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| East Coast Florida -
Fort Lauderdale |
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October 15-16, 2005 |
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 When
we woke to the sound of rain pouring over the roof of the hotel and onto
the balcony, we had a niggling feeling that we might be in for a rough
ride. Nevertheless, we are a hardy group of experienced divers so we
decided we would get wet.We sloshed across the parking lot at the
boat dock in calf deep water and finally got all of our gear stowed on
the spacious American Dream II boat. Photo by Jan Desch |
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 Captain
Todd,
American Dream Dive Charters, introduced us to crew members, Greg &
Pat, gave us a safety briefing and told us what conditions we were
facing. Undaunted, we headed into the ocean, skies still threatening and
waves running between 3-5 feet.It only took a few minutes for most of
us to decide that the cameras would be much happier stowed safely under
the seats on the boat. Some of us probably had little voices in the back
of our heads telling us that we would be more comfortable stowed safely
under the seats too but we just ignored them for the most part. |
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 Let's just say that it was an adventure. Thanks to
a super professional dive operation and crew, we
ended up with some good dives. They also managed
to retrieve some precious items from the
uncooperative sea including 1 camera with
strobe, a fin (or was that 2), and 2 divers who
needed a little extra boost getting back to the
boat.
Photo by Jan Desch. |
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We can't say enough about the crew - they
responded quickly to every situation, were easy
to get along with, knew what they were doing and
turned what could have been a miserable weekend
into a memorable trip. |
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 This
was our 2nd annual Wreck Trek (sometimes called Heavy
Metal) trip where we planned to do 3 wrecks in 1 day and
1 wreck and a reef the second day. At the end of 2 days,
Captain Todd put us on 5 wrecks - all interesting with
plenty to see (and photograph - sob). We dove the
Mercedes, the M/V Tracey (aka the Ken Vitale), the Jay
Scutti, the Rebel and the Peter McAllister. |
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| We, in case you think we forgot, sampled the good
restaurants of Ft. Lauderdale, such as Chuck's Steak
House, Southport Raw Bar and the Downtowners Saloon
(very rustic and good food). |
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