Lobstah Divah's Florida Invasion trip report

[PK]

One of the biggest accomplishments I made during this trip is diving the Spiegel Grove. It was my first wreck dive and I wasn't sure I'd like it. I thought it would be just a wreck without any sealife because it was recently sunk. I was wrong. There was a lot of beautiful fish swimming around!

I also hit my record depth of 111 feet! The water was so warm and blue that it felt wonderful to dive such depths without a wet suit. The wimpy Floridians wore wet suits, one even wore a hood...

After all the diving, I thought the trip was over. But the next day we had a great time swimming at Dania Beach in Ft. Lauderdale. Another highlight happened on our last morning when our campsite offered fresh baked muffins, lime cookies and great coffee. We thanked them by giving them our utensils and cookware that we had to buy because, unexpectedly, our RV didn't provide them.

:flowrcat:

 

[MSilvia]

you dove under suprising control considering the depth and your experience. Nicely done!

Maybe we'll see you on the local wrecks next year? They're small enough to see all of, and a bit shallower.

 

[WreckWriter]

I'm really glad you all enjoyed yourselves. It was really nice to meet all of you and to dive with those who were able to make the SG trip. Each of you did extremely well on the SG dives. I was really surprised that some had relatively few dives. Excellent, all of you.

I'm sorry I couldn't stay down there for a few days. I bet we coulda slew many a Corona.....

Tom

 

[MSilvia]

I had a blast, and it was great to meet you Tom. We really will have to get you up here when the water warms up enough... or in August, which is as close as it's likely to get.

I put in an order with Ken for one of our club shirts for you... I'll PM you for the address when they're ready. Thanks again for showing us around the wreck!

 

[raxafarian]

all my pics are now online. Reef and Wreck.

http://www.raxafarian.com/largo/largopics2/

 

[raxafarian]

Monday we dove some of the deeper reefs. Conch wall and .... another one to the southwest. 90 ft. max on the 1st one. 60 ft. max on the 2nd. Tons of fish on each dive. A couple of nurse sharks sleeping under some rocks at around the 45ft. mark. It was quite a full boat. Lisa had one side, I had the other, and that was it We had scheduled 3 dives, but only did 2 because of some ear troubles.

Back at the dock... Lisa says her ears feel better.

Tuesday found us back north of Key Largo to dive the Duane with Divers City USA. Another great trip with Barb and Bob. Got to the Duane and there was current. I had to hold my camera with the strobe arms wrapped around my arm since you needed 2 hands to pull down against the current. After finally reaching the bottom we let go of the line and off we went. I spotted an opening into the wreck and motioned Lisa to follow me... we shot thru the hatch and into a little room... it was covered for about 15 ft or so, but was open in the back... we rested there for about 5 minutes. As we were getting ready to go sailing, Lisa motioned downward... there was a spotted moray coming out of a crack in some deckplates, right next to her foot. Took a couple pics.... and off we went. I'm down to 1100 psi at this point, so we ascended to around 80ft as we sailed aft. I steered for the stern line and grabbed it... Lisa did the same. Stopped for 4 at 20ft. We got to the surface, let go of the line, and the boat picked us up.

Barb was saying most dive charters would call those conditions "undiveable", and we did watch another charter tie up to the bow mooring, 2 divers jump in, 2 divers get right back out of the water, and the boat leaving..

2nd dive was a drift dive on the outside of Molasses reef. Depth around 55ft, for 50 min.

3rd dive was on the Benwood. I can see this making a nice night dive.


Had a great trip. I will be booking all my dives thru DiversCity USA. Heck... if you are on a multiday pkg... they even rinse and store your gear. If you stay at one of 2 resorts that they pass on the way out, they'll pick you up in the boat! Very nice people. Very capable. They put a safety diver in the water for any dives over 60 or 70 ft. They do tech dives. I was impressed.

Tom... great meeting you, and thanks for introducing us to DiversCity!!

 

[PK]

I could tell right away that Divers City USA is a cut above the other dive charters. Glad to hear you continued to have great experiences with them.

 

[MSilvia]

There just isn't enough room for all the videos on my server. I may have to set up my own... if I can figure out how.

MSilvia once bubbled...
I'll try to get them up tonight.