Dive report - last week - 10th to 1th November

I stayed in KL for a few days last week as part of a 2 week vacation in the US. The rest of the time was spent in NYC and Naples. We stayed in the Ramada whilst in Key Largo. It was fine. The underground parking lot was useful for keeping the car shaded.

The dives I did were great, but overall the trip was disappointing. I%26#39;d planed to do several dives, including some deeps wrecks (Spiegel etc.) but this didn%26#39;t work out. The main problem was the conditions.

I%26#39;d booked with Horizon and went out on a 2 reef dive trip with them Tuesday. High seas meant a rough ride out with gear bags getting well soaked, but the dives went well and the surge wasn%26#39;t too bad on the reef.

Horizon didn%26#39;t have a trip going out in the afternoon (not enough divers) but they managed to book me a place with Ocean Divers and they drove me round the marina to their boat. It was all a bit rushed and I only had 20 minutes to get round there signed up and on the boat - so no time for lunch with my wife as planned. I made two reef dives with Ocean. That evening I felt unwell - perhaps over did it a bit.

Both my planned trips for Wednesday got canceled due to the rough seas though I did see at least one other boat go out and my wife rode the glass bottom boat. She sailed past whilst I was dockside, stuck in the marina! No diving for me Wednesday - very frustrating!

Thursday was uncertain. We%26#39;d planned to move on in the morning. However, I managed to persuade my wife that if available I would try and make another dive trip. Horizon couldn%26#39;t commit so I ended up going with Silent World who were fine. It was something of a rush first thing as I needed to get our luggage out of the hotel room and be at the shop 3 miles up the road by 08:30. Again the seas were pretty rough. Captain Bob did a great job though. I%26#39;d spoken to the owner, Chris, before. It turns out he used to work for the same big company as me here in the UK before he left to run the dive shop. The other people on the boat were relatively inexperienced and all got very seasick. Most of them didn%26#39;t complete the second dive as they were unwell. Fortunately one of them was up for staying in the water (where he was best off) so I had a buddy.

I dived the shallow wreck %26#39;City of Washington%26#39; with Silent world as well as a nearby reef. That was interesting and a real piece of US history!

There was plenty of activity on the reef - the rough seas may have stirred the creatures up. Sights includes a huge Moray, various sharks, turtles, rays and huge varieties of colorful fish. I%26#39;ve yet to process the pictures off my camera memory card.

I%26#39;d also hoped to do some dives with an operator out of Marco Island, either weekend that we were in Naples, but those trips all got canceled, which was very disappointing.

I%26#39;d planed the vacation for some time and spent a lot of money on flights and accommodation and lugged my gear across the Atlantic, in and out of hotels etc. so a big shame not to do all the diving I wanted to - only 6 out of the 10 or 12 planned and no deep wrecks, no Spiegel Grove.... Ironically my previous dive trip to the Keys, last September, was also interrupted by bad weather (rain and thunder storms). I%26#39;ll probably stick to Europe and try the read Sea in future though to be fair buddies and I have had dives canceled there too.

Dive report - last week - 10th to 1th November

Try the Keys again when we get less wind - usually summer - although this summer was oddly windy.

Come over to Marathon and check out our wrecks and reefs too.

Sorry it wasn%26#39;t the best of trips. You can rent gear here so no need to lug everything.

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