That's a very nice story. Deeper than I can dive, but sounds like a great dive none the less.
So it looks like it would be the weekend of February 5 & 6 - correct? Do you have more info such as boat/location, cost of dives and such?
Thanks,
Henrik
Henrik,
The depth issue does not need to be a problem....the Hole in the Wall dive is the Offshore Ledge dive of the northern portion of the huge reef tract known as Juno Ledge. The Reef crown comes up to between 95 feet and 110, depending on how far "inshore" you head from the offshore ledge....in other words, the top of the ledge the Hole in the Wall in in is about 110 feet deep, but if you swim just a little further to the inshore direction, it can be more like 100 or shallower quite easily. This is a very cool reef crown, with large pelagics crossing over it frequently...In fact, many spearfisherman that do the hole in the wall dive, do most of it hugging the top of the ledge, and about 30 feet inshore of it--they often get more shots at big fish, they get more bottom time, and they have less deco or deep diving issues.
The boat will be tracking your float ball or flag, which someone in your buddy team will be towing...the current will move you essentially the same as someone at 135 feet down on the ledge, so the job of the boat remains pretty easy. Their are also some great lobster spots on the crown!
Another dive is the Back Rolls of Juno, where the average depth is closer to 95 feet....this begins much further to the South than the Hole in the Wall dive, but on the same huge reef tract. It is the holy grail of Lobster dives, and scooter dives.....the current blows along at 3 mph freqeuntly here, and divers drift along over a huge expanse of sand covered limestone sometimes for 5 minutes, until suddenly they see a big round circle-- a "blowout" in the limestone....a 30 to 40 foot round undercut ledge, dropping down about 5 feet. Lobster antennae everywhere, and stuffed with fish..like an oasis in the desert. There are hundreds of these"blowouts" on the back rolls area of the crown. A scooter diver is in heaven, as they can blast from blowout to blowout, so effectively. A diver with good trim and bouyancy skills will enjoy this dive much more than a diver with poor trim. You will often need to go 30 degrees to the current, to get over to a blowout you want to hit...there is a technique to this, and it can be easy, but trim is crucial.
On one day we could do the back rolls and the hole in the wall.
On the other day, we could do the Hydroatlantic ( comes up to about 120 if memory serves) and this could be done with the 60 foot deep Delray Ledge, which is gorgeous.
I have tons of photos I can show of the Delray ledge, I'll have to get this to you guys a little later. Delray would be a 60 for 60 kind of dive...( Splashdown lets us do 60 minute bottom times on the reef).
We have several sources of normoxic trimix fills.....and O2 if desired.
Boat trips are around $70 for a 2 tank dive...I will get exact $$ for us and post it.
I will also get some very good deals with area hotels, in 3 quality choices-very cheap/middle of the road/3 to 4 star on the beach at Singer Island( 2 minutes from boat) and one 3 star at beach in Delray(near boynton diveboat for Hydro dive...
More later
Regards,
DanV
