SLS082011A - day three monday

Don’t forget…check out http://www.schoonerconchpearl.com/ for pictures. New pictures were posted overnight.

Overnight a thunderstorm passed close to where we were moored. This gave the anchor watch a chance to do one of their duties; inform the boat crew of the changing weather and wake everyone on deck to have them go below in case it started to rain. It didn’t rain much; just enough to chase everyone below deck (downstairs) and soak all of the drying towels.

The crew woke up around 07:30 when the alarm clock went off – the boat’s engine. We headed out almost immediately because we were going to try to get in as much diving as possible and we still had to fill tanks. We had a cold breakfast (much quicker than cooked), put up the mainsail and jib and headed out.

It was a long ride out to our first dive site, Sand Key. It is marked by a Civil War era lighthouse. When we pulled up to the dive site we were hoping that the jellyfish problem had subsided but that was not the case. They were thick. Despite the jellies everyone got in and we had a nice dive. Sand Key has several beautiful, very large, coral head formations.

The second dive site we went to was Eastern Dry Rocks. Here the jellies were even worse. The dive was nice, there was a nurse shark cruising around under the boat that most divers saw and the coral formations are well formed and fun to navigate. Unfortunately, nobody escaped the jellies this time. By the time everyone got out of the water we had all been stung; even Megan and diverDave.

The third dive site was Nine Foot Stake. Here the jellies were thin. Finally, a break! This site is marked by high ridges of coral arranged in rows with flat channels of sand in between. The crew saw lots of animals here; eels, rays, etc.

After the last dive it was back to the mooring in Key West harbor but first we had to make a stop. One of the scouts had left his gear bag in one of the transport vans on Sunday. There was also a package for one of the scouts. We made arrangements to have the items placed in a dock box at the docks in Key West at the marina and we went in and picked them up there.
Once we were tied up to the mooring out in the harbor the crew started fishing with hand lines called Cuban Yo-Yos. These are plastic hoops with fishing line wrapped around them. They caught all kinds of fish but we only keep baitfish called Pinfish. It was fun watching them take the fish off of the hooks because they are called pinfish for a reason. We take the baitfish and put them out on regular rods at night to see if we can catch a shark. Last night we had no luck. In fact, except for the handlines, we haven’t had any luck fishing.

Dinner was chicken patties, corn, stuffing and salad. Not bad for camp food on a boat. After dinner the crew resumed fishing. When it finally started getting dark, after a spectacular sunset, fishing stopped and everyone started getting ready for bed. Even though it was early for most folks it was time on the Conch Pearl. Diving, being in the sun, fishing...can wear a guy out.

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Thanks,

diverDave