Howdy ho!!!  I'm back from my semi-annual pilgrimage to SoFl. An excellent trip, and
thankfully, the weather held steady for the most part.  Racked up 14 logged dives. The
count now stands at 110, and I got my Nitrox Gas Blender Ticket. More on that later.

But First things first.  Arrived on Sat. 01/12 and drove from Bradenton/Sarasota
to Davie to spend quite the enjoyable afternoon/evening with Lee and Jayna Bell at
their house, *and* I finally got to meet ESG and the "lovely Deborah."  Mike - If you
don't have it yet, I'll send you that .jpg you're looking for so I can "get certified!" :-))))
Thanks again to Lee for cauterizing the hole in my  webbing on the BP harness. It
worked nicely.  

After a relaxing afternoon at Lee's, we went all went out to dinner at a nice little Cuban
restaurant in the area.  We almost made a clean getaway before the Karaoke session
started, (the house singer caught us on the way out), but we made it before being asked to
"crank up a tune."   <<Shudders thinking what some of our other illustrious rec.scuban's
would have offered to sing!!!>>

<< Evil Grin >>

After leaving Davie that evening, I headed down to the FFK's and stayed at the Marina Del
Mar Hotel, diving with Ocean Divers in KL for 3 days.  Not bad for a PADI 5* IDC. Of course,
as such, there are a lot of boat rules (no deco, no free ascents/descents on wrecks, no full
penetrations (swim thoroughs only) and everyone must be buddied). I was on the schedule
to do 8 dives, with the 1st one each morning being one of the big 2 wrecks (SG & Duane).  
Sunday Morning was the SG. The current was strong but not prohibitive. Everyone was
flagging up/down the anchor line but of course the wreck itself broke the current and it
was enjoyable below. It felt good to get "back on that horse."

We moored on one of the balls near the mid hold, so I got down to 110fsw in the hold
itself. Saw a couple of tiny sharks, etc. and came back up.  Dive was 25 min. as others
in my party were  air hogging (I dove air all the time during this trip as I had my own
tanks and they weren't Nitrox ready yet). This morning we were diving with an  IDC class
in progress but I was with a group led by a DM who was just there (ie. not with Ocean
Divers).  The remaining dives that day were all shallow reefs and the Benwood wreck
(French Reef twice etc.). No current or surge encountered. Did a 4 tank day on Sunday.
10 people on this trip including the IDC class and instructor) on a Newton 46ft. boat. It
was lovely.

On Monday, we were scheduled for the Duane, but upon arrival, the current was too
strong. Although not ripping, one could tell as the wind blew 10-15kkts in one direction
and the current was headed 90deg. to the right of the wind/seas. You could see the
mooring ball catch lines completely stretched out in the current direction. We diverted
back to the SG, which seemed to please a couple of our pax.  as they were quite pissed
that they were "mis-scheduled" (they claim they were told they were diving the SG not
the Duane, but the schedule is clearly marked on the Ocean Divers Website). I guess it
worked out for them.  This trip, I had the luxury of buddying with a 10yr veteran NY diver
who knew the kind of dives I do off the NJ shore. Had a blast with him and went in some
of the deeper swim throughs below 80fsw. We were moored at Ball#6. We went a couple
of decks below the bridge and saw the  "desk" room (not sure if it's the Captian's Qtr's
desk or not, but it was a wooden desk.  He  (my buddy) got cold though so we had to go
back up after 30 min.  I could have gone 40 but..... The 2nd dive was  back to the Benwood
wreck to chill out. I elected to move the afternoon trip I was scheduled for to the next morning,
even though it meant going back to the SG for a 3rd time.  

Tues. was again a small crowd (8 people),  but this time I led the dives, having the most
experience in my buddy team.  This morning, there was no current at all at the SG, a rarity. I tried to
find that "desk" room again but couldn't (I think I had to go one deck lower to get it). Nonetheless,
we went out from the bridge at ball #6 to the bow and back. For a brief moment, I was tempted to
do the "King of the World" pose on the bow but quickly thought better of the idea, not wanting to
"give one up to Darwin" so I elected not to tempt fate. Besides, slack water was ending and the current
started to pick up again. We made almost 1/2 hr. on that dive.  The last dive on that trip was back to
French Reef.  My buddy lost his camera on the way up from French, but with 600psi left, he went
back down and found it 5 min. later (used only 100 psi doing so). Good for him.

In general, I would do Ocean Divers again as I don't mind all the rules, but I can see that it might be
troublesome to some of our rec.scubans(No food/drinks on board except for some orange slices
after the 2nd dive of the trip). That, and the site selection is a little narrow (and fixed, given optimal
weather/current). But the people were very nice. One of their instructors even stayed late to VIP my
tanks.  And yes, Greg, even though there was no "cute shark jar," no signage, and no mention of
tipping, I tipped the boat DM quite well for each trip as well as the gas blender and the instructor who
VIP'ed my tanks.

Later in the week I traveled up to Ocala for a little diving in the springs. I went to 40 fathom Grotto for
my Ntrox blender course, and since the instructor was also there with a student who was jamming cavern,
Intro to Cave, *and* full Cave in one 10 day shot, I tagged along with them for a few dives. It was an
experience, as I got some unexpected but excellent lessons in buoyancy and tech gear configurations.
This guy drilled me till I dropped. But it was well worth it.  Al and I have some things to work on in 2008,
but I also want to show him how much I learned.  Wasn't much to the Gas blender training, but I did one PP
fill and they showed me the station set up (ie. the Haskel etc.). It was cool to learn how to do that. This,
combined with the PSI VCI course I'm taking at BTS in March, and my LDS owner better watch out!!! :-)
No more $20.00 gas fills for this kid!!!

On Sat. it was overcast, cool and misty, but that didn't stop Curtis and I from having a wonderful time
at Paradise Springs.  This is quite an interesting site. It has the clearest blue surface water, but it's a
very small entry pool. Most of the main area is overhead, and one long passageway goes down to a 99ft.
ledge, which is as far as non-cave divers can go (it continues to about 140ffw. There's a "grim reaper" sign
at that bottom ledge before the mouth of the cave part, and further on beyond that point inside the cave, a
plaque commemorating the one person who died in that cave. I understand it was put there to remind people
who shouldn't, to "go no further." (I'll let Curtis tell that story).   Lots of silt, lots of rocks, but also
lots of interesting fossils and other things.  The spring itself is on a few acres of horse farmland and the
people running it are very nice. I hope they're able to keep it going.  Al, you need to get down there and
dive it ASAP. Get Curtis to take you. They know him well there. After our dives we had some decent BBQ
and left Ocala just in time to hit a nasty Thunderboomer on the way home. I made it back to my Dad's
place OK. Hope you did the same Curtis.

The BP & Wing did very well all around, but was too heavy for fresh water and a 7mm (both in 40 fathoms
and in Paradise). I learned quickly not to dump the wing entirely upon descent from the surface but to do it
in puffs. And it only takes a few puffs to start. The other thing is that I need to have a bit of weight up
front because I'm still not yet horizontal with the ST120 and the 10lb plate.  Scott, I think I'll be ordering
the 1/8" regular 6lb steel plate from you for single tank usage when diving wet in fresh water. We'll
talk later.

All in all, a fantastic trip, and I look forward to coming back  in June and actually diving with Lee, ESG and
the others.  Andy, sorry we missed you this time, perhaps in June. I'll be on the Sun Dancer II around
Memorial Day in Belize and then back to the FFK's in June.  Now it's time to go into hiatus for a bit and get
all the gear serviced etc.  

Here's to a safe 2008 season, and no blowouts!

____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold