Back in March Asa and I visited our close friends in the Florida Keys, and across our 6 day trip we were able to reconnect with over 10 divers who we all met through Utila! There's a great scuba community in the Caribbean, and over the years we have created dear contacts between Utila and The Keys, but have also formed lifelong friendships. Our friends there work as instructors, boat captains, all of whom are passionate about conservation, and every time we visit they go out their way to host us and take us diving - we can't wait to return the favour one day wherever we go next!
This time we had planned to go diving in Islamorada with our friends who work at Key Dives (@keydives), however we arrived during some particularly windy days and our trip was cancelled. Instead, we immersed ourselves in pure Floridian tourism and went on an air boat ride in the everglades, saw gators and hung out at secret beach spots nearby mangrove forests. Although we were sad to miss out on these dives, we were lucky to have been diving with Key Dives before in January 2020, when I saw my first loggerhead turtle as well as multiple nurse sharks, midnight parrotfish and lobsters.
We then made our way down to Key West for a few nights to visit our buddy, Justin, who is a captain at Captain's Corner Dive Center (@captainscornerdivecenter). He took time off as Captain and switched into scuba gear to lead us around his favourite dive sites. We went out on the boat with him for the day: 2 morning dives to the USS Vandenberg wreck followed by 2 afternoon reef dives. We didn't take our own dive gear with us on this trip as it was a quick visit with cheap airline tickets (only hand luggage!), so we used rental gear. At around 25 degrees celsius, I accepted a 5mm wetsuit for all dives. Maybe it was due to excitement or needing to swim into the current at times, but I never felt even remotely cold!
Both Asa and I had been looking forward to diving on the Vandenberg for weeks leading up to our trip, especially after having explored the USS Spiegel Grove wreck in Key Largo on our last visit in 2020. Now, I should state that I'm not a natural wreck diver due to my low tolerance to gas narcosis...
It's a well known fact amongst my regular dive buddies that I tend to feel the effects of narcosis after about 25m/ 82ft, and this wreck lays in 42m/ 140ft of water. My experiences of narcosis have always been very mild - mostly feeling a little spaced out and giddy. So mild in fact that I should clarify that I am still able to safely and responsibly guide and teach at these depths, after all, I am a Deep Instructor! Though when I'm in an unfamiliar environment and using different gear or swimming in current at depth, combined narcosis... it can make me feel anxious at times.
However, I was with my favourite dive buddy who happens to be both a Tec Deep Instructor and Trimix diver, so I felt very safe and comforted next to Asa. And oh boy... this wreck is truly mind blowing!! Especially in comparison to Utila's Halliburton wreck (if you know, you know... not hard to be right?). Justin lead us through dozens of interesting swim-throughs and we explored as much as we could across 2 dives, though this wreck alone has several moorings so it would take countless explorations to even scratch the surface on unveiling everything there is to see down there. As we descended we saw schools of barracuda and jacks, 6ft+ goliath groupers floating side by side, and a decent amount of current (for me at least). We also saw scorpionfish and a species of invasive coral, which is apparently one of many in Florida. Our max depth was about 38m/ 125ft so I was feeling the effects of narcosis, but keeping calm!
On our second dive I felt more at ease and prepared, and I followed Justin through new routes leading inside the wreck with his wonderful girlfriend, Bailey, behind me, and Asa last. In the surface interval we overheard that other divers had seen a bull shark on their first dive, so it was hard for me not to be extremely excited and hopeful, with all my fingers crossed. And then, as we emerged out of the other side of the wreck through a small opening, I looked down to see a medium sized bull shark about 10-15m beneath me (!!!), its graceful silhouette against the light sand with curved pectoral fins. Justin confirmed by giving me a 'bull' signal and I whipped my head around to see if Asa had emerged out of the wreck yet - I didn't want him to miss out! This was my first bull shark encounter, and I thought to myself how its frame seemed far less bulky than I was expecting, and its pectorals looked similar to that of an oceanic whitetip. Asa just caught the tail-end of the bull shark as it swam off, and then to our surprise another shape emerged below: this time a loggerhead turtle!
A memory that sticks with me from these dives, aside from the thrilling marine encounters, is experiencing the sheer scale of the vessel's features. Witnessing the Vandenberg's bow in person was humbling to say the least. The four of us were mere ants in comparison to the grand structures towering above us like skyscrapers. I think this is as close as I'll ever feel to being an astronaut, floating around NASA's space station. Scuba diving offers us such a unique privilege that not many people ever get to experience, this wreck being one of them.
In the afternoon we were joined on the boat by our close friend and her group for 2 reef dives. Once again I noticed how the reef in Florida is indeed very different than Utila. Whilst there are still many soft corals, it's upsetting to see how many stony coral species have been completely wiped out. However, interestingly this hasn't seemed to affect the schools of fish. In fact, the abundance of fish species in Florida appeared to be far greater than in Utila, which surprised me (though my observation was only across 2 dives and 2 sites). On the reef we saw more goliath groupers at both sites, and I took note of the higher abundance of grunts, bigger parrotfish species, snapper and lobsters (again, in comparison to Utila).
Another personal highlight for me was the final dive of the day, in which Bailey took us to one of the Coral Restoration foundation (CRF) coral outplanting sites. Everywhere we swam was literally a whole 'sea' of healthy and large staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn (Acropora palmata) coral colonies dotted across every mound. Bailey also pointed out to us an invasive yellowfoot snail species that predates on coral polyps. It was crazy to see the detrimental impact they have on the corals, leaving a visible white trail behind them on the structure as they feast their way through. We must have seen hundreds!
I feel very grateful to have gone diving in yet another area along the Florida Keys, again with such special friends. Please check out Captain's Corner Dive Center in Key West, Key Dives in Key Largo and support CRF's incredible conservation work throughout all the Keys. What a memorable last trip to end our time exploring these reefs!
As always, let me know if you have any questions, and I wish you great dives.
A.
My wife and I did our check out dives with Key Dives back in 2017. We tried to go dove with them in December but unfortunately the e boat was out of the water for maintenance the week we were down. Im trying to plan a trip now for September/October with either them or Islamorada Dive Center to do one of their coral restoration dive trips.