Debraw
Contributor
July 29 we loaded onto the boat at aprund 7pm. Lucky for us we were allowed on a little early to get our gear situated since there was a ton of it! Only 9 divers onboard so we had a lot of room, and I am spoiled beyond belief for that! I was tired most of the first full day at sea so my trip report is pretty lame. I got up and did a dive with Captain Frank on the first dive site of a rig that had been dismantled and the top part was shorn off so you could not see it sticking up out of the water. Rig 550? Anyway I went to 131 feet a new personal record. All the other tech divers went to depths ranging from 186 to 220 foot deep. We did a a dive on the east bank, and then a night dive. We heard Monday afternoon that the Fling had played with a whaleshark for 2 hours on the West bank. We decided to go over there for Tuesday AM dive where we saw the two whalesharks swim right up to the boat. We all squealed like 5th grader's at recess. The four divers on the downlines got the best views. We stayed for an afternoon dive but no sightings. Great diving and lots of large groupers. Hardly any current and waves less than a foot and sometimes dead calm. I slept a lot the whole first day. We headed to Stetson for a night dive where we all saw a giant turtle and your usual night time critters. The most spectacular part of the dive was a giant school of Chub running over the reef, must have been up to 2,000 of them and they were as thick long as wide covering the pinnacles where you could not see anything else but fish. I skipped the am Stetson dive on the third day. I had my step-daughter with me and I just didn't want to push her to hard. We had a great trip, lots of rest, good family time, and my husband accomplished a few deco dives to count towards his instructor rating. I really can not say enough about the new layout on the Spree. that indoor/outdoor wet room with hot shower is really nice and private. The boat looks great and you can see the difference and the feel of the boat is just wonderful. I was a little sad to get off the boat yesterday. It was such a relaxing trip. I can't wait to get out there again for the Labor Day trip!
