West Palm & Key Largo Dive Trip Report (LONG)

[ramgib]

First let me say thanks for the help and advice with my concerns for this trip I posted last week. It really helped.

Left Charlotte Tuesday around 3 pm to head for West Palm. Decided to drive straight thru. Got to hotel around 1am. No rooms. Had to drive 120 miles back north till we finally found a yucky room at aound 3:30am. All rooms filled with hurricane victims and workers. Got up at 10 and back down to WP. Checked in our hotel. The we hit the dive shops of course.
Thursday morning got up and drove to Key Largo to dive French and the Benwood with Islandventure. My buddy and I and one other diver from Vegas were the only divers on the boat. As we were getting our gear set up, the tank strap buckle on my buddy’s Ranger broke. Captain said no big deal, and waited while my buddy drove up to Diver’s Direct and got one.

Dove the Benwood first. Good dive. Very slight current. Bottom temp 79. Viz about 25ft. Clarity a little dingy but overall pretty good. No a lot of aquatic life but felt good to be diving. Second dive on French Reef. Viz a little better and so a lot more life. Swam thru the swim thru at the Christmas Tree. Toward the end of dive heard another boat and saw a few more divers and snorklers jump in. After dives at KL drive back up to WP.

Friday morning went out with Narcosis with 15 others from Charlotte. First dive was North Twin ledges(?). Water was green and zero viz down to about 50ft then cleared from 60feet to 90 to about 5-10ft. Was supposed to be my deep for AOW but instructor forgot puzzle. Missed the reef and swam around for about 40 minutes, never finding it. Halfway thru the dive my buddy lost my instructor and I in the low viz and surfaced. Instructor shot a marker up and we ascended doing a safety stop. Everyone else but one was back on the boat. They all had called it after dropping just 25ft in the muck. The last diver was still out after an hour so other boats were radioed to keep and I eye for him. After about 15 minutes his marker was spotted to the relief of everyone on board.

Second dive on Bath and Tennis. Viz better at around 20ft. saw Spotted eels moving around and a couple of turtles. Third dive was at Paul’s reef. Viz same as B & T. Saw a small Goliath (40lbs) . The seas started kicking up to about 4-5ft swells.

Saturday morning there was a small craft warnings and 5-7ft seas reported. The Narcosis went out any way with our group but my buddy and I decided to head back to Key Largo to get a couple of good dives in before heading back home to Charlotte. Found out later they had some trouble with divers getting back on the boat as well as really bad viz. They saw several bull sharks and some Caribbean reefs on the Corridor wrecks. Freaked a few of the divers out.

We did our two dives at KL. Viz was less than on Thursday and the wind and seas were starting to kick up.

Wasn’t the best weekend of diving. I had never dove in clear water before so was looking forward to the dives. I usually dive Myrtle Beach and Bluestone Quarry. Unfortunately wasn’t a lot different except for the drift diving. I enjoyed that part and am looking forward to going back again when conditions are better.

 

[riguerin]

Glad to hear that everything turned out OK. Did you finish your AOW ?

 

[ramgib]

No, I didn't get to finish my AOW. I've done all the dives but I was not able to do the puzzle on the deep since the instructor forgot to bring it on the dive. He felt really bad and offered to give back the money I payed him plus pay my way back down to WP. So maybe in the next few weeks.

 

[moneysavr]

Good to see all was good,Too bad the storms from the Gulf to the last blow Florida took has messed things up,Well a week or so I will be down hope it clears up,or just have to drink more!
Brad

 

[Law5Guy]

No, I didn't get to finish my AOW. I've done all the dives but I was not able to do the puzzle on the deep since the instructor forgot to bring it on the dive. He felt really bad and offered to give back the money I payed him plus pay my way back down to WP. So maybe in the next few weeks.

What puzzle? I didn't do anything with a puzzle. Hmm... is that a PADI thing?

 

[ramgib]

What puzzle? I didn't do anything with a puzzle. Hmm... is that a PADI thing?

Some instructors use puzzles, some use algebraic equations to show how reasoning and thought process can be affected at depth. (nitrogen Narcosis). My instructor uses a child's toy that has shapes you have to put in matching holes. There's a combination lock on the toy you have to open, then dump out the pieces, relock and then put the shapes back in thru the appropriate holes. You are timed doing it on the surface then timed again at depth.

 

[riguerin]

Some instructors use puzzles, some use algebraic equations to show how reasoning and thought process can be affected at depth. (nitrogen Narcosis). My instructor uses a child's toy that has shapes you have to put in matching holes. There's a combination lock on the toy you have to open, then dump out the pieces, relock and then put the shapes back in thru the appropriate holes. You are timed doing it on the surface then timed again at depth.

He could have improvised ... had you play tick-tac-toe in the sand or something :05:

 

[ramgib]

He could have improvised ... had you play tick-tac-toe in the sand or something :05:

I thought later about that myself. But I think he was anxious about me because I had never been in strong current, at that depth and low viz, plus having missed the reef. Tried finding the reef using compass but it was hard swimming even at an angle in the direction the reef was. The low viz didn't bother me. And I could occasionaly hear the boat. But you know how 20/20 hindsight is. It'll just give me an excuse to get back down to Florida. :05: He is a good friend and instructor so I'm willing to wait.