Dive Trip Report to:
Florida Keys - Tavernier - Conch Republic
Purpose:
To Wreck Dive In The Keys - Dive the
Eagle
Dive #1:
Sunday, 04-July, Afternoon Dive. My Dive #213
A. Dive Boat / Location:
Republic II /
Eagle
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
60'
Seas:
1'
Water Temp:
85 (nice and warm)
Skies:
Sunny, Clear Blue Skies
Air Temp:
90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 108 ft for 40 min
, Me: Analog 114 ft
, Me: Cochran Captain 101 ft fr 40 min (7 ft difference)!!!!
Dive Partner: 115 ft for 50 min (hmm - note time difference)
Air consumption:
Me: 3200 - 1200 lb (120 cu ft)
Dive Partner: 3200 - ?? (80 cu ft)
Current:
Light on the surface, none on the bottom
Description:
Well, this dive was what the trip
to the Key's was about! Dive the
Eagle
. It's an hour boat ride to the wreck site! After jumping into the
water, we started to follow a mooring line down. Around 20 - 30 feet below
the surface, the ship started to come into site! What a site! The First
Opinion was
WOW!
As we continued
down, it was apparent this wreck was one of the most awsome underwaer sites
in the state! You could see most of the ship, from the bow to the broken
stern section. There were numberous large tarpon swimming around. We went
down into the foward hold! You could put several school bus's in this hold!
There were some schools of small fish around, but this dive was to look over
the ship! We exited via a waterline blast hole that was about 40' off the
bottom. We then swam towards the stern and broken stern section. It's a
awsome site. Our group then worked its way towards the bow. Our computer
bottom time was running low. At the bow, on the top side of the ship (40'
off the bottom), I spied the monster Jew Fish! It did look like a VW Bus -
a monster. It started to disappear under the ship. I had 3 minutes of bottom
time left. With camera ready, I lunged for the bottom for a quick picture -
the fish was gone! (Later, on the next dive, the fish had disappeared near
the front blast hole). Oh, yea, we did see a turtle - about 3 - 4 ft, going
through the broken stern open area, about 30' from us!
Well, with computer bottom time over, we started up the mooring rope. About 20' up, I went back to 5 minutes of bottom time and decided to stay there a while looking over this ship and a new bunch of divers. We made our way up the rope 10' at a time, waiting minutes at each level. This gave us more time to look over the Eagle and to decompress - this was our second deep dive of the day and we were breathing air!!!!
Some comments on this dive! Due to the 110' max depth and the large amount of sights to see, you really must pre-plan the dive. Go deep first for maybe 5 - 10 minutes, work you way to the 80' level for maybe another 5 - 10 minutes a then stay on the top deck, say near the broken stern for a few more minutes. Careful monitering of your dive computer is a must. Nitrox may be worth while for this dive! It'll take a dozen dives to explore most of the viewable locations. It would be nice to pre-arrange multiple dives on this wreck - morning and afternoon for several days would be nice! One dive wouldn't cut it, so plan for several. When you dive the Eagle, you'll forget about the Duane!
Dive #2:
Sunday, 04-July, Afternoon Dive. My Dive #214
A. Dive Boat / Location:
Republic II / Telephone
B. Conditions:
Visibility:
30'
Seas:
less than 1'
Water Temp:
85 (nice and warm)
Skies:
Sunny, Clear Blue Skies
Air Temp:
90's
C. Dive Information:
Depth & Time:
Me: Genesis Nitrox Dive Computer - 30 ft for 59 min
, Me: Analog - Didn't record it
, Me: Cochran Captain - Didn't record it!
Dive Partner: Didn't record it!
Air consumption:
Me: Didn't record it!
Dive Partner: Didn't record it!
Current:
Light
Description:
Why the "Didn't record it!"
remarks above! Well, it would be very hard to follow the Eagle! In fact,
I would have just as well forgotten the 2nd reef dive after that Eagle Dive!
We dove the Telepone! It was to be a sit on the bottom and watch the fish.
The location was mostly grass and some coral formations. No bright colors!
We did spot one green moray - deep in a hole and would not come out! There
also were several small bugs. There were a lot of very small fish. We did
stop several times, sat on the bottom and watched the fish! It was different,
relaxing and just hard to top the previous dive.