I try to get out to dive once a month, knowing Jan and Feb are unlikely between schedule and weather. In other cases, it’s a matter of whether there’s availability on the boats as I am admittedly spoiled and prefer not to go when it’s really crowded. That usually lets out the weekend. I also don’t go deep if Hubby is in a professional capacity. That’s a rule I made because he has to be able to focus on his student/client and if a problem occurs in diving deep, he doesn’t need to have his attention diverted because of me. While an actual problem isn’t likely, I am not as good on air as he is (that means I consume a greater amount of air – or for deep diving, Nitrox – than he does in the same period of time). While in most cases I will be as good or better on air than whoever he’s with, that isn’t always true. In a buddy situation, you have to stop the dive based on time or whoever is at the “turn around point” of air. For deep dives, you have to add in the time required to ascend to the 15-20 foot mark and do a 3 minute safety stop before completing the ascent. In other words, you have to allow an extra 5-6 minutes for that part of the dive. So, if we are deep and I hit 1,000 on my gauge, that’s the general point to begin ascent for the safety stop. If everyone else is doing better on air, they have to also stop and come with me. If Hubby and I are diving alone deep, it’s okay because he dives so often, cutting one dive a bit short isn’t a big deal. Causing a client to shorten a dive isn’t fair.

Anyway, Jan and Feb were in fact months I couldn’t get out and I knew June wasn’t likely with everything I had going on. July almost worked, but it was in fact Mon, Aug 5th when I finally got out. I am planning one extra dive day in August, so that will sort of make up for July. We didn’t see anything spectacular, although a few people did see an eagle ray. I kept looking for rays and wasn’t in the right spot at the right time. I did see some of my regular favorites and conditions were very nice.

This is a trunk fish and I always enjoy them.

My schedule has not been compatible with my intent to dive once a month, so despite the temperature being less than I cared for yesterday, I did make it out. I think I’ve mentioned before that diving here in the December through February months is relative. The water cools down to around 70 as it starts the Nov decline at about 78 degrees. When you dive, you have a variety of options for wetsuits. Some people do choose to dive without them, but I prefer to have even the thin layer of a “skin” which is my summer choice. As the name implies, it is quite thin, but does provide a bit of protection in the event of a small stinging thing floating about. Next is a 1mm wetsuit, then it goes up to maybe 8mm for colder water. You can also add on a hood, vest, etc.,. There are “drysuits” that I have also mentioned and those are for cold water or extended deep diving. There’s actually a tropical weight drysuit a number of people here (to include Hubby) have because as I have also mentioned before, locals don’t like the water temperature below 75. Divers who come in from places like New England, the Great Lakes or Europe find that amusing as they consider such conditions to be “balmy”.

Anyway, the surface temperature dropped a bit lower yesterday than predicted, the sun wasn’t very strong and the breeze did pick up. All that combined to make it less than comfortable with what I was wearing. I do admit when I made the decision to dive in my 1mm suit, it was questionable. As I said when I came up, “It wasn’t quite a mistake, but the season for 1 mm is over.” Visibility wasn’t great, although again, at 40 feet, this is terrific for people who dive in places where they’re lucky to have 20 feet.

I didn’t see too many of the “big things” we all enjoy even though I did find one large green moray eel and a little yellow ray. There were lots of fish, to include my angels which I always enjoy. There was also a spotted drum. More of an adult than in this photo. As an adult, the coloration remains about the same and the “plume-like” fin decreases in size .

Juvenile Spotted Drum

Yellow Head Jawfish out of it’s hole.

Although I didn’t get out diving in July, I did make it on Sunday for an early birthday celebration. It was a bit bouncy going out, but while we were underwater on the reef, a rain shower swept through and calmed the winds down. Watching the rain come down when you’re underwater is an interesting sight. There weren’t many people on the boat, so the crew and I think maybe one person were able to be in the covered part so they were sheltered.

