naturalsummer
Guest
The Dry Tortugas Liveaboard, The Ultimate Getaway is a 100' dive vessel out of Fort Myers, Florida. It has two mid and bow bunk sections w/ dorm style bunks and 4 full heads with showers. We had to bring towels, bedding and dive gear but everything else was provided including tanks. The nitrox system was down so I didn't need my cert (which I got for the trip) or the nitrox for that matter ... when you consider the number of dives we were able to do. The boat holds 20 divers and we had 16 on board. An outstanding group of people and I enjoyed meeting everyone. Special thanks to Robin for pulling us together for the trip. I decided to make the 12 hour drive instead of flying since I had to carry so much and didn't want to risk the hassles (I am sure you know them well) of flying. Walter was nice enough to meet me in Ft Myers, show me around and be my dive buddy for the few dives we managed to make. The wind was howling on Sunday night as we pulled away from the dock but we all had hopes and the forecast called for it to subside ... boy were they wrong. The ride out was a little bumpy but we were going with the seas so it wasn't too bad ... now the ride back in was another story. Woke up to rough conditions on Monday so Capt Rick anchored in a protected spot between Fort Jefferson and Loggerhead Key and after breakfast we dropped in to see what we could see ... which wasn't much ... vis was only about 10 ft and the current was pretty strong ... so we completed the dive with hopes of finding a site with more desirable conditions. The second dive was better, the vis had cleared another 20 ft, the water temp was 79 deg. but the current was still raging. Several in the group had to be picked up by junior (the chase boat). Four tried to climb in on one trip and junior became a submarine !!! The crew jumped into action and junior was saved, thank goodness because he was needed again the next day. I believe Walter and I were the only ones that didn't take a ride in junior on a dive during the entire trip! We spent the rest of the afternoon touring Fort Jefferson and taking pics. Tuesday looked like a wash as the seas had not calmed and the winds were still blowing strong so off we went to Loggerhead Key. We decided to go snorkeling on the back side and spend the morning exploring the island ... I found several treasures including a great hat and sun visor ... both I gave away ... after lunch we decided to dive again ... my plan was to drop in and swim to the anchor line and descend down the line ... I never made it. The current was so strong I was barely making any headway ... I made it to the front of the vessel descended a few feet only to be swept under the bow and looked up to see I was close to being struck on the head by the pounding boat ... I pushed off from the keel and came out the other side ... I was breathing so rapidly from exertion and the thought of being hit in the head that I could not catch my breath or slow my breathing ... Walter was soon by my side asking if I was OK and trying to inflate my BC (I had already filled it) as the current was rapidly taking me past the boat I waved to the mate who threw me a line and was pulled safely to the stern. Needless to say I called that dive as did Kathy who was swept past the reef and spent her bottom time swimming back to the boat. After moving to another site I decided to try it again ... this time dropping in and descending immediately ... the current was still strong but it was the best dive of the trip to me. We saw a large hogfish, four lobsters, several beautiful angels, a grouper and the typical smaller reef fish. Thanks to Walter's navigation, we surfaced very near the stern ... much to my relief. We had hoped to get in a wreck dive the next morning but the weather did not favor us ... guess we should have made that sacrifice to the weather gods... So we headed back to Ft Myers ... this time into the seas... four of us in the forward bunks soon found ourselves on the back deck just trying to find a little abatement from the pounding seas. So Walter, April and I told jokes (well mainly Walter) soon making us forget out discomfort, laughing until 3am ... waiting for a break to finally get some ZZZZZ's. We pulled back into the dock between 9 & 10am Wednesday, a little bruised and battered but all safe and sound ... and even with all the challenges we faced I still had a great time. I would do it again. Want to join me ....
