Every year the Florida commercial lobster season ends on March 15th and reopens in early August 1st for traps and harvesting. This little break gives the lobster population a chance to spawn, tend to their eggs, and create the next generation of tasty crustaceans. It also is a time for lobster movement, often from deeper waters, to the shallower reef systems inshore, where food is plentiful and the habitat offers a lot of great hiding places. The last Wednesday and Thursday of July every year are reserved for recreational divers and boaters to get first dibs on all the spiny lobster that have been spawning all spring and summer before the commercial fisheries set their lobster traps. This very special time of the year, as far as the lobster hunters are concerned, is called the ‘mini-season’! For two days people from the around the country descend down to Key Largo to try their best efforts at catching Florida Spiny Lobster. Although anyone with a Florida fishing license and crawfish stamp can hunt for lobster Aug 6-March 15th, most non-locals come down only for mini-season. Late July in Florida is a recreational divers Mecca and a frenzy unmatched on the local waterways and reefs during the rest of the year.
Lobster Tails Abundant at the IVS Lobster Feast
For the past seven years, customers of Indian Valley SCUBA (IVS) have traveled from Harleysville, Pennsylvania to Key Largo to take part in Lobster Mini-Season. The size and popularity of the IVS Lobster Mini-Season group has grown steadily over the years starting with just a few people in 2005 to a full boat of 24 divers the past few years. IVS combines the two days of Lobster Mini-Season with the group’s usual weekend of Reefs and Wrecks dives with Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo, and also adds a two-day Florida Keys Wreck Trek from Key West to Key Largo option at the beginning of the week to round out a complete week of summertime diving. The 2011 Edition of the IVS Lobster week included 17 divers on the Wreck Trek, 24 divers for Lobster Mini-Season and over 30 divers for the Reef and Wrecks weekend. The diving conditions all week were a bit windy but manageable for the IVS team. Catching lobster on the shallow reefs off Key Largo was a bit challenging on the bumpy conditions but smaller recreational vessels stayed inland to avoid the rougher seas of the outer reef which meant more lobster to catch for the courageous IVS crew. By Thursday evening, Team IVS captured 172 legal sized lobsters in two days of Mini-Season shattering the group’s 2010 record of 107 lobsters and providing the bounty for fantastic annual feast at the Key Largo Conch House.
Forty-Five Attend the 2011 IVS Lobster Feast at the Conch House
The Conch House, established in 2004 by Ted & Laura Dreaver, started as the Key Largo Coffee House, and quickly established itself as a great place for a good breakfast. In no time at all, they expanded to lunch & dinner, and at the same time, changed the name to the Conch House to better reflect their all-day fare. Today, with the addition of daughter Stephanie, and sons Justin & John, the family owned Conch House is one of the best restaurants in the Upper Keys due to the establishment’s unmatched combination of ambience, unique culinary delights and friendly service. Most often, it’s one of the family members who takes care of you while dining at the Conch House. For the annual IVS Mini Season Lobster Feast, the staff of the Conch House graciously takes in hundreds of lobster gathered by the IVS crew and cooks up tasteful dishes of lobster cerviche, lobster fritters and of course broiled lobster tail with drawn butter…Hmmmm!! For the 2011 IVS Lobster Feast, the Conch House served up over 150 lobsters with no leftovers to spare. Forty-five hungry people attended the lobster feast including the complete weekend contingent of IVS Reefs and Wreck divers, the owners and staff of Amoray Dive Resort and a few local friends who dive with the IVS crew. Everyone at the annual lobster feast ate like kings and had a fantastic time. The warmest appreciation and thanks go out to the owners of Amoray Dive Resort and the boat crew of the Amoray Diver for making another successful IVS Mini-Season possible. Plus, a big thank you goes out to the professional staff of the Conch House for once again putting together a wonderful annual lobster feast. See you all again next Lobster Mini-Season!
Indian Valley SCUBA arrived early in South Florida to take in the sites and some serious wrecks prior to Lobster Mini-Season arrives on Wednesday and Thurday. David Valaika headed to the Dry Tortugas for an adventure excursion on a private boat to dive some deep wrecks. Sue Douglass, Bev and Butch Loggins, Brian LaSpino, Jesica Tyre headed to South Beach for some R&R. Bill and John Zyskowski arrived in Key Largo Saturday night to get a head start on the Indian Valley SCUBA Wreck Trek-Lobster Week by taking a private all day wreck charter with IVS South’s David Hartman. The Z-Brothers Wreck Trek included three dives on the Spiegel with lunch and a gorgeous dive on the Duane to end the all day affair. Excellent conditions on both wrecks plus sunny skies made for a fantastic dive day. The highlights of the Spiegel dives included the “Belly of the Beast Tour” of the Pump Room and Aft Engine Room, The Ulimate Tour with the “Chute” Snoopy, Galley, Mess Halls and Machine Shop and pressing some shirts in the ship’s Laundry Room. A special thanks to the Captain Pete Lacombe (The Mustard King), Divemaster Justin and Keys Diver II for taking good care the Z-Brothers team.
The Z Brothers on the USS Speigel Grove
Read More on the IVS Wreck Trek in Part III of the Blog Series……..
IVS at the 2nd Annual Vandenberg Underwater Grand Prix
The team from Indian Valley SCUBA headed down to Key West this past weekend May 20-22nd to represent and participate in the Wreck Racing League’s first race of the Formula H2o Racing season: The 2nd Annual Vandenberg Underwater Grand Prix in Key West, Florida. The first season of underwater scooter races proved the popularity of the sport and season two looks to further increase the participation of racers and exposure to national media. The race weekend started with an early evening arrival in Key West just in time for the race race registration and opening ceremonies at Hogfish Bar & Grill in Stock Island just east of Key West. Numerous racers, event organizers and crew of the M/V Spree turned out to discuss the two days of diving over the weekend. Co-founder of the Wreck Racing League, Joe Weatherby, welcomed the crowd to the first race of the season and described how each day was to unfold.
Wreck Racing League Opening Ceremonies at Hogfish Grill
Both days of diving on the weekend would be from the M/V Spree liveaboard boat based in Stock Island with scooter practice and certification classes on Saturday and race day on Sunday. After the opening ceremonies at Hogfish Grill, the IVS crew head over to the Spree to check in and setup gear for the weekend. The IVS pickup truck had just in the Keys on Friday afternoon and was packed to the brim with dive gear, video equipment and some killer Hollis DPV’s. However, our ride was no one near the most packed vehicle on the road in comparison to pick up truck we saw in Big Pine Key headed Key West jam packed dangerously high with boxes of event chairs. Ironically, the chairs were headed to a facility right next to Hogfish Grill in Stock Island for a big party on Saturday.
A Pickup Truck Full of Event Chairs Even Impresses David Valaika
After unloading the IVS truckster, the gang headed down to downtown Key West for some late evening eats. The team enjoyed an excellent meal at Thai Life Floating Restaurant just off Route 1 in Garrison Bight. What better way to enjoy a meal in Key West than on a floating restaurant. The food was excellent, the weather was perfect and we all enjoyed watching Big David Valaika sweat buckets over the mildest Pad Thai dish ever. Good thing David V. did not add any red pepper to his dish!!
The IVS Gang at Thai Life Floating Restaurant in Key West
Saturday started bright and early on the M/V Spree with detailed boat and race briefings as we traveled to Western Sambo Reef for check out dives and DPV practice. The viz on Western Sambo was limited the topography fairly flat near the Spre but the few coral heads around provided an abundance of marine life. One coral head had 8 lobsters laughing at us since lobster season is months away and the coral head lies within the protection of the National Marine Sanctuary. We also saw a couple of nurse sharks and plenty of the scooters racing as all the racers tried out their rigs and worked on their racing technique.
Eight Spiny Lobsters Cram into a Coral Head on Western Sambo Reef
After Western Sambo, the Spree traveled to the Wreck of the Vandenberg for race course setup and some serious practice with underwater scooters. David Hartman and Natalie Weatherby took care of the race course setup placing markers from the start finish on the forward balcony on the forward section of the exhaust stack all the way down a few hundred feet to the large tripod structure on top of the aft section of the foward superstructure. The bottom of the Vandenberg’s hull rests on sand in approximately 150 feet of water, but the ship is so massive that its superstructure begins about 45 feet below the surface. The course was perfect and the viz was low but manageable enough for the racers to handle the turns since there was no current all day on the Vandenberg. Each racer took a few practice runs before refilling tanks for a brief second practice dive before the Spree was to head back to port on Stock Island. All the racers approved of the course and were excited and amped for an early race start on Sunday morning. Saturday night was a quiet affair for the group as all racers decided to crash early to prepare for race day.
John Glodowski Navigates the Tripod Turn on the Vandenberg Race Course
Sunday was race day and the Spree was scheduled for an early departure to ensure placement on the proper moorning ball on the Vandenberg and to give the racers plenty of time to prepare for the big event. Viz was still poor but no current and a favorable race course setup called for speedy scooter race conditions. The racers went off in two separate groups competing in multiple classes to achieve the fastest speeds while staying within the race course. Mike Vivona won the Modified Class, Rick Iossi won the event’s Expedition Cass and Kelly Friend of Key West won the recreation Class, all racing faster than their competitors around the superstructure of the 523-foot-long former U.S. Air Force missile tracking ship. John Glodowski from Team IVS took third place in the Expedition Class with an impressive showing. Check out the video highlights of the big race in the video below and view recorded live race feeds filmed on race day on the Spree on the Formula H2o Racing Facebook Page.
The Wreck Racing League or WRL is the sanctioning body for Formula H20 Racing: the action packed sport which combines underwater scooters and scuba diving racing on artificial reefs.
The standard PADI Open Water class is 4 open water dives over two days after successful completion of classroom and pool work. Recently, PADI partnered with National Geographic to offer an Open Water Course that focused more time and attention on both a new divers underwater skills and the surrounding eco-system in which the dives take place. The PADI National Geo Open Water course includes updated course book, classroom content and a stronger emphasis on buoyancy and navigational skills in both the pool and open water dives. There are 6 open water dives over two days required to complete the PADI National Geo course. Indian Valley SCUBA is a PADI 5 Star Training Center and offers the PADI National Geo course as a standard part of the introductory curriculum for new divers. Most of IVS’s new open water students conduct the open water certification dives in the friendly confines of the “Quaribbean of the North” at Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA. Most of IVS’s warm water enthusiasts venture to IVS South in Key Largo, Florida either with an organized IVS trip at Amoray Dive Resort or on their own vacation schedule.
