2006 DIVE & TRAVEL HIGHLIGHTS
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Dive Log
Dec - The weather gods were not really cooperating, blowing out a long Keys weekend, so I spent a little more time in Duval Street then I should have - but did get a lobster reuben on the way back home. Went out on the boat at Florida West in Venice for some sharks toothing. The Gulf was a chilly 65 degrees but managed to get 3 full megalodon teeth and 14 partials.
Nov - The Dry Tortugas over thanksgiving was lots of fun - a little windy but managed to get some photo/lobster and spearfishing in. Earlier in the month did the Keys with the great wrecks of the Duane and Speigel Grove. The Venice dives were all blown out, and the water temp in the Gulf has dropped to a chilly 65 degrees !
Oct - After a spearfishing trip in the Gulf was blown out, made a trip over to the East cost to dive the ledges in Boynton beach with Splashdown, then up the road to Tampa for a BBQ (the dives got blown out but the BBQ was good !).
Sept - Helped out in a Rescue Diver class over in Pompano and off to get some sharks teeth in Venice.
Aug - Had a great week in Belize, diving with Belize Diving Services on the sleepy little island of Caye Caulker. Dived the famous Blue Hole and although interesting, the best dives were Half Moon Caye and Long Key - world class dives. The other dives were good, but not awesome (apart from seeing a pair of Spotted Eagle Rays and a pair of mating Nudibranches). Also, finally made the short trip to the Bahamas - managed to get in a few dives with Stuart Coves whilst sorting out my visa. Early in the month did a couple of morning dives off Venice Beach looking for Sharks teeth - found quite a few small ones but not the elusive Megladon yet. My 300th dive was a 2hr dive with about 100 sharks teeth netted.
July - An execellent long weekend on the Scubaboard "Invade the Keys" trip. With around 50 divers from all over the place and 3 dive ops involved it was a great weekend. The highlights being the night dive on the wreck of The Duane, a double dip on the Eagle and of course the BBQ on Saturday night.
June - After a planned spearfishing trip to Marathon was blown out after only one dive by Tropical Storm Alberto, we had much more success with a photography dive trip to the Dry Tortugas, 60 miles off Key West, on the Ultimate Getaway. Setting off from Ft Myers in the early evening on Thurs, we made the 12 hour journey and by the time we had finished breakfast on the Fri morning we were moored to the first dive site. Fri and Sat were spent diving and eating (as much of both as anyone could want), then Sat night we sailed back towards home and moored up to the Baja Calaifornia, a freighter that was sunk by a U-boat in WW2 (about 50 miles SW of Marco Island) where we did an eraly morning dive, followed by one on the Relay Tower before breakfast and then sailing home.
May - Dived out of Tavernier with Divers City, to try and take some photos of The Eagle with my new Wide Angle wet lens - had some problems with it on the Speigel Grove but sort of got the hang of it on the Eagle..still having issues of how to position the strobe though...also had a weekend on the east FL coast diving in Boynton Beach with Splashdown Divers and also Jupiter with Scuba Works. The viz on each of these dives was really good..and now the water is nice and warm too.
Apr - Dived out of Tavernier with Divers City, as I wanted to dive The Eagle for the first time in over a year (and promptly flooded my old Cannon S500 camera !)..had a mad rush to get a new one before heading to Utila with ZenDiving - my new Canon S80 arrived a couple of days before going so I tried to get familiar with the settings before leaving....certainly a lot more complex than my last camera, but later in the holiday some of the photos were looking pretty cool.
Unfortunately we didn't see any Whale Sharks, or any other big stuff for that matter, but the reefs were nice and there were lots of little critters around, with quite a few things i've never seen before - including a Mushroom Scorpion fish, Nudibranchs, Cryptic Teardrop Crabs and a multitude of different Blennies to name but a few - Brain Coral feeing on Blood Worms was also an interesting sight on the night dive. Sand Flies were fierce and only slightly kept at bay by DEET but Utila is a cool little place and i would recommend a sunset beer on the Tranquila Bar (which is a peir) at about $1 a drink ! - Utila is currently pretty well undeveloped which also means the reefs are in great condition ......this could change when they have better air links which won't take too long - the resort (Deep Blue Resort) was nice - a short boat ride from town.
Mar - A great weekend in Key Largo - Speigel Grove, Duane and Reefs
with Bluewater Divers - always fun - a great dive op.
Feb - Pompano with ZenDiving - a great weekend of diving [photos uploaded] - warm weather and calm waters. Also managed a trip to Key Largo - the morning Speigel Grove dives were blown out with 25 mph winds but the afternoon was nice and calm - saw the Pillar Coral for the first time.
Jan - ....aarrgghh the wind blew out all my dives in Jan and early Feb but that did not stop me spending lots of dive related $. New octopus, strobe for the camera and a warmer winter wetsuit made a nice dent in the bank account.
Total dives for 2006: 119 (making total of 350)
Tentative Plans
New years dive in Venice.
Possibilities for the year
Photography: This year I plan on spending a bit of time,money and effort to improve my underwater pictures. Will see about an upgrade in camera (even if just for land use initially). Will try out new setup in my regular dives to the Keys, Pompano and Boynton. Spearfishing: I plan on a few trips out into the gulf from Ft Myers and maybe get a couple of trips in to Marathon this year. Courses: Not really planning on any courses, however, potentially may try and do Cavern/Intro to Cave and possibly DIR-F this year.