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sohannabarberaesque · 5 years ago

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“Underwater America with Peter Potamus” (episode 18: Off the Florida Panhandle in and around Pensacola)

[As this particular episode opens, we can easily imagine plenty of aerial action in and close to Pensacola, Florida and the Miracle Strip region, including the areas around Destin, Ft. Walton Beach and Okaloosa Island, as are the foci therefor]

PETER POTAMUS, narrating with Pensacola Beach in the background: And you thought the Florida Panhandle was hardly worth diving ... at any rate, yours truly and crew have plenty of interesting diving ahead, including (if you can believe it) some interesting spearfishing opportunities made even more so by a rather steep near-shore dropoff in the Gulf of Mexico, whence our diving adventures will be experienced this week.

[Highlights of candid footage taken from the drive out of Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, site of last week’s dive, towards the Florida Panhandle, fill this space while Peter narrates--]

Somehow, word had gotten out to us after Grand Lake up Oklahoma way that some “especially close acquaintenances” wanted to meet us at some club down Pensacola way ... yep, good old Pensacola, the Cradle of Naval Aviation ... and it almost seemed so cryptic until we reached the night life district of Pensacola Beach [entering this particular bar/restaurant, finding seats and all that], and--wouldn’t you believe it ...no less than the Cattanooga Cats were performing!!

[Here, we can see the feline quartet of Country, Kitty Jo, Groove and Scoots, assisted by Kitty Jo’s pet hound, Teeny Tim, performing on what passed for the stage of this bar--er, more like winding up their set when ...]

KITTY JO, with much enthusiasm: And I understand that we have Peter Potamus and a few of his close friends in the house this evening ... so could we have them come on the stage, please, and give them a great big wonderful Cattanooga Cats welcome?!!

[Which they do, and then some, going into quite the hugging session.]

PETER POTAMUS, picking up the narration: Well, now we knew who was looking for us all along heading over here! And were they surprised to learn where we happened to be doing some underwater filming in these parts ... [switching to backstage “after ths show,” featuring a “make-your-own” grits bar] ... and over plenty of that Southern staple known as hominy grits, you wouldn’t believe the conversation that was flowing! Especially coming from Scoots, the band’s musical jack-of-all-trades, as it were!

SCOOTS, over another spoonful of grits: I have to admit that I’m something of a pretty decent diving cat myself ... even if I learned the art at a “swimmin’ hole” back in the holler where I was growing up, in the midst of a rather warm summer which saw my mother go into nervous breakdown such that Pop asked me out of the house during the day just for her sake ... and I would have to credit one Amy Catline, a regular at the swimmin’ hole, for teaching me some worthwhile things, life in particular, that oh so muggy summer!

[You could just hear the “awwwwwws” throughout.]

COUNTRY, adding his two cents: I do have to acknowledge where we can’t resist the swimmin’ hole experience every now and then between performances ... especially when it’s just an excuse to let things cool off and rest a couple hours while on the road!

GROOVE, ever the poet as much as the band’s drummer: Sometimes, I can’t help but seek,/What lies in the waters underneath! [Chuckles from our crew]

PETER POTAMUS, narrating: And such conversation as that certainly kept as much the Cats as ourselves going until close to sunrise, as if having myself no less than three bowls of the Cattanooga Cats’ own grits with shredded cheese and seasoned salt wasn’t a wonderful occasion enough ... [scene shifting to a dive shop in Pensacola Beach for some ideas] ... by mid-morning of the following day, a local dive shop pointed us in the direction of the scuttled remains of the battleship USS Massachusetts, commissioned in 1899, seeing active duty well until World War I, retired soon after ... and torpedoed in 1921 with an experimental rail-mounted gun while at anchor just offshore of Pensacola, eventually sinking in some 20 feet of water!

[The action shifts underwater close to the USS Massachusetts wreck site, this time with the entire crew diving in, captured as per usual by Squiddly Diddly in his underwater cameraman role ... and not long after, we find many of our crew diving in and around the Massachusetts’ scuttled remnants. We’ll let Peter continue the narration as we find many of the crew close to the hull....]

What’s particularly amazing is that this was one of the first steel-hull vessels in naval service, as opposed to the iron such which dominated from the Civil War on. For its time, something of an achievement, even if it were but one of three Oregon-class battleships from around the Spanish-American War.

BREEZLY BRUIN, narrating over the dive scene: It must have seemed interesting to get in through where the vessel was torpedoed when she was scuttled ... yet entering, you seem to feel a little weird to find this battleship was actually decommissioned beforehand....

