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Key Largo and Miami - Elkman - 02-13-2007
I went down to Miami Beach last week (I know, life is rough. ;D) I was down there for the , an inline skating event, but I got down there a few days early with plans to go diving.
I was hoping to go diving for four days last week (Tuesday through Friday), but I only got to dive on Thursday and Friday. The dive trip I had scheduled for Tuesday got cancelled, because the seas were still rough from recent storms. (If you watched the Super Bowl, you remember how bad it was.) Then, the trip I had scheduled for Wednesday got cancelled because I was the only person booked for it. I was rather frustrated with this, especially since I had stopped into the shop the day before and checked to make sure the trip was still on. Their Web site wasn't in sync with their schedule, either -- the Web site said the dive was Wednesday morning, while the real schedule was for a night dive at 6 PM.
Anyway, I got out on Thursday with on a trip to Molasses Reef at Key Largo. It wasn't a very deep dive -- probably only 15 feet at most -- but there was all sorts of wildlife down there. There were plenty of corals down there, as well as numerous fish that I had no idea how to identify. I ended up getting a fish identification book so I could figure out what I had seen. The visibility was great, too -- it was at least 40 feet, and the water temperature was a comfy 75 degrees. Much different than my recent Minnesota dives!
On Friday, I went diving with the same shop for a two-tank dive. The first dive was to the . This was a ship seized from drug smugglers, then sunk to provide an artificial reef. It's 90 feet deep, but the visibility was still at least 40-50 feet. There are a couple areas of the hull that can be penetrated without needing a line or wreck diving experience. (I had an instructor with me serving as a guide, mainly since the shop recommended a guide.) Our second dive was to an area called The Pipes, which is another artificial reef built out of leftover concrete pipes from a sewage plant project. My instructor/guide saw a nurse shark and borrowed my camera to take a few pictures of it. I don't remember seeing the shark, unless I just didn't get close enough to it. I did manage to get a closeup picture of a green moray eel, along with plenty of other fish swimming around the pipes. Meanwhile, my guide pilfered a lobster trap and stole a lobster out of it. He pointed to his mouth then rubbed his belly, which I guess is the underwater hand signal for "dinner".
All things considered, I had four great dives down there. I wanted to do more, but the circumstances didn't really work out to dive every day I had planned on it.
As I mentioned, I took lots of pictures. I'm going to try and upload them to the gallery here, but I also have them posted on my Web site already at .
Re: Key Largo and Miami - MAXFACTOR - 02-13-2007
Elkman, Sounds like you had some great dives. Bring those pictures to the GLSPS event this weekend.
Look forward to seeing them.. Molasses, is a virtual aquarium with hundreds of different fish. I've been there at least 7 times and its always one of the last dives of the day. What a way to go back to the shack and sleep.
MAXFACTOR
Re: Key Largo and Miami - Shooter - 02-16-2007
Nice pics, thanks for sharing.
You should have let me know you were in town, you could have joined us for a day!