SLS021812A Day Two, Sunday

Day two is what I consider to be the hardest day. There is so much to do and not alot of time to do it. The crew woke and went to flags at 07:45. Then it was off to breakfast. After breakfast the fun began. They had to clean the dorm they stayed in, pack their gear that they were taking on the boat and stow everything else in lockers. Next was the food and ice. We met at the commisary where they packed 5 large coolers with ice (very heavy) and inventoried a mountain of food. It takes alot of food to feed 16 hungry divers for one week. Thanks to Dave for spearheading the inventory. The inventory sheet doesn't exactly match the items so it can be a bit trying to get it correct. All of the ice and food were loaded into a trailer and it was off to the scuba area to load a second trailer. That trailer was loaded with 30 scuba tanks, the dive gear and all of the remaining personal gear. Once everything was loaded we rounded up all of the stragglers and headed out. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive to where the Conch Pearl is moored; from milemarker 73.8 to about milemarker 8 down A1A.
Once we arrived at the boat it was time to transfer all of the stuff we brought from the trailers to the boat, about a 50 yard walk and a small flight of stairs. This is the hard part. Once everything is at the boat it all has to be loaded on the boat, everything in it's proper place. All of the ice and food has to be loaded and stowed away, the dive gear and tanks have to be loaded and set up and all of the personal gear has to make it to the bunks. Once all of that is done it's time to slow down and start really enjoying the trip.
We had lunch then headed out to the reef for our first dive. We went to Toppino's Buoy, a nice little reef, good for a first dive. The first dive is a led dive, where the divers stay with the divemaster. Tgis gives them a chance to work on any little problems and also gives the divemaster the opportunity to look the divers over. The visibility was about 50ft. not bad for spring. The dive went quite well without any issues. That's not always the case.
After the dive we headed into the mooring near Key West. As we passed the Key West waterfront all of the people were lined up, waiting for the 'famous' sunset. Once we were attached to the mooring ball we settled down for dinner; burgers.