Lora Sigler Feeding Hungry Tarpon at Robbies
Wayne and Lora Sigler of Quakertown, PA arrived in Key Largo over a beautiful holiday Easter weekend to complete their open water check out dives for the PADI National Geo Open Water course. The Siglers are a very nice and active young couple looking to put SCUBA diving in their growing list of adventure activities. The couple started their Keys adventure on Thursday with an early arrive and a half day of tourist activities in the Upper Keys including a stop at Robbies in Islamorada to feed the school of hungry Tarpon that lurk of the dock of the marina.
Good Friday morning started off with the obligatory stop at Key Largo Undersea Park (KLUP) or more affectionately known to us locals as Jules Undersea Lodge Lagoon. Jules is in a reality a salty little “pond” created by a vinyl wall blocking off a large elbow of a saltwater canal with a retired underwater lab that now represents the only underwater hotel. The viz at Jules could be anywhere from 5- 30 feet and the max depth is 25 feet. Jules is first and foremost a phenomenal shore based training facility for introductory SCUBA diving classes. There are a couple different platforms at 4 and 6 feet for confined water work and right off the platforms is the depths of Jules lagoon perfect for introductory open water dives complete with multiple down lines and guide ropes for low viz conditions. What Jules lacks in underwater brilliance is totally offset by convenience and flexibility. Instructors bring divers to Jules on Friday morning, conducts a refresher of skills and comfort on the shallow platforms and a student’s first open water dive and all flexible surface skills in the calm controlled environment of the lagoon. After a visit to Jules, open water students are ready to dive the reefs of the National Marine Sanctuary from one of the numerous dive charter boats based in Key Largo.
Training Platform at Jules Lodge Lagoon at Key Largo Undersea Park
Lora and Wayne completed their first dive and flexible surface skills at Jules flawlessly although Lora attempted to circumnavigate the mangrove habitat on her first attempt on surface navigation. With Jules in the logbooks, the couple and I headed to Florida Keys Dive Center on off Tavernier Creek just south of Key Largo. The weather was gorgeous, the water temp was a balmy 81 degrees (above average for late April) and winds were a bit brisk which made for some bumpy surface conditions on the shallow reefs of the Sanctuary. Our first dive off the Big Dipper dive boat was the northeast end of Molasses reef off Key Largo. MO is an awesome large reef system full of bright orange sponges, purple sea fans and tons of colorful reef fish. Plus, with depths of 25-35 feet and tons of large sand patches, Mo is perfect for open water certification dives. The conditions underwater at Mo on Friday afternoon were excellent with 80 feet of blue water viz and no current. Dive two of the PADI open waters courses is what I call the “working dive” because numerous skills are completed on this dive to allow a student to focus more on comfort underwater on forthcoming dives. Wayne and Lora completed all skills on dive two which left plenty of time to explore the reef surrounding the boats mooring ball. Kudos to Lora for keeping her cool after a momentary thought of “why I am doing this” during her first mask clear. After a few calming breaths while standing up, Lora was back to completing the rest of her skills flawlessly.
Mortar Once held in Giant Pickle Barrels from Pickle Barrel Wreck
The Big Dipper traveled south to Pickles Reef to dive Pickle Barrel Wreck which at 13 feet is not my preferred shallow water reef dive on a windy day. Surge is no fun underwater especially for new students and the shallower the reef the stronger the surge. Thankfully, there is a sand channel near Pickle Barrel Wreck that goes down to 20 feet which was hidden from the surge and had plenty of open space to complete a few skill on open water cert dive number three. The rest of the dive was spent admiring the large brain corals in the area and checking out a minnow cave I discovered when team IVS was in town 2 weeks prior. The highlight of the dive was a school of 100 plus blue tangs munching on the reef like piranha. We did swim over the spread out remains of the 100 year old Pickle Barrel wreck towards the end of the dive which made it all the more challenging to stay low in the surge with a half empty air tank (almost empty for Wayne!!!). After two successful reef dives off the Big Dipper, it was back to the dock to sign log books and rest up for a full day of dives on Saturday.
Orion: Sister Dive Boat of the Big Dipper at Florida Keys Dive Center
Saturday morning started with more beautiful spring weather but still a bit windy. Due the anticipated bumpy surface conditions, the Capt recommended that the Big Dipper dive boat travel to the deeper reefs of Tavernier. (Deeper meaning 50 feet versus the traditional 25-35 feet depth on the reefs off Key Largo). Shallower reefs are always preferred during any open water class but I had faith in Lora and Wayne to handle the deeper reefs and I also preferred to avoid the surge of the shallower reefs. Our first stop was Crocker which was more like 60 feet to the bottom of the mooring ball instead of 50 feet but who is counting. While Lora and Wayne processed through their obligatory ear clearing rituals, I checked out the landscape and immediately saw the largest school of Blue Parrotfish that I ever witnessed anywhere in the world. There had to be 200 plus of these bright turquoise blue fish in a group together swarming over the reef under the dive boat. Blue Parrotfish are normally seen in groups of two or three and only Midnight Parrotfish regularly travel in large schools when feeding on the reef. Mixed in with the school of Blue Parrotfish were hundreds of Sergeant Majors and Yellowtail Snapper. I have been diving all over the Caribbean and you just do not see such congregations of reef fish than we have here in the Keys. To add the excitement at the start of the dive, a 6 foot nurse shark was sitting in a patch of sand on the bottom of the mooring. What a cool way to start your fourth dive in open water. After paying our homage to the nurse shark, Lora, Wayne and become one with the school of Blue Parrotfish, Sergeant Majors and Yellowtail Snapper as we headed to a large patch of sand in a bit of shallower water (min depth 50 feet) right under the stern of the Big Dipper dive boat.
After mask removal and hovering skills, the dive was almost over for Wayne who was still breathing like he was running a 50 mile off road race (which he has done before!) The deeper depths did not work well with Wayne’s breathing patterns but I assured him that he will improve once he convinces his body that SCUBA is not an aerobic activity. It’s all about conditioning the body to breath slow and deep. Lora mastered hovering no problem but decided to take here underwater genie imitation to shallower depths so as Lora was rising slowly and Wayne was signaling for low air (proper hand signal with the fist to the chest) it was time to catch up with levitating Lora and end the dive. Lora taught me a lesson about instructing because she appeared a bit light on Saturday when her weighting and buoyancy were perfect on Friday. Lora said she put all her weights into her BCD pockets and she was fine once she was below 10 feet of water. On the surface, I demonstrated to Lora a proper snorkeler free dive entry which works well for divers in rough surface conditions to quickly get down to a manageable depth. Lora’s buoyancy was excellent at depth and I am a big believer of using only the optimum weight to maintain neutral buoyancy. The last thing I wanted to do was put more weight on Lora when she was fine yesterday and totally neutral underwater. Well, it turns out that Lora probably lost one of her weight pockets on entry before the dive and Lora discovered her missing gear as we were preparing for the afternoon dives.
Adult Spotted Drum on Newfound Reef off Islamorda
The next dive of the morning was at a special choice of Capt Greg called Newfound because I believe he discovered and named the dive himself. No mooring ball at this site so divemaster Zach had to set the boat’s anchor. Really cool dive site with endless reef and large coral heads and plenty of sand for the buoyancy skills of the National Geo section of the open water course. Lora and Wayne were hovering machines and the extra skill work on buoyancy really paid off in their comfort underwater. The second part of the dive was surveying the reef and marine life in the area. Plenty to see on this reef including fields of barrel sponges and small group of ballonfish spotted by Wayne (great job Wayne). The deeper reefs of Tavernier are quite different in topography and corals than the shallow reefs of Key Largo so I always enjoy traveling south on the reef line for a bit of diversity. Great choices Capt Greg!!
Lora Sigler Demonstrating Level Buoyancy on Spanish Lady Reef
The afternoon dives on Saturday were on shallower reefs of Spanish Lady and Pete’s Reef. Spanish Lady is two distinct dive sites in one with a shallow shelf near the boat’s anchor covered in soft corals and Sea Fans and a well defined ledge off the stern of the boat that is more alive with fish and not corals. The ledge of Pete’s makes a well defined right angle right near where you start your dive but the preferred direction to make the dive is go to the corner and stay to your left and take in all the schools of reef fish and critters. The first part of the dive for Wayne and Lora was at the bottom of the anchor of the dive boat to conduct the advanced underwater navigation portion of the PADI National Geo course. Anyone can learn compass skills, but the mark of a good diver underwater is one who uses numerous visual cues to aid in navigation. For the natural navigation portion of their skills, I taught Wayne and Lora how to use “breadcrumbs,” distinct parts of the reef topography to find their way back to a starting point. The key element of using “breadcrumbs” underwater is to look back every so often in the direction of your return route to get a feel of the reef landscape looking in the opposite direction from which you started. Other prominent cues underwater, is the location of the boat, other mooring balls and the direction of sun. Lora and Wayne both executed a flawless return to the boats anchor after I led each diver on different routes away from the dive boat. Wayne had a tough route over a flat plateau lacking distinct topography but he smartly used the shadow of the boat to guide us back to the anchor.
Lora had distinct coral heads as “breadcrumbs” on her navigation route and she used these markers to the letter to bring us back to where we started. After navigation skills, our group headed to the ledge behind the boat for the fun part of the dive and to check out some cool marine life. I immediately noticed and illustrated to Wayne and Lora that the main reef line followed the direction the boat was sitting. You could literally do you dive on the ledge, turn around and follow the ledge to the corner and surface and be close to the stern of the boat (if the wind did not shift 180 degrees!!). Easy navigation tip and the rest of the dive was quite interesting. The ledge on Spanish lady is very dead but the fish are hanging in bunches of schools all over the reef. The second part of the dive was the reef survey portion of the PADI course where our team focused on the symbiotic relationship of the fish and critters on Spanish lady.
