SLS040211A dive, dive, dive, dive

Yesterday was a diving day for sure. The crew did four dives; three day dives and a night dive. To some that may not seem like alot but add the constant physical effort of dealing with a pitching boat and it can be very tiring. It was an early start again. We have a cold breakfast whenever we have to get up and get going. We headed out under full sail again, on our way to check out Toppino's Buoy, a dive site with mooring balls. Mooring balls are big, floating balls with mooring ropes that are attached to the sea floor. These are used instead of anchors which wreck the coral. Toppino's had terrible visibility so we headed off to Eastern Dry Rocks. The visibility wasn't great but it was diveable. Some of the boys brought along a waterproof deck of cards and had a game underwater. Next we moved over to Western Dry Rocks; a site that is about 8 miles out from Key West. On the way to Western Dry Rocks a pod of spotted dolphins came along to swim and play in the pressure wave that is created at the front of the boat while underway. Craig has some fantastic video of the dolphins. When we got to the dive site the visibility was unreal for this time of year. I jumped in to do a conditions check and was immediately swept away by a strong current. No dive here for this group. We moved the boat to a spot behind the reef which blocked the current which was great. We all jumped in to experience fantastic visiblilty, 50-75 feet. There were some great animals spotted; reef sharks, a nurse shark and an octopus. It was also a great opportunity to take some pictures. The next stop was to revisit Sand Key. The visibility wasn't great here, but it was good enough to dive. Again, some of the boys brought along a Rubik's Cube to play with. Jess had an encounter with some dolphins that came close enough for her to see them underwater. After the dive some of the crew expressed the desire to do another night dive so we moved back to Western Dry Rocks. On the way we had sandwiches and brownies for dinner. Too rough to make spaghetti. It was Sylvaines (sorry if I spelled it wrong) birthay and his Mom sent along some delicious brownies. Thanks Mom! Captain Denny managed to find a mooring ball that was protected from the current so we all jumped in for the night dive. The conditions were still stellar. There was also alot of biolumienesance . The ride back was quite long and Captain Denny and I rode back on the bow, getting splashed by perodic waves; not fun.