A very full dive day
No sleeping in this morning. This was a full dive day. We
had a ‘cold’ breakfast so we could get up and out to the reef. We pulled up the
anchor and off we went, back to Looe Key. This time there were already several
dive boats at the site. The temperatures had come up just a bit and the sun was
shining so we hoped for a much warmer day. By the time we were on the mooring
ball the seas had become pretty sporty. Even though the winds had dropped a
bit, the seas had become bigger, rolling the boat back and forth. This is great
incentive to get off the boat and into the water.
We did one dive with the visibility being about the same
as the day before. I went out with the two Jr. Divers, Aiden and Alex, and we
saw a couple of reef sharks. While we were under the water the folks on the
boat were getting beaten up by the rockin’ and rollin’. Denny decided with the
marginal visibility and the sea conditions that we would move back West in
search of better conditions; especially since we were hoping to do a night
dive.
We made the long trip from Looe Key to Western Sambo (2 ½
hours) to find clear water and calmer seas. Denny is rarely incorrect when it
comes to matters of the sea and weather and this time he was once again right
on the mark. We did two more dives at Western Sambo, first at the East end then
at the West end or ‘Haystacks’ as it is
known. There is a grouping of large haystack shaped coral heads that give the
site its name. Since everyone liked Haystacks we stayed there to do our night
dive. First we had a great dinner of chicken patties, corn and stuffing then we
were treated to a beautiful Key West sunset as we geared up for the dive.
Night dives are a little different than day dives so we
had to do an extensive briefing before getting in. We get in while it is still
a bit light, to get the divers used to the low light, then do our dive as it
gradually gets dark. The moon was rising late so we had a ‘dark’ night dive;
lights from dive lights only. The dive went very well although there were
reports that I was going a little fast while leading. I thought I was going too
slow. Go figure. Anyway, everyone returned to the boat without incident and we
headed back to the marina for the night...woo hoo!...hot showers and no anchor
watch.
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