Wow. This spring break was, hands down, the best spring break ever. It was really just unbelievable.
The drive down wasn't too terrible. We drove for 22 hours straight. It was really neat because the entire drive essentially was overcast but the minute we crossed the Florida state line the sun came out. We stopped in Fort Lauderdale for the night and stayed with Christina's friend, Tyrone. The next morning we got up and headed an hour and a half south down to Key Largo. We checked into our campsite (which was fondly nicknamed 'the cabbage patch'), got our buoyancy compensators and regulators, and proceeded to headed directly to the pool to swim and tan. It was so fantastic.
Our first day of diving was Monday morning. The 6am wake up call was pretty brutal, but the prospect of diving in the ocean for the first time made it a little more bearable. We had breakfast and then headed to the dive shop. All of this became such a routine for us over the course of the week. Wake up early as hell, grab a bite to eat, go to the shop, check the tanks, put together our scuba units, enjoy the boat ride out to whichever site was planned for the day, suit up in our wetsuits, wiggle into the unit, and giant stride off the back of the boat and go diving for an hour or so. Then, we'd come back on the boat, switch tanks, and do it again. When the second dive was done, we'd break down the units, get halfway out of our wetsuits, and would sit up on the sun deck and smoke cigarettes on the ride back to the dock. Then, finishing our diving for the day around 1pm usually, we'd spend the rest of the afternoon drinking beer, smoking, tanning, and enjoying all that our quaint little campsite and our new friends had to offer.
I had forgotten how much I love to camp, as well. It was so nice to be out there in the mangrove wilderness, half naked (spending the majority of my time in my bathing suit), being unshowered and relatively apathetic about it. It was so relaxing not having to worry about anything. The area was so nice, too. Minus the racoons that tormented us basically every night of the week. The first night at the campsite, I woke up at 4:30am to the sound of plastic bags rustling. I look up and see an effing racoon with its body halfway through a hole that it had clawed in the mesh window of the tent, its little paw wrapped around a bag of hot dog buns, attempting to pull it out of the tent. It was a little startling and I didn't know what to do so I just sort of laid there and watched it work for about half an hour. Probably not my best decision ever, but I was freaked, okay? Over the course of the week, the racoons also ate a can of baked beans and about 30 dollars worth of deli meat. Jerks.
The diving was amazing. It was a little scary for the first dive, especially because the seas were a bit choppy and the waves were kind of big. Nevertheless, we survived and had a great time. For the first three days we just did two shallow dives a day. This included sites like the Winch Hole on Molasses Reef, Snapper Ledge on French Reef, and the Benwood wreck. It was so amazing to be swimming along with fish and reef just surrounding you. The third day was definitely the most exciting as far as spotted fauna goes. Within the first five minutes of the dive, Jo and I had seen a sea turtle and a nurse shark. By the end of the dive, we had seen another sea turtle, a HUGE grouper, and a spotted eagle ray that had a 'wingspan' of atleast 11 feet. It was unbelievable. Thursday were our night time dives, which were kind of scary but we stuck relatively close to the boat. Friday was our deep dive, followed by a shallow dive. The deep dive was mildly horrifying. The current was strong that day and as we were going down the line 80 feet below the surface to the wreck, we were waving like flags in the wind. Not to mention the fire coral growing on the line and the bubbles from everyone's breathing that were completely overtaking my field of vision. We were supposed to have about 15 minutes to spend on the wreck but we only spent about 3 minutes down there because one of the girls in my group started to have ear problems and we ended up surfacing because of it. I was a little bummed but definitely glad to get back on the boat. The entire dive was just incredibly stressful.
So I know this is getting lengthy, but I feel like there is just so much I could say about this trip. It was enlightening. It was invigorating. I feel like it brought me back to life. I made some great new friends, grew to know and love the ladies I came with, and, once I pass my written exam, I will officially have an advanced scuba certification. Plus I got a good amount of sun. Not too shabby for nine days in March. I'm hoping to get some diving in when I'm living in SPI this summer. We'll see...
Here are a few photos from the trip:
Giant striding off the back of the boat.
Jo and I.
Thumbs up.
School of fish at Snapper Ledge
