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Finally … after what seems like an eternity, we have
been able to get wet in the best way possible. For weeks we worried about
the cold snaps that kept invading our southwest Florida lives and we
checked the weather so many times a day that we had to buy a new mouse for
the computer. We were surprised and very happy that on February 26th, we
had a break in the wintery conditions that were putting a black cloud over
our diving adventures. We made the short trek across the state to the east
coast destination of Dania Beach where we boarded the Southeast Oceanic
Services dive boat, the Ibis that had been chartered by the Caloosa Dive
Club for our exclusive use.
The Dania Beach area is very convenient for day trips. It’s only a short
drive to get there so we can plan two afternoon dives, have dinner in a
picturesque local waterfront restaurant, and still get back to Cape Coral
early enough to unpack the dive gear. Most of the diving we have done in
that area is close to shore and it doesn’t take long to get to the many
good dive sites that are popular with local divers.
The crew of the Ibis gave us our choice of destinations and we easily
decided that the wreck of the Mercedes, a 194 foot German freighter, was a
great place to begin. The Mercedes is a fun wreck to dive. She spent one
winter in 1984 on private beachfront property in Palm Beach after a storm
ripped her from her anchor. She rests now in two sections in about 94 feet
of water. There is a lot of growth on the wreck and big schools of fish
call it home. The water temperature was 73 degrees at 93 feet and even in
a 5 ml wetsuit, Lycra dive skins, and a hood, it felt pretty chilly by the
end of the dive. It would be difficult to whine about being cold though.
The conditions were perfect for a fabulous dive.
Most diving in this area is drift diving because the currents tend to run
fairly strong along this area of coastline. While many divers enjoy drift
diving because they get to travel over large areas fairly rapidly, we
photographers aren’t that thrilled with the process. We like to plunk
ourselves down in a good spot, look around for subjects and then wait for
something wonderful to happen. Fortunately for us, the current was
non-existent on this day and seas were running well under 2 feet. Those
who wanted to drift could grab their floating dive flags and head off on
their own and those who wanted to stick around one spot were able to use
the wreck as a focus point. We were greeted with good visibility ranging
from 30-40 feet and maybe more on the Mercedes. There were hundreds of
pairs of brightly decorated Creole Wrasse hanging over the deck and inside
the wreck, curiously undulating and rubbing each other in what we
interpreted as a mating ritual. The fish that populate this area of the
Florida coast seems to be larger than the same variety you see in the Keys
and if you spot a lobster, during season of course, you can wrestle it
down and bring it home to enjoy dinner with you.
We wrapped up the afternoon of diving with an easy drift over a very
active ledge. One of the dive teams spotted a giant Green Moray eel that
had managed to jam its huge body into a crevice. We spent quite a while
observing and photographing the eel but the visibility had begun to
deteriorate and our photos weren’t the best. We’re not complaining. A day
of diving is better than almost anything.
The first Sunday in March promised more good weather, and we ventured out
into the Gulf with our buddy Rich on his new boat, Slow-N-Down. The Gulf
is somewhat cooler now than the Atlantic coast, but Rich lured us out with
the promise of smooth cruising and a post dive hot water shower. This was
our first trip into the Gulf since late fall. Rich and his dive buddy,
Clayton, made the first dive and returned back with reports of very bad
visibility. They did manage to get a couple of nice lobsters along with
some grouper and snapper. We decided to leave the cameras on board and try
our luck at lobstering. Leaving the cameras turned out to be the right
decision as the visibility was around 15 feet at best and there was lots
of “stuff” in the water that would have ruined any chance for a good shot.
The water temperature at 79 feet was a brisk 62 degrees --close to my
tolerance range these days and we didn’t stay long. We didn’t return with
any lobster either. We made a second dive to 66 feet on a beautiful ledge
that was literally teeming with grouper, snapper and schools of various
large fish. In just a few minutes I decided that someone had snuck up and
poured ice water into my wetsuit and I practically begged to return to the
boat. We did spot something we had never seen before. On a first look, it
seemed to be a huge nudibranch, similar to a Florida Regal Sea Goddess.
When we got home and had a chance to check our reference guide, it did
turn out to be a nudibranch that we identified as a “Slimy Doris”. I’m not
making this name up and I didn’t touch the creature so I can’t vouch for
the slimy part but it did look like it might be slimy.
We were thrilled to be back in the water again despite the cold
temperature. The good news is that things are warming up now and we’re
really looking forward to some more diving. The dive club has a Key Largo
dive scheduled for mid April and that is always a fun trip.
The Caloosa Dive Club has set up an active dive schedule with several
charter boat dives over the season. We are able to charter the entire boat
which provides cost breaks for our members, and we can keep the number of
divers on board a little lower than might be present on a regular charter.
It’s also easy to find a buddy you are familiar with, and you are with a
group of your friends and fellow divers who will notice if you don’t
return to the boat with the rest of the group.
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