Underwater Wakulla
By RUSTY MILLER
I had an advance class over this last weekend in Panama City Beach and Morrison Springs. On Saturday morning we met at the dive shop at 10 a.m., and then we went to the dive boat and loaded up the tanks and gear.
The boat captain gave the briefing before we headed to the dive site. The weather was iffy at best; it was overcast and misting rain off and on when we headed out.
As we were headed to the site the water was getting rough. The captain and I discussed if we were heading 10-12 miles out to the deeper water, we were going to make our first dive in 100-110 feet of water. The farther offshore we went the rougher the water got so we decided to stay about 5 miles out. The water had 4-5 foot swells so the boat was rolling pretty well when we anchored at the dive site Black Bart.
The bottom is 79-80 feet deep so that meets our deep dive requisite for our first dive. We had a few divers that fed the fish from the side of the boat so the captain and I worked to get everyone in the water as quickly as possible to help them feel better.
We descended down the anchor rope to the wreck and then to the bottom.
The conditions weren’t the best at 15-20 foot visibility and about a 3 knot current running from the stern to the bow of the wreck. I dove with one of my advanced students and when we were headed to the stern we spotted a sea turtle just swimming around the bottom.
After 25 minutes my student was down to 1000psi so we rode the current back to the anchor rope then we started up to our safety stop.
Once on board the boat the captain said the water was probably going to get rougher so we decided to come into the bay and dive the Spanish Shanty barge.
This barge was used to haul tar to the various areas along the Gulf coast. Its final resting place is in the bay between Shell Island and St. Andrews Bay area in 18-21 feet below the surface with 15-20 foot visibility.
It has been there for a very long time and most of the barge has been buried by the years of sand. It is however a very mature site for aquatic life. You will see octopus, Lots of sea urchins, sea turtles, and a wide variety of other marine life with an occasional dolphin swimming around.
This dive we were able to stay a little longer but everyone was getting cold so we made our way back to the boat and called it a day.
I should note here that the water temperature was at 72-74 degrees so this was the last dive in the Gulf that I will be bringing students to for the rest of the dive season until the first of May 2023.
Next week I will continue my series on the fall, winter diving for my classes that will carry through may 2023.
Until then make bubbles and see you in the clear waters.
Russell Miller is the manager at Wakulla Diving Center in Medart. NAUI Instructor #59999