We had 16 folks come join us from Florida and Maryland to dive
some of the wrecks of the Florida Keys. The weather report said it would be
lumpy, and it was. These intrepid divers was a great way to start the year. They
were good divers, they were tough, and only two were seasick. I felt bad, as
there is nothing more miserable than being seasick. Take it from me.
We got underway at 3 AM and headed straight for the Thunderbolt. We arrived at
7:15 after a fairly bumpy ride and tied in to the sub-surface mooring. We saw
that conditions were good enough for diving, with 3-5 foot seas, little current,
100 feet of vis, and sea temps of 73. Over the side they went, some got right
back on. Equipment repair would be the name of the game this trip. Divers were
treated to large numbers of Goliath Grouper, both the 100 lb kind as well as the
400 lb kind. The blacks were thick as flies on dung, as well as huge schools of
silvery minnows. Only 1 lionfish was spotted, and it would be the only lionfish
we spotted the entire trip.
After dive 2 we headed west to the Adolphus Busch. We tied up on the Busch at
2:45 for a 3 PM jump. Vis was 50-75 feet, seas were down to 2-4, and temp still
73. Current was slack. Lots of little fish were seen, small reef fishes of all
kinds, but far fewer blacks and GG. The twilight dive was done on the Busch, but
everyone was too cold to do a real night dive, so the deck crew got to wrap it
up early.
We woke up Sunday morning on the Vandenberg. Vis wasn't too hot at 30-50 feet,
current was light. One of the interesting parts of the Vandenberg reported was
that swirling areas of colder water would come through periodically. Seas were
2-4 feet. Divers would be in 74 degree water, then a 65 degree swirl would come
through, chilling everyone out. We did 2 dives on the Vandenberg before heading
to the Cayman Salvage Master.
Vis on the Cayman was piss poor, reportedly at 10 feet. I heard other boats on
the radio looking for a place to dive reporting bad vis in most places. There
could have been lots of fish on the Cayman, but nobody saw them. The evening was
spent dancing at Rick's cabaret and singing karaoke. I think a good time was had
by all. The mighty Spree had a successful passenger shakedown cruise.
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Capt Frank
M/V Spree
Stock Island, FL |
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