socaldiver
Contributor
This past weekend I had the chance to take the g/f, who is also my dive buddy down to the Keys for a couple of days of diving. This would be her first experience diving in the Keys, mainly her dives have been off the coast of Socal. We hooked up with KeyLargoBrent and his dive op, Blue Water Divers, and as usual, we had a great time. Brent and Capt Glen are the best in my book and I would highly recommend them if you are looking for a first class operation that caters to your individual needs and desires.
Saturday, 3/22, we arrived at the dock, unannounced and they gave up their afternoon to take Kath and myself out for a couple of shallow reef dives as she hasn't been wet for 5 months. We were the only 2 on the boat so you could say we were pampered pretty good. They didn't have to go out for just the 2 of us but being the type of people they are they did.
We went to Molasses Reef and dove Spanish Anchor on our first dive. The seas were flat, the air temp was a balmy 86 and the water temp a blistering 75 degrees. We cruised thru the reefs and saw plenty of marine life that I got some pretty good pics of. Kath sucked up her air pretty quick and so we ended the dive after 40 minutes. As we were going back to the bouy to do our safety stop a spotted eagle ray went cruising by. It was a beautiful sight to see this huge ray floating around. Max depth was 27 fsw.
The second dive was at Winchell, this time the water temp was 77, our max depth was 35 fsw and Kath did a little better but we still were only down for 44 minutes bottomtime. The highlight to this dive was seeing 2 southern stingrays and a GIANT barracuda. It was hanging out under a ledge and had to be 4 to 5 feet long, biggest one I have ever laid eyes on.
The plan for Sunday was to do a couple of dives on the Spiegel Grove. We got to the dock and loaded our gear, met the 3 other people going out with us that morning and off we went. We tied up on the bow of the Grove and dropped down the line. Kath ran into equalizing problems at 99 fsw and so we called the dive. The water temp was 72 at depth but the dive only lasted about 16 minutes. We were both disappointed that she ran into problems but knew it was better to be safe than sorry.
We moved over to the Benwood for our second dive and so when we jumped in we immediately descended to the bottom to avoid the mild current. We were down to 33 fsw with a water temp again of 72. A lot of marine life on the ship but then I started having coughing spell so I called the dive after 28 minutes with still 2000 psi left in my tank and a much disappointed dive buddy as she was finally getting things back in order.
We were planning on going back out Monday but a cold front with rain came thru during the night and the wind was gusting pretty good so we decided to call the day off and packed our bags and headed north, plus Kath wasn't feeling good after being up most of the night. A good thing because we both actually came down ill on our return drive back to Ky.
All in all, a good weekend of getting wet. Thanks to Blue Water Divers for their patience and understanding and we hope to come back in a couple of months to try again if they will have us.
Saturday, 3/22, we arrived at the dock, unannounced and they gave up their afternoon to take Kath and myself out for a couple of shallow reef dives as she hasn't been wet for 5 months. We were the only 2 on the boat so you could say we were pampered pretty good. They didn't have to go out for just the 2 of us but being the type of people they are they did.
We went to Molasses Reef and dove Spanish Anchor on our first dive. The seas were flat, the air temp was a balmy 86 and the water temp a blistering 75 degrees. We cruised thru the reefs and saw plenty of marine life that I got some pretty good pics of. Kath sucked up her air pretty quick and so we ended the dive after 40 minutes. As we were going back to the bouy to do our safety stop a spotted eagle ray went cruising by. It was a beautiful sight to see this huge ray floating around. Max depth was 27 fsw.
The second dive was at Winchell, this time the water temp was 77, our max depth was 35 fsw and Kath did a little better but we still were only down for 44 minutes bottomtime. The highlight to this dive was seeing 2 southern stingrays and a GIANT barracuda. It was hanging out under a ledge and had to be 4 to 5 feet long, biggest one I have ever laid eyes on.
The plan for Sunday was to do a couple of dives on the Spiegel Grove. We got to the dock and loaded our gear, met the 3 other people going out with us that morning and off we went. We tied up on the bow of the Grove and dropped down the line. Kath ran into equalizing problems at 99 fsw and so we called the dive. The water temp was 72 at depth but the dive only lasted about 16 minutes. We were both disappointed that she ran into problems but knew it was better to be safe than sorry.
We moved over to the Benwood for our second dive and so when we jumped in we immediately descended to the bottom to avoid the mild current. We were down to 33 fsw with a water temp again of 72. A lot of marine life on the ship but then I started having coughing spell so I called the dive after 28 minutes with still 2000 psi left in my tank and a much disappointed dive buddy as she was finally getting things back in order.
We were planning on going back out Monday but a cold front with rain came thru during the night and the wind was gusting pretty good so we decided to call the day off and packed our bags and headed north, plus Kath wasn't feeling good after being up most of the night. A good thing because we both actually came down ill on our return drive back to Ky.
All in all, a good weekend of getting wet. Thanks to Blue Water Divers for their patience and understanding and we hope to come back in a couple of months to try again if they will have us.
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