KansaiKitsune
Contributor
I made a total of 12 dives when I was in Key Largo a few weeks ago aboard the boat Scuba-Do, which I highly recommend. I'm just now getting around to writing about them!
We dove the reefs most of the time, but some of them were particularly significant. On my first dive, we wiggled out fingers at lobsters on Molasses Reef to make them come out for photos (couldn't take them, though). The same finger-wiggling technique made the chubs come hang around me and nibble at my fingers. Soon, I had a massive school of chubs and yellowtail snapper following me around!
Second dive on the Fire Coral Caves, didn't see that much fire coral. However, we DID see about two dozen Southern eagle rays swimming in formation by us! Also, a glass bottom boat passed over top of me. That was a bit unnerving since I was only at about 30 feet and fighting a brisk current. But I didn't moon them or anything.
Second day, we did the Spiegel Grove, and it's as grand as everyone says it is. Heavy current on the surface, almost none at the deck. We went down on the crane, dove down to the bottom hold. I about dropped my regulator laughing when one of my dive buddies found a toilet, then mimed sitting on it and straining. Something about seeing their face behind a mask at 130 feet making that expression made me laugh. We saw the American flag waving majestically in the current and did a few of the hallways and decks which are safe for swim-throughs. We visited the gun emplacements and swam over to the wheelhouse. We also swam along the side of the ship and got to see the plaque with the names of those who served. The worst part about the Spiegel is that it's over so quick at those depths!
We were going to do the Duane, but the currents were ripping. We ended up doing the Benwood, which is a fun dive, but not too exciting. We did see a puffer fish and a large green moray which wouldn't come out.
We did the Christ of the Abyss, which is a fantastic dive -- deep canyons of Coral. We dropped in exactly the perfect place, followed our navigation around the coral ridges, and there standing before us with arms outstretched and light from the surface streaming down around him was the Christ statue. It was an awestriking sight. Perhaps even more amazing was the gigantic great barracuda that buzzed me while I was gawking. I also saw a couple of morays which may have been mating or fighting: not sure, but they had each other gripped by the mouth.
We dove on the North Dry Rocks, which was a fantastic shallow dive -- sea life was EVERYWHERE, and the coral was completely spectacular. My dive buddy and I tooled around there for an hour just looking at stuff and barely even breached halfway into the green on our dive computers.
We tried Snapper Ledge and Pickles Reef, which were interesting. There were some nice swim throughs in Pickles Reef.
We did French Reef, which also had some very cool swim throughs and very big lobsters.
It was on Spanish Anchor Winch where we saw a big Caribbean reef shark (finally)! I tried to get a shot, but the camera I got was not particularly good and I didn't have the range I needed to shoot it. Not only this, but it fled at the sight of the shark. Didn't see any nurse sharks, but one of the crew on the Scuba Do said that someone had recently spotted a hammerhead in the area.
This was a lot of fun! And now I'm back at work, sadly, and the weather outside in Panama City's been perfect for diving. Though I have to say, diving in Panama City may be ruined for me now that I've seen the clarity of the Florida Keys!
We dove the reefs most of the time, but some of them were particularly significant. On my first dive, we wiggled out fingers at lobsters on Molasses Reef to make them come out for photos (couldn't take them, though). The same finger-wiggling technique made the chubs come hang around me and nibble at my fingers. Soon, I had a massive school of chubs and yellowtail snapper following me around!
Second dive on the Fire Coral Caves, didn't see that much fire coral. However, we DID see about two dozen Southern eagle rays swimming in formation by us! Also, a glass bottom boat passed over top of me. That was a bit unnerving since I was only at about 30 feet and fighting a brisk current. But I didn't moon them or anything.
Second day, we did the Spiegel Grove, and it's as grand as everyone says it is. Heavy current on the surface, almost none at the deck. We went down on the crane, dove down to the bottom hold. I about dropped my regulator laughing when one of my dive buddies found a toilet, then mimed sitting on it and straining. Something about seeing their face behind a mask at 130 feet making that expression made me laugh. We saw the American flag waving majestically in the current and did a few of the hallways and decks which are safe for swim-throughs. We visited the gun emplacements and swam over to the wheelhouse. We also swam along the side of the ship and got to see the plaque with the names of those who served. The worst part about the Spiegel is that it's over so quick at those depths!
We were going to do the Duane, but the currents were ripping. We ended up doing the Benwood, which is a fun dive, but not too exciting. We did see a puffer fish and a large green moray which wouldn't come out.
We did the Christ of the Abyss, which is a fantastic dive -- deep canyons of Coral. We dropped in exactly the perfect place, followed our navigation around the coral ridges, and there standing before us with arms outstretched and light from the surface streaming down around him was the Christ statue. It was an awestriking sight. Perhaps even more amazing was the gigantic great barracuda that buzzed me while I was gawking. I also saw a couple of morays which may have been mating or fighting: not sure, but they had each other gripped by the mouth.
We dove on the North Dry Rocks, which was a fantastic shallow dive -- sea life was EVERYWHERE, and the coral was completely spectacular. My dive buddy and I tooled around there for an hour just looking at stuff and barely even breached halfway into the green on our dive computers.
We tried Snapper Ledge and Pickles Reef, which were interesting. There were some nice swim throughs in Pickles Reef.
We did French Reef, which also had some very cool swim throughs and very big lobsters.
It was on Spanish Anchor Winch where we saw a big Caribbean reef shark (finally)! I tried to get a shot, but the camera I got was not particularly good and I didn't have the range I needed to shoot it. Not only this, but it fled at the sight of the shark. Didn't see any nurse sharks, but one of the crew on the Scuba Do said that someone had recently spotted a hammerhead in the area.
This was a lot of fun! And now I'm back at work, sadly, and the weather outside in Panama City's been perfect for diving. Though I have to say, diving in Panama City may be ruined for me now that I've seen the clarity of the Florida Keys!
