Dive with Island Ventures, Key Largo, Florida
 
Island Ventures has a very nice 27 foot dive boat (Island Hopper) that holds 12 divers that took 10 divers from the Caloosa Dive Club on a two tank dive on Saturday and a two tank dive on Sunday. This allowed us to have additional room for our gear and cameras, and there were a lot of cameras.
 
Four of the divers decided to drive to Key Largo on Friday afternoon to be well relaxed for the dives on Saturday and Sunday. This allowed them to visit some of the local dive shops and do some bargain hunting and get some good deals. Lou Fish bought a new BC and some more weights. We all stayed at the Key West Inn, formally known as the Suites of Key Largo. This is a nice Motel and the rooms are efficiency suites. The motel is on a canal and is built on stilts with parking underneath. Each suite has a living room, kitchen, dining area, and bath on the first floor, and a large bedroom and bath on the second floor. The couch in the living room pulls out into a full bed and you can get an additional cot to have one couple on the second floor and two additional people share the first floor. You can also save some money by making your meals in the kitchen, but if you choose not to cook there are some real nice restaurants in the local area. Off of the kitchen is a nice balcony that overlooks the canal with great boats to look at.
 
Saturday Afternoon, May 9, 2009
Snapper Ledge
 
The weather was a bit warm with the temperature in the lower 90s and the typical Florida high humidity. It was partially cloudy with a mild breeze. At noon time on Saturday the 10 divers assembled at Island Ventures and boarded the boat. Air Tanks were included for the dives. Even though Lou Fish had brought a BC and purchased a new one, he forgot and left both of them back at the Motel. Fortunately there was enough time and the Motel was close enough for Charlie to take him to get his BC. There was plenty of room on the boat and we heard reports of good visibility. We were ready and started out from the dock. It was a very nice trip through the mangroves and then into the open water. The trip took about 35 minutes and we were about 5 miles out. We arrived at the first site, Snapper Ledge. When you get into the water you understand why this is called Snappers Ledge and the ledges were teaming with Snapper. There was one photo opportunity after another. Everywhere you looked there were thousands of fish of many different varieties. The depth was anywhere from 25 to 40 feet and you had to limit your time to approximately one hour. It was difficult to leave as you could have spent the whole day there. The water temperature was in the upper 70s and the visibility was around 50 to 55 feet. There were very large brain coral heads, many sea fans, soft corals, star corals, and fish everywhere. Gary Wood was diving with his new Sony High Definition Video Camera. He brought this large, but really nice case on board the boat and filled it with fresh water. Inside was a bright yellow Ocean Images housing with his Sony High Definition (Blue Ray) video camera. I know I can’t wait to see the wonderful videos that Gary took. Hope to see them at one of the meetings soon. I saw his dive partner, his wife Cherri, diving along side of him with her camera taking photos. Now who will get the better photos, can’t wait to hear the results of that one. At times she was taking photos of Gary taking photos and at times Gary taking photos or videos of Cherri taking photos. There were so many people taking photos, the fish had their choice of who to have their photo taken from. At one point I even saw Gary taking a video of me, so I took his picture of him videoing me. There was more than just fish to take pictures of. Returning back to the boat we headed to the next dive location and with our safety stop done we were ready.
 
Pickles Reef
 
The next location was called Pickles Reef. It was named for the Pickle barrels that were filled with concrete. During the Civil War, or sometimes known as the War of Northern Aggression, the Union Navy patrolled these waters and would not let the Confederates bring anything through this area that would contribute to their war efforts, so the Confederates would smuggle concrete in Pickle Barrels (disguising it as pickles) and one ship sunk here and the sea floor was full of Pickle Barrels and you can still see the concrete forms of the barrels. The dive was in about 30 to 40 feet of water with the reef form in lines with the sandy bottom in-between. It was like large ribs. You could swim down each section of the reef looking at brightly colored corals and sponges along with a large variety of fish. There was so much to look at and take pictures of. The water was a mild upper 70s and visibility of around 50 feet. You would count the reef lines as you crossed them exploring this vast reef, this would assist you in returning as you counted them down on your return to the boat, don’t miscount now. Once again it was difficult to leave the reef with so much to look at. You just wanted to look at each and every reef line, one after the other. The boat crew was so helpful and accommodating. It was a very relaxing day and before you knew it, it was time to return to the dock with the memories of a great day of diving. The crew assisted us with our gear and we talked about our experiences. We knew that tomorrow would be yet another day of great diving. Warm water, a calm ocean, low winds, good visibility and a bright sunny day, what more could you ask for. We departed for the Motel and a well deserved dinner. Lou Fish went back to Divers Direct and purchased a Spare Air. You can never be too safe.

