The key word and tricky phrase for this trip would be weather. We had all we wanted, and then some. 22 guests and 8 crew set out for the Dry Tortugas on the heels of what would become T. S. Don. High pressure built in over us and kept the winds a blowin' and the seas choppy. Here is what we did.

Dive one found us at Ingear. Ingear isn't a truly stupendous dive site, but it's a good place to start a trip. There is a historic anchor and chain there, as well as lots of fish. The coral isn't all that, but the fish life is great. Divers saw on the order of 20 small black grouper, yellow headed jawfish, a big southern stingray, and other denizens of an octocoral reef. Following Ingear we dove on Coopers Reef, which is always a good time. A small goliath, a few lionfish, a turtle, and other reef wall critters were there to greet the divers. Almost everyone on the boat has a camera, so we are having picture show and tell on the boat. After the night dive, we moved to anchor at the fort because of forecast heavy seas. I'm glad we did.

We stuck our nose back out in it for Thursday morning, and it was still lumpy. Our first dive was at Billy's Ridge, and what a dive it was. Big goliath grouper, a ton of lobster, and a spotted eagle ray. It calmed down in the afternoon a bit, and we moved to G-spot. G-spot is one of our favorite night dive sites, but it disappointed this time. Colm jumped in to set the strobes and the current was howling so badly that he smoked a thousand pounds of air just getting to the bottom and back. We scrubbed the night dive and headed back to the park to anchor.

We visited Fort Jefferson on Friday morning, everyone took a couple of hours to walk around the fort and see a bit of history. We headed back out to the reef after our fort tour and found that the park moorings have been replaced. Woohoo, we'd have a chance to dive Texas Rock. And so we did, after diving on Alex's Mountains. Alex's Mountains was and is always good, with lots of relief and plenty of fish to live there. Texas Rock in the afternoon delighted and amazed the guests with big goliath grouper, lots of lobster, and all of the usual reef critters.

Saturday morning we are on the Vandenberg, with little current and less visibility. Seas are 1-2 feet, and the diving is fine.

Thanks to our families and guests that made this trip a true pleasure.