Stephanie Allen and  Carrianne Rupp

[Stephanie]
Today was our day off! Many people took advantage of the free time by participating in some dives run by Quiescence. I personally had been looking forward to this day for almost two months. Today was the day to dive the newly up-righted Spiegel Grove. For those that have dived the Florida Keys, the name inspires awe, for everyone else, you are probably wondering how a single dive could cause such anticipation on my part. The Spiegel Grove is a purposefully sunk US Navy vessel. It is over 500 feet from stem to stern. It rises more than 80 feet from the sea floor, since the last hurricane flipped it upright. To go on this dive you had to be an advanced diver with a recent deep dive. Kenny, Jen and I headed out on the afternoon trip tingling with excitement.

On the Spiegel Grove. When originally sunk as an artificial reef, the ship lay on her side; Hurricane Dennis in July 2005 righted the ship.

We hit the water, which could only be described as an aquamarine abyss, and started our decent. After going down 40 on the mooring line, I looked beneath me and saw what appeared to be an alien spaceship, the Spiegel Grove grew in size with every foot we traveled downwards. When we hit the wreck, the sheer scale of it made us feel like tiny ants crawling around a castle. We swam around the ship, taking plenty of pictures as we went until Kenny did an air check; to my surprise it was time to head back. I begged Kenny for a couple more minutes of exploration, exhilarated by the adventure, but he kept a stern face and I knew he was right. We swam back along the bridges, which rose 60 feet above the deck. I felt like I was flying through the air.

Kenny on the Spiegel Grove.

After only 20 minutes of exploring it was time to start heading up the line back to our boat. Because we had been over 100 feet under water, we had to take a precautionary stop 15 feet below the surface. We took some pictures and then headed our last bit up the line. When we reached the boat and could finally talk to each other there were no words to describe what we had seen and experienced. Kenny and I joked about getting a special re-breather certification so we could explore the whole ship in one dive. As exciting as our visit to the Spiegel Grove had been, we still had another dive to go.

We headed to the Benwood for our second dive. This ship was a World War II vessel, that was once run by a Norwegian shipping company. The Benwood collided with another allied forces boat, while running with its lights off, to avoid  German subs. In order to make salvage of the cargo possible, the captain ran the ship aground. The wreck lies in only 40 feet of water and is a haven to fish and sea creatures of all types. We saw a crab that was more than three feet across hiding in the shadows of the Benwood’s hull. We took over 100 pictures of the colorful marine life that inhabited the wreck and returned to the boat hungry and tired. In more than 12 years of diving, I can safely say this has been the best day yet.

The Benwood teems with marine life.

When we got back the to docks the other boat had just pulled in. Carri was on the other boat so from here she will tell the rest of the story. . . .

[Carrianne]
It was a lovely sweltering day when we, Adam J., Adam K., Carrie A., Max (The John) Johnson, Damon, and I, Carrianne, all walked out to our boat for a pleasure dive. (We didn’t feel like doing a challenge like Spiegel Grove. We wanted to relax.) Some were excited, and some were suffering from an early morning wake-up call, but nonetheless we climbed onto the boat ready to conquer the open water. Our first stop was Horseshoe Reef, which was an amazing little adventure. There were dark tunnels to swim through, colorful corals to burn one’s self on, and fascinating fish to chase after. There was also some chasing that shouldn’t be done. For example Carrie pointed out a barracuda to me and I had deemed it necessary to chase after him. A warning to all out there, don’t chase the barracuda. (This had not been the first time for me, and would not be the last time for that day.) Also I saw a sand dollar the size of my head, and the boys saw a spotted eagle ray gracefully soaring over Damon’s head, through the water. Our next dive was a reef/wreck, which seemed to be more of a wreck than a reef. This site amazed us because the hull of the barge was still well intact (unlike the Slobodna). Not much exciting happened here except for Damon doing a floating Buddha and lobsters that were frolicking about freely. (Which was understandable because the next day, August 8th, marked the day when lobster hunting began and the lobsters would never be allowed out to play again without the chance of a sly fishermen trying to con the lobster into a cage.) Afterwards we took a little side trip out to Christ of the Abyss, which is a very popular spot. The Christ of the Abyss is a statue of Jesus that has his arms raising upward, that was placed in the ocean to attract tourists. So we got out there to snorkel and their weren’t as many people as we had imagined, but still the little children who were floating around in their little snorkels, goggles, and life vests began clinging onto us and splashing around. Funny how there were barracuda at the site but the most dangerous thing was the little children. So we dove down and left them behind so we could safely take pictures of us with Jesus. Oddly enough it wasn’t all we had looked forward to… kind of like Niagara Falls… you see the Falls then say, ok what else is there. But on the upside some great pictures were taken there and it was interesting to see a statue of Jesus underwater… I might think that would sort of be sacrilegious a bit…

Some decided they had enough of diving and stayed on land -- sort of. Christina had elected not to dive and instead went kayaking and had some adventures of her own. And Ewa lounged around, read, and caught up on her bonding with the sun. Needless to say, if you love the water, there is plenty to do in a day off. After a fantastic taco dinner we watched The House of the Flying Daggers, a great film that left our visual taste buds watering, even after all the eye candy we had eaten already, except for Carrie who actually was crying at the end of the movie.