OP
F106A
Contributor
- Messages
- 609
- Reaction score
- 19
- # of dives
- 500 - 999
The Trip Report
Spirit again beat the odds. ("Welcome to FLL 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Please tell all your friends - we know you'd tell them if we were late." Truer words were never spoken.) Arrived in K.L. around noon on 8/15, fortunately just in time for the best of the bad wx; big waves, surge on the reefs. Bigger beyond. Squall lines, rain, wind and lightning on the high seas; traffic jams on the Overseas Highway as the rats escaped. Reef viz about 15-25'. Horizon Divers was going out. With "students". Couldn't pass that up. Reports in the shop of 3'-5' on the reef. On the trip out water was washing over the "deck." (It's a pontoon type setup for those not familiar with Horizon.) Got buddied with "Kara" ("Cara"?) from the SW FL area, who'd been out of the water for a couple of years. She was fully attentive of the conditions and understandably slightly nervous. We dove. She did fine. We saw all the usual suspects and made it back to the boat intact. Wouldn't mind diving with her again. Other divers seemed to have a higher reboarding priority than me so I stood by until the ladder was clear and climbed back aboard. Kara (Cara?) wisely declined the second dive. While poking around down there on that second go I kept seeing flashes from U/W photographers and wondered who'd bring a camera in such crappy viz. Turned out that God was just showing off with a T-storm above. After 40 minutes there was a frantic banging on the boat ladder signaling the end of the diving day. Seems the wx report had predicted some "bad" wx coming our way. Duh! Next day (8/16) I had ressies with Gary & Brenda (Conch Republic Divers) for the Eagle (AM) and reefs (PM). Crappy surface conditions on the way out but great once submerged. Still surge on the reefs but viz had improved substantially. Went out with Gary again the following AM (8/17), this time to the Duane. Lousy trip out but nice once we got off the boat. Tried to get to Snapper for the second dive but Scuba Do had it locked up. Went to Pickles instead. For the PM trip went out with Ocean Divers. Did French both dives. Viz fair to middlin'. Got buddied with "Paul." He's read Chapter Two. Waves were still a bitch. Mate "Hans" suggested Paul and I take a novice under our collective wings. Kinda scary given the conditions. Paul informed Hans he had only eight logged dives. I told him I had only twelve. He figured it out. The next day (8/18) it was Ocean Divers again for an AM Spiegel dive. Paul was also there. We buddied again. Good dive on the S.G. followed by an acceptable Benwood, although viz on Bennie sucked. Water temps all four days were 86-87 degrees top to bottom. Waves were 3-5 and 4-6. Definitely E-ticket stuff. A splendid time was had by all. Except the pukers. Gary and Brenda did their usual outstanding job. Upon departing the Keys on 8/19 I was relieved to see the water conditions were tempering. Heading back down on 10/27 to give it another chance.
Spirit again beat the odds. ("Welcome to FLL 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Please tell all your friends - we know you'd tell them if we were late." Truer words were never spoken.) Arrived in K.L. around noon on 8/15, fortunately just in time for the best of the bad wx; big waves, surge on the reefs. Bigger beyond. Squall lines, rain, wind and lightning on the high seas; traffic jams on the Overseas Highway as the rats escaped. Reef viz about 15-25'. Horizon Divers was going out. With "students". Couldn't pass that up. Reports in the shop of 3'-5' on the reef. On the trip out water was washing over the "deck." (It's a pontoon type setup for those not familiar with Horizon.) Got buddied with "Kara" ("Cara"?) from the SW FL area, who'd been out of the water for a couple of years. She was fully attentive of the conditions and understandably slightly nervous. We dove. She did fine. We saw all the usual suspects and made it back to the boat intact. Wouldn't mind diving with her again. Other divers seemed to have a higher reboarding priority than me so I stood by until the ladder was clear and climbed back aboard. Kara (Cara?) wisely declined the second dive. While poking around down there on that second go I kept seeing flashes from U/W photographers and wondered who'd bring a camera in such crappy viz. Turned out that God was just showing off with a T-storm above. After 40 minutes there was a frantic banging on the boat ladder signaling the end of the diving day. Seems the wx report had predicted some "bad" wx coming our way. Duh! Next day (8/16) I had ressies with Gary & Brenda (Conch Republic Divers) for the Eagle (AM) and reefs (PM). Crappy surface conditions on the way out but great once submerged. Still surge on the reefs but viz had improved substantially. Went out with Gary again the following AM (8/17), this time to the Duane. Lousy trip out but nice once we got off the boat. Tried to get to Snapper for the second dive but Scuba Do had it locked up. Went to Pickles instead. For the PM trip went out with Ocean Divers. Did French both dives. Viz fair to middlin'. Got buddied with "Paul." He's read Chapter Two. Waves were still a bitch. Mate "Hans" suggested Paul and I take a novice under our collective wings. Kinda scary given the conditions. Paul informed Hans he had only eight logged dives. I told him I had only twelve. He figured it out. The next day (8/18) it was Ocean Divers again for an AM Spiegel dive. Paul was also there. We buddied again. Good dive on the S.G. followed by an acceptable Benwood, although viz on Bennie sucked. Water temps all four days were 86-87 degrees top to bottom. Waves were 3-5 and 4-6. Definitely E-ticket stuff. A splendid time was had by all. Except the pukers. Gary and Brenda did their usual outstanding job. Upon departing the Keys on 8/19 I was relieved to see the water conditions were tempering. Heading back down on 10/27 to give it another chance.
