Caloosa Dive Club -- Scuba Diving

Caloosa Dive Club -- Scuba Diving in Southwest Florida

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Florida Keys - Duck Key - June 24 & 25

This was our first trip to Duck Key. Some of the group arrived on Friday and did a couple of dives in the afternoon with Tildens Scuba Center, based at the Hawk's Cay Marina & Resort. Other members of the group stopped in Key Largo for an afternoon with Darrell & Ann at Island Ventures.

The Saturday dives included Lloyds Ledge (a deeper reef that they hoped would promise some good visibility) and a more shallow ledge called Lost & Found. Lloyds was a huge disappointment where the visibility was bad and the entire ledge is covered in heavy silt. There weren't many things to see and very few fish on the ledge. Lost & Found was a much better choice. It is a finger reef with lots of overhangs and sandy patches and it was loaded with sea life. The weather was quite nice on Saturday and the water has warmed up to a toasty 85 degrees.

Photo by Gary Wood

Sunday morning arrived on the heels of a heavy overnight downpour and it was still drizzling when the boat was loaded. The seas were running around 2-4 and the sky stayed dark most of the day. The first dive was on Porkfish reef. This turned out to be a really nice reef and it was loaded with everything you wanted to see including a huge green moray with some kind of injury on it's face, a few curious nurse sharks and lots of teensy banded shrimp. Visibility was very good even with the cloudy skies overhead. The current was challenging but we all made it back on the boat in one piece. Photo by Cherri Wood

The second dive was back at Lost & Found with just a little more current and a little less visibility but still an excellent dive. The spearfishermen were able to supply a little food for their dinner tables although Mike Bush donated one spear gun to the Keepers of the Reef. Photo by Cherri Wood

All 3 dive sites were LOADED with lobster and none of them small. They just waved and laughed at us.

Who's going to be laughing after Mini Season?

The boat was a little crowded with 23 divers and much better on the second day with only 19 divers. Tilden's did a good job getting us off and on the boat and ran a professional operation. There were complaints about the Friday dive since it was not a club charter and the boat was crowded with people including divers, snuba divers and snorkelers.

Thanks to Kim Didier for setting up the dive and keeping us organized.