Diving in the Florida Keys over 4th of July !
I decided to take a scuba trip with some friends to the Florida Keys
with my old roommate from Dallas over the 4th of July weekend. Nick
flew into town and we rode in a bus with 16 other
people overnight from Thursday to Friday to go scuba diving in the
Florida Keys! It was awesome! They had the bus set up so you could
sit in booths and play cards or whatever; then when you were tired, you
could move to the back of the bus and sleep in bunks that were mounted
on the wall. Whoever built that bus was a genius. I've never seen
so many people fit so comfortably in a bus. They actually had a TV
and VCR set up - we watched Men in Black and Liar Liar. Then I was
actually able to beat Nick in a few games of chess (that's pretty
uncommon for me - maybe I'm getting better!) - woohoo!
Friday was great - the bus pulled into the motel parking lot at about
7:30 am. We all piled out and had breakfast. Then we got into our
rooms, unpacked and were on the boat by about lunchtime. We set sail
off the coast of the Upper Keys (just west of Key Largo near the tip
of Florida). The ship fit about 30 people with a large bow for laying
in the sun and a wide stern with enough room for everyone's tanks
and scuba gear. The first day we dove only to 46 feet, but we got to
play with an underwater scooter that was really neat. It pulls you
around at a pretty good speed! Then we got back onto the boat. Nick
got a little too much fumes and puked. It was pretty cool. I talked
him into a dramamine tablet for the next dives (I always take one just
to be sure!). The second day was cool - I got my first tank of
Nitrox (enriched air - higher oxygen content) which allowed Nick and
I to stay down longer, and the extra oxygen made you feel invigorated
after the dive! It was great.
Pictures of a sunken wreck at 120
ft !
