Dive Trip Report to:
Florida's Beaches!
Purpose:
To
Beach Dive Florida
for old wrecks, cannon, ships, bugs etc!
Date / Dive #:399
Saturday, 06-July-2002 , Morning Dive. My Dive #401
A. Dive Beach Location:
Beach Dive - Urca de Lima (about 1/2 mile north of Pepper Park in Ft. Pierce)
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
You ain't gonna believe this, but Vis was about 40 feet!!
Seas:
Perfectly FLAT!
Water Temp:
82 deg - getting to my kind of temperature
Skies:
Typical Florida Sunny Clear Blue Skies!!
Air Temp:
80's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - well the computer gave 2 dives of 13 feet
for 17 min! I did spend a lot of time on the surface looking for the cannon,
but breathing tank air.
Air consumption:
Me: Well, I started out with 3200 lbs and ended up with about 1000 lbs in an 80
cu ft tank.
Current:
None! But there was a very slight surge of about a few inches!
Description:
We had two new diver groups for this dive. After doing Round Island last
weekend, we decided to try the Urca this weekend. The conditions were perfect
all week long. With permission to use the lot, we meet at an empty lot north
of Pepper Park at 7:45 am (UGH - ya gotta be a morning person, not like my
EX!!) We all suited up, walked to the beach and did the normal beach entry
(mask on, reg in mouth)! After putting on the fins, we swam towards the one
buoy - it took maybe 20 minutes. At the buoy, we went down and immediately
found the anchor (Pics to follow - see the Urca page). We looked around for
some time for the cannon and ships ribs. There were round ballast stone all
over. The snorkeler saw loads of bugs - I saw a few. Finally after a lot of
looking, we went about 100 feet South East (out further and south) from the
buoy. There was the wooden ships parts in the rock and lot's of cannon. This
was the clearest I've ever seen the water for beach diving. Laura said the
anchor was pointed the other way and in the sand last year - maybe it was moved
or a storm moved it?? Jake, Laura's 9 year old, had a blast! Jake was our
observer for all kinds of fish et al. After looking at the wreck, we followed
the reef line south to our entry point and headed for the beach!
After the dive, we migrated back to Pepper Park for lunch and the traditional toast. The New-Bee's were shown the Pepper Park beach. On the way back, we stopped at several other beach entry points, showing their advantages to the New-Bees!
TWAS A VERY GREAT DIVE
Last Updated: 06-July-2002