Spiegel Grove or Duane

[mobeeno]

Which dive do you like better between Spiegel Grove and the Duane

[terrillja]

Originally Posted by mobeeno

Which dive do you like better between Spiegel Grove and the Duane

Duane 100%. More life, still in great condition. The Spiegel is cool, but there is so little life there now...

The Spiegel is nice if you want to see a wreck, but the Duane is a wreck plus tons of life.

[BSea]

I agree with terrillja. There is so much life on the Duane. On my last dive, my buddy was ahead of me, and shined his light through a grate. 2 Goliath grouper were staring at him from about 3 feet away. Good thing the grate was there .

We used Divers City and they let up off up current, and picked us up down current. So we made a slow drift dive. It was great, and we saw the whole ship without having to worry about the current. Unfortunately, Divers City is closed now. At least they were in the process of closing when I was there last May. They said they would be open till the boat was sold. No other charter does the drop off and pick up on the other end to my knowledge.

Also, there are usually many less divers on the Duane, and that makes it nicer. I've only seen it crowded once. Where as the Speigle might have 100 divers on it at peak times

But it doesn't really matter. If I'm going to the keys, I'll dive both.

[ReefHound]

I prefer the Duane but wouldn't turn down a dive on the Spiegel. I like swim thrus and light penetration, while there's more of that on the Spiegel I think it is safer on the Duane in that the interior isn't such a maze. At least in the parts I've been. The crows nest is awesome.

I also agree the fish life is more abundant on the Duane but that also means fisherman are more abundant. Some of the rooms are filled with schools of grunt. And schools of large barracuda are common. There are likely to less dive boats but more fishing boats. As such, you need to be more aware of hooks and fishing line around the wreck.

Blue Water Divers always lets us drift both the Duane and Spiegel, conditions permitting.

[mike_s]

both are great. dive them both.


then dive the Bibb. same exact ship as the Duane, but just on her side.

[doczerothree]

Duane

[terrillja]

One thing- the Eagle is also a nice dive, tons of fish life, but the entire wreck is covered with fishing lines. I cut 2 pieces of heavy monofilament across an opening and removed a 4lb weight when I dove on it. Nice wreck to dive on, but you have to be on your a-game watching for entanglements.

I didn't really notice too much monofilament on the Duane or Spiegel.

[mike_s]

Originally Posted by terrillja

One thing- the Eagle is also a nice dive, tons of fish life, but the entire wreck is covered with fishing lines. I cut 2 pieces of heavy monofilament across an opening and removed a 4lb weight when I dove on it. Nice wreck to dive on, but you have to be on your a-game watching for entanglements.

I didn't really notice too much monofilament on the Duane or Spiegel.

The Eagle is a great dive.... but you just don't hear much about people diving it. I guess it's a farther boat ride and the boats want to get back quicker for the next trip. There arent any mooring bouys on it also if I remember correctly, so more of a hassle for boat captains.

I didn't have any monofilament problems on it. maybe I was lucky.

still a great dive.

[mwhities]

Originally Posted by mike_s

both are great. dive them both.


then dive the Bibb. same exact ship as the Duane, but just on her side.

I plan to next year. I'm going to go stay with a buddy that lives near there. Can't wait to get my t-shirt.

[terrillja]

Originally Posted by mike_s

The Eagle is a great dive.... but you just don't hear much about people diving it. I guess it's a farther boat ride and the boats want to get back quicker for the next trip. There arent any mooring bouys on it also if I remember correctly, so more of a hassle for boat captains.

I didn't have any monofilament problems on it. maybe I was lucky.

still a great dive.

Yeah, Conch republic does it, since they are probably the closest shop to it, being located in Tavernier. There are 4 mooring buoys on the Eagle, with 2 on the surface and 2 at 15'. The Eagle was also the only wreck we went to that had fishermen tied up to the mooring buoys when we got here to dive. All the other wrecks were just dive boats.