Dive Trip Report to: Florida's Beaches!
Purpose: To Beach Dive for old wrecks, cannon, ships, bugs etc!
Dive #1: Saturday, 17-July, Morning Dive. My Dive #
A. Dive Boat / Location: Beach Dive - Wabasso Park
B. Conditions:
Visibility: 5 - 10 ft at the 2nd reef (1st reef past the reef with all the trenches)
Seas: 1' with an occasional 2 ft ++
Water Temp: 74 on the bottom at the lowest - it was much warmer 5' off the bottom
Skies: Sunny Clear Blue Skies and HOT
Air Temp: 85 - 90
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 21 ft for 1 hr 05 min (Wow - that was a long dive and I really don't remember going down to 21 ft!!)
Air consumption: Me: 3000 - 500 lb. (80 cu ft - I really used a lot on this dive)
Current: Mild current from the South to the North, Surge at the 1st reef.
Description: Well, lot's of divers meet at 7:20, some entered early, the last two arrived at 8, this was their 1st beach dive. We discussed the entry - you put on your mask and breath tank air from the time you reach the water till your settled swimming out! The newbies did a good job!! We were going to the 1st reef that had vis then go South 1st - against the current. One Diver blew an O ring on entry, Victor was late as usual. Four divers entered together in this group. I had the ball - couldn't get lost! We headed East to the 1st reef past the reef with the deep trenches - this is the 2nd real reef, I believe! Then we turned South. Not much vis, not much relief, no Bugs - and, happily no SHARKS as was spotted last week. There were some small fish. About 40 min into the dive, we surfaced - we were opposite Disney. We turned back North, and headed in one reef - didn't want to go over already seen stuff. Same thing, no bugs, few fish, vis less than 10', temp at a low of 74 - full wet suit still recommended. At about 55 min, we surfaced again, we were north of our entry point. We headed SW to go back to the beach and the stairs. After crossing the deep trench reef, we went the rest of the way on the surface. It was an interesting dive, last weeks had better stuff to see.
While cleaning up afterwards, one of our dive group was approached by a female asking if he was on the boat last week when she got sick - Hmmmmmm, what a line!
Well, no bugs, not fish, go gold, no silver, no big green stones, but it was a fun dive. Wabasso does have showers, bath rooms, life guard a picnic tables for the after the dive party! But, from what I saw, probably not on my list for Bug Season - not much relief to the reef!