We did two shallow genuine wrecks. By that, I mean they weren’t deliberately deployed to become an artificial reef. The first, City of Washington, was  somewhat famous in its day because it was in the port of Havana when the USS Maine exploded. The City was the primary rescue ship to bring the surviving crew back. It was later converted to a barge though and met with a very ordinary end when it ran aground on the reefs off Key largo. Anyway, as a genuine wreck, it’s all broken apart, but is a thriving artificial reef. On the second site, we went to one which actually has two names. For many years, people referred to it as Mike’s Wreck with the idea it was a rum runner back in the days of Prohibition. Some underwater archeology folks did some cataloging and research though and explained from things like the type of rivets, it couldn’t have been the kind of boat everyone thought. They determined it was the Hanna Belle (might have the spelling wrong), a British vessel. It, too, is quite broken up, but marine life that takes hold doesn’t care if it doesn’t look like a ship any longer. Coral and sponges grow just as well on a jumble of wood as they do if the structure is still intact. Little fish can hide and bigger fish can cruise around looking for a meal.

We didn’t see any of the “big stuff” like eels, turtles, rays, or sharks, but there were plenty of fish and a few of my favorites. I was able to find a juvenile puffer and stay with it for a while. They tend to dart away as quickly as possible, so that was a treat.

Atlantic Spadefish on the Key Largo Reefs

In my on-going desire to go diving once a month, I have managed to hit June. I got all the critical emails sent prior to 6:00 a.m. the other day and went out for what was a nice day with a good group of people. Hubby was finishing up three brand new divers and the other people on the boat were pleasant to talk to. The water temperature is great now through late September and maybe later, it was pretty flat, very little current and visibility was around 60 feet; maybe a little more.

Although we didn’t see anything “spectacular”, the sites we went to had plenty of marine life and several of my regular favorites. Hubby did find a large green moray eel and a cute little lemon ray. We started seeing Atlantic Spadefish a few years ago and they have been added to my list. I haven’t talked with the fish experts to know why they’ve become more common here. There were a lot of big snappers of various types and again, once they get beyond yellowtail, I tend to mix them up. I can’t recall which ones are mangrove versus lane, etc. There were also some nice size groupers even though the juvenile Goliath was not in the area he’s been hanging around in. We hope he hasn’t gone off to a new place because he really is impressive to see.

The only drawback to the day was not being able to stay around for a leisurely dock-side lunch, but it just wasn’t doable with our schedules. Maybe next time and I will keep my fingers crossed for a dive day in July.

I had made a promise to manage to get out once a month to dive this year and I was doing okay initially. Hurricane Irma and the aftermath really wasn’t my fault. Then the holidays and catch-up, plus windy weather which pretty much took out January. February is a short month, so technically if I could have gone last week, I think I could have counted it. Sigh!! I am once again allowing all sorts of other commitments to take priority over diving, although there are weather and other factors that do come into play. I have hopes for next week and will make an extra effort. It’s more than simply enjoying diving. Since much of my writing involves diving, renewing the sensation is important.

I was speaking with an individual the other day who loves being on the water, but not in it. I can understand that even in situations where it isn’t a physical limitation. Another conversation had to do with snorkeling, but not scuba and that was because of asthma. As the individual said, “If an asthma attack occurs, I’m not far from the surface if I’m snorkeling.” Depending on the depth of the reef (real or artificial), snorkeling can be more practical because when you’re less than 15-20 feet deep, scuba equipment can actually feel a bit awkward. You also have the wider overhead view when snorkeling and unless there are lot of creatures inside crevices/under ledges, you might see more from the top-down view.The really small things of course like shrimp and yellow-headed jaw fish can’t generally be seen while snorkeling, but anything over a few inches long tends to be visible. Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed for next week so I can slip back into the wonderful world beneath the surface. I miss seeing my buds like pretty angel fish.

Queen Angel on Reef in Belize