MAGILLA GORILLA, also narrating over where he dives through the interior with flashlight in hand: Can you imagine this was actually a working naval battleship in its time, only now to become an interesting dive destination? Yet still, you can’t help but picture the feeling in the pit of your stomach when you get into a sunken vessel such as this ...

[The scene shifts to the outside of a divers’ camp close to Destin, where a modest little campfire can be discerned going against the twilight]

PETER POTAMUS: What further amazed us as a diving party was when no less than Squiddly Diddly brought our attention over supper to another offshore wreck in the area, this time more mysterious: As in that of the San Pablo, a fruit steamer which ran between Central America and the United States for the United Fruit Company’s “Great White Fleet” in the 1930′s until being sunk under mysterious circumstances around 1943. And there were rumours that the vessel was actually Soviet-flagged, but remember that it wasn’t called the “Great White Fleet” for nothing!

WALLY GATOR, lovingly trying for the answer: Was it because white looked rather cooll, don’t you know?

MILDEW WOLF, with added snark: Mary had a tramp steamer, its hull was white as snow--

HOKEY WOLF, perhaps close to the truth: The better to keep the produce cool in the Caribbean heat, I assume?

LIPPY THE LION: Reflecting the tropical sun’s heat, I understand.

PETER POTAMUS: I admit all were pretty close, but Lippy got it correct: United Fruit’s fleet of steamers hauling tropical fruits and vegetables were painted white to better reflect the sunlight of the Caribbean and the Central American regions where these vessels saw service, and keep the produce at ideal temperatures until being offloaded at port--New Orleans more often than not.

[Scene fades into the waters where the wreck of the San Pablo is discerned, as evident by its white hull; as per usual, Peter Potamus leads the intrepid divers over, across, and into parts of the wreck. In one scene, we can see Lippy the Lion “kicking it up” close to the railing near the hull, and in another, we can discern Breezly Bruin and Loopy DeLoop diving through the crows’ nest of the ship, close to the radio room. Loopy’s flashlight can be seen cutting through the murk to find the radio apparatus still intact, even allowing for some 25 years’ accumulation of sea grasses and coral.]

PETER POTAMUS, on a pontoon near the docks on Okaloosa Island: But those wrecks were just the beginning, a taster, if you will, for what lay ahead: Destin, which is but a few miles out on the mainland, takes pride in calling themselves “the World’s Luckiest Fishing Village.” And you can credit its closeness to the 100-Fathom Curve offshore, which, along with its being an interesting dive spot, also welcomes plenty of fish native to the Gulf of Mexico: Not just tuna, amberjack, yellowtail and marlin, but also the likes of vermilion, black, white and red snapper, spanish and king mackrel, grouper, wahoos (whatever they are) and triggerfish. Which can be pretty easy to catch, even with a harpoon gun!

[The scene fades to a near-shore scenario, pointing out safety procedures for harpoon guns, proper use being explained--and reminding all that such need to be pointed away from the body, and when so fishing, must remain underwater. A “pop quiz” on harpoon gun safety can also be discerned, as well as the inevitable pre-dive safety briefing.]

... and so our party sets out on some serious spearfishing adventures in such well-stocked waters as these such as attract the sportfishing crowd galore....

[The inevitable mass dive-in, taking care to ensure that the harpoon guns are sheathed, close to the body and at once ready ... followed by Peter Potamus “himself,” guided by Squiddly Diddly, guding all to some pretty interesting spearfishing waters. We can also discern some spearing action from some randomly-selected diver as he positions his harpoon gun into firing position, being steady about it all the while ... and fires the harpoon gun into some red snapper, taking pains to avoid excess blood loss which could attract sharks. Maybe another member of the troupe could also be seen in harpoon-gun action as well....

[Fade to ...]

PETER POTAMUS, over the grill at a “gulf-to-table” restaurant, with several others joining in: Particularly interesting is that several restaurants out this way allow fishermen, even those fond of spearing, to actually have their catch prepared and served. Myself, I was able to have some grilled grouper and flounder, though I admit the taste takes a little getting used to. Snapper, especially red snapper, can also get to be popular in these parts ... and can you imagine the Three Wolves spearing bluefin tuna, and actually having grilled tuna steaks as well?

At any rate ... we certainly hope your diving experiences are as interesting and as memorable as ours are. And in our next episode, which is somewhere among the springs of Florida ... we��ve got a surprise you won’t want to miss for the likes of yourselves ...

@joey-gatorman @warnerarchive

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