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Our most recent dive trip saw the group heading for the Bahia Honda State Park, located in the lower Florida Keys. We were there for 3 nights and 4 days. A few of us stayed an extra night & day.
Wanting to make the most of the four day stay, Tj, Denise and Chris did the 8 hour drive there at midnight, Wednesday night. After various pit stops, which included an unsuccessful search for an open Starbucks and a quick cat nap at a roadside parking place we arrived. We were sleepy, hungry, and slightly disheveled, but at the park by 8 a.m. Thursday morning. We did a quick tour of the park and then headed off to meet some of our fellow divers that were also in the area. The Canadians, Lisa and Dawn, were at the famous seven-mile bridge.
After a photo session and quick brunch we felt ourselves inexplicably drawn to Key West where we dined on Key Lime Pie, Pizza, and various alcoholic concoctions.
We re-presented ourselves at the campsite later on that afternoon to meet the last of the arriving divers, Jim, Daniel, Brooke, Chris B, Adam (who later kissed a jellyfish...), Kyla, Jeff, and Matt. We put up our tents and even managed to build a cathedral cover (out of a tarp) for the picnic table. We settled into important things like eating, diving, and making a home out of our camping gear and site. It was nice. A bit hot and too many bugs for me.. seems I attract them... :<
The following day we all congregated on Big Pine Key at Underseas Divers, where we signed in and boarded the Pegasus which would be our dive boat for two days. Over the course of our dives that and the following day, we dived throughout Looe Key Natural Reserve, which hosts multiple different types of fish and good viz.
Some of the most memorable sights were large game fish, barracuda, a big nurse shark and also, unfortunately, some stinging jellyfish (ask Adam and Matt L). At least on the water we had a refuge from the bugs which had been haunting us at the campsites…..
Saturday morning saw our team of divers down on the 100 foot wreck, the Adolphus Busch. Current here was very slack, however visibility was not as it usually is. Despite this, we all still had a great dive, there was lots of fish life down here, and the wreck itself still has a good superstructure in place so there was lots to explore here.
Saturday afternoon we had a big cookout at the campsite, courtesy of JR, a delicious combination of hotdogs, steaks, corn and beer. Saturday night saw our divers taking a well earned break and chill out time down on nearby Duval Street, Key West. Festivities here went on well into the night (and morning), yet everyone was up and around the following morning, where we ventured into the waters off the campground to explore the sandy beaches, boat paths, and nearby bridges. Visibility here had improved dramatically, the currents were still quite strong…..but thankfully Tj and his scooter made those long surface swims a lot more bearable. There was lots of fish life even in the shallow waters, lots of fry, baby reef fish, even miniature barracuda. JR was happy out with his booty of lobsters, Tj scootered to his hearts content, and some very nice photos finished off our days diving nicely.
Still thirsty for adventure, TJ, JR and Denise embarked on a night dive Sunday evening, opting to stay for an extra night in the land of bugs. As darkness fell we kitted up, and carefully marked our entry point on the beach with chemical glow lights. Visibility was the best of any of our beach dives so far, and the sea-life excelled any of that we had seen on previous dives. Yellow Spotted stingray, hogfish, cowfish, a sea snake, and lobsters galore (big and too small), were just a few of what greeted us as we traveled through our night dive.
The
following day we reluctantly broke camp, packed up and faced the long
journey back to Orlando. We lifted our spirits by eagerly planning our
next visit to the Keys (see Calendar) Next
Trip: May 2008
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Keys
Trip Sept 2007 