Growing Staghorn Coral on Pete's Reef off Tavernier
The last dive of the day was on Pete’s Reef which I believe I was last on in December 2004. Pete’s is an elliptical patch reef teaming with pristine brain and star coral which give the reef amazing profile. The dive is fairly easy because you pick a starting point and just circle the reef and then cross over the middle portions of the reef once you re-mark your starting point. The key here is remembering your starting point. The dive boat sat over a bed of sea grass and a 50 yard wide sand channel separated the boat from the reef. The sand channel was wide and expansive so with no visual references besides the sun, I set a compass heading back to the boat once our team was heading in the right direction. (Tip: Turn your body back to the boat to mark any visual clues for your return route and then set your compass heading clearly at the direction of the boat). I pointed out to Lora and Wayne how I was navigating the reef and my reef marker (big brain coral with unique features) but all this was bonus because they were already certified divers. The dive on Pete’s Reef was all about fun with underwater photography as we broke out the cameras and housings and had some fun underwater. Wayne and Lora took some fantastic pictures for newbies and are off to fast start on their underwater diving adventures.
Lora and Wayne Celebrating their SCUBA Cert at Snappers Sunday Brunch
A big thank you goes out to Florida Keys Dive Center, Capt Greg and divemaster Zach for taking good care of the IVS training team in difficult surface conditions. The Siglers completed their PADI National Geopraphic Open Water course and really enjoyed the extra education on buoyancy, navigation and the underwater environment in the Keys. I could see a definite improvement in dives number 5 and 6 of the course because on skills the students struggled with on early dives they now excelled with just a bit of coaching, adjustments and more time underwater to gain comfort with the surroundings. Congratulations to Wayne and Lora and please use your cert cards well and come back to the Keys soon.
April showers bring May flowers….well not quite the saying we use in Key Largo. It’s more like April sunshine brings more divers. No wait for the weary as a group of eager divers from Indian Valley SCUBA in Harlyesville, PA invaded Key Largo for another weekend of serious diving just 30 days after the last IVS group was in town. A few changes from the normal IVS schedule were on the menu for the April 1-4th weekend trip. First, the entire group including the advanced divers went to Jules Lodge Lagoon (known as Key Largo Undersea Park or KLUP) on Friday morning. Second, all shallow reef dives on Saturday to give the newbie divers some more casual dives. Third, Amoray Dive Resort had a wedding on Sunday afternoon so the double wreck dive of Duane Spiegel (and his other brother Duane) was moved to Conch Republic Divers 10 plus miles south on Tavernier Creek. Fourth, NO David Valaika who was off chasing fish in the Maldives. Let’s count-this is David V’s third IVS Key Largo weekend in a row without Big Dave. The Keys will never be the same!! I love the usual IVS weekend routine but a little change is the spice of life.
Barb, Scott and Cindy at Jules Lodge Lagoon Spa & Resort
I was the host and lead for the Dec 2010 and Feb 2011 but was glad to pass over the reigns of the IVS group to Butch Loggins, IVS Senior Instructor and recent student of the”how to dive after heart surgery” PADI Distinctive Speciality. Butch wrote course so we expected him to pass with flying colors. Butch was joined by some very familar faces of Mike Gusenko, Cindy Montague Eisenhauer, Barbara Hill, Robert Scott Bruce and Larry Gilligan along with divers in training Robert’s son Frank and Cindy’s boyfriend Jim Gullo. After a productive visit to Jules Lodge Lagoon Spa & Resort, the IVS group boarded the Amoray Diver to check out the what was happening on the wreck of the naval ship LSD-32 Spiegel Grove.
The IVS Group Boards the Amoray Diver
The conditions on Friday afternoon were a bit windy but the wind was blowing from the West (which is quite rare in the Keys) which meant only slight chop on the open ocean. There was a slight trend of murky water rolling throughout the Keys thanks to extreme low tides and the Gulf Stream flowing 5 miles off the reef line. 70-100 foot viz with turquoise blue water is quite common when diving the wrecks and reefs of the Keys but NOT today. The group experienced some excellent dives despite the “Dutch” like conditions on the Spiegel and French Reef although some divers had more of an experience than others on French Reef (more later). First, the Spiegel was a murky 10-15 feet of viz which is close to the worst I ever experienced on the Grove in my 300+ dives over 7 years of living in Key Largo. But who needs viz when you have 4 floors of a superstruture to explore of a 510 foot naval ship. Butch’s group followed the commerative Sue Douglass candy ass tour and all had a good time checking out the detail of the top decks of the superstructure. I took the experienced divers on a brand new version of my infamous Ultimate Spiegel Tour with a hint of my exclusive ”Nooks and Crannies” Tour. The dive included stops in the Anchor Winch Room, Main Galley, Snoopy and his closet and the Machine Shop. Mike G. stuck around for EMTH (Extra Magic Time with Hartman) to see the White Board in the Ship’s Power Monitoring Room (complete with names of sailors who served on the Spiegel’s last mission) and electrical supply closets on the navigation level. EMTH means let’s freestyle in the wreck and find new stuff by checking out deadend closets and rooms.
Anchor Winch Room of the Spiegel Grove LSD-32
There is so much detail on the Spiegel that I find something new on almost every dive. The unique part about my Spiegel tour on this dive was the route. The ship felt brand new to the divers even though all have been on numerous of my Spiegel tours. A recent IVS assisted “alternation” to the Spiegel last July (thanks for the help Frank Gabriel and John Z.) created an opening to forward section of the well deck which allows divers to go from the bow section of the Spiegel and enter the well deck without having to go all the way around to the aft section of the superstructure. Now the once forgotton Anchor Winch Room below the main deck of the bow is now a major part of all my standard “Ultimate Spiegel Tours.”
French Reef was quite an interesting dive on Friday afternoon. Very rarely do I get in the water and not see the bottom on a reef in Key Largo. I descended to the reef with my camera ready to take pictures for the IVS blog and Facebook posts but was alarmed to see about 15-20 feet of viz on the reef bottom. Butch was taking 10 year old Frank on his first 0pen ocean dive so I thought it wise to recommend to Butch to take the mooring line to the bottom of the reef and then stay close. Butch decided on a free descent and to swim toward the mooring line. Instead I found Butch, Scott and Frank swimming toward Cuba along the reef line. After some nifty navigation, I marked the mooring ball and pointed Butch and Co and the right direction. Once Butch’s team found the bottom of the mooring ball (which does not move…..navigation tip here folks!!) I then pulled out my camera and motioned to Butch that he was back under his own leadership and my duty was back to taking underwater pictures. I must say, for murky dive, we witnessed some awesome marine life: Southern Stingray, Spiny Lobster and very aggressive Green Moray Eel (see below).
A Green Moral Eel Stands His Ground on French Reef
I explored a very enjoyable reef ledge while Team Butch did their best impression of a low viz circular search to remain with contact with the mooring ball. Our dive on French was without incident but the other divers in our group had a different experience. There was a moderate current on French Reef and combined with low viz led to a bit of disorienation by a group of IVS experienced divemasters and instructors (who shall remain nameless!!). Let’s just say the Amoray Diver rescue reel with all 150 feet of line was in active use behind the boat throughout most of our time on French Reef. Nice job by Capt John and Divemasters Madision and Joe. Sometimes diving is all about the experience!
World Famous Pina Coladas Served Up at Club Dave
First day of diving was a bit bumpy and murky but fun was had by all and better conditions were in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Friday ended with Pina Coladas and an IVS Barbacue at Club Dave (my house). Team Butch was on their own time schedule in honor of the missing David Valaika but Cindy and Jim arrived early with a tasty flank steak and Larry followed a big bag of fresh shrimp. Barb and Butch then walked in the door with chicken and a whole bunch of sides for round two of eating for the early birds. Thanks to all IVS folks for helping out and bringing serious eats (shrimp, chicken, steak!!!). We all ate lke Kings! Special thanks to Mike G for being the one man clean up crew.
Christ of the Abyss at Key Largo Dry Rocks
The IVS Group returned to the Amoray Diver on Saturday morning for trip to Key Largo Dry Rocks and the famous statute of Christ of the Abyss. Sunk in the 1960′s to honor the creation of John Pennekamp State Park, the striking statute of Jesus Christ with arms stretched to the air draws both divers and snorkelers to the ledge reef of Key Largo Dry Rocks in the waters off Northern Key Largo. After some fond moments of being “touched by Christ,” (the statute is covered in fire coral), the Amoray Diver moved to North Dry Rocks for another round of shallow reef dives. Improved conditions from Friday with calmer seas and clearer viz made for a pleasurable morning of diving. The Amoray Diver headed back to the dock for quick tank change and a bit to eat for the IVS crew before heading out Saturday afternoon for another set of shallow reef dives.
Large Brain Coral Hangs Over a Ledge near Pickle Barrel Wreck
The IVS gang boarded the Amoray Diver Saturday afternoon for a trip to Pickels Reef off Southern Key Largo to dive the sites of Snapper Ledge and Pickle Barrel Wreck. The first stop was Pickel Barrel Wreck, a 100+ year old coral covered shallow spread out wreck in 15 feet of water with deeper reef ledges both north and south of the wreck. The northern reef ledge is covered in thousands of purple sea fans. The southern reef ledge is very pronouced with a sand channel at 20 feet and colorful reef walls on both sides. One wall has large brain coral head hanging over ledge and which may confuse divers by being similar in size and topography to the HUGE brain coral on Snapper Ledge. One joy of diving Key Largo is finding hidden gems tucked away in the area’s nebulous reef system. I found a mutiple chamber shallow cave filled with glass eye minnows between a break in a reef ledge about 50 years from Pickle Barrel Wreck. The cave was so cool-to tight to swimthrough but still a great opportunity for a quick video clip
The next dive was on Snapper Ledge which is one of the fishiest dives anyone in the world. Snapper Ledge never disappoints. A bad day on Snapper Ledge will still have more schools of fish than most reefs anywhere. Grunts, goatfish, snappers frequent this famous ledge and on this day the IVS gang also witnessed a large school Atlantic Spadefish flowing through the water column.
