I called Matt Rytting who is in the area on business to see
if he'd like to meet up at Alabama Point in Orange Beach.
He was affirmative and the plan was made to meet at 0330
hours as I had to report for work at 0800 back in Mobile.

After a 4 hour nap I awakened to the alarm at 2 a.m.
and walked outside to find a pouring rain. It was like a
movie, I got into my van and headed out grabbing a cup of
coffee along the way. The weather cleared up when I reached
the causeway and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Matt arrived on schedule and we checked the conditions.
There was a strong incoming current but it looked clear.
Lots of moon jellies were present but I prefer them over
the long tentacled ones. We decided to walk out to the beach
and dive the gulf side jetty.

Walking on the new seawall was nice. The old one was like
an obstacle course with many cracks and tripping hazards.
Before long we in the surf and donning our gear. Much to
our dismay the water was murky and I broke a fin strap
putting on my open heeled beach diving fins. "Way to start
a dive" I thought. After a short consultation with Matt we
decided to go over the rocks and dive the inside of the jetty.
I jumped in and shoved the broken strapped fin on as hard
as I could and Matt was soon to follow.

The visibility here was much better, we estimated 10-15'.
Right away I spot a flounder and show it to Matt before I
impaled it with my spear. Before long Matt had his first
of the night.

The current was still kicking and it was a job to fight it at
times as it pushed us in. There was lots of activity as we
navigated down the jetty. We spotted a butterfly ray, mullet,
sheepshead, cow fish, scorpion fish and bait fish galore.
The jellyfish were easy to dodge and not a problem.
My only problem was constantly having to make sure my
fin stayed on.

We covered the entire jetty and started down the seawall
as I realized that going too far was not a good idea due to the
possibility of the current pushing us in to the point of no
return. I signaled Matt and we swam hard to make headway
against the current to our exit point. The surf was doing
its best to bang us up on the rocks as we were trying to get
out. It was here that I almost lost my fin but managed to save
it before the current got it. It was breaking day as we finally
got out and made the walk back to the parking lot.

We took a couple of pictures and arranged for Matt to meet
Ashton Blessey to go diving on his boat later in the morning.
I left Matt at a local restaurant and got to work with 15 minutes
to spare. The 98 degree heat put a hurting on me all day long
as I delivered mail out of my vehicle that I nicknamed the
"easy bake oven" during the summer months because it is
so dang hot. Anyway, I made it through the day as usual
and feel better now that I'm home and clean.

I think I'm getting too old for this all night stuff but I'm sure
I'll be doing it again before too long.

Mike Wade
Stickmen Freedivers
Mobile, Alabama