30 replies to this topic

[Walter]

Yesterday I was lucky enough to dive with DepthCharge, Seawitch, StuShark and WreckGoddess in Key Largo. The 5 of us had the Wreck Diver for the entire day. Weather reports were call for pretty rough conditions, but with predictions of 4 - 6 ft seas, everyone felt pretty confident. The water on the trip out was milky white. Once we crossed Molassas Reef, it cleared up and became that beautiful blue we always like to see, of course beyond the reef the waves also increased in size. Mostly 4 - 5 with a few 6 foots rolling through from time to time. Two boats were already on the Duane and the 3rd ball was tangled, so we had the option of waiting for a buoy, making a live drop or putting someone in the water to untangle the mess. We opted for number 3.

More later................

[Walter]

On our first dive of the day, we visited the Duane for 45 minutes. My maximum depth was 111 feet (at the removed bow gun mount) and we could see approximately 90 feet. As usual, Barracuda were abundant and lots of tropicals such as the Cuban (AKA Spotfin) Hogfish, Yellowtail Snapper and Queen Angelfish added to our enjoyment of the wreck.

We traveled a short distance toward shore for our second dive where we explored the Bibb after about an hour surface interval. Stu and I told the others we'd meet them in the water and scooted down the line to find a beautiful Black Grouper (approximately 3 - 4 ft in length) sliding under the wreck. Unfortunately, the other three were a little slower in hitting the water, by the time they reached the wreck, we have only a minute or two left before we had to start our ascent. I rarely get the opportunity to dive the Bibb, but I do enjoy it. This time, I was down for 37 minutes.

After a fun lunch at Hobo's, we returned to the dock for our next trip. In the afternoon, we made one dive out by the wall on Molasses Reef. We didn't drop over, but we did peer over the ledge from 65 feet. Vis was still excellent, but the current had picked up considerably. On this dive we found about 8 lobster and spotted a small Hawksbill. I saw a beautiful male Hogfish in full breeding dress. Vanessa discovered a Shy Hamlet at the beginning of her dive. If you've never seen one, you should keep your eyes open, they are gorgeous. We were down an hour and 2 minutes before surfacing.

Our last dive of the day was hard to beat. When I casually mentioned the current had picked up, Captain Brian pulled out a flag so we could make a float dive and drift across the reef with no worries about returning to our entry point. Drew sat this one out as he had a killer headache. We found even more lobster on this dive, along with some Black and Nassau Grouper, a very large Mutton Snapper, several Midnight Parrotfish, 4 Hawksbills and a Caribbean Reef Shark zoomed by us very quickly. He was about 4 - 5 feet in length, but unfortunately only Vanessa and I were able to see him before he disappeared over a ridge. My max depth was 35 feet and we were down for 44 minutes. Any longer and we'd have been on a night dive.

It was great diving with you all!

[nextariel]

Sounds like you guys had a great day. Sorry I wasn't able to join you.

[jextract]

Sounds great! Someone on the trip's got to start carryin' a camera, though!

[Walter]

There was a camera.

[Marvel]

(sticking out tongue) last time I trust NOAA!!! I knew all day long that I was probably missing some great diving. OTOH, I didn't miss work & got some OT in to boot.

[Walter]

There was room on the boat for ya, darlin' and you were missed.

[Seawitch]

Walter,

It was a pleasure meeting and diving with you. Thank you for coming down and dive with us. I had a blast!!

Marvel, you were missed. Sorry you did not make it. Looking forward to diving with you another time.



SW

[Walter]

Don't you want to post your version and add the report for the days I wasn't there? I enjoyed meeting you too, darlin'.

[jextract]

There was a camera.

...... OK ...... and?

[Walter]

...... OK ...... and?

It wasn't my camera.

[WreckWench]

You ALL are too funny! Ok so whoever had the camera....PLEASE post some pics! And for those of you who missed it...the next SD trip is in Feb so stay posted for details coming soon!

Now who else is going to post a report???? -ww

[FlIrishman]

The 12 was Friday!

