Now I know how to manage a scooter, get someone else to lift it hehe..

Al helps Joe get his scooter

Cindy relaxes after her dive.

Big Long Video Story????  or maybe a square fish???

Long ride back.. Time for a snooze..

Hmm.. I know that folded right when I took it out of the box..

Four Satisfied Divers!!! What better feeling is there.  I can't think of one..

I didn't get UW pics but someobody did. My little camera only goes to 100ft. but you can look here to see what has been taken on previous trips to this wreck.  The Underwater Pictures shown were taken by Sea Wolf Productions

It was such a pleasant drive down, and I arrived early.   The sun was shining and I could hardly see any waves on the water as I drove over the bridges.   Arriving at Key West I had an exciting time locating the dive store but eventually realized the street signs were painted on the trees and then things became much better.  Next time I will bring a GPS :-).  Gradually the group trickled in, each with their vehicles visibly burdened down with gear.  

We loaded the boat at around 1:00pm and set off for the wreck.  It was about 14 miles offshore and took an hour to reach the first stop.    Here Mike and Joe were jumping in to check out some numbers and see what's there.   This was cool for me since I normally never get pictures of divers on the boat since I'm always too busy messing around with my own gear to bother with the camera just before a dive.     Although I have to admit I was a little envious when I saw them slip into the inviting water.  It was a really beautiful deep blue colour.    After a few minutes they were back on board and underway to the S16.   They had found the spot but they found only a pile of junk,  Oh well, just looking for stuff is a great deal of fun.  

This time the camera went back in the bag and I started to get ready, and made the most of the joys of my drysuit on a hot boat minutes before the dive.   At least it's not July I thought to myself.    Gear on, I wobbled over to the platform and waited for the signal to jump, all four of us together.  To be followed by Mike and Joe in a few minutes.     I love that part when gravity takes a short vacation for an hour or so.   I found the line and descended pretty quickly.  There was a slight current but nothing to worry about and best of all nothing to make you use up tons of gas going down :-)... I could feel it get colder as I passed a couple of thermoclines.    Vis on the bottom was about  40-50ft but quite dark so I popped out my light.   The line was tied off on the highest point of the wreck, that I think is called the conning tower.   It was exactly as I had expected to find it,  all sleek and smooth with hardly any hatches or anything.    Sort of like an impenetrable funny shaped sausage.    I had time to make a couple of laps around the wreck, and noticed all of the little holes in the side between the outer hull and the inside hull.   A submarine is certainly different.     As I passed the bow I turned over and looked back up it was so slim almost like a knife edge cutting through the water.   Not too many fin kicks put me back at the conning tower and I passed over to the other side and was really amazed to find that I could swim right underneath the wreck since not all of it was buried in the sand.  I checked my depth as I did this and registered 259.      There was plenty of growth covering the hull, and again lots of those sharp spiky oysters.  Instinctively I kept my new suit away from these as much as possible Crikey!!!!  

I was just making another lap when I spotted someone flashing me with their light, and it was Joe.   It was really cool, he passed me his scooter,   I had been promised this scooter try a couple of dives before out but we had got blown out.  I was so excited to get the chance again that I could hardly clip the thing off fast enough.   I was imagining all kinds of funny things happening, like my mask blowing off,  or regs free flowing allover the place but it wasn't like that at all.    I just sort of took off, and tried to remember all the things I had been told about how to do it, like "let it pull you from the d ring", and "use only one hand"  and all that stuff.   It was so cool I had been worried about crashing into the wreck but it was not a problem.. I did a whole entire lap and had more fun than  Hmm.. well "you know what"!!!!  Joe it was really awesome of you to let me try your scooter, thanks a bunch, but now I don't know whether it was a good thing for my bank account.    I have started a new scooter fund already.  Only $3499.00 to go  :-/   but I WILL get one somehow.

 I kept the scooter as long as I could but eventually I had to hand it back and leave when my BT ran out.  :-).. Oh well.  Then   slowly we  began the ascent to sunlight.    First stops at 200.    I have to say I enjoy deco, I like to relax and check out all the other divers and what they are up to.    Some are beeping, some are laying on their backs making air rings,  some are laughing at me cause I missed the shark!!    After a few minutes the last guys unhooked and the line dropped to vertical.     There was quite a nice plankton display going on with lots of sea gooseberries to watch and harass.   Then I see people making the shark sign.  so I look around but see nothing.. Later they told me it was quite close behind me.    They are always behind me!!! I can't believe it.    Back on the boat, I could not wipe the grin off my face for hours, it was a  terrific dive.. just too short as always.

After taking care of gear and checking in at the hotel we had a cool dinner and of course rehashed the whole dive over again.   Then out of the blue.  Key West got attacked by a wicked storm overnight which basically scotched our dives for the next day.    We tried two times to get out beyond the reef, but with all that heavy gear sliding around on the boat it was just too bad.      It is a humungous task to unload the boat,  16 sets of gear, and several scooters, you can imagine what we were thinking as the sun came out right after we had finished.. Oh Well.. the Wilkes Barre will still be there,  maybe soon I will get another shot at it.