moxie
Contributor
Rocky and I spent a week (Aug. 10-17, 2002) in the Keys and had a chance to do a good wringout of our new Oceanic VersaPro computers.
The trips from D.C. to Miami and back were smooth. American came through for us on time. Our reg bags were inspected on both ends but the checks were efficient and courteous so were not a problem. We think Reagan National is now definitely less crowded and far easier to get through than either BWI or Dulles, the other major airports in the D.C. metro area. Finally, forget Dollar Rent a Car.
We started in Marathon with Capt. Banny of Never Enough Charters. He has a small 23' cuddy with a single Yamaha 200. He gets you to the sites and back in a no-nonsense manner and puts you right on the site using GPS and sonar. He provides bottled water and sugar donuts. The trips are a little hurried because he is now docked at the Seahorse Motel and is quite a distance from the Vaca Cut which is the ocean access. Some ops like Capt. Hooks are right at Vaca Cut. Entry is by back roll. We dove the Thunderbolt which is interesting, the most interesting part being the sudden current that got us just as we were finishing the dive and approaching the up line. Rocky proved her Force Fins are as good as Jetfins in a strong current. Gasp! We cut our stay at the Seahorse Motel short. We dont recommend it.
We moved up to Islamorada and stayed at the Hampton Inn which at $109 a night was only a little more but was vastly cleaner and nicer. It has a great hot tub, complete continental breakfast, etc. An Outback Steak House is on the property, the best part being a Billabong tiki-bar on the beach. Wonderful. Its-A-Dive has a shop in house, but their boat was down one motor, making it available for shallow reefs only. So we dove with Bud n Marys which is about 100 yards up the street. Great op. Nice big boat. We had pretty bad seas in the 6' range and the DM called our planned Eagle dive due to the seas and ferocious current. The seas went up to 10' after a while. The high point for us was a deep reef dive, when we saw an enormous Spotted Eagle Ray at about 40' as we were doing our final ascent. It just flapped those big wings and glided by right beneath us. Awesome.
The VersaPros performed flawlessly. We have the wrist mount. By way of comparison, the wrist mount is the same diameter as the older DataPlus setup, but stands only 1" off your wrist, compared to 1 ½" for the older computer. It has really big numerals which measure 7/16". Setup is easy and you can scroll between screens with the push of a button. A nice feature is the ability to show your actual current po2. Log access is quick and easy making end of day logbook entries a snap. We compared the two VersaPros to each other several times and got consistently matching readings except for the water temp. which differed by a degree or two at times. We also matched them to the old DataPluses which now do backup duty in our consoles. They were in sync as well. All in all we love these computers.
In addition to the Outback we recommend a few other good eatin places. There were the Key Colony Inn and Castaways in Marathon. The Islamorada Fish Co. is still wonderful and the Lazy Days Inn is not only a great place to eat, it has the best happy hour around. And its within walking distance of the Hampton, which can be an important factor.
The Florida Keys continue to be a fun and inexpensive place to dive. Moxie and Rocky
The trips from D.C. to Miami and back were smooth. American came through for us on time. Our reg bags were inspected on both ends but the checks were efficient and courteous so were not a problem. We think Reagan National is now definitely less crowded and far easier to get through than either BWI or Dulles, the other major airports in the D.C. metro area. Finally, forget Dollar Rent a Car.
We started in Marathon with Capt. Banny of Never Enough Charters. He has a small 23' cuddy with a single Yamaha 200. He gets you to the sites and back in a no-nonsense manner and puts you right on the site using GPS and sonar. He provides bottled water and sugar donuts. The trips are a little hurried because he is now docked at the Seahorse Motel and is quite a distance from the Vaca Cut which is the ocean access. Some ops like Capt. Hooks are right at Vaca Cut. Entry is by back roll. We dove the Thunderbolt which is interesting, the most interesting part being the sudden current that got us just as we were finishing the dive and approaching the up line. Rocky proved her Force Fins are as good as Jetfins in a strong current. Gasp! We cut our stay at the Seahorse Motel short. We dont recommend it.
We moved up to Islamorada and stayed at the Hampton Inn which at $109 a night was only a little more but was vastly cleaner and nicer. It has a great hot tub, complete continental breakfast, etc. An Outback Steak House is on the property, the best part being a Billabong tiki-bar on the beach. Wonderful. Its-A-Dive has a shop in house, but their boat was down one motor, making it available for shallow reefs only. So we dove with Bud n Marys which is about 100 yards up the street. Great op. Nice big boat. We had pretty bad seas in the 6' range and the DM called our planned Eagle dive due to the seas and ferocious current. The seas went up to 10' after a while. The high point for us was a deep reef dive, when we saw an enormous Spotted Eagle Ray at about 40' as we were doing our final ascent. It just flapped those big wings and glided by right beneath us. Awesome.
The VersaPros performed flawlessly. We have the wrist mount. By way of comparison, the wrist mount is the same diameter as the older DataPlus setup, but stands only 1" off your wrist, compared to 1 ½" for the older computer. It has really big numerals which measure 7/16". Setup is easy and you can scroll between screens with the push of a button. A nice feature is the ability to show your actual current po2. Log access is quick and easy making end of day logbook entries a snap. We compared the two VersaPros to each other several times and got consistently matching readings except for the water temp. which differed by a degree or two at times. We also matched them to the old DataPluses which now do backup duty in our consoles. They were in sync as well. All in all we love these computers.
In addition to the Outback we recommend a few other good eatin places. There were the Key Colony Inn and Castaways in Marathon. The Islamorada Fish Co. is still wonderful and the Lazy Days Inn is not only a great place to eat, it has the best happy hour around. And its within walking distance of the Hampton, which can be an important factor.
The Florida Keys continue to be a fun and inexpensive place to dive. Moxie and Rocky