Mike Gusenko Navigates Through French Grunts on Snapper Ledge
At one point our group was surrounded by French Grunts while about 100 Atlantic Spadefish blocked our view of other divers. The massive schools of fish were only the beginning as the highlight of the dive came a few minutes later when an 8 foot Green Moray Eel was cruising the reef looking to pick a fight with some fish or somebody. This eel was cruising everywhere and at one point swam up to my camera during a video and only turned back because of his reflection in the lens. An hour on the second dive flew by because the group was chasing and being chased by eels and surrounded by huge schools of reef fish. Overall, an impressive afternoon of diving on the reefs of Key Largo.
The Amoray Diver headed back to dock for another quick turnaround for the traditional Saturday night dive. The Wreck of the Benwood was the “planned” dive site for the night divers but the IVS gang decided to take explore the flat reef and pieces of metal off in the distance from the wreck. A bit of current and low evening viz had the group a bit confused (I am writing this second hand since I was at home watching my alma mater UCONN beat Ketucky in the Men’s Final Four). Another example of conditions where descending down the mooring ball is recommended to miminize errors in navigation. I guess the group did not learn from their dive experience on French Reef on Friday. The April weekend night dive will not go down in the annals of IVS trip history but another learning experience.
Sunday morning came quickly and the Amoray Diver headed to Molasses Reef for two shallow dives. Molasses is a spur and groove reef system with very pronounced spur coral ledges covered with Orange Elephant Ear Sponges and Purple Sea Fans. There are over 30 named mooring balls on Molasses Reef and all are occupied in a busy weekend in Key Largo. Capt John chose Permit Ledges on the southwest edge of the reef for the first dive and North Star in center of Molasses for the second dive. Permit Ledges aquired its name due to the frequent sighting of schools of big round silver Permits who often drift in from deeper water to check out the edge of Molosses. The two dive sites are quite distinct in coral formations and fish sightings despite the mooring balls being only 25-30 yards apart. The IVS gang enjoyed both dives on Molasses Reef and headed back to dock for change in dive shops for the eagerly anticipated after double wreck dives on the Speigel Grove and USCG Duane.
IVS Boards the Conch Republic Diver for an Afternoon Wreck Trek
The IVS crew took a quick lunch on the road to travel South to Tavernier and Conch Republic Divers for the ever popular Sunday afternoon IVS Wreck Trek-double deep dives on the Spiegel Grove LSD-32 and USCG Duane off Key Largo. Both wrecks had below average viz but NO current which made for spectular relaxing dives. Butch Loggins, Barb Hill, Mike Gustenko and Larry were the “last divers standing” to make the afternoon trip of the group and all did a great job on both wrecks. The IVS crew stayed in one group for both dives including a unique “David Hartman Ulimate Spiegel tour” starting from the starboard crane and traveling through the entire well deck right out the “new forward hatch” to the bow and a circular tour of the Anchor Winch Room. We continued on to tour the ship’s Main Galley, a swipe of Snoopy’s nose, and circular tour around all 5 devices left behind in the Spiegel’s machine shop. The dive ended with a quick in-out tour of the ship’s Radar Room behind the bridge and an easy slow return on top of the superstructure back to the mooring. Viz was again murky around the ship but much clearer inside the Grove. With the Spiegel in the books, the Conch Republic Diver headed southwest to wreck of the USCG Duane: a 327 foot US Coast Guard Cutter that serverd from 1939-1980 and was sunk intentionally of the coast of Key Largo in 1987.
The IVS Crew on the Lookout Post of the Wreck of the USCG Duane
The Duane was the second deep dive of the day which called for a relaxing shallower than normal profile to maximize no deco time. What makes the Duane impressive underwater is that the entire ship is covered in orange cup coral and yellow sponges. Our on the Duane dive included encounters with a local Green Turtle and a HUGE Jewish…all 300 pounds of him hanging out in the base of the ship’s Crows Nest. Congrats to Butch Loggins for completing double deep wreck dives with no symptoms after his heart surgery last year and for completing his PADI Distintive Speciality. Go Butch!
Barb Hill and Mike Gusenko Descend to the Deck of the Duane
Friday April 1, 2011: Day 1: Morning-Jules Lodge Lagoon Spa & Resort; Afternoon: Spiegel Grove (#6 ball) and Outer Ledge on French Reef
Saturday April 2, 2011: Day 2: Morning-Christ of the Abyss at Key Largo Dry Rocks and North Dry Rocks; Afternoon: Pickle Barrel Wreck and Snapper Ledge
Night Dive: A Plot of Sand Nowhere near the Wreck of the Benwood
Sunday April 3, 2011: Day 3: Molasses Reef: Permit Ledges and North Star; Afternoon-Spiegel Grove LSD-32 (#5 ball) and USCG Duane (Conch Republic Divers)
Divers: Butch Loggins, IVS Group Leader/Instructor, Jim Gullo, Barbara Hill, Cindy Eisenhower, Larry Gilligan, Mike Gusenko, Scott and Frank Bruce and your host David Hartman
The IVS Crew on the Amoray Diver.....What's up with that signpost?
April 20th marks the one year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The event is one to forget for tourism in Florida and the Florida Keys because overblown and exaggerated news reports kept travelers away for months while no oil affected most parts of South and East Coast Florida. I witnessed the frustration of tourism industry first hand as a resident and local dive instructor in Key Largo, Florida. A year later, I am witness again first hand to frustration of a tourism industry but this time the country is Egypt. The recent revolution in Egypt that ended the President’s 30 year reign was dramatic, poignant and indeed a landmark event in world history. Egypt’s revolution was quick, decisive and officially over a month ago with resignation of Hosni Mubarak. The protests in late January and February that filled Tahrir Square captivated the world for weeks but were also limited to a small part of Cairo. Most of the day to day affairs of Cairo and the rest Egypt, especially in the Red Sea resort areas, were amazingly unaffected by the protests in Tahrir Square. There are parallels of the Gulf Oil Spill’s affect on Florida Tourism and the Revolution in Cairo’s affect on Egyptian tourism. Both events cost a tourism industry billions of dollar in lost revenue, were portrayed to affect areas that were unaffected and continued inaccurate and misguided reporting by media kept travelers away long after the extent of area affected was long determined. Tourists are beginning to return to Egypt with numbers growing everyday but the state of Florida is an example where recovering from major events that affect tourism may be a long road.
David Valaika and David Hartman at the Pyramids of Giza
I am proud to be one of the first Americans to visit the new Egypt. As the dive travel specialist and marketing consultant for Learning Through Travel (LTT), a New York based destination tour operator for Egypt travel, I have both the enjoyment and challenge on educating tour group leaders and travel professionals on how to sell dive travel to Egypt and the Red Sea. Learning Through Travel had a previously scheduled familiarization (FAM) trip for March 5-19, 2011 that was in jeopardy of cancellation due to the recent events in Cairo but was put back on schedule once affairs in Cairo stabilized after the resignation of President Mubarak. After in depth analysis of the post revolution status of Cairo, Afifi El Shimy, Head of Egypt Operations and Cairo Office Manager, assured the safety of our FAM trip travelers and approved moving forward with the trip. One of our FAM trip travelers, American dive shop owner and PADI Course Director, David Valaika of Indian Valley SCUBA in Harleysville, Pennsylvania was committed to make the trip to Egypt in lieu of a group trip he had booked with LTT for April of 2012. I planned to meet Afifi and David Valaika in Cairo and see for my own eyes the status of post revolution Egypt and why travel warnings were still in effect.
My trip began March 4th on a direct flight from JFK airport in New York City to Cairo on Egypt Air. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a wonderful Egyptian tour guide on the flight who was returning from promoting Egypt tourism for a Cairo based tour operator. The American based tour groups the woman presented to were hesitant but receptive to traveling to Egypt. I enjoyed sharing stories with the tour guide and we both found a common ground in our passion for travel to Egypt and our frustration with continued bias news coverage and unneeded government travel warnings. My delightful experience on my flight to Cairo was a precursor to a similar theme I would experience throughout my week in Egypt.
Upon arrival in Cairo, my mood was both positive and curious. I had questions and concerns but none involved safety. The LTT FAM trip was my fourth visit to Egypt and safety was never a concern and I know Afifi always takes good care of our customers. (100% escorted travel is the only way to effectively navigate Egypt). My concerns were mostly about tourism in the country. Were tourist sites open? Had travelers returned to Egypt and in what numbers? Were sectors of the government critical to tourism still operational under the new military interim government? The answers to all my questions were quickly apparent as affairs in Cairo operated normally just as my last visit in September 2008 only now there was a calmer mood and a more aggressive attitude by all Egyptians to make tourists feel welcome. Tourist sites were open including the Pyramids of Giza and the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities but low attendance at these sites made touring a breeze. The military has a stronger presence in Cairo but on only few occasions was army personnel visible during our tours of the city. Life in Cairo was moving along on its everyday fast paced including the usual snarls of Cairo automobile traffic. With first impressions of Cairo in hand, I headed toward my hotel to start the everyday obligation to our followers on Facebook who eagerly awaited updates on travel to Egypt and the Red Sea.
I arrived at the Le Meridian Pyramids Hotel in the early afternoon on Saturday March 5th. I immediately ran into a couple of nice ladies who I met in the Egypt Air check in line at JFK airport. The two women just booked a trip to Egypt on Monday to return to one of their favorite countries and to support the Egyptian people who they love so much. We discussed the future of Egyptian tourism over a couple of cocktails at the pool bar and we were all concerned but optimistic. David Valaika arrived on a later flight in the early evening which gave me a chance to set my theme for the trip on Facebook and our blog. The goal was to have fun with this trip and to show interested travelers and even naysayers that travel to Egypt is fun and the people are warm and welcoming especially to American tourists. I took some nice photo opportunities by our pool overlooking the Pyramids and announced to all of our followers that I was in Egypt safe and sound and ready to tell the real story on the post revolution Egypt.
