MikeSSS
Registered
April 7th I went out with Pirate Island Divers aka It's a Dive, for the morning and afternoon dives. PID is the new name for It's a Dive but the excellent large pontoon boat and excellent service are still the same. They sure run a great trip and that boat has plenty of room, a good ride and is way quieter than diesel mono-hulls.
Morning, dive 1, we dropped down on the Benwood. Water temp was around 72, cold for my 3mm, vis was pretty good. I haven't been to this ship in a long time, it was nice to be back on it but there are more interesting places. I tried out a new UK C8 eLED light, it shows up the colors well and was great under the overhangs.
AM, dive 2 on French reef, the other divers went off the left side but I went off the right and dropped down right next to a huge turtle. Huge, with a brown back and a head bigger than my chest. This was a flat sided head, a serious looking biting head. The turtle had no interest in me, I followed him easily and watched him eat something off the bottom, he landed on all four fins to crunch up whatever it was. Off he went with me following, he landed again and crunched up a second snack. The shell fragments revealed he ate a snail. All the coral heads I looked at were in good condition and the vis was pretty good.
PM, dive 1 on the Anchor Chain at elbow reef. I didn't see the chain but the coral heads were very good and so was vis. One barracuda let me get pretty close, two others hovering over the sand turned and gave me the tooth-smile. They were waiting off a ledge that had four pretty good sized fish under it. Two of the same kind of fish let me know they didn't want to be chased out of their protection by showing their top front teeth. A second type of fish opened it's mouth very wide and held that pose as long as I was there. The third type of fish didn't do anything other than act like it wanted to stay under the ledge. Next a cloud of barracuda came into view, probably about 30 of em, hovering about 10 feet off the bottom. Looking around under the ledges I found a very large greenish cammo colored fish. This fish, like the turtle, probably weighed at least twice my 225 lb. And like the turtle this big fish wasn't impressed by a diver at all. Lots of smaller fish kept him company under the ledge, almost every ledge had lots of fish under it.
PM, dive 2 at the Ledges, vis was very good. Like the Anchor Chain there was lots of sunlight and the eLED C8 wasn't needed very much to show colors but it was great under the ledges.
French reef and the Anchor Chain were the best for me, they had the most interesting marine life to kick back and watch.
Lauderdale by the Sea, the day before Key Largo wasn't all that good. I went only to the first reef and that mostly to make sure the weights were right and to test the eLED C8. Vis wasn't very good and the fish were sort of sparse. The dive shop said that vis was good on the second reef. The world's worst Burger King, across from the dive shop, is now closed! Excellent.
Hotels: Travelodge in Homestead was very nice and so was the Santa Barbara at LDBTS. Travelodge Homestead is just north of where Krome and US-1 come together, Santa Barbara is on the NW corner of Datura and El Mar diagonal across from the Windjammer. Homestead hint: if McDonalds is crowded goto Burger King and get right in, especially in the morning.
As always the old Sherwood Oasis breathed like a champ and the Henderson Hyperstretch went on and off like a breeze.
Last gasp, my wife and I went to the STS-131 launch and watched from the causeway, that was fantastic.
Well, that's the deal. Happy diving!
Morning, dive 1, we dropped down on the Benwood. Water temp was around 72, cold for my 3mm, vis was pretty good. I haven't been to this ship in a long time, it was nice to be back on it but there are more interesting places. I tried out a new UK C8 eLED light, it shows up the colors well and was great under the overhangs.
AM, dive 2 on French reef, the other divers went off the left side but I went off the right and dropped down right next to a huge turtle. Huge, with a brown back and a head bigger than my chest. This was a flat sided head, a serious looking biting head. The turtle had no interest in me, I followed him easily and watched him eat something off the bottom, he landed on all four fins to crunch up whatever it was. Off he went with me following, he landed again and crunched up a second snack. The shell fragments revealed he ate a snail. All the coral heads I looked at were in good condition and the vis was pretty good.
PM, dive 1 on the Anchor Chain at elbow reef. I didn't see the chain but the coral heads were very good and so was vis. One barracuda let me get pretty close, two others hovering over the sand turned and gave me the tooth-smile. They were waiting off a ledge that had four pretty good sized fish under it. Two of the same kind of fish let me know they didn't want to be chased out of their protection by showing their top front teeth. A second type of fish opened it's mouth very wide and held that pose as long as I was there. The third type of fish didn't do anything other than act like it wanted to stay under the ledge. Next a cloud of barracuda came into view, probably about 30 of em, hovering about 10 feet off the bottom. Looking around under the ledges I found a very large greenish cammo colored fish. This fish, like the turtle, probably weighed at least twice my 225 lb. And like the turtle this big fish wasn't impressed by a diver at all. Lots of smaller fish kept him company under the ledge, almost every ledge had lots of fish under it.
PM, dive 2 at the Ledges, vis was very good. Like the Anchor Chain there was lots of sunlight and the eLED C8 wasn't needed very much to show colors but it was great under the ledges.
French reef and the Anchor Chain were the best for me, they had the most interesting marine life to kick back and watch.
Lauderdale by the Sea, the day before Key Largo wasn't all that good. I went only to the first reef and that mostly to make sure the weights were right and to test the eLED C8. Vis wasn't very good and the fish were sort of sparse. The dive shop said that vis was good on the second reef. The world's worst Burger King, across from the dive shop, is now closed! Excellent.
Hotels: Travelodge in Homestead was very nice and so was the Santa Barbara at LDBTS. Travelodge Homestead is just north of where Krome and US-1 come together, Santa Barbara is on the NW corner of Datura and El Mar diagonal across from the Windjammer. Homestead hint: if McDonalds is crowded goto Burger King and get right in, especially in the morning.
As always the old Sherwood Oasis breathed like a champ and the Henderson Hyperstretch went on and off like a breeze.
Last gasp, my wife and I went to the STS-131 launch and watched from the causeway, that was fantastic.
Well, that's the deal. Happy diving!
