Woohoo, Keys, here we are! Trip + Dive report, 10/12 - 10/19 2013

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JesperS

Contributor
Messages
251
Reaction score
125
Location
Venice, FL
# of dives
25 - 49
We picked a pretty great week to be in the keys, weather has been great since we got here on Saturday.

This is mostly a family trip, so the diving will be a bit limited. Rented our favorite house in Marathon. This is the third time we're renting it, and I love it. Central to everything, about an hour and change to Key Largo, about an hour 20 to Key West. Quiet, on a canal with a dock and pool.

Here with my parents who just got back after being gone for the summer, and my sister and brother in law from Sweden. Kiddo got to miss school for a week of general Keys awesomeness and a few good dives.

Today was a our first dive. My friend has been telling me for two years now that I need to see Looe Key, where they usually go to snorkel.

With family in tow, I called and booked us with Looe Key Reef Resort & Dive Center to book our trip. I specifically chose them based on decent reviews, and the fact that they take divers and snorklers. Unfortunately, check in is at 7:30, so our happy arses were up by 5:40 or so to get ready.

Check in was straightforward, they then have you bring your gear through the shop to the dock in the back. The boat is a large and comfortable 45 foot catamaran. We were far from full, so there was plenty of room for everyone, I'd say 15-20 total, with roughly half and half divers/snorkelers.

A 45 foot boat is nice, but not so nice when you are on a small canal. It took a bit of maneuvering to get out, and there's a blind corner at the end, but the captain handled it without problem and as a consummate pro. The 2 groups were separated on the canal ride for separate dive/snorkel briefings, which was fun and informative.

Looe Key was a fairly quick, say 25ish minute ride (didn't keep track). Though it is called Looe Key, it's actually a reef. It was pretty windy, so there were probably 2-3 footers, which is pushing the limit on what my body can handle. Got the chance to try my Quease Ease. It worked, in that I didn't get worse, and then felt better, but it wasn't terrible out, so I can't guarantee it did anything. Will require further testing.

A giant stride entry is made from the side. Dive #1 was a pleasant dive, and we saw a large goliath free swimming (and I had my gopro, score). He then hung out under the boat for the remainder of the dive. Got some good footage of her. I'm guessing 2-300 lbs.

vlcsnap-2013-10-14-23h11m21s97.jpgvlcsnap-2013-10-14-23h12m28s202.jpgvlcsnap-2013-10-14-23h23m50s111.jpg

Ladder entry again through the side of the ship, nice large ladder. We were right next to the entry, so plopped down, switch tanks on the short jog to another buoy, and hop back in. Unfortunately, I should have stuck with my gut instinct, we should have worn our wetsuits. We were chilly throughout the second dive. However, there was more fish life, and a nicer spot in general than dive one. We didn't stay the full hour due to being chilly.

All in all, I have to agree, Looe Key is a very very nice reef. Dramatic features, large coral heads, lots and lots of fish life. My sister and brother in law saw a reef shark, but we missed it.

The ride back was fast and easy. Maneuvering back in through the canal was again, very tight, and we met some idiot botor on the way, but again, the captain knew what he was doing, so it went without incident.

Back at the docks, you receive a free drink ticket for the tiki bar, AND you get access to the pool for the rest of the day, which could be very nice if you wanted to take a dip.

Large rinse tanks for all your gear. Got everything zipped up and off we went. Nice boat, nice dive site, great crew.

Tomorrow we are off to do Key West (no diving)

Wednesday me and the kid are diving with Abyss, which is only a five minute ride away. I think we're doing the Turtle Hospital that afternoon. This was originally going to be a hunting dive with another company, but kiddo decided he didn't want to do that, so we're checking out these guys instead.

Thursday is an Islamora excursion (no diving)

Friday, we plan to do the Duane with Ocean Divers. It will be another early morning for us, as we'll have to drive up to KL. This is our first trip down since earning our AOW cards, so we have to do a wreck. Did a night dive with Ocean Divers on our last Keys vacation and had a good time wtih them, like their boats, and I think I saw that they will go out as long as there's two people.

Will let you know how the other dives go, and post the video once I go through grueling video editing.
 
Take a flashlight with you when you dive the Duane, the coral buildup is amazing and lighting it up gives you an even more impressive view of all the colors you don't normally see at those depths.

Will do Jazzy, thanks!
 
Enjoy your trip
 
Good times continue. We did Big Pine key, found key deer, and ate @ No Name Pub on the Looe Key day as well.

Tuesday was Key West day. Having my mom and dad in tow (as well as my pug) we opted to spring for one of the shuttle services. It did allow us to see the entire town and not worry about parking, so I'd say it was worth it. We did B.O's for lunch, Mel Fischer museum, sunset @ Mallory square, shopping...I'm sure other stuff, but it's kind of a tired haze. I don't even remember what we did for dinner. Took a late night dip in the pool that night (and did the same thing tonight, it's glorious).

Me, the kid, and the pug @ the southernmost point
southernmost.jpg

Sunset celebration @ Mallory Square (don't know how well it will turn out, panorama)

sunset.jpg

Today we got up early and headed 5 minutes down the road to Abyss Dive Center. After the long drive to Looe Key, it was very nice to be so close.

Check-in was simple and straightforward, and they had DIN tanks, woohoo!

We had our choice of dive sites, but were fine with shallow pretty fish dives, so we ended up on two 25-30 ft ridges. Super simple dives, as it's like our ledges back home. I enjoyed not needing to keep track of where we were in relation to the boat.

GoPro decided to act up immediately on dive #1. Was turned on, but refused to start recording, turn off, change modes, etc. After a few minutes of futzing with it I gave up. Did not want to open it on the boat, especially with a super short SI, so I left well enough alone. So no video at all from today.

Both dives were pleasant, but fairly unremarkable. Wore our wetsuits today. The other two on the boat did not, and were definitely cold on dive #2. Captain and mate were both nice, and it was a well run operation. We liked the roominess of the boat (6 max) and the dry area was actually quite dry (in my experience, they're not). My only complaints are that the boat did feel a bit slow (perhaps they weren't maxing it out to conserve gas?) and the water bucket was not cold. Kiddo liked the op as well, we will definitely use them when we come back to Marathon. Looking forward to doing the Thunderbolt and some of the deeper reefs.

However, his ears acted up a bit, and right now he is not up for our Friday dive, so we may be done diving for the trip. We will discuss it tomorrow. Perhaps a Saturday AM dive on the way back home. I was looking forward to doing the Duane. We shall see what happens, but it's not like we won't be back, so no biggie either way.

Started work on the video from Looe tonight, but I've only got about 1:30 of video edited so far, so it'll be a while lol.
 
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