View of the Pyramids of Giza from Le Merdian-Pyramids Hotel
David Valaika arrived in the evening and it was time to welcome him to Egypt the appropriate way with a few Egyptian beers at the hotel bar. David V. was excited for the trip, his first time in Egypt, and to check out the legendary diving in the Red Sea. An early start on Sunday morning brought us to the foot of Pyramids of Giza to tour the most famous antiquities of ancient Egypt. David V. was riding a camel in front of the Great Pyramid before our tour guide Manal could brief David V. on how to handle the local merchants and camel tenders and their aggressive sales tactics. I have been to the Pyramids of Giza twice previously and each time the immense structures appear more impressive. My task on the LTT FAM trip was to take numerous pictures and video of David V. enjoying his travels in Egypt and to discover new experiences myself. My third trip back to the Pyramids brought me to the South side of the Great Pyramid which provides an entire different perspective on the last remaining ancient wonder of the world including the granite floor of the now missing mortuary temple and a chance to enter and view the Solar Boat of Cheops Museum.
Ancient Egypt lived and thrived on the Nile River. Boats were very sacred in the culture of Ancient Egypt and were used as part of the funerary ceremony for the Pharaohs. A massive wooden boat believed to be used during the burial of the Pharaoh Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid, was discovered in 1954 neatly stored in pieces in a large chamber behind the massive Pyramid. Five trenches were found but only two Solar Boats of Cheops were discovered. One boat is now in the Solar boat museum and the other is next the museum currently being excavated by a Japanese archeological team. The Solar Boat Museum was built in the 1980’s and provides an magnificent venue to display the massive wooden boat, the trench where the boat was discovered and interpretive displays on the process of excavating and assembling the Solar Boat. During our tour, our group experienced a phenomenal gesture by a group of young Egyptians. The men approached our group of Americans and requested to take a picture with us and thanked us for touring Egypt. One young man gave David Valaika a gift: an official badge the man used to enter Tahrir Square during the protests of late January. The young Egyptian told David, “I want you to have something as a show of our appreciation and because I do not need the pass anymore.” We were all overwhelmed by the gesture of gratitude by the young Egyptian and I was a bit jealous because I did not receive a protest badge. David V. was excited to have a positive unique experience in his first few hours touring Egypt and of course a great story for his blog and Facebook. We toured the rest of the Pyramids including entering Pyramid #3 of Pharaoh Menkaure (grandson of Cheops) and the obligatory photo opportunities on the hill overlooking the Pyramids and at the Sphinx. After the Pyramids, we were off to tour the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities and see firsthand the status of Tahrir Square.
The Solor Boat of Cheops Musuem behind the Great Pyramid
The protests in Cairo took place right at the foot of the Egyptian Museum so I was curious to view what damage if any the great Museum sustained during the weeks of turmoil. The news had reported a few objects being stolen from the King Tut galleries in the first few days of the protests but no other information was reported about the state of the Museum’s exterior and the courtyard inside its gates. Amazingly, the Egyptian Museum’s courtyard appeared undisturbed and even the fire at the National Party Headquarters next door to the Museum had zero affect on the building’s exterior. The interior of the Museum was as grand as I remember with numerous vast halls displaying massive antiquities of Ancient Egypt. We started our tour at the galleries of King Tutankhamen, the most famous Egyptian Pharaoh in modern history but relatively a minor king in Egyptian history. King Tut’s treasures were discovered entirely intact in 1922 by Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of the ancient capital of Thebes (now the city of Luxor). Carter spend 10 years excavating and cataloging over 1700 artifacts stored in disarray in King Tut’s tomb including the famous solid gold mask and coffin. David Valaika became so excited debating the different theories on the state of King Tut’s tomb upon discovery that a well known French reporter touring with another group told him to keep his voice down because he was disturbing other tour groups in the Egyptian Museum. Leave it to David V. to create an international incident at the Egyptian Museum on his first full day in Egypt. We had a whirlwind tour of the rest of the Museum before heading off to Cairo airport for our flight to Hurghada and transfer to El Quseir to start some serious exploration of diving in the Southern Red Sea.
Our Group at the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities
I made my first trip to Egypt in June of 2006 as a client of Learning Through Travel because of my interest in bringing a group to dive the Red Sea and to tour the major sites of ancient Egypt. My experience on my first trip to Egypt was extremely positive and a bit of an eye opener that so few Americans were diving the Red Sea. Soon after, I was offered an opportunity to work with LTT as marketing consultant to promote the Red Sea and Egypt as a dive destination for Americans. My position with LTT brought me back to Egypt with FAM trips on 2007 and 2008 and on each occasion exploring additional dive operators and locations that would appeal to American standards of diving. One drawback of diving the Red Sea is that the most popular destinations are crowded at certain times of the year because popular Red Sea resort cities like Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada are within a four hour flight of most of Europe and Russia. The Red Sea is indeed the “Caribbean of Europe.” In 2007, LTT began researching and offering alternative Red Sea resort cities and live-aboard itineraries due to customer feedback and promise to offer the best dive experience possible for Americans. Our company’s recent promotion of Dahab, Aqaba in Jordan and mini-live-aboard itineraries from Sharm el Sheikh and Taba is example of LTT’s commitment to our customers.
The LTT March 2011 FAM trip was designed to inspect the Red Sea resort cities of El Quseir, Marsa Alam and Safaga that are lesser know daily dive destinations even to the European market. Diving from Marsa Alam is a busy port for Southern Red Sea live-aboards and is growing in popularity with Europeans for daily diving and the city has even appeared in American diving publications. Safaga is known as an alternative port for Southern Red Sea live-aboard itineraries and some famous daily dive sites that are visited only by a few local dive operators. El Quseir was absolutely unknown to LTT until Steve and Claire Rattle from Pharaoh Dive Club based in El Quseir attended the DEMA diving trade show in Orlando in November 2009. Steve and Claire are very nice people with an eager but patient attitude to attract business from the American market. Plus, the owners of Pharaoh Dive Club were very confident in the quality of diving in El Quseir and the other dive sites they served in Marsa Alam and Safaga. Steve Rattle has been in Egypt running Red Sea dive shops since 1989 in Sharm el Sheikh. Five years ago, Steve settled on opening a dive operation in El Quseir after exploring all that the Red Sea has to offer and seeing Sharm turn into a very busy resort destination. Steve and Claire were determined to build a following in the undiscovered dive sites of the Red Sea.
David Valaika and I arrived in Hurghada on the evening of March 6th and we were immediately met by Steve and Claire Rattle for our transfer to El Quseir. Indian Valley SCUBA was already promoting a dive trip for a 4 day live-aboard in Sharm and shore diving in Dahab for April 2012 but David V. was open to new ideas to offer what his best for his dive shop customers. David was scheduled to dive the famous Northern Red Sea dive sites of Sharm and Dahab on his second week in Egypt but was eager to explore all the Southern Red Sea had to offer with our week of diving with Pharaoh Dive Club. Our accommodation for the week was the Movenpick Hotel in El Quseir: a sprawling ocean front resort with basic rooms but luxurious amenities such as a world class pool area, a private beach and dock and even their own archery range. There are two main 4 to 5 star choices while staying in El Quseir. The Radisson and the Movenpick and both are comparable in location and amenities. The Radisson’s rooms are more modern and a bit bigger than Movenpick but the Radisson’s resort amenities including private beach and the food are not as nice as the Movenpick’s. For divers, the choice is a tossup for a nice to place to stay unless you have non-divers with your group then go with the Movenpick.
Steve Rattle of Pharaoh Dive Club Briefs The Fanadir House Reef
David V. and I start Day 1 of our Southern Red Sea diving tour at Pharaoh Dive Club’s main dive center at the Fanadir Resort in El Quseir. The Fanadir is one of many decent three star (claimed 4 star) resorts in the area that lack the appeal to Americans and the consistency in service and amenities of the Movenpick or Radisson. The Pharaoh Dive Club’s dive center is right on the beach with a full complement of equipment and staff to handle most divers’ needs. The VIP treatment we experienced at PDC the next few days was extraordinary. Obviously, Steve and Claire were doing their best to ensure both David V. and I bring business to El Quseir but their staff was also very professional and made each diver feel like they owned the dive center. The attention to detail was remarkable by the staff. When you first arrive, the staff takes inventory of all your gear including make and model of dive computers and accessories. After inventory is completed on your gear, whatever gear you carry is your choice because the PDC staff takes care of all the transport, rinsing and storing of your gear during your time with the dive operation. Steve Rattle’s numerous years in the dive business definitely shows in how he trains his staff to treat PDC’s customers.
Glass Eye Snappers Congregate on Serib Kebir Reef
Great staff will keep customers happy but it is the quality of diving that will keep divers coming back to dive destination. After spending 4 plus days diving with PDC in El Quseir, Safaga and Marsa Alam I have to agree with Steve Rattle that these areas have some of the best diving in the Red Sea. PDC serves over 80 dive sites within an hour’s drive in each direction for their main campus in El Quseir through satellite dive centers and strategic alliances with other comparable and professional operations. The entire region is dotted with accessible shore diving points with access to pristine coral reefs and abundant marine life. Plus, PDC owns a variety of dive boats from the spacious 110 foot Noir El Medina, a traditional Egyptian wooden day diving boat once built as small live-aboard vessel, to a variety of high speed fiberglass hull zodiacs. A couple of sites we visited using the Noir El Medina included Ras Quseir right outside the harbor of El Quseir and Serib Kebir just outside one of the numerous shore access points in El Quseir. Diving from the luxury of the Noir El Medina was quite the experience and provided a nice alternative to shore diving. Both dive locations are impressive with multiple dives required to even begin to absorb all the dive sites have to offer. The dive sites cater to both depth junkies and shallow water divers and conditions for photography are ideal with unlimited blue visibility, pristine fields of hard coral reefs and numerous specious of unique and bight colored marine life. During our dives, we encountered Nudibranchs, black lobsters, turtles, Napoleon wrasses, yellow tail barracuda, huge flatworms, Crown of Thorns starfish, and numerous other species.
Crown of Thorns Starfish on Ras Quseir Reef
Our second dive at Serib Kebir was so impressive that David Valaika called the dive one of his top 10 all time. As David V. wrote in his dive shop blog,“Each turn through these formations just gets better and better – not even in Australia did I see such a collection and variety of healthy first-growth corals and fish counts – I am literally blown away. Can it get any better, I ask myself. Well, yes it can because there are caves here!! Really cool caves, into the reef, with hundreds of navigationally challenging passages, dead ends, and cathedral-like openings – no narcosis needed here, I am in total awe. An hour later, with depths to 120 ft, and we re-surface and I tell Steve that without question this has been one of the Top 10 dives of my life. I am amazed.”