Sunday Morning, May 10, 2009
Secret Location (Civil War Wreck)
 
We were back at the dock with the boat there and the crew was making it ready for the days dive. With the tanks full and loaded back on the boat we were eager to load our gear on the boat and get going. The 10 divers boarded the boat and stowed their gear. The captain asked if everyone had all their gear and everyone said that they did. Once again Gary Wood had his new High Definition Video Camera and was ready to go. Lou Fish had remembered his BC and had extra weigh for his dive. Yesterday he thought he was a little light during his dive. There were three water buckets with cameras and everyone had their gear stowed, so we said “let’s go”. The captain was going to treat to with taking us to a location that was special to him. He knew that our dive club had a photo contest and we had some really nice camera equipment on board yesterday and would be bringing them again today. He believed that we would respect this location and he explained this to us. We felt proud that he would share this location with us and we were on our way. With a short ride through the mangroves and a five mile trip out to sea we were there. Once again the weather was beautiful a little hot as it was around 90 degrees with regular Florida humidity. The water was nice and warm in the upper 70s and you could see how clear the water was as we could see the bottom. Everyone was gearing up and Lynn noticed that she had forgotten her fins. The captain said “didn’t I ask everyone if they had everything with them before we left?” She said “yes, but I switched gear bags and didn’t realize that they weren’t with me”. The captain said that she was in luck because she could use his fins. He was going to snorkel around the site as we went on our dive. Lou Fish said that he had an extra set with him. Who knew, yesterday he didn’t have his BC, but today he has two sets of fins. There he was coming to her rescue. Lynn was happy and borrowed the fins from Lou. The captain explained that this wrecks wooden structure had since deteriorated, but it was coral encrusted and we would have to exercise caution in approaching the wreck as it was very fragile. The wreck was located on a sandy bottom and was around 100 feet long.
 
We entered the water and could see the wreck immediately. The water was clear and the wreck stood out surrounded by the white sandy bottom. When we settle near the bottom close to the wreck we were greeted by a special treat, two sharks were circling the wreck. They were around 100 feet away and keeping their distance and circling slowly. The sharks must have wondered what we were and why we were there. After the sharks circled a couple of times we saw one of the sharks heading toward Lynn. Lynn was located approximately 15 to 20 feet from the wreck, standing on the white sandy bottom. The shark headed right for Lynn and as the shark got real close, Lynn lifted up on her fin tips and the shark went right by her. It was so close she could have touched it. What a lucky day for Lynn to have such an experience. You could almost see the smile on her face. The wreck sat there framed in white sand left there unspoiled, a monument from the civil war. The wreck was as described, beautiful and full of tropical fish. I saw Lou Fish swimming over the wreck taking pictures and dangling below him on the stretched out tether was his Spare Air. He almost lost it. The Spare Air slipped out of the holder that it was held in with a Velcro strap. He would need to improve the way he has it attached. He realized that it was dangling and secured it back into the holder. The captain said that there was a large grouper and a very large moray eel that made this their home. At first we didn’t see the moray or the grouper, but about 15 minutes into the dive there the moray was and the grouper was right by its side. The Moray slithered in and around the wreck and it got it’s picture taken as often and people could line up and get a good shot. The Moray wasn’t camera shy and was certainly large. After several minutes of photo shots the moray swam off just above the sandy bottom and out of site. What a thrill to see such a beautiful animal in the wild. I pointed out a Scorpion Fish to Lynn Ann. She took several pictures and a few more people took a couple of photos and then the Scorpion Fish disappeared into the wreck. We spent the hour filming and photographing the wreck and enjoying our time with this wonderful experience. Back on the boat we all spoke of our experiences and how great this dive was. Lynn was still beaming about her experience with the shark. She was just standing away from the wreck enjoying the view and the shark singled her out and she was glad that it did. We all agreed that this was one great dive.

Mikes Wreck
 
As we piloted to the next dive site, we were still talking about the experiences we just had and said that we could spend the second dive there, it was that good. We arrived at Mikes Wreck and the captain described what we would see. This was a large wooden wreck and the captain said that there was talk that this may be two wrecks at this site, but the remaining wreckage doesn’t really support the theory of two wrecks. Once again the wooden framing was gone, but the coral skeleton remains was still there. There were large coral mounds in the area of the wreck that was teaming with many different types of corals, colorful sponges and many different types of fish. There was so much to see and it was over a large area. The divers went in many different directions viewing and photographing the wonderful, colorful dive site. The hour went by very quickly and we had to board back on the boat for the ride back to the dock. On the way through the mangroves the captain spotted a person in the water and he looked as if he needed assistance. He had fallen off of his Sea Sled and was swimming against the current back trying to get to his craft, but was very tired and he still had a ways to go. One of the crew threw the man a rope and pulled him to our boat and he boarded it looking very tired. The captain piloted our boat over to his Sea Sled and he jumped into the water and got back on his craft and drove it behind us back to the harbor. Back at the dock the crew once again assisted us on getting our gear off of the boat. We loaded our cars and headed home with memories a weekend of great diving.

Summary
 
The two days were filled with many new and revisited experiences. These were four dives that made the weekend a great experience.  Island Ventures and their staff are very good dive operations and they made the dive weekend a fun and exciting experience.
 
The divers from the Caloosa Dive Club are very skilled divers and diving with them is a pleasure. Everyone was helping each other gear up and enter the water on the dives. If there was something special to see on the dive, they would look, take photos (if they brought a camera) and then point it out to others to view and enjoy. The Caloosa Dive Club has a photo contest (it includes videos as well) each year and there were many divers with cameras and this was a great photo opportunity weekend. The competition will be fierce this year as I’m sure that it has been in the past. I can’t wait to dive with them again.
 Barry Erhardt