Dana's Blog in the Florida Keys!

Monday continued...

That night before the sunset we arrived at the boat for a night dive! I've never done a night dive so I was a little nervous! I imagined being in pitch black the whole time! It was a beautiful night and we all watched the spectacular sunset in the middle of the ocean on the boat before our dive so when we went down it would be dark! We all got glow sticks on our tanks and had flash lights so it wasn't as dark as I thought it would be! It was incredible! We saw lots of different fish, a big sting ray, moray eel, lobsters and more! Also it was really cool if you waved your hands you would see luminous around your hands like little sparkles!   Jody took me on a little denture just us two to look for cool stuff as we found the sting ray :) It was an awesome dive! :) and I can't wait for my next night dive! 

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Tuesday 
We all got up super early and went to a different dive company where my dad knows the owner. It was called the Conch Republic and we dove the wreck called The Eagle! The Eagle is a big freighter and was broken in half which was pretty cool to see! The weather was great, and it was a fantastic dive! I really liked this wreck a lot - it has to be one of my favourites! 
This afternoon my dive buddy Allistair, Jody, my dad and I headed over to the Jules underwater lodge which is a underwater hotel.. Cool right? You stay In these cute pods underwater for a night! I thought it was very cool! Unfortunately me and Allisair were not there for the underwater hotel part we were there to do our navigation dive in the training lagoon. Turns out we suck at navigation and were the worst of the bunch! But it did give my dad and Jody a good laugh at how far off course we took ourselves... Oops.. Allistair was so focused he bumped his head on a brick wall and I was supposed to go out 100ft and return and surfaced somewhere completely off course and for a second I didn't know where I was hahaha! We all had a good laugh afterward! 
After a shower and a little nap for me we all reunited for a barbecue on the beach which was really nice! The food tuned out great and it was nice to hear everyone's dive stories and experiences! 
Wednesday 
We got up at 5:30am and headed 2 hours away to Key West! We were all exhausted but it was all for the EPIC WRECK called The Vandenberg! And it sure was AWESOME!  :) It was a satellight tracking ship! The coolest part were the satellite dishes! They were massive! It was a great sight with lots of marine life! We actually saw a large sting ray laying on the wreck, which is supposably a rare sighting! I love rays so I was very excited! :) The weather and visibility were also fantastic! :) I have to say our group definitely brought the good weather! We were so lucky! 
After the dive we walked around key west which is a little tourist town with lots of shopping and lots to do! That day though the weather was so bloody hot it was almost unbearable! But we did some shopping and checked out some old treasure shops where you can buy old treasures found in the sea! Only for the rich of course but cool to see! :) The sun wore us out so much we decided to head back home to Key Largo! I fell asleep the whole ride home... typical me! We were all so tired I believe everyone went to bed early! I know I did!  

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Thursday 

We got up early with Rainbow Reef to dive The Bibb (cute name I thought)! The Bibb is actually laying on it side which was pretty cool! As we descended we saw a massive Goliath grouper almost as big as a car it was incredible and such a good sighting! They are like a normal looking fish but just out-of-this-world MASSIVE! We also saw a large green moray eel which was cool! ...Man they are a funny looking fish... 
After the Bibb we decided to dive the Duane again as the Bibb and the Duanne are right next to each other really and others on the boat not including our group wanted to dive it so we said sure why not! :) The weather was perfect again today and the water was almost glass with hardly any current! Great day of diving! 

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This after noon my dad and I decided to try paddle boarding.  We are selling them at the shop, so I decided I better give them a try; it was perfect weather for it so we thought, "why not"?  We got a bit lost trying to find the place, but it turned out to be really fun! I understand why they use it for fitness, and it's harder then it looks, but it's so much fun!!!! Such a great sport and I'm officially hooked! 
Tonight most of us went to a cute little Italian restaurant called Cafe Largo which was about a 5 min or less walk from our hotel! We had a great time chatting, the food was absolutely fantastic, and the staff were great too! We all had a great time! :) After the great meal the advanced group and I all sat around the lobby to finish off our knowledge reviews which is part of the course as we all finished our specific  dives! It ended up turning into story time, and it was pretty neat hearing Jody's, Rob's and Chris's cool stories! :) I do love dive story time! Maybe I'll set up a little beer, wings and dive story telling night... Hahahaha 

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Friday 

Back to the Spiegel Grove today! :) The weather was fantastic again - glass water surface and hot hot hot! :) perfect day for diving! Jody cut the umbilical cord today and we were officially free to roam ourselves! :) the highlight of the trip was on this dive as we did two massive swim throughs all the way in the wreck we saw old sinks and desks and I even found a Canadian flag, what are the odds! Such a great experience! Loved every second of it; if I could smile with my regulator I would have the whole dive! :) 

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That afternoon we decided to do some reef dives because it was our last day of diving! after a quick meal in between we head out again to dive the infamous molasses reef which was absolutely increadable I was like a little fish myself down there I was just so excited! It was so coulorful and beautiful it was breathtaking! (Don't worry I still breathed down there) :) we saw 3 sharks 2 reef sharks and a nurse shark and a awesome sting ray floating around And doing his thing in the sand! It was fantastic all round and at the end of the dives I had a sad moment knowing it was my last dive of the trip :( 
That night we went to the cafe largo again! That's right we liked it that much we had to go again the next night! We had dive story time again and enjoyed an amazing meal! :) we had a great last night as we reminisces about all our great dives we did and how the weather stayed in our favour! :) we hit up divers direct for some last minute shopping before hitting the hay for our long drive tomorrow! :) 
I had the time of my life on this trip from the diving to the weather to the great people! :) Everyone on the trip was just fantastic and I have to say I for sure have the dive bug! More diving please!! :) 

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