For offshore dive sites, Shagra Dive Camp in Marsa Alam about an hour south of El Quseir provides day diving access to Elphinstone Reef, a huge underwater pinnacle that is a trademark of Red Sea diving and a popular first top for live-aboard operators sailing on Southern Red Sea itineraries. An hour north of El Quseir is the port city of Safaga which is home to a varitey of world class wrecks and pinnacle reefs. One wreck called the Salem Express is accessible to all levels of divers in super clear blue water with only 35 feet to the side of the ship and less than 100 feet to deepest point in the sand. The Salem Express is a ferryboat that sank in 1991 packed full of Egyptian passengers on the way back from annual their pilgrimage to Mecca. Unofficial estimates claim that over 1600 died in when Salem Express sank in a storm which would make the sinking the largest peacetime maritime tragedy of all time greater than the loss of the Titanic.
I was impressed with the diversity of diving we experienced in just four days time. Diversity is expected when diving the Red Sea, but Steve Rattle’s operation made access to such diverse dive sites seamless and he catered to our requests to dive as much as possible. Aggressive dive planning is not the norm for Red Sea operators. Slow wooden boats, coast guard security restrictions and an overall laid back attitude of their traditional European customer base make two to three dives an all day affair in Egypt. Such conservative dive planning does not sit well with Americans who are accustom to morning and afternoon two tank dives of the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. Pharaoh Dive Club demonstrated both the facilities and willingness to complete four to five dives in one day. Finally, Learning Through Travel has found a Red Sea dive operator with access to endless pristine and diverse diving with affordable price points and unlimited diving packages.
With some serious diving under our belt, David Valaika and I jump in the Pharaoh Dive Club van and are driven to Hurghada to check out Blue O Two’s fleet of luxury live-aboard boats. LTT first met Blue O Two at DEMA Show 2009 in Orlando and we were impressed with the quality of their fleet of boats and their long standing reputation for excellent customer service. Additionally, Blue O Two owns their entire fleet (which is not the norm in Egypt where numerous live-aboards are leased) and the young principle owners had a refreshing eager attitude to bring Americans to Egypt. After our first meeting at DEMA, LTT immediately booked a few customers on Blue O Two boats and all returned from Egypt with rave reviews. When David V. and I arrived, two of Blue O Two’s four ships were in port during their weekly customer changeover. Nathan Tyler, principle and Fleet Operations Manager of Blue O Two showed us around both vessels as the cleaning crews were preparing the ships for the next group arriving that evening. Both Blue Horizon and Blue Fin lived up to their reputation and David Valaika was so impressed that he booked a 10 day charter for Indian Valley SCUBA on Blue Horizon for June 2013.
Blue O Two Staff in front of Blue Horizon and Blue Fin
After a quick lunch in Hurghada at Bull’s (excellent lunch that caters to people of all tastes), our van headed inland to the city of Luxor for a three plus hour drive to overnight at the Sonesta St. George Hotel on the East Bank of the Nile River. Afifi El Shimy, LTT Head of Operations in Egypt, met us at the beautiful Sonesta hotel and told us the plan to tour Luxor for the next 24 hours. Luxor is one of the world’s most fascinating cities with a modern urban center of 300,000 people surrounded by lush farmland in all directions with thousands of years of ancient Egyptian antiquities spread out on both banks of the Nile river. Thebes was the capital of Egypt for over 1000 years during the reign of New Kingdom Pharaohs such as Ramses II and King Tut. On the East Bank of the Nile, the ancient Egyptians built temples of daily worship and the West Bank they buried their dead in royal tombs and built mortuary temples in reverence to their deceased kings. When touring Luxor, the rule of thumb is to start on the West Bank and tour Valley of the Kings, King Tut’s tomb and the Colossus of Memnon in the morning and the tour the temples of Karnak and Luxor on the East Bank in the afternoon after a light lunch in the city of Luxor. David V. and had a flight to catch in the early evening so we did the abbreviated tour and only visited Karnak Temple after touring the West Bank tourist sites.
The highlight of the morning was seeing a new discovery at the Colossus of Memnon. A team of German archeologists were overseeing a huge digging protect at the Temple of Amenhotep III which was destroyed by an earthquake in 37 BC and only the two Colossus still stand. Witnessing discoveries at digging projects ancient temples in Egypt is very rare. I was enjoying my third trip to Luxor but first since September of 2008. Some of the major changes included a new courtyard and visitor center entrance to Karnak Temple, the mummy of King Tut is now on display in his tomb after years of careful study and restoration and the major excavation of the Avenue of Sphinxes throughout the city of Luxor. The Avenue of Sphinxes was built around 360-380 BC and connected Karnak to Luxor Temple with over 1350 rams head sphinxes and other religious figures over a distance of almost two miles. The major project of excavating the Avenue of the Sphinxes is taking place to preserve the surrounding antiquities and to turn Luxor into a larger open air museum environment. Afifi did a great job as always to keep us on schedule and our van was off to the airport after our brief tour of Karnak and drive by of the Avenue of Sphinxes excavation.
My time in Egypt was almost over and I headed to Cairo while David Valaika was headed with Afifi to Sharm el Sheikh for another week of diving the best dive sites in Sharm and Dahab. I was a bit envious because I love the diving in both Sharm and Dahab but I had responsibilities back in USA and would leave David V. in the good hands of Afifi for his extended FAM trip. David V. thoroughly enjoyed his first visit to Egypt and was pleasantly surprised by the diving in El Quseir. The great trip experience continued for Mr. Valaika who was again treated like royalty by Pharaoh Divers in Sharm and Dive In Dahab for his technical dives in and around the famous Blue Hole in Dahab. David V. was impressed with both the dive operators and the dive sites in each Red Sea destination visited on his two week tour and he enjoyed the cultural experience in Egypt as well as he writes on his dive blog,
“What a fantastic two weeks this has been, not only from the cultural and social aspects, but the diving has been phenomenal – 28 dives logged, all but six of them deeper (or a lot deeper) than 100 ft, with five deeper than 200 ft, and 1,520 minutes of total bottom time – I am so loving the Red Sea! And looking forward to coming back in 2012 & 2013!”
The March 2011 FAM trip was resounding success and gave both David V. and I plenty of Facebook, You Tube and blog content to appropriately educate people in the USA the reality of travel to post –Revolution Egypt. My fondest memories of the trip will be the people we met during our travels. Everyone was so warm in their welcome from my flight in to my flight home. My deepest gratitude goes out to the Egyptian people for making the “New Egypt” a better place for tourism for being such gracious hosts to travelers from around the world.
February has been a steller month for weather in Key Largo. The month ended with the best weather of the winter: sunny skies, light winds, low 80′s at night and low 70′s at night. The light winds and calm weather made for great dive conditions with blue water on the reefs and light currents on the deep wrecks. Four people from Indian Valley SCUBA’s network of friends made it down to Key Largo February 24-27, 2011. Judy Mullen and Deborah Knighten drove down from Savannah, GA and Tom and Lisa Cinciripini joined the group from Souderton, PA just around the corner from IVS HQ in Harleysville.
The trip started with a rare opportunity to watch the Space Shuttle launch right from Amoray Dive Resort. I met up with Tom and Lisa for a few beers and completed the needed forms for the weekend ahead. The Shuttle launch did not go in the direction required to be seen in Key Largo but it was fun meeting up with Amoray crew and Tom and Lisa and we watched a beautiful sunset as we discussed our dive plan for the upcoming weekend.
Friday morning at Amoray Dive Resort started late due to boat maintenance. On the agenda was two dives on Molasses Reef in the morning and the wrecks of Siegel Grove and Benwood in the afternoon. 80 degree sunny weather made the low 70 degree water temps tolerable for us locals. At Molassess Reef, our first dive was at the Aquarium which had good viz but a bit of surge leftover from winds from the previous day. The large spurs of coral kept us protected from the surge as Tom and Lisa and I enjoyed easy navigation around the Southwest corner of Molassess Reef. On dive 2, The Amoray Diver moved over to the Winch Hole area to dive North Star and Eagle Ray Alley. Conditions on the center of Molassess Reef had less surge and better visibility. Tom and Lisa started their busy training weekend with the Peak Performance Bouyancy Adventure Dive of their PADI Advanced Open Water course. Both Tom and Lisa were hovering machines and made the fish jealous of their buoyancy skills. Judy and Deb were on their own just out fun diving to enjoy the wonderful dive conditions. The afternoon dives started with our first trip to the Spiegel Grove. IVS weekends always include a heavy dose of diving the now famous artificial reef know as LSD-32 USS Spiegel Grove. The 510 foot naval ship intentionally sunk by local dive operators and tourism officials in 2002 never disappoints. The entire group stayed together on the dive on the Spiegel as we had a nice easy excursion outside the wreck from the midship-superstructure mooring ball (#6) back to the starboard crane and then up to the bow and back to the mooring ball. (aka-The Sue Douglass candy ass tour). Tom and Lisa stayed down a little longer to complete some skills for their Deep Adventure Dive-a requirement of their Advanced Open Water course-and for a quick swimthrough of the wheelhouse and radar room. Decent viz and NO current made for a fantastic introduction to the Spiegel Grove.
Day Two of the Indian Valley SCUBA February weekend called for more excellent dive conditions and spectacular weather above water with sunny skies and light winds. The group had an early start on the Amoray Diver due to an scheduled sunset cruise for a wedding Saturday evening at Amoray Dive Resort.
Our morning dive sites were Christ of the Abyss at Key Largo Dry Rocks and Minnow Caves at North Dry Rocks. Key Largo Dry Rocks was a bit murky but no current and no divers from other boats. Perfect conditions for Tom and Lisa’s underwater navigation Adventure Dive. After some serious practice on the boat, Lisa nailed the underwater NAV skills. I must say after Lisa’s trepidiation on the surface with a compass, I was a bit surprised to see her emerge from the murky water coming right at me on the both the “reciprical navigation” and “navigate a square” exercises. Great job to both Tom and Lisa for fine excution of all their underwater navigation skills. The entire group did get to meet at the Christ of the Abyss statue for some improptu photo opps. Tom and Lisa completed their Advanced Open Water certification on the next dive on Minnow Caves at Key Largo Dry Rocks. We had a great dive circumnavigating the high profile spurs of the reef and checking out the fish in Minnow Caves-sorry just grunts…no glass eyed minnows on this dive. Congrats to Tom and Lisa on the AOW certification and now on to bigger and better cert dives!
