Well the last dive day of the Florida trip is over. We thought we were going to have the boat to ourselves and dive the Bibb or Duane, followed by a reef dive on Molasses. Unfortunately, the best made plans don't always come to fruition. We were notified early this morning that 3 additional divers booked late yesterday and as a result, we were back out to the Spiegel Grove for two more dips to close the trip out. It did not disappoint. Once again, very calm waters with mild breezes and no current to speak of. Blue water and 100+ foot viz. - a bit reduced on dive two, but negligible. The first dive we spent going through starboard corridor of the well deck from stern to bow and then just continued straight for the bow of the boat when we popped out. We hit the bow and then made a turn back for the superstructure. I descended a bit down the port side of the bow on the outside of the boat to find some very pretty black coral before heading aft. We hit some more corridors on our way back to ball #5, where we had moored for dive one. We then spent the end of the dive cruising along the crane arm adjacent to mooring ball #5 at 85 feet. It was just amazingly gorgeous and full of corals.
The last dive of the day and trip saw us reposition to mooring ball #6 (highest point on the ship). We decided to head to the back (aft) of the boat. We really had not done that at all on any of the previous dives. It was a leisurely out against a super mild current and then a quick cruise back. We did some additional corridor swim throughs one back at the superstructure and then made the ascent.
A couple of Dusky Sharks were seen on both dives, lots of schooling barracudas, African pompanos in number and horse eyed jacks.
It has been a great trip- I am always amazed at the number of divers from others parts of the country who have no idea about how great the diving in Florida is or even know about it. I tell everyone in my sphere of influence, "you don't have to leave the country to experience amazing warm water diving".
I ended up doing 32 dives in 11 days.
10 of those on the Spiegel Grove in amazing conditions. I am not really a wreck person. I love the reefs and their diversity. That being said, I never tired of doing the Spiegel Grove. Every dive was different and it is as much a reef as a wreck, for sure. With all of its varied sea life and corals, it is truly a reef!
Thanks for following along and to all of you locals for providing such great feedback and insight along the way. Special shout outs to
@scubadada who has been a wealth of Boynton and West Palm knowledge over the years and also to
@JimBlay for his great insights and comments and knowledge.
Here are some parting fotos: