Tom Heimer & Randy Verret Diving the Tensaw Bridge & McMillan Barge - March 25, 2012© Photos Posted by Mark Miller © Hi-Res Source
This was a Dive Charter by Tom Heimer, of Nova Scotia & Biloxi, and Randy Verret of Biloxi. Tom is a shell collector so we went to the East to hopefully find better bottom conditions for shell collecting. We started at one of the Tensaw River Bridge Spans (29°56.551/88°02.445). It was a decent dive although conditions were not too great at the bottom and we did not find many shells. We moved in a little closer to the McMillan Barge (29°58.788/88°02.701) which proved to have some better shells. Tom got a nice Cowre and a Top Spin as well as a Murex and several others as seen in the pictures and Video. Randy was just happy to get wet. For our third Dive, we were trying to decide between a Rig Dive out deeper or some Dauphin Island Rubble in closer. I didn't think it prudent to go deeper on the last dive (Tom may be tempted to go to the bottom) and chose the shallower stuff which proved to not be a good choice. The water conditions got much worse (both visibility & current) and Randy went the wrong way and separated from his partner. He got to try some of his safety gear (Visibity Buoy, Whistle, Mirror, etc.) but we got him fine and everything was good. Tom said visibility at the bottom was less than a foot, so we called it a day and headed back to the Dock. Luke dove on the Tensaw Bridge and the Dauphin Island Rubble and Paul got to checkout the McMillan Barge. Total trip encompassed 100 nautical miles, 11.2 hours, and 63.8 gallons of fuel.
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