Angie and I did two dives with Capt. Todd and the American Dream II on Sunday. This was a World Watersports-Divers Direct, and Oceanic's Demo dive, so there were a lot of goodies for people to try, among which were scooters, underwater MP3 players, atom computers (they're really cool) and regulators.
The dive profile called for a mid-level wreck and a shallow reef, but viz reports were not encouraging for a shallow reef, so Capt. Todd suggested two mid-level wrecks with appropriate SI time and everyone agreed.
First dive site was the Jay Scutti.
Water temp about 78F at the bottom, vis about 30' and a very slight north current. Sea life was a bit scarse, but the usual suspects were around. Total dive time was 35 min and max depth 73 fsw. Angie dove 21% and I dove 36%, but followed the profile for 21%. Did our first deco at 36fsw for 1 min and a few other divers were wondering why we were doing that. Only a couple of them knew exactly what we were doing, so they hung around with us. Secon deco at 15 fsw for 2 mins, and a slow ascent to the surface, where the boat was tied.
At the boat I realized why many divers didn't know what we were doing hanging on the line at 36 fsw...most of them were recently certified, and there was one class on the boat.
Second dive site was Hog heaven and monkey bars.
After a 53 min SI (the boat arrived at the site when our SI was at 29 mins), we jumped in. What a much nicer dive. Water temp was 81F at the bottom and blue water; vis was in excess of 50' with no current! Again, Angie dove 21% and I dove 36%. There was quite a bit more sealife than at the Jay Scutti, including a school of barracudas and a tiger tail seacucumber, and of course, a good number of hogfish (I wish I had brought a speargun). Total dive time was 29 mins (24 mins at depth) and max depth 69 fsw. Angie got to try the Atom Computer and the MP3 player. She loved them both. We both tried the Seadoo scooter for a short while. Nice little scooter (about 2 mph speed and priced less than $500.00; 2 hr battery life). Again, first deco at 35 fsw (1 min) and second at 15 fsw (2 mins). Perfect profile!!!
The folks at American Dream II are top notch. This was our first dive with them, and it won't be the last. The boat is very comfortable and well spaced. It's not a cattle car (like those at So. Fla. Diving Hq.), and the crew is very friendly and professional (crew= capt. + 3 DM's). There is plenty of parking and if you get there early enough you can park right behind the boat (as we did) so getting on and off is quite easy. Parking is not free, but Capt. Todd has enough discount tickets to go around (we paid $3.00 for parking).
The dive profile called for a mid-level wreck and a shallow reef, but viz reports were not encouraging for a shallow reef, so Capt. Todd suggested two mid-level wrecks with appropriate SI time and everyone agreed.
First dive site was the Jay Scutti.
Water temp about 78F at the bottom, vis about 30' and a very slight north current. Sea life was a bit scarse, but the usual suspects were around. Total dive time was 35 min and max depth 73 fsw. Angie dove 21% and I dove 36%, but followed the profile for 21%. Did our first deco at 36fsw for 1 min and a few other divers were wondering why we were doing that. Only a couple of them knew exactly what we were doing, so they hung around with us. Secon deco at 15 fsw for 2 mins, and a slow ascent to the surface, where the boat was tied.
At the boat I realized why many divers didn't know what we were doing hanging on the line at 36 fsw...most of them were recently certified, and there was one class on the boat.
Second dive site was Hog heaven and monkey bars.
After a 53 min SI (the boat arrived at the site when our SI was at 29 mins), we jumped in. What a much nicer dive. Water temp was 81F at the bottom and blue water; vis was in excess of 50' with no current! Again, Angie dove 21% and I dove 36%. There was quite a bit more sealife than at the Jay Scutti, including a school of barracudas and a tiger tail seacucumber, and of course, a good number of hogfish (I wish I had brought a speargun). Total dive time was 29 mins (24 mins at depth) and max depth 69 fsw. Angie got to try the Atom Computer and the MP3 player. She loved them both. We both tried the Seadoo scooter for a short while. Nice little scooter (about 2 mph speed and priced less than $500.00; 2 hr battery life). Again, first deco at 35 fsw (1 min) and second at 15 fsw (2 mins). Perfect profile!!!
The folks at American Dream II are top notch. This was our first dive with them, and it won't be the last. The boat is very comfortable and well spaced. It's not a cattle car (like those at So. Fla. Diving Hq.), and the crew is very friendly and professional (crew= capt. + 3 DM's). There is plenty of parking and if you get there early enough you can park right behind the boat (as we did) so getting on and off is quite easy. Parking is not free, but Capt. Todd has enough discount tickets to go around (we paid $3.00 for parking).
