mrfixitchapman
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Last day diving here in the Keys for me......Did a 3fer with Looe Key Reef Resort, first dive a deep wreck, the Adolphus Busch. The Busch has been a 'Wreckreational' dive site for quite a while, now. It sits upright off of Ramrod Key in sand. About 30 of my closest friends,(including DandyDon and his entourage), motored out of Looe Key Reef Resort on the Kokomo Cat,40-something ft catamaran dive boat toward the Busch site. We tied off at the bow and after the diver's briefing about ten divers made the giant-stride entry off the bow, went into the current on the mooring line and descended. Air temp about 70 degrees, water temp about the same. From 30ft down the surface faded away, At about 70ft the hull began to come into view. After instrument and equipment check we were off along the deck, looking into the openings of the cargo hold, into the windows of the wheelhouse and aft. Several lobster traps and their lines have become entangled in the old wreck. Pretty easy to avoid, actually. There were also many places that monofilament line have made entanglement hazards. Well! That's why I carry a pair of paramedic scissors, don't you know? I cut away several lines as I toured the deck and structure. After about 15 minutes on the site, and a max depth of 99ft, we made our way to the mooring line, up and to the safety stop. Stop over and up to the dive boat.
Surface interval spent changing to new tank and travelling to the west end of the Looe Key park. Spur-and-groove coral formation here. Max depth on this dive was about 30ft. The reef is actually above the water line in some places, so it is possible to run out of water depth if you go too far up into the formation. We spent the dive moving up and back in the miniature canyons, then out over the sand at the deep end and up the next canyon.
Imagine that you go back to a neighborhood you know pretty well. The structures are still there, the streets and alleys are still there, but the characters that inhabit the place are just, well, gone. Not as bad as say, New Orleans, but it's still a little jarring. That's what it was like for me on this reef.
I made this dive for the first time about eleven years ago. The reef is beat up, lots of hard corals and sponges are broken and littering the bottom. Sediment is everywhere. The water is cloudy and hazy, but not as bad as it has been on other dives this trip. Dappled sunlight on the bottom is feeding energy into the structure and the little critters who need it. It seem to me that the reef is starting to come back from this hurricane season from the shallow end on down. Up in the really shallow part the little fishes are reappearing and the corals and sponges are gaining color. We hope for the best.
The third dive of the day was after a break for The Official Scuba Food, hot dogs on the grill aboard the Kokomo Cat. The captain claims these to be the best hot dogs available 5 miles off shore. I think he's right.
This dive is at the east end of the park. Same structure, less depth. Now we see some of the bigger fish in the pond. Barracuda, black grouper, large parrotfish and sea urchins are visible here, we didn't see them at the other, (deeper), end. Water clarity still isn't as good as it should be. With any luck and a little more time we'll see better conditions and more of the creatures. The shallow end of the reef is livelier and more colorful. More like it.
Incidentally, there is an actual Kokomo Cat. She is a six-toed black long-haired cat who lives at the dive shop. She is named after the boat, not the other way around.
That's it for me from here. Tomorrow we pack up and roll out in the morning. Back to the Mainland and cold and work and snow and .......
DC
Surface interval spent changing to new tank and travelling to the west end of the Looe Key park. Spur-and-groove coral formation here. Max depth on this dive was about 30ft. The reef is actually above the water line in some places, so it is possible to run out of water depth if you go too far up into the formation. We spent the dive moving up and back in the miniature canyons, then out over the sand at the deep end and up the next canyon.
Imagine that you go back to a neighborhood you know pretty well. The structures are still there, the streets and alleys are still there, but the characters that inhabit the place are just, well, gone. Not as bad as say, New Orleans, but it's still a little jarring. That's what it was like for me on this reef.
I made this dive for the first time about eleven years ago. The reef is beat up, lots of hard corals and sponges are broken and littering the bottom. Sediment is everywhere. The water is cloudy and hazy, but not as bad as it has been on other dives this trip. Dappled sunlight on the bottom is feeding energy into the structure and the little critters who need it. It seem to me that the reef is starting to come back from this hurricane season from the shallow end on down. Up in the really shallow part the little fishes are reappearing and the corals and sponges are gaining color. We hope for the best.
The third dive of the day was after a break for The Official Scuba Food, hot dogs on the grill aboard the Kokomo Cat. The captain claims these to be the best hot dogs available 5 miles off shore. I think he's right.
This dive is at the east end of the park. Same structure, less depth. Now we see some of the bigger fish in the pond. Barracuda, black grouper, large parrotfish and sea urchins are visible here, we didn't see them at the other, (deeper), end. Water clarity still isn't as good as it should be. With any luck and a little more time we'll see better conditions and more of the creatures. The shallow end of the reef is livelier and more colorful. More like it.
Incidentally, there is an actual Kokomo Cat. She is a six-toed black long-haired cat who lives at the dive shop. She is named after the boat, not the other way around.
That's it for me from here. Tomorrow we pack up and roll out in the morning. Back to the Mainland and cold and work and snow and .......
DC
