Back in June I received an Email from Jeff (Kidsdream) asking if I was interested in a night div trip on the Duane. The Duane is one of Key Largo's premier wreck dives. I have dived it many times but never as night dive. Many folks on D2D have done this as a night dive and raved about it so I said I was very interested. When Jeff offered a place to stay at his condo the deal was set. My plan was to drive down on Thursday, pick Jeff up at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale, dive Friday, Saturday and Sunday and drive home on Monday. That would get me eleven dives and justify the twenty two hours I would spend in the truck. We were to be joined on Saturday and part of Sunday by Roger (Soflaroger) and Chris (Chrisp).

        The drive down I-85 to I-10 to I-95 into Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful other than traffic around West Palm and Ft. Lauderdale was horrible. I probably would have been better off coming down the Turnpike. But I arrived at 4:30 and Jeff's flight from Detroit wasn't due until 6:10 so there was no problem. We arrived at Jeff's condo in Key Largo around 8:30, got settled in, had a couple of beers and went to sleep rather early knowing we had an early dive call in the morning. One nice thing about driving was I didn't have any gear to haul into the condo or set up for the morning.

        Our routine for the weekend didn't change much. Get up at 6:30, load the truck and hit McDonalds for breakfast on the way out of Key Largo on our way to Tavernier and the dive shops. This first day's diving was done as a three tank trip with Diver's City. This is a nice operation. After you check in simply haul your gear out back and set up your first tank. Captain Bob loads everything on the boat for you, trust me you don't want to attempt this yourself, Bob is very set in his ways, LOL. Those you follow my trip reports know it would be a dive trip if I didn't have some sort of equipment issue. This trip was no exception and it didn't take long. I had just had my main reg serviced so I don't expect any problems with it…WRONG. As soon as I hooked it up I could hear air leaking. It was coming out the top of the first stage. I removed the plug and sure enough air was coming out the fitting inside…grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I checked my pony reg which is exactly the same setup and there is a thrust washer under that plug…hmmm. Diver City is not a ScubaPro dealer so they didn't have this washer. I swapped the washer from my pony reg to the main reg, problem seemed to be solved. Weird thing is the pony reg did not leak without this washer! After the day's diving I went to Tavernier Dice Center, one of the ScubaPro dealers, to see if they had the washer. I was told I shouldn't need that washer that the problem was inside the first stage……grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Since things seemed to be working this way I decided to leave well enough alone and take it all up with my local shop when I got home. All went well until the last day when I was told it was leaking again underwater. Nothing huge and it didn’t affect my dive times. We were joined by a couple from Pittsburgh so the total divers on this rather large boat was four, ya gotta like that. The sun was out, the seas were flat and with my equipment issue behind me it was a great day for diving.

Dive #1: North North Dry Rocks
Depth = 30fsw     Time = 78 min.     Vis = 50 ft.     Temp = 82º

This was not a bad way to start the weekend. There were tons of Parrotfish, one with his own resident Remora he didn't seem to be too thrilled about, and a very large Scrawled Filefish along with the usual Key tropicals.

Dive #2: The Duane
Depth = 105fsw     Time = 32 min.     Vis = 40 ft.     Temp = 79º

We were met by some pretty strong current as soon as we got in the water. If the night dive was going to be like this it would certainly be an interesting dive if nothing else. Once we arrived on the wreck it wasn't too bad. You could swim against the current if you stayed within the protection of the wreck. But attempting to get down the sides to the sand proved to be difficult at best. At one point I had to push myself off the railing to fight against the current. Wearing gloves would have been a good move here as the resulting cuts on both hands made for some painful diving the rest of the weekend. But in spite of the kick-ass current it was a good dive even though it took a lot of our energy. There were tons of 'Cudas sitting above the wreck, seems like the current doesn't affect these guys at all….bastards!! There was also a big school of Spade Fish which I still think are way cool, maybe because they are either very friendly or too stupid to stay away from humans.

        SIT time in Key Largo is a bit of a joke. Since most of the diving is very shallow you barely have time to change out your gear and you're at the next dive site. Even with the 107 fsw dive on the Duane the next dive was basically an extended safety stop. .

Dive #3: Snapper Ledge
Depth = 30fsw     Time = 73 min.     Vis = 50 ft.     Temp = 82º

There is little doubt why this place is called Snapper Ledge. There is a ledge and it is loaded with Yellowtail Snapper. The schools are so thick you can't see though them and they really are intimidated by you if you approach them slowly. They will part to allow you though but then regroup as you pass, very cool. There are also large schools of Grunts, a couple of Nurse Sharks and a big Puffer. This was a nice way to end our first day of diving.

