Introduction

[thedegnans]

Hey all,

We are Donald and Jessica and we live in Glassboro, NJ. We have 40ish bodys and 20ish spirits (Growing older but not up). We started diving last year at Dutch after a miserable snorkeling trip in the Florida Keys in 2004. What fun is floating on the surface, anyway? We love Dutch for its academic nessescity, but we got bored of it quickly. Wilma almost derailed our planned trip to Key West, but we got down there a week after. The vis was not so good by their standards, but after Dutch, 30ft is gold! So is 82 degree water. As of this point we have completed 23 dives.

Last month we could not take it any longer, and planned another trip down there. We can not wait for it to get warm enough for 7mm at Dutch (we can not afford drysuits yet). We need bouancy NOW. So we are going down to Key West for the last week in March.

Here is what we have planned:

Monday morning we will be doing the outer reef.
Tuesday morning we will be doing Joe's Tug.
Tuesday night we will be doing a night dive.
Wednesday we will be driving north to a Middle-Keys location.
Thursday moring we will be back in KW on the Cayman Salvage Master.​

We are doing these through Dive Key West. If anyone from "Wreck Valley" is going to be down there and wants to get on board, give Cece at Dive Key West a call.

We are looking forward to exploring the Jersey Shore Wrecks this year, and will be looking into a dive club.

 

[BILLB]

Hate to give the the bad news but Key West diving is really not the best the Keys has. I love Key West and go therer often...to party and eat.

Head back up US 1 to the Looe Key resort and book dives on the Busch and Looe Key. Then head to Paradise Divers on Sunshine Key and do Sombereo Key. If you want the best dive in the keys (other than the Spiegel Grove) let them take you to the Wreck of the Thunderbolt.

http://www.wreckvalley.com/

Check out this site. You will find a thread on AOW class to be held sometime this June. The price is right (free, one time offer).

And yes, I have dove in the Keys in a dry suit in December!

 

[thedegnans]

Hate to give the the bad news but Key West diving is really not the best the Keys has. I love Key West and go therer often...to party and eat.

Thanks for the advice. We know the middle and upper keys offer many nice things. We like Key West, and it is a loalty thing. We have made some pleasant connections there. They were hit really hard by Wilma, and we were on one of the first planes that landed after the air-strip opened. While we were there Cece and Bob bent over backwards to make us happy, they took very good care of us. They even sending us to thier competition when they had minor boat problems, and then to Abyss out of Marathon when vis was really bad around Key West. At this point we are not ready for S-G, and the Cayman will be our deepest dive to date. We are still learning where our narcosis level is.

We will be going up-island on Wednesday, and maybe agin on our way north. Next fall we will be staying in Key Largo, and doing S-G for our anniversery.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Welcome to the board and have a blast in the Keys! My wife and I have dove in key West many times and while it's not nearly as nice as Key Largo diving it is still way better than Dutch! And like you said, the topside life is much better in Key West.

I also suggest you check out Cape Ann, Ma for some localish diving. It's about 4+ hrs drive from NYC but it's worth it. Some really surprisingly nice shore diving to be had there. Look it up on shorediving.com. Really quaint topside place as well. See ya diving soon!

 

[Spratman]

Welcome to the board, Degnans! We look forward to diving with you whenever you are at Dutch. There is usually a crew there most weekends during the summer. As BillB said, check out our website. It's a great club and have a good mixture of experienced and not so experienced divers.

Hope to meet up with your this summer! Sorry, haven't done the Keys, but am going to Ft. Lauderdale the end of May....Woohoo! No 7mil FJ down there!!

 

[thedegnans]

Thanks for your input Jason. I see you live in NYC. Don grew up all around NYC, and I fell in love with the Village years ago. That crush was thrown over for Key West 2 years ago. I can only imagine what will happen when I go to Belize...someday.

Thanks for the info on Cape Ann. We are interested in doing local shore diving. 4 hours from NYC is 6 hours from us, but by local I mean “North-east”. Have you ever heard of or know of anyone who uses a kayak to get to off-shore dive sites? It is something we are interested in as well.

JB, we will be at Dutch about once a month during the dive season. We are working toward our Divemaster certs. I would never be able to make my occupation “Dive Related” but maybe I will after I retire…in 25 years. If you see we are heading your way, give us a shout. We are always up to meeting new people.

 

[scubadobadoo]

Thanks for your input Jason. I see you live in NYC. Don grew up all around NYC, and I fell in love with the Village years ago. That crush was thrown over for Key West 2 years ago. I can only imagine what will happen when I go to Belize...someday.

Thanks for the info on Cape Ann. We are interested in doing local shore diving. 4 hours from NYC is 6 hours from us, but by local I mean “North-east”. Have you ever heard of or know of anyone who uses a kayak to get to off-shore dive sites? It is something we are interested in as well.

JB, we will be at Dutch about once a month during the dive season. We are working toward our Divemaster certs. I would never be able to make my occupation “Dive Related” but maybe I will after I retire…in 25 years. If you see we are heading your way, give us a shout. We are always up to meeting new people.

Cape Ann is a great weekend trip we usually combine with camping. The best shore dive on Cape Ann IMHO is Folly Cove. You can also shore dive a bit closer in RI and that's not too bad. I highly suggest Jerry Shines new book, "A Shore Diving Guide To New England." Maybe one of the most detailed and comprehensive shore diving guides I have ever seen! My Wife and I still haven't tried any of the NJ shore dives like the bridge (can't remember the strange name) or any LI shore dives. We plan on it this summer but we are still waiting for someone to offer to show us the local ropes. I don't like guessing when it comes to NE shore dives. I dove Beach 9th Street in Queens by JFK when Almost Paradise (a shore diving op/business that had a private parking lot, showers, bathrooms, and gear areas for a price) was open but since it closed, I haven't been back. Too bad really! We also want to try some NJ boat diving on some of the shallower sites like the Sea Girt Reef area wrecks this summer.

We will also be at Dutch (AGAIN, lol) in April so I'll be sure to post before we go...

 

[Jason Ooi]

welcome to scuba board

 

[Spratman]

JB, we will be at Dutch about once a month during the dive season. We are working toward our Divemaster certs. I would never be able to make my occupation “Dive Related” but maybe I will after I retire…in 25 years. If you see we are heading your way, give us a shout. We are always up to meeting new people.

Please make your way over to www.wreckvalley.com and post a message when you are going to be down here. There is always a contingent of people from our club at DS, and I live a half an hour away, so I'm usually available!

Yep, I understand. I was thinking about pursuing the instructor route, since I'm 52 and hopefully will be retiring in 7 years. It would keep me busy and out of my wife's hair.