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tcjtn0 · 11-29-2002, 05:23 AM,

Okay...I am finally getting real close to my first dive vacation!!!
Key Largo Dec 5th - Dec 10th
Getting Wreck and Nitrox certified while I am there...
Hopefully, I can come back the proud owner of a
"I Dove The Grove" tee-shirt...
I promise to take lots of pics (both wrecks and reefs)
The bad news is, I am going by myself...Everybody is welcome to join me!!!!

Anyway, I hope to have a wonderful time, and I will definately do a nice big posting when I return!!!!

Thanks again...

Jean 8)

SUBMERGED · 11-29-2002, 10:35 PM,

I'm jealous. Have a good time Jean. I will be looking forward to your postings from the trip.

tcjtn0 · 12-13-2002, 12:35 PM,

Hey, I am back!!!! Getting my film into today...
There was much awesomeness and a tragedy on this trip...Will fill you all in later....
Anyway, the crazy blonde is back (And wishes she wasn't!!!!)

Thanks...Jean 8)

tcjtn0 · 12-22-2002, 05:35 PM,

My first dive vacation!!! It was awesome!!!
Got my (PADI) wreck and nitrox certifications while I was there. I wanted to do the wreck training in warm water instead of Superior...
Anyway, I dove the Benwood wreck for my class and once at night (First ocean night dive...Unbelievable)
Then the next day I dove the City of Washington. Not much of a wreck...Mostly a hull outline with some junk lying around.
Anyway, that was my first nitrox dive also. My instructor and I returned to the boat a little earlier than the fun divers, and we were just sitting around chatting about what I had leared.
(Wreck mapping / Nitrox tables etc...) But then the tragedy happened. Someone who I had met the day before (small boat, lots of time to get to know people!!!) died of what I am sure was a heart attack!!!
I don't know how much detail I can give, but he was at the boat ladder trying to get into the boat when it happened.
I NEVER WANT TO SEE THAT HAPPEN AGAIN...IT WAS AWFUL!!!!
That cancelled the rest of the diving for the day (and rightly so!!)
But the next day, I was back in the water. I was determined not to let myself get traumatized over this.
We actually dove in the Jules Verne Underwater center; the place with the underwater hotel. We got to stick out heads up into the hotel entrace since no one was staying there at the time. It awfully small.
And we peeked into all the windows (like idiots, of course). We also got to sneak out of the center's lagoon into the salt channel. About 15 feet down in the channel there were sunken boats owned by private owners.
They were sunk by hurricanes. This was so familiar...Like diving in Louise around the sunken boat, except they were about 3-4 times as large.
I then finished my nitrox and wreck courses. The last day, I got to dive the Spiegel Grove!!! That ship is so large!!! Everything I had read about it was true. It would take many dives to explore the whole thing.
We dove down to about 94 feet, did a 5 minute cruse along the deck (since it lays on its side, the deck is vertical, not horizontal). Then we went up to about 55 feet and I got to lean over the deck and look towards the bottom at 130 feet.
The viz was so good I could see the sandy bottom!!! Like looking down a 8 story building. Then we went over and hung around inside the pilot house. There were three of us in the group and all of fit easily (stacked vertically) inside of it.
Then safety stop time and back to the boat. When I was hanging on the line, I just stared downward at that ship...Just awesome...Made me regret I did not have my camera. Oh well. 1st dive on it...Better to be safe than sorry.

All in all, the trip was wonderful. I will have pictures posted very soon. I have the reef photos scanned into CDrom and will be placing them out on the NET.
Also, on the first day, there was an Videograper shooting video of us on the Benwood and Mollasis reef. It is set to music and has some wonderful memories for me!!!

Thanks to all of you again, for the wonderful diving in 2002. Hope to see you all soon in 2003 !!!!

Happy holidays to you and yours!!!!

Jean ;D

Tol · 12-24-2002, 12:42 PM,

I am so glad to hear that your vacations went well. And so sorry to hear that a fellow diver died during your trip.

We will be diving in the same area from Jan 25th through Feb 10th. If you have any good suggestions for dive boats, things to focus on, things to avoid, etc...would you mind posting it or sending me an email?

Of course only as time permits during the holidays.
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas,
Tol