Terry tell us about Florida

[doug67]

Hey tell us about diving the Vandenberg dude.

[Terry]

            Hey Everyone!

                     Florida was a dandy good time. The reefs of So. Fla are ok but cant hold a candle to Bonaire or Belize, so I like to hit it for its wrecks, which are dandy! The Vandenburg (the newest and largest shipwreck in the keys) eluded us on this trip due to small craft warnings on the day it was scheduled. So I borrowed a friends big v-twin and drove down to enjoy a cold one at (the late) Captain Tonys Saloon at the end of Duval Street in Key West. Although I wanted to see the Vandenburg, riding a big bike from Miami 160 miles down thru the Keys in the end of Nov, sure helped ease the bummer. Capt Tonys Saloon is still there, but sadly Captain Tony Terracino "sailed away" on Nov. 1 2008, at 92 years old, I had the pleasure of meeting him during Fantasy Fest the year before and throughly enjoyed the stories of his 13 kids and 4 ex-wives,,,,YIKES!!! :-\ no wonder Jimmy Buffet (who started singing in his bar) so often wrote about him in his songs, but back to wrecks,,,,,I did get in 3 dives on the second largest shipwreck in the Keys, the LSD Spiegel Grove, at 140' and at just over 500' its far too big to explore on a single dive, its fully intact and now thanks to hurricain surge sits upwrite to within 3' of plum after laying on her starboard side after sinking, the LSD is for "landing ship dock" with a huge transon that lays down (like a dock) with two large deck cranes to offload supplies. We planned a dive to traverse the 4-7' space that runs underneith this transom/dock, and its covered with thick reef growth like sea fans due to the protection from hurricain surge I suspect, that all now grow towards the bottom? We were able to see the two huge props, a Goliath grouper, and nurse shark that call the area under the transom home. Its a must see spot, even though the depth cuts into your time.  Theres lots to see in the midships area starting at 65', we cruised a lot a passageways, seeing a machine shop,( with small mobile overhead cranes, presses, bandsaws) dining area, johns, electrical panels (GE gear,, :-\,, no wonder it sunk), and submarine hatches. It has (8!) bouys on it (ya its huge) and one dive we tied up to the last one available and still hardly saw any divers on the wreck, have to go up and down the line due to current that can change even during the dive, from pretty mild to whipping you like a flag, during hang time on the line. (Its the ticket to bring gloves, the poly bouy lines are course with age, and have some hooks on them) Also dove the Duane, sunk with the Bibb in 1987, it has much more growth on it and is a lot more colorful because of that, but the Duane sits upwrite and a little shallower then the Bibb, so makes for a better dive, handy on both these wrecks to get inside to get out of the current. Hit a wreck called the "Tacoma" in 130' as a night dive out of Miami Beach, another bitchen good wreck, fully intact and upwrite. Another cool wreck is the "Thunderbolt" in the Middle Keys, purposely spent its days out waiting to be struck by lighting to measure the effects, on its side now and more beat up, but what did they expect. ( Dive Nazi's on the Thunderbolt though pm if you want to know what shop) I felt the need to get a little religion (some would say for my, sinful ways :-\) so grabbed a dive to see the Christ statue off Key Largo, its kind of a tourist trap, well a snorkeling trap anyway but does make for cool pics.
                 I think my favorite dive (for the second year in a row) is called the "Govoner's River Walk" in Riviera Beach, a group of 4-5 wrecks strewn along the current of the Gulf Stream. Its pretty intense, they line you up on the back of the boat, check the current, get the GPS corridinates based on that current, and when the boats in the right spot, its DIVE! DIVE!! DIVE! Its only 80' down but when the currents ripping, you can see the wreck coming and you need to equalize quickly enough and aim for a doorway to get out of the current, take some pics inside, then pull back out into the current to be blasted out to the next wreck, there probably only 50 yards apart, so about the time your thinking, "where is it"? "There it is"! and they line up pretty well, but change position a little based on hurricain surge. Next thing you know you've shot thru 4-5 wrecks and are heading towards the surface. I'll bring the pics I took to the MOA Bunny Feast for the HH after, and see what the group thinks.          THANKS!     Terry

[mermaid]

Hey TRINITY!

Welcome back from So. Fla.  Seems you had a dandy good vacation.  Too bad you missed the Vandenburg, although it looks like you enjoyed the ride on your friend's big bike ALMOST as much.  (nothing like the feeling of the wind blowing through your...huh....hmmm...you wore a helmet right  ???)  ;D

Looking forward to seeing the pics you took! 

[doug67]

Sounds like a good trip.

[mermaid]

Here is a photo gallery I found on the Vandenberg...quite an undertaking..