key largo trip report

[scubasamurai]

hello all just got back from my three stint at key largo
i booked hotel and dives through ocean divers at mile marker 100 on the ocean side
time for travel from tampa by car 5 hours door to door. a little traffic on saturday because of the season and the DRAW bridge.
ok hotel first marnia del mar. nice view on the harbour.
very basic but cheap price. the room had a good king bed, lots of pillows, clean and a very basic breakfast ( muffins bagels waffles etc) the pool and hot tub were nice but not fancy and it has two good places to eat. coconuts, pricey but the food is good service is good as well. and next to the dive shop ( i mean really next door)is sharkey's grill. looks very dirty but the food was great and CHEAP, my favorite words. plus they are quick considering if you do morning and afternoon dives you can eat there and walk right onto the boat. you also get to see the real "african queen" boat from the movie.

ocean divers. great place! first rate place, from the office staff to the captains.
they have two boats and i was on both. both are basically cattle boats, but they were rarely filled to max. in fact in the three days i was there, sun through tuesday there was only one day that the boat was maxed out and that was because it was an afternoon dive on monday(people come in on sundays for some reason not saturday like me) and it was going to the key largo dry rocks ( famous christ statue) and a very shallow dive. the boats had plently of room and usually they were filled to about 10 people and we even went out on a trip with 5 divers!!!. it has showers to clean yourself after the dive, which was good to get that salt off of you. plently of table room for cameras and dry gear. and seating above deck and bow of the boat
for all you sun worshipers.

the sites
siegel grove. what can i say. both days sunday and tuesday mornings there was very little current and tuesday was the best. the sea was flat and you could actually see the ship from the surface. we even floated off the buoy #6 line port side down to the deck !!! so cool. the vis was so great both days that we were able to see clearly through the cut throughs and all the cranes and decking. this was an awsome dive. this ship is so massive that i never saw the stern and very little of the bow. just staying inside the cabin and crane area there was plenty to see. this dive was classified advance and i can see why, but the buoys lines we used 6 and 7 drop you off at the ship about 60 to 70 ft so, even ow divers could do it if the current is light. oceans divers does want you to be advance or higher or having 2 deep dives within the 1yr, this is a good rule for duane and i will explain in a bit. sea life was minimal on the SG at this time, but truthfully i was just having a great time looking at the ship itself!!! coming from tampa bay area and seeing their idea of wrecks, the SG and Duane puts them to shame.

next the usgc duane. this was a rough dive.!!! i heard that the SG has bad currents and i was prepared for that, but after i surface and got back to the boat, i was told that the currents at the duane are worst than the SG. being the duane is in "more open water" and the current is swifter in this area, per the captain. that said this i would say is not for a diver that is unsure of themself. there are two buoys on bow and stern and both dump you at 100 plus feet on the deck. coupled with a strong current and pulling yourself down to the deck, you blow a lot of air. after we hit the deck the super structure protected us from the current. this ship is totally intact and the radar tower looks great. that tower use to have a buoy and dropped you off at 60=70 ft, but the current ripped that off. when we hit the wheelhouse we held on to the railing and basically flagged pole . this was great to return to the stern line, but of course doing a flagpole deco stop is not fun. still a great site to see, not much else around, stripped by the current, but the shipp is upright and you can view the entire ship in one dive if the current is not too strong. you can also see the entire ship on the way down the stern line .

the benwood wreck is just that a wreck, maybe i could make out the bow the rest is a bunch of broken ribs and wood and metal. but the fish life is great, moray eels and scorpion fish buried in the coral. lots of schooling fish and some rays. very shallow wreck and is the "deco dive" post the deeper wrecks.

the reefs i am not big on. not that type of guy, but still nice to look at. personally after you see the christ of the deep statue at key largo dry rocks, that is it. the vis there and north key dry rocks was poor and really nothing exciting to see. plus it was a crowded dive site, i was banging into divers just trying to get out of there!!!

molasses reef the firecoral section and aquarium section were great. pretty colorful and interesting to look at. lots of large brain corals, lobsters, rays, schooling fish and all the small stuff those marco photo guys like to see!

ocean divers usually does the wrecks in the morning and hit the SG every other day with the duane or bibb on the other days. mostly reef dives in the afternoon, and those dives are a little more crowded because of the shallow depths. so if you want to be "alone" stick to the mornings. you get a wreck and a reef dive.

also price was pretty good i bought a card and the unused dives are basically good forever(won;t last the year with me!!!) also the dive shop is 1 minute walk from the hotel marnia del mar and the holiday inn and ramada are also right there.
so thats it

sorry no photos the wife had the camera!!!

[Kokomo]

Great trip report...thanks for sharing!

[Penguino]

I'll have to check that out. Thanks for sharing!

[Black-Gorrilla]

good write up.
you got a good day for the SG.. cause normal current there puts you in flag mode up and down the line, with few days of low to no current from what i hear.
Thanks for the write up... now u just have to come back after may15 when they sink the Vandenberg.

[terrillja]

Originally Posted by Black-Gorrilla

good write up.
you got a good day for the SG.. cause normal current there puts you in flag mode up and down the line, with few days of low to no current from what i hear.
Thanks for the write up... now u just have to come back after may15 if they sink the Vandenberg.

Sorry, corrected your statement. Last I heard, they still needed ~2.4million to sink the thing or it's going to the scrappers.

Oh, and the government has impounded the ship because some company didn't pay for the cleanup:

Norfolk shipyard accuses firm of failing to pay for cleanup work
By Tim McGlone
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 8, 2008
NORFOLK
Colonna's Shipyard has filed a federal lawsuit accusing a New Jersey company of failing to pay $1.6 million for work on a James River Reserve Fleet ship.
Reefmakers of Moorestown, N.J., was hired by the city of Key West, Fla., to clean up the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a former Air Force missile range ship, and tow it to Florida for sinking as an artificial reef.
Colonna's claims it is owed $1.6 million for work cleaning the ship of oil, asbestos, PCBs and other toxic hazards, according to the suit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court.
A federal judge ordered the U.S. Marshals Service to "arrest" the ship, so it cannot be moved until the suit is ended.
The Vandenberg, owned by Key West, is scheduled to be sunk as an artificial reef seven miles off the Florida Keys in May. But, according to news reports, that project is in jeopardy. A Key West newspaper reported last month that city officials are having trouble raising $2.4 million needed to complete the project.
The Vandenberg served as a troop transport in World War II and carried Hungarian freedom fighters to Australia after the 1956 Soviet crackdown. Later it was converted to track missile tests and followed the Mercury and Gemini space liftoffs. The ship also appeared in "Virus," a 1999 sci-fi movie.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com

[jwdizney]

Great Report!

[scubasamurai]

Originally Posted by terrillja

Sorry, corrected your statement. Last I heard, they still needed ~2.4million to sink the thing or it's going to the scrappers.

Oh, and the government has impounded the ship because some company didn't pay for the cleanup:

that really bites the big weenie

[Sounder]

I enjoyed your report. Thanks!

[Osprey]

Sharky's sounds like a good place. Fact is places that look kinda grungy tend to have the most delicious food when it comes to the beach hahaha!!! I figure the more people traffic, the more dust they bring in.. as long as they wipe down the tables and clean my dinnerware I don't care what the place looks like

[Black-Gorrilla]

Originally Posted by scubasamurai

that really bites the big weenie

that really sucks!!! i want to go watch this thing sink!!!