What happened on the Sat dive? I was going to come down for the Sat dive from Melbourne, Fla, but couldn't find a room for Sat night!

Geo / The Irishman
Mel-Bouring Fla.

[depthcharge65]

Hey guys,

Thanks Walter for that excellent Day One trip report. For those of you who missed out, the diving was truly fantastic, some of my best -- and certainly my most challenging -- to date. Thanks, Marvel, for the recommendation on Capt. Brian. He was awesome. Certainly worthy of his motto "No Stress Diving."

Walter and Stu Shark, it was great meeting you guys and diving with you. Couldn't ask for a better couple of buddies to have in the water.

So, here's my version. We get to the dock around 8 a.m. Weather report isn't encouraging, but we'd come to dive, not hang around, so sitting out the day was out of the question. Had the boat to ourselves, just the five of us and Capt. Brian. As Walter described, seas were 4-6 feet. Even though I'd been taking Bonine since the night before, I was soon retching -- like that's anything new. Fortunately, it wasn't the Carolinas, so I only had 45 minutes of that to deal with, instead of the rest of the day. Heck, I've gotten so used to going through going through that as a day one ritual, I just figure it's the price of admission.

Viz on the Duane was awesome. Very little current. I went down to 100' initially, but spent most of the dive cruising with WreckGoddess and Seawitch around 70 feet, as we checked out a few open compartments and other stuff. There were tons of fish inside, including a couple of nice yellowtail and grouper, clouds of small stuff. I got a little narky though at one point, and found myself drifting into euphoria as I simply marveled at the beauty of all that I was seeing. Fortunately, I realized what was happening and managed to snap out of it as soon as I ascended a little. Hanging on the line later, and watching our bubbles drift up and away in a hypnotic rhythym, I felt like I was in my own private church.

As soon we got back on the boat, Volky asked me how I was doing. I was just taking off my gear. I held up a finger to indicate I'd answer momentarily, stripped out of my gear, and promptly heaved what was left of my meager breakfast over the side.

I sat back down. "Doing fine," I said. "How about you?"

The second dive was more interesting, to say the least. It was a reverse profile, but like Walter said, you rarely get an opportunity to dive the Bibb, so we took it. Walter was already coming back up and Stu wasn't far behind by the time the Terrible Trio made it to depth. We took off leisurely towards the bow of the vessel. I was at about 118' and spotted a nurse shark cruising along on the bottom. Immediately, I started blabbering through my reg, "Stand sthark, stand sthark!" like a complete goober. A couple of minutes later, as Stu turned back to the line, I realized I was completely narked.

Was trailing behind Vanessa and Volky. Managed to get their attention, and indicated I was feeling loopy, motioned for us to group closer together. I think they got narked about the same time. We made it back to the line, and were shallower, so we decided to go towards the stern a bit. Then, bam, we all got narked again, and decided the only direction we should probably go was back up.

I think I got narked again at around 30 feet during one of the safety stops, when I realized I was falling asleep watching everyone caught in the instrument trance. Finally, Walter called the dive and swam to the ladder. Vanessa was the last out; hmm, I thought, looks like she's going to try that solo diving thing.

Back on the boat, I drank about a gallon of water -- and ten minutes later, gave it back to the sea again.

Molasses Reef for the afternoon dive was pretty neat, though the current was pretty strong. Spotted lots of microlife and a spotted eel, a few brilliant parrotfish. I had a pounding headache and a bloody nose by the end of that one, so I decided sit out the second afternoon dive. It was quite nice, though, watching the sun set over the water, grooving on CSNY, early Chicago, and nary a Jimmy Buffet song.

Dove Friday afternoon with Amoray on the Spiegel Grove. Quite frankly, I'll pick the smaller boats in the future, but the crew was pleasant and helpful. We all got swallowed up by the immensity of the SG. The current was absolutely ripping until we were down on the wreck itself. Viz was just enough to make it all seem really, really spooky. Before I knew it, I was already down to 125', which was farther than I intended to go, but fortunately, Wreck Goddess got my attention with a look that clearly said, WTF are you doing, man? Spotted a couple of enormous grouper in a cargo hold that looked like it was designed to hide an aircraft carrier.

