FLORIDA KEYS, USA
FLORIDA KEYS, USA
Trip Report
April 12-20, 2003
The cancellation of my vacation to Bahia de los angels, Mexico with my local dive group prompted me to action; I had to scramble to find some other
place to go on vacation. There where so many choices: the Florida Keys, the wrecks of North Carolina, the Puget Sound, or Cozumel.
Well, I
have always wanted to dive the Keys. So, now I had to find a dive shop to use. I made a few posts on the
Rodale's message board,
asking for recommendations. (http://www.rodales.com/). The consensus was, one of the best operations in the Keys is
Diverscity located about an hours and a half south of Key Largo at mile market 90.5
in the city of Tavernier. After trading emails with one of the owners of the shop (Barbara), I had my hotel, all the diving and
a shuttle to/from the Miami airport arranged for me. Excellent job Barbara, thanks!!)
I arrived in Miami on Saturday night April 12th. After a good night's sleep I was at the shop by noon the next morning.
Sunday: 4/13/03: The wreck Eagle and Davis's Reef (1st Dive: Depth=105ft, Time=32 min, Temp=73 and Viz=20-25ft and 2nd Dive: Depth=26ft, Time=77 min, Temp=73 and Viz=40-45ft).
After filling out paperwork, showing my logbook and C-card, I was given a tour of the shop and instructed where to setup my gear.
Each day, I would setup my gear outside and then Bob (the other shop owner) would move all my gear to the dive boat.
The service at the shop was first rate. They load and unload all your gear each day and they change your tank between each dive.
It was full service luxury diving. VERY NICE!
The first dive was on the wreck Eagle. The wreck is in about 110ft of water and this dive was lead by Barbara. When we dropped down
on the wreck, we were initially met by a stiff current that we had to kick though. After a few minutes, the conditions improved
and we glided around the outside of the wreck and easily moved between the two halves. The wreck was cut in half
by Hurricane Georges a few years ago. I was surprised, because I had thought the two halves were further apart.
They were only about 10ft part but I was expecting it to be 20-30 feet.
The second dive was on Davis's Reef. This was the best reef dive of the week. I spend 77 minutes underwater. I stayed shallow
and casually floated along the reef, sticking my head in and out of holes and casually observing all the fish. Blue-stripped
and Yellow tailed grunts where the most numerous fishes during my dive trip. At the end of the dive I saw something-bright green
out of the corner of my mask. So, I looked around and I found a HUGH moray eel. The body was about 12 inches high and about 7-8ft
long. It was gigantic!
Monday: 4/14/03: Spiegel Grove Wreck and Benwood Wreck (1st Dive: Depth=102ft, Time=40 min, Temp=73 and Viz=60-80ft and 2nd Dive: Depth=49ft, Time=60 min, Temp=73 and Viz=50+ft)
This was my first dive on the Grove and aside from numerous fishes, my only other thought was how incredibly big the wreck was. It
makes the Yukon in San Diego, California look tiny. The second dive was on the wreck Benwood. The Benwood was accidentally sunk back
in the 1940's when it was running in black out conditions. It was trying to hide from German submarines when it ran into another
ship doing the same thing. The Benwood lost the battle. I was surprised that you can still make out some of the ship. This was my favorite
shallow dive of the week.
Tuesday: 4/15/03: N. Molasses Reef and Snapper Ledge (1st Dive: Depth=36ft, Time=61 min, Temp=75 and Viz=50-60ft and 2nd Dive: Depth=30ft, Time=61 min, Temp=75 and Viz=50-60ft)
On this day on the boat we had some children and relatively new divers, so the boat stayed shallow.
The molasses reef is a series of sand channels with tons of fish to check out. I spend the entire dive moving from one channel
to another. Snapper ledge was ok. After one shallow reef dive earlier in the day, I did not really need a second one,
so this dive was nothing special.
Wednesday: 4/16/03: Conch Reef and S. Molasses Reef (1st Dive: Depth=49ft, Time=62 min, Temp=77 and Viz=60+ft and 2nd Dive: Depth=24ft, Time=63 min, Temp=73 and Viz=60+ft)
Again, the experience level was down, so we stayed shallow. Nothing special.
Thursday: 4/17/03: Aquarium Reef, Spiegel Grove Wreck and Spiegel Grove Wreck (1st Dive: Depth=37ft, Time=63 min, Temp=75 and Viz=25-30ft
and 2nd Dive: Depth=102ft, Time=43 min, Temp=75 and Viz=50-60ft and 3rd Dive: Depth=111ft, Time=43 min, Temp=75 and Viz=50-60ft)
I went out on the morning boat and I did one shallow reef dive. Then wanting to have a longer surface interval
before the afternoon's deep dives, I snorkeled above the shallow reef when the group did their second dive. Then, later in the day
I went out on the afternoon boat for two dives on the Grove. During each dive on the grove, we slowly checked out different parts
of the hugh ship. In a few years when the ship has had more time underwater this wreck is going to be absolutely incredible!
It was great to get back to some deep diving. I had enough of the flat Florida reefs.
Friday: 4/18/03: USS Duane Wreck (a Coast Guard Cutter) and Conch Wall Drift (1st Dive: Depth=124ft, Time=39 min, Temp=73 and Viz=60-70ft and 2nd Dive: Depth=74ft, Time=52 min, Temp=77 and Viz=50-60ft)
The dive on the Duane was the best wreck dive of the week. It is too bad the Grove did not sink on its keel as the Duane has.
I spend a lot of time exploring in and around the wreck and watching the fish. Then on the second dive we went over to the conch
wall and did a slow drift dive. We spotted two turtles, one was a large loggerhead and other was a small hawksbill version.
Saturday: 4/19/03: The Dump (Depth=76ft, Time=38 min, Temp=75 and Viz=30-40ft)
The dump is a spot not known to a large number of people and very few dive operators (Thankfully) know of it existence. This place is quiet special. It is
a natural hangout for sharks. We dropped down and hovered in 65-70ft of water and swiveled our bodies around watching the Caribbean
reef sharks swim in and around use. I started the dive with a partial fill and I had to call the dive early. What a terrible dive
to have a short fill.
Why couldn't I get a short fill on one of the shallow reef dives? I could only do one dive this day, because I had an early morning
flight back home to California. So, when the group decided to do a second shark dive, I snorkeled on the surface and watched from above.
This was good and bad.
About 5 minutes in to my "Dive" a shark from below noticed me on the surface and slowly came up to check me out. The shark slowly
circled
its way up the water column till it got to within about 3ft of me. The sharks looked to be very aggressive and it did not look like
the Caribbean reef sharks down below. It was bigger, fatter and had a mean looking mouth. To ME, it appeared to be similar to the
way the bull sharks where described. SO, I signaled the boat to get me the HELL out of here. While I am not sure it was a bull shark,
I did not want to find out for sure. What a way to end my Florida Keys dive vacation!
Click here, to view the Pictures from the Trip
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