The afternoon dives included a first time visit to a Deep Reef called the Ball off the Wall and the ever popular City of Washington wreck both in the Elbow Reef area. Ball off the Wall was an excellent sloping reef starting at a 50 foot plateau and leading to steeper drop off to an endless sandy bottom at 100 feet. The wall is covered in huge barrel sponges with plenty of reef fish around having no problems thriving in the deeper water of the outer reef. Our dive off the Elbow on Saturday was my fist time diving Ball of the Wall to the drop off despite seven years of living in Key Largo. We did see one Lionfish but Tom, Lisa and I made a bad attempt at Lionfish cleanup in the Keys. Plastic garbage bags do not work very well underwater to catch Lionfish. Lisa completed another certification dive toward here PADI Deep Water Speciality. It was so cool to see how much a plastic water bottle empty and full of air compresses at 100 feet. The second dive of the afternoon was the ever popular City of Washington Wreck on the shallow inner reefs of The Elbow. Capt Dan gave an excellent briefing of the 100 year old wreck (see video below) and we had excellent conditions on the shallow spread out wreck. Tom completed the second dive of his PADI Wreck Diver Speciality and did a fine job mapping the City of Washington that is spread out in pieces over 400 feet on the ocean bottom. Congrats to our group and the Amoray crew for a record early finish to our dive day. The boat was back at the dock at 4pm in the afternoon so Amoray could prepare for the wedding at the resort later in the evening. Saturday night called for the traditional cocktails and barbacue at Club Dave (my house) for the group to enjoy stories from our two days of diving together and to review pictures from the trip on the big screen.
Another fun filled weekend with Indian Valley SCUBA is in the books and the group definitely finished on a high note. Sunday’s dives including a visit to Pickles Reef with stops at the swarms of fish at Snapper Ledge and the shallows of Pickles Wreck. Snapper Ledge was as fishy as ever with teams of grunts, goatfish and of course snappers!! Our group ran into a couple of different types of eels in three different locations-2 Green Moray and 1 Spotted Moray. Tom did a nice job of natural navigation tracking a wide perimeter from the mooring line of the Amoray Diver. I was happy taking pictures of eels as Tom lead the way and acted like he knew where he was going. Pickles Wreck is always a fun dive but a bit shallow for the surge we experienced underwater. Excellent viz and blue water made the dive worth the “roll” underwater at 15 feet of depth. I tracked a course for deeper water and ran into fields of purple sea fans along the way. Our group found some really interesting deeper profile reefs east of the mooring line reminiscent of the drop offs outside of the Elbow-location of numerous IVS lobster dive excursions. Tom and Lisa completed their PADI Boat Diver Speciality and another morning a great diving past by to prepare for a serious afternoon of wreck diving.
The afternoon of diving was the traditional double deep wreck finish with the USCG Duane and USS Spiegel Grove. The Duane was the first dive of the afternoon and a unique dive profile for the group so Lisa could meet her Deep Diver Speciality requirements and Tom could practice his wreck skills for his Wreck Diver Speciality. The Amoray Diver moored up to the Bow ball of the Duane and our group descended down to 107 feet at the bow, checked out air and gear and proceeded to descend upside down along the bow of the Duane to the sand at 124 feet….SO COOL!!!! Our “Bow Dive” was not the normal profile but we were on a mission to complete Lisa’s Deep Diver certification with approriate deep dive profiles. The Bow and Hull of the Duane are covered in Orange Cup coral which make diving the Duane so majestic. The ship is one of the best wreck dives in the world. Our group continued down the starboard side of the Duane ascended to the main deck level at 107 feet and then to deck 2 level at 90 feet to tour around the towering Crows Nest. We make our way to the Duane’s wheelhouse and then exit the lookout level on top of the wheelhouse so Tom can practice his wreck reel skills at a manageable depth of 80 feet. Tom did an excellent job and then it was time for the group to ascend down the front superstucture of the Duane and back to the our mooring line at the bow. After a nice slow ascent, Lisa was required to breath for 8 minutes from an alternate air souce (we used a stage bottle) at a depth of 15 feet. Lisa and Tom did a wonderful job on the dive as did the rest of the group and we were now off for another dive on the Spiegel Grove.
The IVS group stayed on the “bow theme” with the Amoray Diver mooring up on the bow of the Spiegel Grove. The bow ball is the underatted mooring on the Spiegel Grove and a fantastic way to start your dive on the wreck. After testing Lisa’s limits of wreck penetration with the Anchor Winch Room, our group ascended to Level 01 (Service Level) of the Grove to check out the Mess Hall, Cafeteria Serving Line, The Machine Shop and of course the world famous Snoopy (we rubbed his nose). No Well Deck excurions on this IVS trip but the group did get a bird’s eye view of the well deck from the ceiling hatch in the maching shop prep room. After a solid tour of the Service Level of the Spiegel, our group ascended to the top level of the superstruture (Navigation Level) for Tom to lead us on a wreck penetration tour of the Wheelhouse and Radar Room running his brand new wreck wheel with proper tieoffs and technique. Tom was flawless but next time Tom, please do not dismantle the wreck to find a good tieoff point! Excellent Spiegel dive and a fantastic way to complete some impressive PADI certifications: Wreck Diver for Tom and Deep Diver for Lisa. (See video below for a similar tour of the Spiegel Grove filmed by IVS SCUBA Instructor Carlie Adams).
All dives of the IVS Key Largo weekend were memorable and thanks to Judy Mullen and Deb Knighten for joining the group and congratulations to Tom and Lisa Cinciripini for a busy weekend of dive courses completing their Advanced Open Water, Boat Diver, Wreck Diver (Tom) and Deep Diver (Lisa) certifications. Use your new cards well Tom and Lisa. We look forward to seeing the IVS group at Amoray Dive Resort April 1st for another action pack Key Largo dive weekend.
Just outside Bend, Oregon is a volcanic cone of a mountain called Mt Bachelor. You will read little about Mt. Bachelor in ski magazines because there are few amenities at the ski area and virtually NO lodging within 30 minutes of the mountain. What the rest of the skiing community is missing is a fantastic ski area with big mountain diversity, vertical and terrain to satisfy any skier or snowboarder and the atmosphere and crowds of a small local mountain. Best of all Mt Batchelor receives tons of snow. Over 200 inches of snow had fallen by the time I arrived at the mountain this last Christmas eve. The snow ridges in the parking lot were higher than the my brother-in-laws big van!
My first day at Mt Bachelor had mixed reviews. I was working on getting my ski legs back after the first day skiing in almost a year plus the conditions at Batchelor had a mix of fog, wind, low visibility near the top of the chairlifts with a diversity of fresh powder, packed powder and windblown snow throughout the ski trails. My unfamiliarity with the mountain led to some nasty tumbles throughout my day of skiing. Despite a few tumbles, I was impressed with the diversity of trials and I definitely had to come back for some more days of skiing.
Over Christmas, I skiied two days in a row on my own and just fell in love with the Mt. Bachelor. Big snow fell over the holiday with contant dumping occuring during and overnights of my days of skiing. I was skiing a foot of powder on most trails and hit thigh deep areas in parts of the woods.
The challenge of skiing Mt Bachelor is stamina and diversity of conditions. Due to the location of the big mountain, Mt. Bachelor’s snow is quite wet at times especially near the bottom of the trails right when your getting tired if you were out of ski shape like myself. The top of the trials you fought through windy low visibility conditions and at the bottom you survived the burn of thighs in thick, sticky powder but the middle of each trail was pure heaven. Please keep in mind the conditions at Mt Bachelor I experienced applies to the advanced trails I decided to ski and my experience also relates to the way I ski with numerous, fast tiring turns for long stretches. I am not what you call your casual skier. I loved my two powder days at Bachelor and everyone else on the mountain also enjoyed the fluffy conditions. I enjoyed the challenges the mountain had to offer and my urge for diversity was well satisfied with Mt Batchelor’s vast array of chairlifts, trails and woods. My only disappointment was the the peak chair to the snow capped mountain was closed due to high winds throughout the holiday week. Next time! Thanks to my brother-in-law Jeff for showing me around the mountain on Christmas eve and I look forward to my return visit the snowy Mt Batchlor ski area.
I have been working with Indian Valley SCUBA for the past five years as a local host, instructor and dive guide in Key Largo and all previous 25+ trips of the group the dive shop’s owner and fearless leader David Valaika was with the group taking care of all leadership duties. With David V. in Palau (lucky him), I was left to lead the group through all of their dives and certification courses. Thankfully, I was able to solicit the help of my instructor classmate and friend Tori Steinmeier fresh off a billionaire’s yacht in the Mediterranean. The IVS group of 8 divers arrived in town safely Thursday evening all eager for some serious diving the next 3 days.
The weather was sunny but a bit blustery with North winds ranging 10-15 knots all weekend. Despite the winter weather, the conditions underwater were excellent all weekend with 80 feet of blue water viz and very little current on all dives including the wreck dives. That’s right no current on wreck dives….rare sight for the team IVS. Friday started off with some shallow reef dives at the Elbow on Mike’s Wreck and the City of Washington. The IVS group boarded the Amoray Diver in the morning with Capt Dan Harvey behind the wheel and First Mate Beth overseeing the divers. Dive buddies were divided up by instructor assignments and I was in charge of the brother and sister dynamic duo of Emily and Steven to guide their first dives outside of Dutch Springs, PA. Emily & Steve received their Open Water cert cards this past summer and were ready for some tropical dive conditions and to take their PADI Advanced Open Water course. The IVS group was half newbies to an IVS trip and half of past customers. Felix is an IVS regular and Rick, Luke and his son Dylan were just down in Key Largo a few months ago. The other two newbies besides Emily and Steve were Diane and Marilyn both new to the dive shop as well as their first IVS Key Largo trip. The other divers taking PADI cert course in the group besides Emily and Steve were Marilyn for Wreck Diver, Diane taking Peak Performance Buoyancy and 14 year old Dylan taking Jr. Rescue Diver. The other divers were just out to have fun and enjoy some vintage Key Largo diving. Our dives on The Elbow were all about relaxing and getting comfortable with diving again. I brought my Sea & Sea 1G camera (purchased at SCUBA Gear Plus/IVS) along for the dives with Emily and Steve and took advantage of some great photo opps. The most impressive photo opp was a HUGE Jewfish who resides on the City of the Washington. Emily was eager to get up close to the big fella almost appearing to kiss the big creature. Hey Emily no harassing the marine life! The entire team had great dives on the Elbow and now it was back to the dock for a quick lunch, tank exchange and then back out to dive the Spiegel Grove.
