paulthenurse
Contributor
SWMBO and I just got back from out yearly midwinter getaway weekend trip to the Keys. Left on Thursday and got home late Monday. Did 6 dives with Silent World in Key Largo. This was our third year with them and, as always, they delivered. Friday we did two easy shallow reef dives as there were new divers onboard. Captain Bob asked everyone to be back onboard with 500 psi or after an hour. Tough to get out of the water after an hour with 1200 psi still in the tank but...
Saturday morning we dove the Spiegle Grove. Tied into port amidships, swam forward into the fairly strong current as far forward as the bridge then back to the control shack, down the stbd side to the crane and across to the upline. The vis was poor for FL, maybe 30 feet, but still good for those of us who dive around here. For our second dive we went to the Benwood. This was the third or 4th time we've been on the Benwood and it's always a nice dive. A frieghter that went aground on a reef after a collision in WW2, it was eventually blown up as a hazzard. It has plenty of intact structure rising maybe as much as 15 off the bottom. It's only 35- 40 foot deep max so you can do a nice long blow off dive after the SG.
So we've been in the water for 50 minutes or so and we're back at the mooring line. I didn't want to get out of the water so we swam over to an area of broken up plates the we hadn't been to when I saw a bunch of weird looking objects under a piece of the wreckage. I wiggled my butt in there and pulled out a bunch of bones! I had what was clearly a rib, a vertabrae and what I was sure was a mandible, or jaw bone. I also grabbed what was obviously a ball joint from a hip joint. Here they are...
When we got back inboard, Pat, an instructor for the shop who was certifying a group of AOW divers, said that they had seen a turtle that had died under that bit of wreckage about a month earlier. Apparently the turtle swam into the wreckage and went under the plated hull section for some reason, got stuck and couldn't get out. One of the divers that day was a veternarian and he stated that they had come across it within a few hours after it died, as it's eyes were still intact and there were no other signs of advanced decay. Pat said the the last time she was there the shell was seperating and the body was pretty well gone to the swarms of fish. She said that the turtle was HUGE, that you couldn't reach your arms around the turtle from side to side. As long as the rib I found was I don't doubt that at all. (Who knew that turtles had ribs under their shells? I sure didn't.) Well, I managed to drop the rib getting back onboard and didn't notice until we were underweigh so i don't have that, but did manage to get these other three bones home. Soaked them in a bleach solution for a few days and the smell is getting tolerable.
Man, that mandible is huge. It's bigger than a human mandible. That must have been a humongous turtle. It's too bad he died like he did but I'm proud to have his jaw in a place of honor in our house.
Sunday we dove the USCGC Dwayne in a roaring current. It was a 'stay behind a bulwark or get picked up in Miami' dive. Still my favorite dive in the Keys.
Some random thoughts about the Keys... Why do I always eat breakfast on vacation. I go 350 days of the year with only coffee to get me going, I hit Key Largo and I HAVE to go to the Waffle House for the 'hash browns all the way.' For that matter, why do you always eat three meals a day on vacation? I NEVER eat three full meals a day, but put me on vacation and I seem on a mission to make it impossible to get into my wetsuit... I love Senor Frioles mexican restraunt. The first time we went there we ordered two margaritas. When they brought us two PITCHERS of margaritas I knew I'd found my new favorite restraunt! Something about the Keys. The rules are a little looser down there. And whats with all the mullets? Hello! You look like a freakin' fool, cut that stupid thing off! Way too many hot woman ruining it with an overabundance of ugly tattoos. And even more ugly woman making it worse with an overabundance of ugly tatttoos.
OK, off to bed, long night at work. G'night.
Paulthenurse
Saturday morning we dove the Spiegle Grove. Tied into port amidships, swam forward into the fairly strong current as far forward as the bridge then back to the control shack, down the stbd side to the crane and across to the upline. The vis was poor for FL, maybe 30 feet, but still good for those of us who dive around here. For our second dive we went to the Benwood. This was the third or 4th time we've been on the Benwood and it's always a nice dive. A frieghter that went aground on a reef after a collision in WW2, it was eventually blown up as a hazzard. It has plenty of intact structure rising maybe as much as 15 off the bottom. It's only 35- 40 foot deep max so you can do a nice long blow off dive after the SG.
So we've been in the water for 50 minutes or so and we're back at the mooring line. I didn't want to get out of the water so we swam over to an area of broken up plates the we hadn't been to when I saw a bunch of weird looking objects under a piece of the wreckage. I wiggled my butt in there and pulled out a bunch of bones! I had what was clearly a rib, a vertabrae and what I was sure was a mandible, or jaw bone. I also grabbed what was obviously a ball joint from a hip joint. Here they are...
When we got back inboard, Pat, an instructor for the shop who was certifying a group of AOW divers, said that they had seen a turtle that had died under that bit of wreckage about a month earlier. Apparently the turtle swam into the wreckage and went under the plated hull section for some reason, got stuck and couldn't get out. One of the divers that day was a veternarian and he stated that they had come across it within a few hours after it died, as it's eyes were still intact and there were no other signs of advanced decay. Pat said the the last time she was there the shell was seperating and the body was pretty well gone to the swarms of fish. She said that the turtle was HUGE, that you couldn't reach your arms around the turtle from side to side. As long as the rib I found was I don't doubt that at all. (Who knew that turtles had ribs under their shells? I sure didn't.) Well, I managed to drop the rib getting back onboard and didn't notice until we were underweigh so i don't have that, but did manage to get these other three bones home. Soaked them in a bleach solution for a few days and the smell is getting tolerable.
Man, that mandible is huge. It's bigger than a human mandible. That must have been a humongous turtle. It's too bad he died like he did but I'm proud to have his jaw in a place of honor in our house.
Sunday we dove the USCGC Dwayne in a roaring current. It was a 'stay behind a bulwark or get picked up in Miami' dive. Still my favorite dive in the Keys.
Some random thoughts about the Keys... Why do I always eat breakfast on vacation. I go 350 days of the year with only coffee to get me going, I hit Key Largo and I HAVE to go to the Waffle House for the 'hash browns all the way.' For that matter, why do you always eat three meals a day on vacation? I NEVER eat three full meals a day, but put me on vacation and I seem on a mission to make it impossible to get into my wetsuit... I love Senor Frioles mexican restraunt. The first time we went there we ordered two margaritas. When they brought us two PITCHERS of margaritas I knew I'd found my new favorite restraunt! Something about the Keys. The rules are a little looser down there. And whats with all the mullets? Hello! You look like a freakin' fool, cut that stupid thing off! Way too many hot woman ruining it with an overabundance of ugly tattoos. And even more ugly woman making it worse with an overabundance of ugly tatttoos.
OK, off to bed, long night at work. G'night.
Paulthenurse
.........sounds like ya'll had a couple good days.......
