| Pictures by Klaus (non-Scooter) | Doc De Milly
150fsw Very North Key Largo- May 2001 |
 Eagle Rays!!!!  More Rays and GG's  Big Daddy  |
My alarm went off at
6:15, but I was already awake..After the long wait the day for the Doc
Demilly was finally here. This special trip is only run on once in a
while, but I always wait anxiously for the next one to come around.
Klaus(a) and Carl picked me up at my house at 6:45, and we drove over to
south beach in Klause's fully loaded explorer.. We arrived to meet a bunch
of others, Klaus(b), Brian, Warren and many more. The dive was with RJ and
the boat was leaving from South Beach. After Loading up, we left the dock promptly at 8:30. The seas weren't quite the 6" that we experienced last weekend on the bayronto, but they were STILL pretty flat. Everyone settled in for the two hour ride to the wreck, some socialized others set up their gear and some just slept. I entertained everyone with my Victoria's secret drysuit socks... We arrived at the Doc at around 10:45 having made a slower speed than expected... Now why was that? We also saw some big fishes (looked like sailfishes) jumping in the ocean... Hmm.. now why was that... Well we were soon to find out... Today just happened to be a day when there was stiff current (to say the least), on the wreck. I stared in dismay at my pile of gear, new double LP95's a stage and my bulky drysuit... Uh oh!!! As we tied off to the wreck several of the divers wanted to try pulling themselves down the tag line... Hmm... I sat back and watched how they got on... They returned very quickly, huffing and puffing... This was obviously a day when we needed to be dropped upcurrent and descend onto the wreck. I finally dragged my gear and bod over to the platform, and then we jumped four divers at a time. It's always so nice to hit the water and feel the weight of all your stuff disappear! As I descended I saw the wreck big an looming towards me on the bottom.. I could see it from about 50 ft and it made a great target to fly down into the hold... I could see Brian already down there (as usual) looking up, so I looked to see what he was staring at... There above us was a huge squadron of big eagle rays.. just above the wreck. A sure sign there was current, but beautiful to behold. It felt like that hitchcock movie "the birds", they were so numerous and blotted out the sun... Brian and I explored the superstructure hunting for J...(oops) Goliath Grouper... but today they didn't seem to want to come out to play... Then we swam down into the hold and looked out from one of the cargo doors... Brian was pointing wildly and making strange signs as if he was going to shoot me... I scratched my head and peered out to where he was pointing... Yep I saw an old cargo container... Hmm.. Turns out there was a big shark, somehow I think Brian and I have to get our Shark Signal straightened out..LOL!!!! The current was still strong on the wreck but quite manageable, we hid inside or behind walls most of the time anyway. Then sadly it was time for us to ascend. I can only describe the ascent as the Deco Stops from Hell... I had stops at 85, 55, 35 and then 20ft... Gradually as I progressed upwards, I could feel the current growing stronger, and of course my arms getting more and more tired... By the time I reached the 20ft Stop I was already wiped out, but still had some 8 mins of Oxygen to go.. I switched regs with some difficulty because the current was blowing so hard, and hung on like death.. for the next 8 minutes... I have never felt time to stand still but I'm sure it did yesterday... but the fear of knowing the consequences if you let go is quite enough to make you stay put. It crossed my mind to let go and use my lift bag, but I knew that there were others still down below me on the line, and it would be quite some time before I could be picked up... so what to do?? Just hang on... I also blew through my (usually) 25 mins supply of Deco gas (either I was breathing like a maniac or my reg was purging) in the 8 minute deco...I watched the jellyfish moving past at the speed of light... silly creatures were actually swimming as if they needed to..Finally I was able to ascend at a 46 min total runtime... And thanks John, for hanging out for a bit at 20ft and checking to see if I was Ok. :-). As I got back onto the boat I saw Klaus(b) just leaving AGAIN?? Seems he missed the Doc on his first drop and got an extra quickie dive on the Berry Patch (a neihboring wreck). But not to be deterred he plopped back in again and found the Doc this time.. that's one way to get in an extra dive..;-). Since I was out of Deco Gas and pretty tired I sat out the next dive on the almirante. Everyone except Brian and I dived that one. Again, I heard still lots of current but a great dive. Then Lunch... Brilliant Lunch RJ...and Great Home made brownies... Wonderful. Everyone was ravenous and descended on the lunch like Locusts... but even after this there was still food left over for snacking on, during the rest of the day. After Lunch we kind of split into groups and some guys then finished their day with a nice shallow dive on Brewster Reef.... Then the other group, went for a final no stop dive on the Orion... I switched back to my wetsuit (it felt soooooo good) I had a blast down there. Saw a giant Moray Eel.. played with my light again, and swam all around and in and out of all the holes in the wreck...I did somersaults and turned upside down, and swam in circles.. and just enjoyed the freedom of my wetsuit. I made a slow ascent... The current was pretty strong but nothing like the morning dive. Then tired and happy, we arrived back at the dock at around 6:30pm... Unloaded the boat.. Loaded up the Car and then headed over to Monty's on South Beach for some adult decompression beverages...I got home at 9:30 and fell into bed... What a great day... |