Caloosa Dive Club -- Scuba Diving in Southwest Florida

         

   

 
East Coast Florida - Fort Lauderdale
October 15-16, 2005

 

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

 
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.

 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
 
 

The Usual Suspects

Janet & Bob Miller
Bob Mahood
Chris Cross
Gary & Cherri Wood
Tess Madeya
Jan Desch
Michelle Plank
Kay & Joe Arcuni
Cheryl & Larry McClure
Kim Nagle
Bruce Pashley
Guy Willin
Ron Anderson

Injured Reserve

Nick Simone

 
 

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