Friday, May 26, I set off with my cousin to Jupiter, Florida, for a weekend of diving and training. 6 students, including my cousin would be meeting us there for the diving and to take part in an AOW and EAN class, along with the instructor and a friend of his(i was DM on this trip). We had planned 6 dives with Blue Tang Charters for the duration, including 2 night dives on saturday. Since I couldnt leave work until 6PM, and a suddden storm blew in, we ended up not leaving Tallahassee till 7PM, and arrived at the HOJO hotel in Stuart, FL around 1am.
After a few hours of sleep, we were off to Jupiter for the 7:30am check in. Since Blue Tangs dock blew away last summer, they are now running off The Crab Houses dock. Upon arrival, they promptly came and loaded our tanks up, we got our paperwork in and started our dive breifing. 15 minutes later we had arrived at one of the many poitns of entry on the miles long reef lines that run parralell florida in this area. Our first training dive would be the "deep" dive, and after breifing the students on this type of diving, we all headed in. The current was ripping at 3 to 4 knots, so we promptly got seperated from the boats DM and float, but had a fun time none the less flying along the bottom. The other group reported huge turtles, sting rays, and a couple of shark sightings.
Dive 2 was much like the first, and for training purposes was a "boat" dive. The dive site was a bit different, with a huge ledge to swim along. Since we had some newer students along, and were at a depth of 80ft on most dives, they would go through air quick, so upon surfacing with them, the instructor and I went back down to finish our air off.
After lunch and a EAN breifing, with a quick nap back at the hotel, we headed to Scubaworx in Jupiter florida for fills. The great staff there was able to loan us 16 nitrox tanks, so they could fill our tanks we had brought to use on the next mornings dive. We then met the boat at 6:30 and headed out for night dives. The first dive was more of a dusk dive, with some surface light still available, and was much like dive 1 and 2. But at 8:30, it turned pitch black, so we would really be night diving now. This was actually my first real night dive, so I was excited as much as the students. I has brought my trusty Slimline canister however, so light wouldnt be a problem. We all jumped in to the blackness and headed for the bottom. Things are really different on a night dive, and we came across huge turtles sleeping under ledges, fish that didnt move when you touched them, some strange worm things swarming around my light, and a huge nurse shark. It was a great dive, and the students had fun too.
Back at the hotel, and another 5 hours of sleep later, we picked up our tanks, and head back out for some wreck diving. Our first target was the Esso Bonaire a freighter sunk in 1989 after being seized for transporting drugs. Since the current was ripping again, we were dropped off up current and quickly descended to the bottom. Unfortunately, the current ran bow to stern on the wreck, so we missed it the first time and had to be dropped off again. This time we hit it, literally (ouch), and quickly got out of the current. The wreck is abotu 150ft long, and pretty cool, with lots of goliath grouper on board, and a few swim throughs. We explored as much as we could, and then drifted off it to be picked up by the boat.
Dive too was just a bit south, on the Zion, one of three wrecks within a mile of each other. It was sunk only a few years ago and then promptly ripped apart by hurricanes. All that remains is most of the stern, which was pounded into the bottom and lays in a 10 ft hole in the limestone, to a max depth of 97ft. Again, we drifted into an barely missed it, but a quick swim over to it, and we were able to swim all around it. Current goes nuts around this wreck, so its a constant battle to stay on the wreck. We explored all over it, but air went quick at this depth and activity level. Others were able to drift over to the Miss Jenny, a tug, as well. This was a great last dive for the weekend. All the students had lots of fun and everyone learned a lot.
More pics at http://bluewatersports.net/media/pics/jupiter506/jupiter506.htm
