Saturday, April 13, 2013

SLSU040713A – Friday April 12th, 2013


Day 6 – a day of good stuff

 

I was up early, like always, but this time I had a new purpose. I was listening to the weather radio to see if the winds had dropped and changed direction so that we could get in some diving at a new location. Yes! With news that the weather had changed in our favor the crew was awakened early. This time less gently. I usually play ‘quiet’ music to wake everyone. Today it was my ‘motorcycle’ mix, rock n’ roll played loud. The crew was up and moving. We had a quick breakfast and it was off the ball, out of the harbor and out to sea. We were headed east to Looe Key, a great dive spot. It takes about three hours to get there so time and weather had to be in our favor.

We arrived at Looe Key to find great conditions; at least great in comparison to our previous dives. There was no current, little surge and visibility was about 50 feet. We did three dives with a lunch break between dives two and three. The dives were great…the crew saw lots of animals; sharks, rays, etc. There were even three Golioth Groupers that had started hanging under the boat at the end of dive three…very cool. We’re lucky if we see one but to see three at once is really special. Other things happened during dive three. When Jenna jumped in to do the conditions check she found a Sony underwater digital camcorder. Sweet…pirate treasure! I also had a great encounter with a very large, old loggerhead turtle. I was out in the sandy area of the reef, face down poking around in the sand looking at shells and stuff when I felt someone pushing down on my leg. I thought it was a diver but when I turned I saw this large turtle holding down my leg! It was freaky!!! I startled the turtle at first but then we swam around in circles together, the turtle pushing against my outstretched hand. Again…very cool.

Since conditions were just right we stayed out on the ball for dinner and a night dive. For the night dive we enter the water at sunset so that it isn’t quite dark underwater to start and then it gets dark during the dive. Another bonus was that the three Golioth Groupers were still under the boat. We split into two groups for the night dive. Jenna took one group, I took the other. It started as a led dive but about a third of the way into the dive we give the divers the opportunity to go off into the dark on their own. About half did. The others stayed with us.

At the end of the dive most of the divers blocked their lights so that it was totally dark so that they could see the bioluminescence in the water…glowing organisms. I was the last one out which has advantages. Once I turn my light off it’s dark. After you let your eyes adjust for a few minutes you can see a whole new world of glowing critters, blobs and strings floating through the water.

We dropped the ball and headed for the anchorage behind Key Lois…Monkey Key. Most of the crew stayed on the deck for the ride in.

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