Key Largo mini-report: 3/11-12

[StSomewhere]

Took a weekend trip down to Key Largo while I was in sunny, warm, dry, windy Florida on other business.

Mixup on room reservations with the dive op, should've booked two nights on my own at the HP to begin with, live and learn.

Saturday morning, winds at 15-20 knots, seas outside the reef 5'-7' (some larger), small craft advisory/caution/etc., of course I go out anyway. :shrug: Grove trip was a bust due to ripping current (the mooring buoys were underwater), couldn't clear one ear for the second dive. O-fer. (sigh)

Saturday afternoon, winds at 15-20 knots, seas outside the reef 4'-6' (some larger), small craft advisory/caution/etc., of course I go out anyway. :shrug: One dive at French reef, vis not great (30'), fish count not great, navigation snafu + ripping current + AL80 + lost rental weight belt = surfaced downcurrent from the boat and couldn't get back down. Ugh. Tired, passed on the second dive. Batting .250. :sad:

Sunday morning, winds at 15-20 knots, seas outside the reef 4'-6' (some larger), small craft advisory/caution/etc., of course I go out anyway. :shrug: Vis at the Benwood not great (15'), very good sealife as you'd expect, big swells, big surge, big current, great dive but again not so great surface conditions. Second dive at Mo, vis much better that elsewhere (50'), excellent sealife as expected, even bigger swells, monster surge and current, the only way to make headway at times was to stay in the channels between reefs where, unfortunately, my very nice instabuddy wouldn't follow. Tired. Skipped afternoon dive trip and drove back to central Fla.

Notes to self:
Book my own damned room.
Bring my own damned weightbelt, with a stainless buckle that stays put. :sad:
Actually heed the NWS warnings? :06: Nah!
Surface swimming on my back makes it difficult to tell when the waves will break over my head. :11:

Still I got three dives in, so its all good considering I thought I would be blown out the whole weekend.

 

[Big Mike]

Sorry you had crappy weather.

I'm leaving tomorrow (Tues) morning and driving down. Will try to dive THurs/Fri with Silent World. Have reservations with Brent (Blue Water) for Sat & Sun. Will try Silent World again on Monday and then start driving back. Hope I have better luck with conditions. If it is 4+ I'll just stay on shore and do something else. Barfing over the side rail is not my idea of a fun time!

Mike

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thursday
East To Southeast Winds Near 15 Knots. Seas Beyond The
Reef 3 To 5 Feet. Seas Inside The Reef 1 To 2 Feet. Nearshore Waters
A Moderate Chop. Isolated Showers.

Friday
East Winds 10 To 15 Knots. Seas Beyond The Reef 2 To 4
Feet. Seas Higher In The Gulf Stream. Seas Inside The Reef 1 To 2
Feet. Nearshore Waters A Light To Moderate Chop. Isolated Showers

 

[peengers]

Took a weekend trip down to Key Largo while I was in sunny, warm, dry, windy Florida on other business.

I was down there during the same interval on a dive trip with a group.

Saturday:

First dive was on molasses reef. The seas were amazingly choppy with 2-3 foot seas and the surge was so rough that we spent more time trying to keep oriented and within boat range than actually looking at stuff. The vis was probably 30-35 feet. Everyone agreed to scrap the second dive.

Sunday:

First dive was on the speigel grove. Huge waves on the surface but the periodicity made them livable. Once down the anchor line, the vis was about 20 feet. It was a good dive and there was 0 current on the ship, but the vis was terrible.

Second dive was on french reef, vis was about 10 feet and the conditions were a little less than saturday's molasses dive. It was a navigational nightmare.

I think this is the last keys trip for me that isn't during the summer.