New day...private charter

Saturday,our scout crew is gone and now it's a private trip on the Conch Pearl out to the V (Vandenberg)...so we thought. Jess, my DM for the day, and I headed out from FSB at 05:00 (yes, 5am). We had to leave that early so that we would not be caught in the traffic at the seven mile bridge. They were having their annual bridge run and the bridge was going to be shut down from 06:30 - 09:30, stopping all of the traffic on the only road going up and down the Keys. Jess slept most of the way since she isn't quite the morning person that I am. We arrived at the CP hoping that the charter group had not spent the night on the boat, so that we could go back to sleep there. We were wrong. I went below to find all six guys sleeping so Jess and I quietly went below. Jess went back to sleep, I went to work on my computer. The charter group started waking up one at a time. They had spent the previous night partying in KW. Eventually they all made it up on deck and we were able to start discussing the plans for the day. It was previously decided that we would be going to the V; so far so good. Next they decided that some of them wanted to dive nitrox; hmmm. Then they discovered that some of them needed equipment. I love great planning. So they called a taxi and it was off to Dive Key West, a local dive shop to rent gear and nitrox tanks. There were a few snags, Jess couldn't dive nitrox as she didn't have her nitrox card yet and they wouldn't rent more than two tanks per person, even to instructors. Two hours later they returned with all of their stuff. Finally, everyone was on board with all of their gear and it was off to the V. The weather was great. Jess, Denny, Holly and I put up the Main and Jib. It sure is different working a private charter. On a scout trip the scouts pitch in to do everything. On a private charter the divers are 'guests'. There were no other boats on the V; good luck or a bad sign. When we got to the balls the reason was obvious. The current was running so hard that the mooring balls were being pulled under by the water but the water was so clear that we could make out the V below us. Denny got on the radio and found that two other dive boats had been on the CSM (Cayman Salvage Master) earlier and that the current wasn't supposed to be as bad. We went over to the CSM and found that ball being pulled under, but not as bad so we tied on and gave it a look. By now, although it was nice, the previous night's partying started getting to the guests and a couple of them were 'ralphing' over the side. One of the guests jumped in to check the current for himself and was quickly convinced that it was too strong to dive. He and I probably could have made it. We were both Jersey Wreck divers, having been on some of the same boats and wrecks at home. Ok, so the wrecks were out. We moved over to Toppino's Buoy so that everyone could at least get in a dive. There was even current running here; no too much to dive, just enough to be annoying. Luckily Toppino's is a reef with alot of structure so divers can get out of the current. It wasn't a bad dive. One of the guys brought a spear gun so Jess took it along to try her luck. What a sight. Once this dive was over it was time to go in. The few divers that weren't feeling well were done for the day and the others just wanted to go in. They had plans for more partying since they had rented the MTV house for the night and had big plans. Back on the dock the guests gathered their gear and headed off in a taxi. I washed gear, Denny hooked up power, Jess and Holley cleaned up below. Nap Time! After a much needed nap we headed over to the Hogfish. I had the usual, their 'Killer Hogfish Sandwich'. Next we dropped Jess off at the bus then headed to Publix for the next day's supplies. I don't even remember going to bed.

SLS032611A New Crew...bad start

Yesterday we arrived at the boat and loaded up. Things went very well. This is a tight , motivated crew. Off we went for our lead dive at Western Sambo. On the way we heard several other dive boats chatting on the radio about how bad conditions (visibility, etc.) were at other dive sites. When we arrived at Western Sambo we grabbed a ball and found that the visibility was crap; we could hardly see down the mooring line. The Captain and I talked it over and decided to go to Toppino's Buoy and have a look. At Toppino's it looked a little better so I got in and did conditions. Visibility was a little better so we decided to try the lead dive. What a goat rope. The tag lines were all screwed up so I couldn't get them together on the lines. We finnaly went down and the group broke into two groups, immediately getting separated. I surfaced with my group, went to find the other group which had drifted further from the boat and surfaced them. One of the divers was having a problem, saying he had been stung by jellyfish. We all went back to the boat, got on board and ended the day agreeing to try again tomorrow at Looe Key. Oh yeah, I also had to recover a weight belt in the beginning...an omen.