Just returned from this year's "Diving with Dan" adventure in the "Frickin FLorida Keys."
Racked up 17 dives (currently now at 79. But what's more important about this trip was
with whom I was diving. I met & dove with quite a few rec.scuban's for the first time
including (using their "Nom de rec.scuba"):

    Lee Bell
    Dan & Pat Bracuk
    "Cavey" Curtis
    Grumman-581 & Family
    John Hanson

First, a big thanks to Dan and Pat for being such gracious hosts/organizers. I also wish
to say that it was indeed a privilige to have Dan and Pat dive with the group from my
LDS in KL. I have heard that my LDS will be repeating the trip again same way, same
time next year, so perhaps I'll meet more of our SoFl rec.scubans including:

    ESG
    Nitespark
    Limey Dave

    anyone else I missed - or didn't.

The Dives

All the dives went very well. Most were shallow reef dives which gave me a chance to
work on my trim and buoyancy and I am pleased to say I feel a lot better about both.
My next goal there is to be able keep as low as I can while moving without touching
bottom etc. since that's where you get to see all the good marine life etc. Took a
few pictures on the reefs which I'll publish on my website shortly. Will work on my
SAC calculations later, but my best dive in re: gas usage was 01:01hrs, returning with
1430psi in a Steel 95 (rated at 2400psi) (air), depth 20FSW.

Did two deep dives - One each on the Spiegel Grove and the USS Duane. The SG was
fantastic conditions Viz - 70+ with almost no current. We dropped down on the "cranes"
ball near the stern. You could see the cranes themselves from surface. Stayed primarily
around the cranes area (did some swim throughs) at roughly 95fsw. That part of the
wreck is not so full of growth. In fact, the American Flag still shows it's colors. Total time
was 30 min. on Ntrox 32% and returned with 1200psi from a steel 100 (rated at 3000psi).

2nd Deep dive was the USS Duane.  We were scheduled to do the Spiegel Grove again that
morning, but upon arrival, the Captain took one look at the current and said "Not today...."
You know you're in trouble when the mooring buoys are trailing a significant wake.  So we
went over to the Duane. Not as bad a current but still significant. We tried it anyway. We
went down the bow mooring ball line. Had to hold onto it at all times, and let go only upon
reaching the bow itself.  This was my 3rd deepest dive to date at 102FSW. Used quite a bit
more gas (again Nitrox 32 from a steel 100) than before so this was a shorter dive at 20
minutes total time (including the safety stop). But I didn't feel bad as even the instructors
follow me back up shortly. I think we probably shouldn't have done this one either. As it
turned out, upon our return to port, we heard reports over the marine radio of two divers
being lost on the Spiegel Grove. The Coast Guard was on the scene searching for them. At
the end of the day though, we were advised that the divers had been found alive, but adrift 4
miles from the SG. And in a true rarity, on the 2nd trip out (3rd dive that day) we encountered
a fully formed Waterspout eminating from a rather large local super-cell in the distance.
Thankfully, the Captian steered arround it and found us a patch of sunny clear area for diving
in between that and another super cell.

Returned to the "City of Washington" site which gave me "issues" earlier in January. A much
better site without the surge and seas - Actually saw all of the wreck itself, along with the
nurse sharks and barracuda etc. Although that is not to say there was no surge at all on some
of the sites, so I got some good experience with that as well. As is said, with surge, you see
something, and then you see it again, and again! :-)

Had no trouble at all with navigating back to the boats. Appreciate Lee's confidence that he let
me handle that task for us both when we were dive buddies. One nice thing about the FFK's is
the terrain uniqueness and diversity. So it's easier to remember your surroundings when first
descending and be able to navigate out and back. Not that it's perfectly fool proof, and the lack
of viz can be extremely disorrienting. One trick that helped me was using the sun. At times, I
would be swimming along, and all of a sudden it got dark above me quickly. When I'd turn to
look up, lo and behold, there was the boat. I used that a lot and it worked every time. And
thankfully, the Crystal Clear charter boats are marked on the hull so I could tell it was our boat.
I'm amazed those boats only draw about 3-4ft because some of them were very close to
bottom and to the reef formations.

All in all, a great trip and an even greater chance to meet some rec.scuban's face to face. Now
it's back to Dutch to prepare for my NJ ocean wreck dives. I look forward to to January, 2008
when I'll be back in Fl. to do some of the springs with CUrtis and anyone else, and then this
time next year, when I'll be back again in the FFK's (BTW Greg, we voted this in as an FAQ entry). :-)

____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold