Today was the crew’s first full day on the water. We started with a normal wake-up at 07:30. Some of the boys were slower than others getting up. They were tired from standing anchor watch. We had a quick, cold breakfast and headed out to the reef. We passed two cruise ships that were docked at the Key West pier then we were on the ocean. The ocean was very calm.
First stop was Western Sambo, Haystacks. The dive site is a large reef complex named Western Sambo. The section where we were diving is called the Haystacks. This is because there are a bunch of coral formations shaped like the old time haystacks. The conditions were great for springtime. The visibility was around 80ft with no current or surge. Everyone had a great dive.
Next we headed for Looe Key. It’s a long ride, several hours, so we put out the trolling lines and headed to deeper water for the trip. Along the way Gustavo Jr. caught a large Wahoo. What a beautiful fish. A lot of the crew also managed to nap along the way; a favorite activity on the Live-Aboard. I have always said it is the civilized cultures that observe the practice of siesta. We arrived at Looe Key around 13:00. Conditions looked fantastic. The surface was smooth and we could see the bottom clearly. Almost everyone got in for this dive. This was my 1000th dive, a special occasion for me. Divers measure their dives by the hundreds usually and 1000 is a major milestone.
After the dive the crew jumped off the boat, went swimming and just relaxed. More napping. We had decided that we would be doing our night dive at Looe Key so we headed out to do some more trolling. We motored around for a while, not catching any fish, then returned to Looe Key to make dinner and prepare for the night dive. Preparing involved more napping and checking the dive lights.
We jumped in right at sunset, which was beautiful, and met on the bottom under the boat. The water was clear, great for a night dive. I led the group up one of the sand channels to a clear spot, checked them then turned them loose. Later in the dive I ran into most of the divers and it became a lead dive again. We ended the dive and moved the boat to another mooring ball whenre we spent the night on the ocean.
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