https://pbase.com/ravenoaks/scuba_off_key_largo

DON AND SARA SCHULTZ SAY HELLO:

Life is filled with so many unique and memorable experiences. I have spent most of my life enjoying the outdoors from the canoe country of northern Minnesota, to the shores of coastal Maine and Vancouver Island, to the surf of San Diego, to the depths of Death Valley. But nothing could have prepared me for my first scuba dive on a coral reef. It is an experience I will never forget……..ever. It’s something I wish everyone could experience at least one.

It is a silent world, except for the sound of your bubbles gurgling from the regulator (mine were almost constant). It is world of every conceivable color and shape of fish you can imagine. It a fragile world that is slowly disappearing and as I passed over it for the first time, I was ever conscious not touch it with fingers or fins. Oh my God, it was beautiful.

I took the necessary classroom and pool training to be certified in basic scuba during October of this past year in Madison. You learn the basics of scuba, the physics of diving, safety procedures, hand signals, and finish the course with two open water dives. I did my open dives in Lake Mendota where the visibility at 35 ft was about a foot and a half. It was pea soup. You then get a C card that allows you to rent or buy equipment but most importantly buy air for diving. I knew that we would vacation within 20 miles of Key Largo in the Florida Keys which is the US dive capital of the world. While snorkeling is fun, tank diving gives you, depending on depth, about an hour of underwater bliss.

The most exciting diving is several miles off shore and only accessible by a dive boat. You can sign up for multiple dives over several days from one of the many dive charters in Key Largo and the competition between them is fierce. The more dives you commit to, the cheaper each dive and I bought a 6 one tank dive package, which are used in two tank sequences. In other words, you go out in the boat with other divers for a half day and dive twice in 2 different locations. These dives can be done on any 3 days of your choosing by signing up about a day in advance. The deep dives up to 100 ft are usually done in the morning and the shallow dives up to 30 ft in the afternoon. I have my own mask, snorkel, fins, skin (a thin nylon body stocking) and wet suit. You rent the regulator, tanks and flotation vest.

Sara came along on my first dive as an observer and photographer, affectionately referred to on the boat to as a “bubble watcher”. There were as many instructors on the boat as there were divers as several folks were doing there open divers as part of the certification process. I was paired up with a certified diver from Ohio named Don, so it was the two “Dons” as buddies. Don had an underwater digital camera and shared several pictures with me after the dives by e mail. You always dive in pairs for safety reasons. There were a total of about 13 people on the boat.

The day was perfect with clear skies, a flat sea and bright sun and air temp of about 86. The underwater visability or "vis" in diver lingo was an unbelievable 30-40 ft. The water temperature was about 75 degrees which was warm for a Wisconsinite. I never got cold in or out of the water.

We dove in two locations. The first was the famous Key Largo Dry Rocks. This is the location of a 4000 lb, 9 ft bronze statute of the Christ of the Abyss. It was donated by the Cessi family who makes dive equipment in memory of a son lost in a sailing accident. I spent several minutes in and around the statute. The second dive was at North North Dry Rock which was a series of reef canyons up to 30 feet deep. The marine life on both dives was awesome but on the second dive it was simply spectacular. You use up your air at a rate that is directly proportional to how excited you are, and on the first dive, I was a mass of bubbles much to the amusement of the several instructors on the boat. I calmed down a bit on the second dive but still could not contain my excitement.

It is truly an experience I will never forget and hope to be able to repeat. The enclosed pictures simply do not do justice to the variety of marine life, the color or the reef or the inquisitive blinking of the fish eyes.

My only regret is that Sara could not be at my side in the water to share the experience, but who knows, maybe she will now get certified. But then we can always snorkel together. I have 2 dives in and 4 to go………..Maybe I will try the 70 ft wreck dive…………..