559 replies to this topic

[ScubaPunk]

Document Update:

1. Que aka Sea Urchin: Received your Waiver!

[Kelp Diver]

I just returned from the Dry Tortugas ... you guys are gonna love it. The boat was perfect, the crew awesome and the Trip Video made by CP is worth every penny.

CP is taping everyone almost the whole time and makes the video very personal for each trip. There is some stock footage (minimal) used, but only to enhance the personal stuff. It is a very custom product. Oh yeah, make sure when you "Blooper" that you do it in front of CP.

I hit Dive #170 on my trip and I am out of the water for surgeries and tattoo time until Labor Day Weekend and then later that month I will see you Single Divers in the Bahamas for the Dolphin Dive trip.

Squidly Do Right

Giving up diving for the rest of the summer for surgery and tattoo work. . .. Get your priorities in order!

[DiverBabs]

I just returned from the Dry Tortugas ... you guys are gonna love it. The boat was perfect, the crew awesome and the Trip Video made by CP is worth every penny.

CP is taping everyone almost the whole time and makes the video very personal for each trip. There is some stock footage (minimal) used, but only to enhance the personal stuff. It is a very custom product. Oh yeah, make sure when you "Blooper" that you do it in front of CP.

I hit Dive #170 on my trip and I am out of the water for surgeries and tattoo time until Labor Day Weekend and then later that month I will see you Single Divers in the Bahamas for the Dolphin Dive trip.

Squidly Do Right

Thanks for the trip report Squid. I can't wait to get there!

Good luck w/ the surgeries and I'll see you AND your new Tats in Sept!

Babs

[hambergler]

Okee dokee--SO, the 14th we get kicked off the boat at 9AM, and my flight back to Big D isn't until around 3PM. Hmmm...what to do, what to do, whilst lugging a rolling bag of stinky damp dive gear and a carry-on, until time to go to the airport. Library? ummm...no. Church?....ditto. Wander around Key West, preferably drinking and eating the whole time?...wellllllll oh-tay. But I can't very well do all that alone.

Anybody else in the same predicament?

[WreckWench]

Okee dokee--SO, the 14th we get kicked off the boat at 9AM, and my flight back to Big D isn't until around 3PM. Hmmm...what to do, what to do, whilst lugging a rolling bag of stinky damp dive gear and a carry-on, until time to go to the airport. Library? ummm...no. Church?....ditto. Wander around Key West, preferably drinking and eating the whole time?...wellllllll oh-tay. But I can't very well do all that alone.

Anybody else in the same predicament?

Hmmm....Spark-miester and I are driving back to RDU but if I'm a really really really good wench he might let me start EARLY with you if I promise not to try and drive!

[sparky103]

Okee dokee--SO, the 14th we get kicked off the boat at 9AM, and my flight back to Big D isn't until around 3PM. Hmmm...what to do, what to do, whilst lugging a rolling bag of stinky damp dive gear and a carry-on, until time to go to the airport. Library? ummm...no. Church?....ditto. Wander around Key West, preferably drinking and eating the whole time?...wellllllll oh-tay. But I can't very well do all that alone.

Anybody else in the same predicament?

Hmmm....Spark-miester and I are driving back to RDU but if I'm a really really really good wench he might let me start EARLY with you if I promise not to try and drive!

As long as it's ok w/ Ray too as it's his chariot

Jeff

[Latitude Adjustment]

Hmmm....Spark-miester and I are driving back to RDU but if I'm a really really really good wench he might let me start EARLY with you if I promise not to try and drive!

I figured you would hit KW after we docked on the 13th and we would be on the road by Monday morning and no you won't be asked to drive

BTW, here's a picture taken by Smash on D2D last week in the Dry Tortugas

[Houston Squid]

the 14th we get kicked off the boat at 9AM, and my flight back to Big D isn't until around 3PM. Hmmm

Here is a suggestion and it's what I did. I booked a room at the Crown Plaza (right on Duval Street) for that Saturday night. Weekend rate for me was about $229 + taxes.

When the boat docked I called a Taxi and they picked me up at the boat (near the gate - few steps away) and it s about a $20 Taxi ride away.

As a Priority Club member at Holiday Inn your check out is 1300 which is perfect for the after 1500 flight.

The hotel has a Starbucks in it as well as an awesome bar with a great Mojito recipe and Cucumber Martini.

Split the room with someone and for about a Buck and a Quarter your problems are solved and you get a nice place to lay your head after surviving the Duval Crawl.

Note: Make sure you find "The Garden of Eden" ... it is a clothing optional bar - hit it late unless you want to just see naked dudes.

If you want to see the Sunset activites downtown you will have to be ready to go when the boat docks in order to get a cab, get to the hotel, check in and drop your stuff at your room. You may have to just go down there as is and then come back and shower before the night's activities.

If you consider yourself a partier - do yourself a favor - and all of you get rooms down on Duval Street

[Houston Squid]

Now here is some helpful information about the day you board the boat for the first time:

You CAN go to the dock where the boat is as early as NOON and drop your stuff on the dock but NOT on the boat. There will be no scheming to get a better bunk by being first there.

Here is a suggested activity day based on what time you arrive.

1) When your flight arrives (after 1200) ask your cab driver to take you to the Spree at Robbie's Marina at the end of Shrimp Road on Stock Island.

2) Ask the cabbie to wait while you unload your gear and then you want to go to the Hog Fish Bar (one of Capt Frank's favs). Now when you see where you are dropping your gear you might fear its safety - but it is SAFE there on the dock. There is a chance the Spree might be away refueling when you get there - if that happens you should see a huge white yacht next to Spree's Dock. Just ask around if Spree is gone (small window of time).

3) Head to the Hog Fish - note where Rusty Anchor is on your way to HF - cause you are going to walk back to it.

4) Hang out at the Hogfish for a few cocktails or spend the afternoon there waiting until dinner time. At about 4:45 start walking the half mile back to the Rusty Anchor (if you can't walk a half mile you are not fit to dive) for your 5:30 Briefing and dinner.

5) Relax there is good AC at the RA and they have a SET menu there for all going on the trip. Just let the staff know you are with the Spree and they will point you in the right direction.

6) Have your meet and greet and then climb in the back of the pick up truck and head back to the boat. It is then you get to rush the boat looking for the best rack.

[hambergler]

Sounds like a good plan to me!

[netmage]

Sir Squidly, have you left us any of your famous movie selections? -Tim

[Houston Squid]

Sir Squidly, have you left us any of your famous movie selections? -Tim

Funny you should ask - Captain Frank put me in the Brig for Squid Movie Time. I offended some people with my choices.

Who knew people wouldn't appreciate a documentry on Annabel Chong.

[hambergler]

The countdown...just under two days 'till I fly, and just over two days 'till the boat leaves. My fave tee shirts are in the washer right now getting spiffed up for the trip, and the dive gear has been assembled, checked, and is awaiting installation into the roller bag.

As I was looking through some books I haven't read in a long time (possibilites for reading on the plane and on the boat), I came across Don Blanding's FLORIDAYS, originally published in 1941 and reprinted in 1999 by The Peninsula Press (Parrotheads will recognize the title...). I'm not bringing it with me, but here are a couple of excerpts to get everybody in the Florida mood, and every Parrothead should own the book:

"Marineland", Pp 69-76, the first eight lines:

"When I was young...oh, very young...in fact, a little boy,
I figured that a merman's life would be the height of joy,
Or, should I say "the depth of joy" since mermen haunt the deep
And live down in the coral caves where great sea-serpents creep.
I used to look at picture books and study every line
That showed the fascinating life of creatures of the brine.
My dreams were filled with sharks and shells and whelks and whopping whales
And coral reefs and sunken ships and divers' lurid tales."

My original inspirations to be a diver were watching "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau", "Flipper", and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" on a COLOR TV (a big deal when I was a kid) that my mother won in a raffle. Oh yeah, and watching "Thunderball" at the drive-in theatre when it first came out...

"Mystery--South of Us", Pp 121-122, the first four lines:

"Florida thrusts like a guiding thumb
To the southern islands of rumba and rum,
To the mystery-cities and haunted seas
Of the Spanish Main and the Caribbees."

Hopefully proper attribution won't raise the ire of the copyright police (I was an English major...), and here's to more "lurid tales" to tell.

Chuckster

[EASY]

Chuckster,

Thanks for the inspiration! We Floridians tend to take our beautiful state for granted sometimes. Now, I'm really psyched for this trip!

Thanks, Eric

Edited by EASY, 06 July 2008 - 03:35 PM.

[uwfan]

I know WW is out there diving or headed to Key West...but I have a last minute question I hope someone can answer ... I'm arriving at the Key West airport Tuesday afternoon (or whenever I make the connection and it lands from FLL). Should I look for someone from SD there or just find my way to taxi/ or other transport? (I believe I gave my flight info on one of the surveys).

Thanks!