Key Largo for my Birthday!!

[thez_yo]

I'm tardy in posting this dive report but pics are finally forthcoming!

Back in February or March me and my BFF from MI started brainstorming that we wanted to go do something near a beach for our birthdays in April and May. We went back and forth between laying on a beach, snorkling and diving (gee I wonder what we ended up doing )

So, we finally settled on diving! We were going to go for her bday in April but everything in Key Largo is a good $500 more expensive then, so we did a joint diving party during mine in May instead. She had never been diving before, so she signed up with Rainbow Reef online to go through the coursework online beforehand and do the two days in the water once we got there. We got there on a Saturday and her first poolwork was on a Sunday.

Now, as you do, you never figure out if you get sick to your stomach until you get on the boat, right? That first afternoon she was positively miserable until we got her some meds later in the evening. Here's some pics of her first day in the ocean though - it only gets better from here!

She still mustered up a smile because the ocean is the best!

Dropping from the surface for the first time

The next day everything went swimmingly for the afternoon ocean dives My bff:

I had the lovely @mselenaous as my diving buddy so it was a nice relaxing dive. We saw some nice nurse sharks

mselenaous tangoing with a lobster

interesting fishies and waterscapes

The next two days we had some truly spectacular dives - me and my BFF!

...me photo-bombing in the back

I was having none of this barracuda lmao...

And this parrotfish was having none of me!

Trumpetfish

The reefs


...to be continued...

 

[thez_yo]

That turtle - the poor shell, but hey, it's a survivor!

Thimble Jellies

The tail end of a .... reef shark maybe?

...to be continued...

 

[thez_yo]

A nice lobster

And the lucky girl - she got spotted eagle rays on her first two days of diving post-cert, and it was my first time seeing them ever too!

Cowfish (that's the right name, right?)

Scrawled Filefish

Over all, great dives! I hope she sticks with it and goes diving regularly. I had an absolutely fabulous bday including key lime pie *and* pb-choco pie, and a delicious dinner from my BFF and @mselenaous.

It's still looking a little grey/brown down there which it sounds like all the hurricanes did a number on the reefs, but still we saw lots of good wildlife. If I can, I'm going to try to do some of those coral restoration dives again in the future. It was really nice re-visiting some of the sites where my buddies and I had done some staghorn coral replanting a few years ago. There's just nothing quite like a nice full reef.

 

[iamrushman]

I love reading dive reports and look at underwater photos.....thanks for sharing your trip...glad you had a great time.