Slamfire
Contributor
First of all, the obvious, temperatures are toasty -- even in December and even with a 2mm shorty as the only exposure protection. But before going into details, some background:
About a month ago I went into the SB chatroom to see if I could get some advice on were to go if I wanted to squeeze some dives into our FL end of year vacation. I probably should have come to this forum board instead, but I succumbed to the temptations of instant gratification that real-time live chat offers. Almost everybody on the chat room pointed me to Speargirl from Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Center.
I talked with Speargirl. I asked if they would be able to rent me a set of doubles with DIN manifolds. If that was the case, I would pack up backplate, wing, and the tech set regs -- otherwise I would just dust out my old jacket bcd and take my sister's rec set regs. It turned out to be the latter. I booked a couple of dives to the Spiegel Grove.
At around the same time, my Weston suburbanite cousin told me over the phone that her neighbour from across the street was always washing dive gear in his driveway. I asked if she could put in a good word on my behalf just to see if I could get a non-commercial diving contact in FL. Initially I thought it was a long shot, but little did I know that the neighbour was Deepstops.
I met Deepstops right in front of his house. He told me that we can go out on a deeper-than-rec dive to the Hydro Atlantic. I love it, but the equipment I brought with me is a poor choice for such dive. He said not to worry, we could meet in his garage some time after my Spiegel Grove dives so that we can put together a tech rig for me. This started to look like my lucky trip to FL
.
First Dive.-
Two days before the Spiegel Grove Dives Speargirl tells me my dives are only going to be $35. Ahhh the joys of the lucky trip. I head out to Key Largo having taken only 25 mg of Meclizine (Bonine) for motion sickness. My instabuddy turns out to be a nice middle aged gentleman with, by his own admission, limited scuba experience. No major problems since this is expected.
What was not expected were the 4 ft rough seas with very frequent 8 ft swells. The trip out was about an hour long. By the time we got to the wreck I had already puked 3 times. I just wanted to get under that nasty surface and enjoy the relief of neutral buoyancy. Vis was not great -- about 40ft. I saw some Barracudas and Jewfish, but I was mostly relaxing and trying to recuperate rather than sightseeing. When I still had around 20 mins of gas left before my turnaround mark, my buddy signals that we have to go up because he is getting low on gas. I groan inside myself dreading what I had to face up on the surface.
Despite my dreading of the surface, we go up. Surface conditions where not adequate for leaving an inexperienced buddy alone while I enjoy underwater calmness. While doing the 3 min stop at 15 ft I start feeling the rolling motion of the swells. This triggers another bout of motion sickness and pretty soon I'm puking my guts out. I timed my hurling so that I pull out the reg to avoid chunks or stomach acid to go through my reg. It is at around this time that it occured to me that the ability to hurl underwater should become a required skill...
I look up as I am ascending to the surface and see my buddy grabbing the anchor line. All of sudden he shoots out as if suddenly pulled by a speed boat hauling a boogie boarder. As the swell came down he stopped just to be pulled out again with another swell. Negotiating the boat entry is not fun. The crew helps me get out of my gear. I puke again and then just lie down on the floor. When the captain asks if we want to do a 2nd dive on the Spiegel or go to the Benwood, two answers come back: some want to go to the Benwood and some want to scrape the 2nd dive altogether. I'm with the crowd that will not go on a 2nd dive.
Overall, I have no complaints about the boat or it's crew. The crew was competent and the weather was not their fault. I would book again with Captain Slate's.
Second Dive.-
Deepstops told me we were no longer doing the hydroatlantic. Instead we were going to do the Dewitt Clinton in Pompano Beach. This time I take 50 mg of Meclizine. Deepstops introduces me to the other 4 divers and to the skipper, Oliver, from Avid Diver. One of the divers turns out to be scubaboard's own HowardE. I will not name the other 3 divers as I do not know their scubaboard handles. It was a relief find out that the boat ride is only going to be about 10 mins. It also turns out that the ocean is much calmer. Vis is better. The wreck is smaller than what I had imagined, still interesting, nonetheless.
I follow Deepstops into the wreck through a hole in the hull that seems to be created by the one of the controlled explosions that sunk it. We come out from the inside of the wreck near its midsection. We went over a big electrical motor into a compartment that had no exit. I crouch into a corner to make room for the two divers inside the compartment to come out. After they got out I went in and found some coils of cable inside. It's a fun wreck to play in.
Time goes fast when you're having fun. Pretty soon I note that it's almost been the half hour that we alloted for diving the wreck. I signal Deepstops that I'll start heading up to the 1st deco stop and he follows shortly deploying the bag. Deco goes on without a glitch and pretty soon we are back on the boat. It was a nice relaxing dive. It was also a perfect example of how valuable it is to know somebody within the local diving community. My thanks to Deepstops for helping me make this dive.