Was I getting a little narky again? Well, probably, but good teamwork on the part of my buds Vanessa and Volky kept me out of trouble. We came up and hung on for a safety stop that I spent pretty much horizontal, thinking if I let go of this rope, then it's Havanna here I come. Gotta admit that gas bubbles coming up from the dozen or so divers below us was pretty cool to watch. It was almost like seeing music take shape. It wasn't too cool when a fat splotch of blood appeared in my mask, I realized that I had blown another sinus. But hey, at least I didn't puke that day.

Viz on the Benwood was terrible, but Volky did spot an enormous moray chilling out under a rock. The moray was huge, maybe six feet or so. That was quite a score. We called it after that and swam back to the boat. Considering where we ended up, it seems that my underwater nav skills ain't all that.

Hooked up with Dandy Don's ScubaBoard group for dinner at the Cuban place near the iron bridge as you come into Key Largo. Dinner was magnalicious, and we all made some new friends. Quite an entertaining group.

V2 (Volky and Vanessa) and I joined the DD's wreckdivers Sat. morning down at Tavernier Dive Shop. Another top-notch operation. Good boat, not crowded, experienced dudes. Dove the Bibb and the Duane again, and the current was ripping full blast too, but I think that was probably a good thing because it made me at least concentrate more on keeping my wits about me. Both dives went like clockwork for the three of us, with no problems. Viz wasn't as good as it had been, and coupled with the current, the conditions made for a challenge. I kept thinking, stay cool man, you can't afford to screw up down here. I was definitely keeping on the conservative side on that one. I came up thinking, well, maybe we got these last two right, until I realized we'd come up on a separate line about 50 meters from our boat. Hmm, I thought, we're f*&$@d. But WG and myself sprinted for it, and made it back with no problems.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for another diver on the boat. Just as we were shucking out of our gear, a guy came up on the same line. Scott, the boat captain, signaled and called to him, asking if he was okay. The guy didn't respond, but I really didn't think anything of it. He's probably smoked, I thought, and just doesn't want to deal with the current. Scott told him to stay put and he'd throw him a line. The guy, however, pulled himself over to a nearby boat, and the couple on board started yelling that he was in trouble. Scott told them he couldn't move, there were divers still in the water, which seemed like the smart choice. It was a classic moral dilemma of the most immediate order. Do you act to save one man who's clearly in trouble, and thus endanger several lives, or do you potentially sacrifice his life for the greater good?

Scott and a young Russian doctor aboard our boat grabbed the oxygen kit and cleared a space for the guy, though it was unclear how they'd get him on board. The couple in the other boat clearly couldn't pull him on their boat. And in the current, there was no way any of us who'd just come up, and were pretty well spent, were going to make it to the guy and get him back to the Shadow. Fortunately, another boat, the Dual Porpoise, was able to swing around and get the diver out of the water.

The guy's wife was aboard our boat. But she'd gotten sick before the first dive and had been out of it since. As the crew on the DP administered first aid to the guy, Scott and the doctor peppered her with questions. But she seemed pretty bewildered and was unable to respond coherently. The DP sped off for medical help. The doctor was convinced the fellow had suffered an embolism. The rest of us were pretty stunned. Talk about a whammo moment.

I had to fly the next morning, so was done for the day anyway. But the rest of the gang went out for an afternoon dive on the Eagle and a second one on a shallow reef that were, by all accounts, the best dives so far.

Dinner at Frijoles was fun, but the Cuban food was definitely better. Some of the gang went dancing later. I went back to the hotel and crashed, but didn't really sleep. 5 a.m. and the shuttle back to Miami came way too early.


For everyone I dove with -- V2, Walter, Stu, DownforFun, DandyDon and the rest, I had a lot of fun. Thanks.


Cheers,

Drew

[bluedolphin]

Sounds like you all had a nice trip with some excitement peppered in.