Sorry I'm so slow posting this report, we got back Saturday evening, but it took me this long to "get off Keys time", and sort thru all the pics.
We arrived in Key Largo Monday afternoon and since we booked a Dive/Hotel package thru Quiescence Diving, we stopped there first to check in, do paper work and sign releases then proceeded to check in to our hotel (Key Largo Resort Holiday Inn). The next morning we boarded Q3 and headed out to molasses reef for a couple for great dives (pics to follow). Seas were running about 2-4ft on the trip out but by the end of our second dive they had built to 4-6ft and uncomfortable.
During the night the seas built to 6-8ft, but we showed up at the boat prepared to go, after takling with the captains we decided that perhaps calling a weather day was the best choice. Not wanting to lose an entire day we decided to head down the keys to the Marathon Aquaranch (speargirl's place) for a day of diving with the MONSTER cobia (more pics to follow). What a great way to spend a "weather day" the cobia were as tame as speargirl had claimed if not more so. They swam around with us, rubbed on us and generally bonded. Thanks again Becky!
Thursday the winds subsided to a pleasent 2-4ft, by the early afternoon so we headed out to dive the Duane. For anyone that has never dove the Duane and has the diving experience (deep and at times strong currents) this is a "MUST dive". We were very lucky that there were no currents to speak of and 50+ ft viz. This is a beautiful wreck and I plan to dive it everytime I go to Key Largo. Afterwards we were taken to a small patch reef near Molasses Reef that was at max density in the marine life category.
Friday for our last trip we dove the Benwood. The Benwood is another very nice, although not as intact wreck, but since it was a "naturally occuring wreck" rather than artificial reef wreck that's to be expected. Viz once again was 50+ft and no current, making it a very pleasent dive with tons of fish. Afterwards for our second dive of the day we dove French Reef. I had been prewarned that French Reef is not as nice as it once was, and we did notice a lot of bleached corals and the entire area littered with broken and dead staghorn corals but it was still bountiful in other marine life including the biggest lobster I had ever seen and a Nassau Grouper of about 20lbs.
It was a great week of diving and I can't say enough good things about Quiescence. Anyone wanting to dive a 6 pack boat rather than one of the bigger boats couldn't do better in that area than diving with them. Captain/DM's Tom, Steve and Tim all did very fine jobs and were always helpful, overall a very well run operation.
We arrived in Key Largo Monday afternoon and since we booked a Dive/Hotel package thru Quiescence Diving, we stopped there first to check in, do paper work and sign releases then proceeded to check in to our hotel (Key Largo Resort Holiday Inn). The next morning we boarded Q3 and headed out to molasses reef for a couple for great dives (pics to follow). Seas were running about 2-4ft on the trip out but by the end of our second dive they had built to 4-6ft and uncomfortable.
During the night the seas built to 6-8ft, but we showed up at the boat prepared to go, after takling with the captains we decided that perhaps calling a weather day was the best choice. Not wanting to lose an entire day we decided to head down the keys to the Marathon Aquaranch (speargirl's place) for a day of diving with the MONSTER cobia (more pics to follow). What a great way to spend a "weather day" the cobia were as tame as speargirl had claimed if not more so. They swam around with us, rubbed on us and generally bonded. Thanks again Becky!
Thursday the winds subsided to a pleasent 2-4ft, by the early afternoon so we headed out to dive the Duane. For anyone that has never dove the Duane and has the diving experience (deep and at times strong currents) this is a "MUST dive". We were very lucky that there were no currents to speak of and 50+ ft viz. This is a beautiful wreck and I plan to dive it everytime I go to Key Largo. Afterwards we were taken to a small patch reef near Molasses Reef that was at max density in the marine life category.
Friday for our last trip we dove the Benwood. The Benwood is another very nice, although not as intact wreck, but since it was a "naturally occuring wreck" rather than artificial reef wreck that's to be expected. Viz once again was 50+ft and no current, making it a very pleasent dive with tons of fish. Afterwards for our second dive of the day we dove French Reef. I had been prewarned that French Reef is not as nice as it once was, and we did notice a lot of bleached corals and the entire area littered with broken and dead staghorn corals but it was still bountiful in other marine life including the biggest lobster I had ever seen and a Nassau Grouper of about 20lbs.
It was a great week of diving and I can't say enough good things about Quiescence. Anyone wanting to dive a 6 pack boat rather than one of the bigger boats couldn't do better in that area than diving with them. Captain/DM's Tom, Steve and Tim all did very fine jobs and were always helpful, overall a very well run operation.
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