and have a separate rig just for movies

Hetland, I think he should get a Pany gh-1 with the 10bar housing.. he could then get the 7-14 mm zoom...with the dome... and do 1080 video, as that camera has all the video controls a video camera would have... and he could still take photo's..

And I would have a camera to borrow...