Beach Dive Florida - Dive the 1711 Wrecks 10-July-98

Dive Trip Report to: Florida's Beaches!
Purpose: To Beach Dive for old wrecks, cannon, ships, bugs etc!

Dive Reports:

Dive #1: Saturday, 10-July, Morning Dive. My Dive #
A. Dive Boat / Location: Beach Dive - South of Disney (Wabasso) - The San Martin - or - Green Cabin Wreck
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 10 - 20 ft at the 4th reef!
Seas: 6 inches with an occasional 1 ft!
Water Temp: 79 - 81
Skies: Sunny Clear Blue Skies and HOT
Air Temp: 85 - 90
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time: Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 15 ft for 58 min
Air consumption: Me: 3200 - 1250 lb. (80 cu ft)
Current: No current, surge from the 1st reef inwards
Description: Well, we almost didn't do this dive! I swam out 100 yards at Wabasso Park and took a look at the bottom - vis about 2 ft! We then wend south about 1/4 mile, south of the private gated ocean access to an acess that has big wooden poles to keep out the cars. It's about 100 yard walt to the beach in soft sand! Again, I swam out for a look see - same thing - 1 to 2 ft vis at the 1st reef. Well, we all decided to do it anyway! We suited up, waddled to the water - it's a long, hot, tiring walk! We swam out some on the surface then went under! Supprise - vis of 10 ft! We continued out, way out, and even farther way out! Vis 20 ft! We then turned left (north) towards disney and followed probably the 4th reff line. At one point there were dozen's fo big bugs under one ledge! Never did see that many again! There was a fair amount of relief - from none to 5 ft! There were a small number of small fish! We were looking for cannon, ship remains, bugs or whatever. We did see an occasional big bug under a ledge! All of a sudden, Patti turned and puther hand on her forehead in a karate fashon, thumb on foehead - Terror strck us all - SHARKS!!! Did you ever try to ask a diver under water, how big, how many and what kind of a SHARK!! Well, that killed the thrill of looking for ships and bugs! We turned towards shore and headed back to our starting place! All the time looking for more SHARKS at the outer edge of our 20 ft vis!

Oh - we did find some of the wreck! One fo our dive group found a granate ballast stone! Didn't see the wreck, didn't see the cannon, didn't see the whatever else, but we did see a ballast stone!!

The sharks turned out to be 4 ft nurse sharks! Not to be scared of, but not to be toooo worried about! We hit the beach and walted back to the cars! Long, Hot Walt - with lots of weight of equipment on your back! It was a worth while dive! We were about 1/4 mile south of Disney, the bottom was random medium size reliev (1-5 ft), depth aournd 10 - 12 ft on the average! There were several holes in the reef, about 10 ft in dia and 2-4 ft deep! Wonder if these were Mel's Blast Holes!

Well, we ended up in Vero at Kelly's for a brew and food! Great Day, Great Dive!

Irishman Software, Satellite Beach, Florida
Mail Corrections / Additions to : Irishman@SpryNet.Com
http://home.sprynet.com/~irishman
Last Updated 19-Apr-99