About a month ago I went into the SB chatroom to see if I could get some advice on were to go if I wanted to squeeze some dives into our FL end of year vacation. I probably should have come to this forum board instead, but I succumbed to the temptations of instant gratification that real-time live chat offers. Almost everybody on the chat room pointed me to Speargirl from Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Center.
I talked with Speargirl. I asked if they would be able to rent me a set of doubles with DIN manifolds. If that was the case, I would pack up backplate, wing, and the tech set regs -- otherwise I would just dust out my old jacket bcd and take my sister's rec set regs. It turned out to be the latter. I booked a couple of dives to the Spiegel Grove.
At around the same time, my Weston suburbanite cousin told me over the phone that her neighbour from across the street was always washing dive gear in his driveway. I asked if she could put in a good word on my behalf just to see if I could get a non-commercial diving contact in FL. Initially I thought it was a long shot, but little did I know that the neighbour was Deepstops.
I met Deepstops right in front of his house. He told me that we can go out on a deeper-than-rec dive to the Hydro Atlantic. I love it, but the equipment I brought with me is a poor choice for such dive. He said not to worry, we could meet in his garage some time after my Spiegel Grove dives so that we can put together a tech rig for me. This started to look like my lucky trip to FL
.First Dive.-
Two days before the Spiegel Grove Dives Speargirl tells me my dives are only going to be $35. Ahhh the joys of the lucky trip
. I head out to Key Largo having taken only 25 mg of Meclizine (Bonine) for motion sickness. My instabuddy turns out to be a nice middle aged gentleman with, by his own admission, limited scuba experience. No major problems since this is expected. What was not expected were the 4 ft rough seas with very frequent 8 ft swells. The trip out was about an hour long. By the time we got to the wreck I had already puked 3 times. I just wanted to get under that nasty surface and enjoy the relief of neutral buoyancy. Vis was not great -- about 40ft. I saw some Barracudas and Jewfish, but I was mostly relaxing and trying to recuperate rather than sightseeing. When I still had around 20 mins of gas left before my turnaround mark, my buddy signals that we have to go up because he is getting low on gas. I groan inside myself dreading what I had to face up on the surface.
Despite my dreading of the surface, we go up. Surface conditions where not adequate for leaving an inexperienced buddy alone while I enjoy underwater calmness. While doing the 3 min stop at 15 ft I start feeling the rolling motion of the swells. This triggers another bout of motion sickness and pretty soon I'm puking my guts out. I timed my hurling so that I pull out the reg to avoid chunks or stomach acid to go through my reg. It is at around this time that it occured to me that the ability to hurl underwater should become a required skill...
I look up as I am ascending to the surface and see my buddy grabbing the anchor line. All of sudden he shoots out as if suddenly pulled by a speed boat hauling a boogie boarder. As the swell came down he stopped just to be pulled out again with another swell. Negotiating the boat entry is not fun. The crew helps me get out of my gear. I puke again and then just lie down on the floor. When the captain asks if we want to do a 2nd dive on the Spiegel or go to the Benwood, two answers come back: some want to go to the Benwood and some want to scrape the 2nd dive altogether. I'm with the crowd that will not go on a 2nd dive.
Overall, I have no complaints about the boat or it's crew. The crew was competent and the weather was not their fault. I would book again with Captain Slate's.
Second Dive.-
Deepstops told me we were no longer doing the hydroatlantic. Instead we were going to do the Dewitt Clinton in Pompano Beach. This time I take 50 mg of Meclizine. Deepstops introduces me to the other 4 divers and to the skipper, Oliver, from Avid Diver. One of the divers turns out to be scubaboard's own HowardE. I will not name the other 3 divers as I do not know their scubaboard handles. It was a relief find out that the boat ride is only going to be about 10 mins. It also turns out that the ocean is much calmer. Vis is better. The wreck is smaller than what I had imagined, still interesting, nonetheless.
I follow Deepstops into the wreck through a hole in the hull that seems to be created by the one of the controlled explosions that sunk it. We come out from the inside of the wreck near its midsection. We went over a big electrical motor into a compartment that had no exit. I crouch into a corner to make room for the two divers inside the compartment to come out. After they got out I went in and found some coils of cable inside. It's a fun wreck to play in.
Time goes fast when you're having fun. Pretty soon I note that it's almost been the half hour that we alloted for diving the wreck. I signal Deepstops that I'll start heading up to the 1st deco stop and he follows shortly deploying the bag. Deco goes on without a glitch and pretty soon we are back on the boat. It was a nice relaxing dive. It was also a perfect example of how valuable it is to know somebody within the local diving community. My thanks to Deepstops for helping me make this dive.
Last edited:
