I was determined to freedive a couple of my grouper spots in Pensacola Bay this week, but I'm just not there yet.
Things looked good at first, with no visible current moving at the surface. We found the first spot easily, and dropped a marker buoy. Again, no visible current tugging at the buoy, so I'm getting pretty excited. Visibility at the surface was only about 4-5', but it opened up to about 15' once I got down a bit, which is pretty good for the bay. The problem was the goofy tide. I could descend slowly and calmly to about 20' deep. But below that was some bizarre jet stream of a ripping current. I had to pull myself hand over hand along the marker buoy line to reach the wreck. I was able to hook the buoy anchor in the wreck, so I could confidently pull along the line, but there was simply no way I could swing a gun against the current while still holding the line with one hand.
Very frustrating too. As I hung on the line at about 30', I could see at least half a dozen nice grouper and a fair bunch of Red Snapper. They didn't seem to be alarmed at my presence at all, which continues to surprise me whenever I get the chance to freedive.
In all, I felt pretty good for the effort, even if I couldn't get off a shot. I was comfortable at 35' even with the surface murk and the additional effort required to get to the wreck. Dive times were around 1:30 on average, which is an improvement for me.
Sooner or later, I'll catch the conditions right!