DaveO
Contributor
Last Wednesday my buddy and I had the urgent need to scratch our dive itch, and started checking out local dive sites. Local sites are quarries, however, and they didn't sound too appealing. My buddy said "Let's go to Florida for the weekend" and after I finally wrapped my brain around the idea, we drew up a schedule and set limits on a budget... and the games began. After a cruise through the airline websites, we got fantastically low airfare on priceline- and the flights were at our preferred times of day! (And we allowed for 24+ hours between the last dive and the flight out!) Rental car? No problem: another steal on priceline.
We left Thursday night, stayed with Mom in Miami and drove back and forth to Key Largo, where we dove with Blue Water Divers (www.BlueWaterDiver.net, 888.953.9600) based on a recommendation found on this board. These guys are *great*! They're helpful and friendly, and genuinely attentive to making sure everyone has the best dive possible. They deliberately keep the number of divers below the rated capacity of the boat, which I realized is a real bonus when we moored next to a cattle boat and saw divers lined up 12 deep to enter the water.
We dove the Spiegel Grove (which I had *really* wanted to see), the Duane, and a number of reefs where we saw spotted and moray eels, lobster, juvenile rays, an octopus, as well as some nurse sharks. Too cool. Visibility was good to excellent, warm water, and good weather. There were strong surface currents at the Spiegel Grove, but overall conditions were excellent.
I still can't get over how well things went on such short notice, and we had 12 dives in 3 days. How can we pay tribute to the scuba gods who smiled so brightly upon us, so this happens again next time!
We left Thursday night, stayed with Mom in Miami and drove back and forth to Key Largo, where we dove with Blue Water Divers (www.BlueWaterDiver.net, 888.953.9600) based on a recommendation found on this board. These guys are *great*! They're helpful and friendly, and genuinely attentive to making sure everyone has the best dive possible. They deliberately keep the number of divers below the rated capacity of the boat, which I realized is a real bonus when we moored next to a cattle boat and saw divers lined up 12 deep to enter the water.
We dove the Spiegel Grove (which I had *really* wanted to see), the Duane, and a number of reefs where we saw spotted and moray eels, lobster, juvenile rays, an octopus, as well as some nurse sharks. Too cool. Visibility was good to excellent, warm water, and good weather. There were strong surface currents at the Spiegel Grove, but overall conditions were excellent.
I still can't get over how well things went on such short notice, and we had 12 dives in 3 days. How can we pay tribute to the scuba gods who smiled so brightly upon us, so this happens again next time!
