Advanced certification
Hello Wakulla
By the time you read this article the 4th of July will be over for 2023. I hope everyone had a great and safe 4th. I just finished another dive class for advanced certification on Saturday, July 1st. We did three mini dives in the Jetties at St. Andrews Park in Panama City Beach. After we finished the dives we took about a 3-hour break before we head to Bristol Harbor in Panama City to board the “Big Blue dive boat” for our thtee offshore dives.
The Big Blue dive boat is a 36-foot Newton with twin Cummings super charged 900 hp plants and can really scoot on the water. It has a diesel compressor and fill whips to top off your scuba tanks (air only).
We made it to the first dive site the Accokeek, it was sunk about 12-14 miles off PCB back in 2000 in about 100 feet of water. The seas where supposed to be 1-foot or less but late in the afternoon they where about 2-3 feet.
As we descended down the anchor chain, yes, I said anchor chain. The captain does not like to tie off the the wreck. Instead he slowly lets the anchor down with the windless on either side of the wreck and will tie a line to the wreck from a cave divers reel so you can traverse the line over to the wreck.
By doing this he does not add to the damage of the wreck that the saltwater does naturally. When we reached the wreck it was awesome to see all the life and fish that called it their home.The visibility on the wreck was about 60-80 feet.
When we surfaced we switched to a full tank and the boat was headed to an inshore wreck called the Red Sea. It was only 5-6 miles off shore in about 72 feet of water. We finished our surface interval then it was back into the water to explore and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the ship. The main reason for doing so is because we where going to make our night dive on this site.
We surfaced and the water was a little rougher about 3-4 foot seas. After we switched to a fresh tank we hydrated and ate a little then finished our surface interval in time for it to be dark.
We stepped off the platform and proceeded to descend into the dark abyss. We got to the ship and saw a sea turtle along with several species of fish that come out at night. We then ascended to the surface and climbed back on the boat and headed to the dock for the night. It was a great day of diving.
– Russell Miller, NAUI instructor #59999