Friday, I stopped into a dive shop in Dania where I found the most incredible assortment of old diving equipment. The man running the shop was of a similar era.  I planned to stop for 5 minutes and ended up there for two hours. After I got him to open up, he started telling me about the old stuff in the glass case. There was a dual hose regulator he said would be his choice if he were to roll off the boat today. What a great wealth of knowledge, I'll stop by every chance I get. Next time I'll take the digital camera and  make notes of our conversation. This man is a book waiting to be written.

I went looking for a boat to take me out on Saturday. A couple buddies were coming down from Orlando to dive with me. It was a relief knowing Andy would be there since I had not made a deep dive since January when the pinched nerve in my neck kept me in bed for a month. Needless to say, the wind had been blowing at 20 knots all week, and Friday night it seemed that we would be blown out. The thing to do is show up, and let the Captain make the call.  We woke to palm trees bending, and made our way to Dunkin Donuts for a little java. The urban tumbleweeds were indication of the rough morning we were in for, but needless to say we were ready.

The boat left the inlet and headed SE to the wreck we were visiting. We had a depth of 130' to the sand, and current was always present. I rolled into the water and immediately felt peace of mind like I was in my natural surrounding. "I am finally home" I thought, as I made my way to the down line. I stayed near the line with Joe, but Andy was 10 ft away and down current. Those long fins made easy work of the current, and we met at the stern of the ship. It was interesting to dive, but I couldn't help but notice the lack of fish worth shooting. It didn't matter, as I left the long gun in the car. We ended the dive and went to the boat for the surface interval.

The next dive was on a shallow reef, and once again there would have been no reason to bring a gun. It was fun...

We woke Sunday to a calmer day and knew it would be easy. Two morning dives, on shallow reefs around 80' were planned. Both dives were without incident, or fish. Those poor reefs must get hit hard. The only thing I saw worth shooting was a mutton snapper around twenty pounds. I was sorry I left the Biller in the car today, as I would have most certainly put that fish on the stringer.

I was happy to have made the dives in the easy conditions of South Florida. I feel ready to tackle the ledge at 160' we are diving out of the Cape next trip. Hasta el mar.

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