BabyDuck
Contributor
what a great time!
larry (da aquamaster) and i went on a trip to the dry tortugas last week. the boat was the m/v spree, captained by frank (wookie). the trip was set up by diver's den in baltimore, and cdreamer was the point person. we flew (my first time flying with dive gear - yikes!) to ft lauderdale & hooked up with some other folks from diver's den. c & f had been on our first date (an nc wreck trip) 2 years ago, so it was great to see them, and we also met three fairly new divers who were going to do their aow on board. we took a van shuttle to key west and met the other divers (we were i think 15 total) and the crew of 7 or so.
everyone was a good, safe diver who listened to briefings. a huge percentage did all 16 dives, which the captain said was unusual. as far as i know, there weren't any incidents except one couple got a bit mixed up on a night dive & came on up & swam in instead of coming up the line, but they weren't far away. nobody had to use the dingy of shame, and the only injuries were bruises and skinned knuckles from putting wet suits on. i don't even think anyone got nauseous the whole time!
the boat feels spacious. the food was excellent & plentiful. the crew were personable & fun & pleasant & helpful. briefings were entertaining, especially the reef models made of random dive gear and the laminated correct amount of toilet paper. should it be called head paper? whatever. there were interesting discussions about diving & non-diving topics. there were totally inane discussions, too, mainly about karaoke.
the reefs in the dry tortugas were the nicest i've seen, without bleaching or looking chewed up. there were *huge* numbers of different fish & other creatures. we saw a few goliath grouper, several morays, i saw my first nudi, there were crabs galore. i think one group saw a nurse shark, but i didn't see any sharks this trip. 14 of our dives were on the reefs. 3 were night dives. the last 2 dives were on the vandenburg, which is a new (1 year old) artificial reef off of key west. the spree limits your dive start time to within 20 minutes of declaring the pool open, but not your bottom time. i guess we averaged 50 minutes per dive.
the only thing i'd change if i could would be doors on the berth areas. there is plenty of privacy for changing, etc, but not for...potential other stuff. and perhaps a canopy or umbrella on the top deck, but that's just because i burn to a crisp if my pasty whiteness sees the sun. other folks enjoyed the sun deck a bunch. i brought a few too many clothes, but basically i was happy with my packing & i like to have insurance in case of food spills or something.
it was a great time with wonderful diving & lots of new friends. it is a newbie-friendly boat on rec trips, so don't be afraid to give it a try. larry's looking at going on a tech trip, so i might have that to report on this fall - we'll see. frank & his wife & mate melanie are terrific people & pull the strings just right to keep the trip flowing. many thanks to them & the crew!
larry (da aquamaster) and i went on a trip to the dry tortugas last week. the boat was the m/v spree, captained by frank (wookie). the trip was set up by diver's den in baltimore, and cdreamer was the point person. we flew (my first time flying with dive gear - yikes!) to ft lauderdale & hooked up with some other folks from diver's den. c & f had been on our first date (an nc wreck trip) 2 years ago, so it was great to see them, and we also met three fairly new divers who were going to do their aow on board. we took a van shuttle to key west and met the other divers (we were i think 15 total) and the crew of 7 or so.
everyone was a good, safe diver who listened to briefings. a huge percentage did all 16 dives, which the captain said was unusual. as far as i know, there weren't any incidents except one couple got a bit mixed up on a night dive & came on up & swam in instead of coming up the line, but they weren't far away. nobody had to use the dingy of shame, and the only injuries were bruises and skinned knuckles from putting wet suits on. i don't even think anyone got nauseous the whole time!
the boat feels spacious. the food was excellent & plentiful. the crew were personable & fun & pleasant & helpful. briefings were entertaining, especially the reef models made of random dive gear and the laminated correct amount of toilet paper. should it be called head paper? whatever. there were interesting discussions about diving & non-diving topics. there were totally inane discussions, too, mainly about karaoke.
the reefs in the dry tortugas were the nicest i've seen, without bleaching or looking chewed up. there were *huge* numbers of different fish & other creatures. we saw a few goliath grouper, several morays, i saw my first nudi, there were crabs galore. i think one group saw a nurse shark, but i didn't see any sharks this trip. 14 of our dives were on the reefs. 3 were night dives. the last 2 dives were on the vandenburg, which is a new (1 year old) artificial reef off of key west. the spree limits your dive start time to within 20 minutes of declaring the pool open, but not your bottom time. i guess we averaged 50 minutes per dive.
the only thing i'd change if i could would be doors on the berth areas. there is plenty of privacy for changing, etc, but not for...potential other stuff. and perhaps a canopy or umbrella on the top deck, but that's just because i burn to a crisp if my pasty whiteness sees the sun. other folks enjoyed the sun deck a bunch. i brought a few too many clothes, but basically i was happy with my packing & i like to have insurance in case of food spills or something.
it was a great time with wonderful diving & lots of new friends. it is a newbie-friendly boat on rec trips, so don't be afraid to give it a try. larry's looking at going on a tech trip, so i might have that to report on this fall - we'll see. frank & his wife & mate melanie are terrific people & pull the strings just right to keep the trip flowing. many thanks to them & the crew!
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