Friday afternoon was time for some serious wreck diving! All divers were back aboard the Amoray Diver with Capt Dan and First Mate John replacing the beautiful Beth. IVS divers were divided into two groups: Group 1) Divers on their first Spiegel Grove dive went with Tori Steinmeier for the “candy ass” wreck tour in honor of IVS’s own Sue Douglass (who was also in Palau) Group 2) Seasoned Spiegel Divers went with me for some serious wreck “swim throughs”inside the well deck and superstructure of the massive naval ship. Both groups loved their Spiegel dives and conditions were favorable with no current and descent viz. A special thanks to Rick for awesome air consumption and for joining “extended dive time with Dave” for my 1 on 1 ”Nooks and Crannies” tour of the Spiegel where we look for new details in tight spaces on the Grove. I found two new gauges, a new closet and a new placard label in the extra time with Rick. Despite a few hundred dives on the Spiegel, there is always something new to see. The second dive of the afternoon was on French Reef and time for exploration of underwater “caves.” French is an older Reef in Key Largo with numerous swim throughs created under coral heads from thousands of years of erosion. Our mooring was on Christmas Tree Cave but my group also visited Hour Glass Cave (and the secret 3rd Chamber), the Chimney of Five Caves and Dylan and I navigated my self-named swimthrough “The Branch” of Christmas Tree Cave. Congrats to all divers for some courageous diving.
Friday night was time for some Key Largo fun with cocktails and barbecue at Club Dave (my house). Thanks to the entire team for attending and special thanks to Emily and Steve for food shopping and Tori and my friend Capt Pete for last minute provisions and an emergency propane run. Everyone had a blast and even our First Mates Beth and John showed up to represent Amoray Dive Resort. Saturday morning called for favorable sunny dive conditions and more shallow reef dives on Molasses Reef. Certification classes started in earnest with all students busy at work underwater. Underwater Nav was all too easy for Emily and Steve in 80 feet of blue water viz although Emily needs to work on which boat to return to for natural navigation. The highlight of the first dive on Molasses on Permit Ledges was seeing some majestic Eagle Rays gliding through the water column. The second dive on MO was North Star just behind Winch Hole with the famous winch in the sand and the Hole in the Wall swimthrough. More classes underwater and also another fantastic dive and all students performed well on their skills.
It was back to the Spiegel Grove Saturday afternoon was some more advanced wreck dives. Those on the “Sue Douglass Candy Ass Tour” on Friday had the option to upgrade to a more aggressive profile on Saturday with yours truly as the guide. Even Tori took off the training wheels and conducted some minor penetration of the wheel house with Diane and Marilyn. I took Emily, Steve and Luke inside the superstructure of the Spiegel in a quest to find Snoopy and some other cool rooms including the machine shop. Felix and Rick were on their own private tour of the Grove now that they had numerous Spiegel dives under their belt. Congrats to Felix for finding Snoopy on his own! All had fun on the Spiegel and again no current and descent viz. Next stop was the Benwood for a real ship wreck-not intentionally sunk like the Spiegel Grove. Nice conditions on the Benwood and fish everywhere which made for some great pictures by Emily and Steve during the Underwater Photo Adventure Dive. Thanks to Diane for some improptu underwater modeling.
Sunday called for one last day of excellent dive conditions before a serious cold front hit Key Largo on Monday. The morning dives were spent Snapper Ledge on Pickles Reef- the fishiest dive in the Keys and a perfect site for the Project AWARE Fish ID class. Emily and Steve filled an entire slate attempting to ID all the different species of marine life. Snapper Ledge did not disappoint with schools of Snappers, Grunts and Goatfish everywhere.
The Wreck of the USCG Duane was on tap for Sunday afternoon and the beautiful ship did not disappoint. No current and fantastic viz made for a memorable Duane dive. Emily and Steve finished their AOW class by completing a few deep water skills on the deck of the Duane and Marilyn smartly tracked me down underwater to complete her Wreck Diver reel skills when her instructor Tori was stuck on the mooring line with congested ears. Nice job Marilyn with the improptu signals saying your instructor is in dispose! The last dive of the trip was one last tour of the Spiegel Grove. The late hour of the day and a bit of clouds made the dive almost twilight and so cool. Marilyn completed her wreck penetration with reel exercise as Diane proceeded to break the world record for a descent on the Spiegel Grove. After Marilyn completed some flawless reel work (but far from silt free) it was time to retrieve Diane and take the group for brief superstructure tours of the Grove. A great way to end a fantastic weekend of winter diving in Key Largo with the IVS team. Congrats to all students who completed their certification classes during the weekend and to Tori for qualifying for Master Instructor by conducting Dylan’s Jr. Rescue class. Thank you to all IVS divers, Amoray Dive Resort and the staff of the Amoray Diver for another legendary IVS dive weekend in Key Largo.
High School class reunions come every 5 years but why wait when you can reunite in Key Largo with high school friends now SCUBA divers for a holiday weekend of diving the wrecks in the area. Anthony Bracco, Rick and Mike Wright and Ben Gilliam traveled to Key Largo this Thanksgiving weekend for some serious wreck diving and SCUBA classes. Conditions were spectacular all weekend as the group went diving on the top 3 wrecks (Duane, Spiegel Grove, Eagle) and popular reefs in the Upper Keys. The winds were down, the seas calm, no current and excellent viz on most dives including legendary 120+ surface to sand viz on Saturday were you can make out details on the wrecks while snorkeling to the mooring line.
The weekend did not start of some well on Friday afternoon. The group arrived from the airport around 1pm and went right into diving mode to make a 2pm charter with my friends at Blue Water Divers in Key Largo. The 10 person boat was the perfect size for our group but the seas were still a bit bumpy from a windy week in Key Largo and viz was so so on French Reef and absolutely dreadful- worst I have ever experienced in 100+ dives-on the Wreck of the Benwood. Let’s just say 10 foot viz is being generous. The Benwood dive definitley made the boys from CT feel like at home….like diving Browstone Quarry on a silty day. Despite the conditions, the dive was fun with sightings of numerous schools of reef fish, a Moray Eel and bunch of lobsters. The first dive of Friday afternoon on French Reef was decent with 50-60 feet of viz and no current. The group traveled through Sand Bottom Cave, Donut Hole, Xmas Tree Cave and Forty Foot Cave during our dive excursion and saw a Green Turtle, a Southern Stingray and numerous lobster along the way. Thanks to Christi and Eric at Blue Water Divers for the late afternoon departure and for taking care of my divers and kudos to the group from going right from the airport to the dive boat. Now the guys were ready for some serious wreck dives on the weekend.
Our group went diving the entire weekend and Monday morning with Florida Keys Dive Center in Tavernier. FlaKeys has an excellent full service dive operation with two fairly new 46′ Newton dive boats and a veteran boat crew and dive staff. The owner Tom Timmerman and Dive Shop Manager Jason Schwenke promised a wreck intensive dive schedule for my group to ensure I kept my businees with their dive center the entire weekend. Saturday started off with the feature double wreck dive of Key Largo-USCG Duane and LSD 32 Spiegel Grove. Conditions were spectular on both wrecks with little current and 120+ of viz. The Duane is famous for strong currents to the wrecks promiximity to the Gulf Stream but not on Saturday. It is such a pleasure to have the Duane in stunning visability and NO current. The marine life on the wreck was also quite vibrant. Our dive boat moored up on the stern mooring ball of the Duane which allowed our group to see the entire wreck in one dive at a nice easy pace. The highlight of the dive was coasting over the entire superstructure to the ship’s crows nest at 60 foot depth and then gently gliding back to the moorning line at that depth and ascending slowly to make our way back to the dive boat. Saturday was Dive Easy on the Duane and another majestic dive on one Key Largo’s top wrecks. The next dive on the Spiegel was one 5 dives on the weekend on one of the biggest artificial reefs in the world. The ship is huge and no way can be viewed all in one dive. 510 feet in length and an 84 foot beam is a lot to absorb. Ben Gilliam was impressed by the size of the cranes alone. When looking at charts and and listening to pre-dive briefings, it is impossible to understand the immense size of the Spiegel. When Ben heard about cranes over the well deck, he expected small metal structures for lifting boats. What he did not expect was full size crane arms 85 feet in length and crane engines 10 feet in wide and 30 feet tall. The Spiegel’s cranes resemble a conning tower of an aircraft carrier. The dive itself was nice and easy- no current amazing viz and mix of outside excurion to absorb the massive wreck and interior penteration on Level 01 to introduce the group what was to come the next couple of days of advanced wreck guiding on the Spiegel Grove. The afternoon dives on Saturday were on the wreck of Eagle and Pleasure Reef. Two excellent sites off Islamorda south of Key Largo. The Eagle had legendary current with mild current which made for a nice easy excursion of the 300 foot cargo carrier. The entire group made the dive with ease as we navigated from bow to stern of the big wreck. We had the wreck to ourselves which added to the impressiveness of the dive. Next dive on Pleasure Reef was the Underwater Navigation dive for the Advanced Open Water Students. Very easy course dive in 120+ viz but the group did well in completing their nav skills and one more dive out of the way for course completion. Along the way we saw two Green Moray eels and numerous lobster. Day 1 in the books and it was off the BallyHoo’s for all you can eat stone crab.
