American Dream II

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Scubastud16

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Did my first Fort Lauderdale dives ever today with American dream. Man! What an experience. First real "wreck" dive (broken up hulls in Key Largo don't count :D ) as well on the Tracy/Ken Vitale.

First off, thumbs up to the captain and his crew. We got some bogus directions to their dock from another source, so we called and they gave us directions over the phone and even waited a few extra minutes for us (the directions were WAY off....).

I'm now officially hooked on wreck diving. What awesome diversity and life. I wanted to dive nitrox for some additional NDC time, but my partner was not, so I only got about 30 minutes on the wreck.

Second was a reef dive at a spot called "Caves." I'm pretty familiar with the reefs in Key Largo, so it was an interesting comparison. Different structure, different life, but just as fun and interesting as Key Largo.


All-in-all, it was a fantastic trip. We dove on Saturday with It's A Dive in Key Largo (fantastic as always), and in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. I was really there for the wreck, and they most certainly came through.


No pics...sorry! Too much fun looking around, not to mention a severe lack on funds for a camera :rofl3:
 
You should have swam over to the scutti too while you were down there on the Tracy.

I'm not a fan of nitrox myself, the bottom time difference is minimal usually and unless you are up out of the water and right back in, the surface interval won't make a difference either. To me, not worth paying 2 - 3x as much for an airfill.

I'm curious how you got bad directions, lol... isn't it just the first left after 17th street causeway?

Anyways, it's cool that you enjoyed your dives, if you liked the tracy, you really need to get out to the better wrecks, there is so much out there off Ft Lauderdale that will really blow your mind.
 
vr24:
I'm not a fan of nitrox myself, the bottom time difference is minimal usually and unless you are up out of the water and right back in, the surface interval won't make a difference either. To me, not worth paying 2 - 3x as much for an airfill.

I'm curious how you got bad directions, lol... isn't it just the first left after 17th street causeway?

You're kidding on the nitrox comment, right? 50% more BT is significant to me.... :wink:
Price it out on a BT/minute basis and you'll find nitrox is a cheap BT extender.

Directions would have been the first left past the ICWW bridge headed east on the 17th Street Causeway.
 
vr24:
I'm not a fan of nitrox myself, the bottom time difference is minimal usually and unless you are up out of the water and right back in, the surface interval won't make a difference either. To me, not worth paying 2 - 3x as much for an airfill.

Nitrox dramatically reduces your chances of DCS, gives substantial extra bottom time, surface intervals can be shorter if need be, and I get a steel 108 overfilled for $6.00 using a 10 fill card for $60.00. I wouldn't dive anything other than Nitrox when at the correct depths. You must either be kidding or severely uninformed. A 70 foot dive on 36% will give you 71 minutes vs. only 38 with air. An 80 foot dive on 36% will get you 53 minutes vs. 29. You call that minimal? :confused:
 
deepstops:
You're kidding on the nitrox comment, right? 50% more BT is significant to me.... :wink:
Price it out on a BT/minute basis and you'll find nitrox is a cheap BT extender.

I was a little shocked by that remark myself. BTW, nitrox and air are the same price at Fill Express, kind of makes the nitrox a no brainer.
 
ONESPEED:
I was a little shocked by that remark myself. BTW, nitrox and air are the same price at Fill Express, kind of makes the nitrox a no brainer.

Maybe he doesn't get fills there but even worst case, I'd look at it like this:
Boat costs $45 plus air fill $3 / 45 minutes at 70' = $1.07 a minute BT
Boat costs $45 plus nitrox fill $10 / 70 minutes at 70' = $.79 a minute BT

That's a 35% reduction on what your BT is costing you :D
 
I don't go out on charters. So count that out.

Maybe the nitrox is good for you guys. However, when I go out diving with people, I'll drop in on an aluminum 80 on air and they are always coming up at the same time as me diving 36% in overfilled steel 100's. Sure, technically they COULD stay down longer, it just never seems to happen.

I NEVER said it wasn't better to dive nitrox, per se. I merely said I don't think it's worth it. Heck, when I did the cristal clear dive, we were the first ones down, diving air, and would have been the last ones up with plenty of air left if we didn't have to follow that stupid guide. This was on the Spiegel Grove. And this was diving with YOU GUYS. All I'm trying to point out, is that in my experience, nitrox divers always surface at the same time anyways, so whats the point?

However, if I was bounce diving a few deep wrecks, I'd go nitrox all the way. But on a charter? no.
 
Now you know why we live in Florida ... when are you moving down? :wink:
Kim P
 
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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