        With the first day's diving behind us we were very hungry. On the way back Jeff suggested we stop at Hobos for dinner, but I thought it might be nice to clean up a little first. But it was 5:30 and the Shrew in me took over, we pulled into Hobos. After an awesome dinner and a few bears we returned to the condo to get cleaned up and watched Boston stick it to the Cardinals, well some of the game. That Duane current soon took its toll and the bed was calling, by 10:30 I was fast asleep.

        Saturday morning greeted us with what looked like another awesome day. We arrived at the boat to be greeted by Roger. For the rest of the weekend's diving we switched to my favorite dive operation in the Keys, Conch Republic. We were on the big boat with a few other divers, but there was still lots of room to spread out for the ride out to the Eagle.

Dive #4: The Eagle
Depth = 110fsw     Time = 45 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

        This was without doubt the best conditions I have ever seen on the Eagle. Absolutely no current and the vis was over 75 feet. I hated this dive to end so soon.

Dive #5: The Aquarium
Depth = 34fsw     Time = 75 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

The variety of sightings alone made this a great dive. We found two sleeping Nurse Sharks, a pretty cooperative Green Moray, a very cool feeding Conch and several Yellowhead Jawfish, but alas none with eggs.................again.

        After the morning dives the DM preordered us Cuban sandwiches from a local restaurant at the Marina. These are a must if you're diving in Tavernier. After we boarded the boat that evening for our night dives we informed there would be a wedding on board. A young couple from Alabama who had been diving with us were taking wedding vows administered by their friend and DM. You could tell these two were in love, it was pretty cool and a bit emotional.

Dive #6: The Duane
Depth = 107fsw     Time = 41 min.     Vis = Night Dive     Temp = 81º

This is why we came, the night dive on the Duane. To tell the truth I was more than a little apprehensive about this dive after experiencing that ripping current on Friday. But the current was totally gone, I didn't even use the accent line. Shortly after getting down on the aft deck I spotted a sleeping Turtle. He seemed quite content to get his picture taken until someone kicked up a ton of silt and he swam off. We did see him later sort of hanging though the railing on the wheelhouse trying in vane to get some sleep. The cup corals on this wreck challenges what you'd see at the famous pier dive in Bonaire. I as really glad we were able to make this dive, I will be back. The difference between doing this dive during the day and night is amazing.

Dive #7: Snapper Ledge
Depth = 34fsw     Time = 73 min.     Vis = Night Dive     Temp = 82º

As if the Duane wasn't enough sensory input Snapper is also an awesome night dive. I have never made two night dives in the same day so this was new for me. We took advantage of the opportunity making it a long dive. There were two Turtles, two large Crabs, many puffers and sleeping Parrotfish of several types. We seem to wonder aimlessly all over the reef and I for one had no clue where we were when suddenly we were under the boat. I know there were several times I had to turn my video lights away to see where everyone was. Everyone gave Jeff credit for the great navigation, I'll just assume we didn't just stumble on to it, LOL.

        There is a tradition surrounding these Duane night dive that involved drinking some Baileys to celebrate the dive. Roger told us he brought the Baileys but as it turned out he left it in his car at the condo. There was of course some good natured ribbing about his forgetfulness. Making two night dives certainly messed up our eating for the day. We were all starving by the time we returned to the dock so the decision was made to order a pizza to pick up on the way home. A pizza, some cheese bread and chicken wings all washed down with Baileys while watching the World Series and checking out our pictures and video was a great way to end an incredible day of diving. We did however pay a price for this. We all slept through the alarm the next morning waking up 30 minutes late and Jeff wasn't feeling well at all. We did manage to get up and still stop for breakfast and get to the boat on time .

Dive #8: North Conch
Depth = 85fsw     Time = 46 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 82º

Jeff still wasn't feeling well and decided against doing the morning dives. Being the good buddies we are we told him we'd see him later! This was our first of two drift dives. We conned Chris into carrying the flag which he said was fine since he wasn't taking his camera anyway. Somewhere along the drift we lost Roger, it might have been when Chris and I sort of wondered out into the sand. We didn't really see much to talk about on this dive.

Dive #9: Little Conch
Depth = 24fsw     Time = 56 min.     Vis = 75 ft.     Temp = 81º

Chris and Roger left for home after the morning dive but Jeff was back and feeling much better. Little Conch entertained us with some large Groupers, Angels, a juvenile Drum, another Nurse Shark, a Green Moray, some very colorful Hogfish and the coolest little puffer hiding in a small cave.

This was another drift dive. I've done both of these drift dives before and have noticed that although the reef is beautiful and lush there isn't a lot of life on them. We did see and adult Spotted Drum and a juvenile French Angel but not much less noteworthy. It wasn't a bad dive, I just prefer more critters. I had camera issues on this dive, well actually before this dive. It seems I didn't turn it off after Little Conch and taped 31 minutes of bucket and ran out the entire tape. I started to rewind the tape but I was already in my gear and decided not to rush anything and mess up. There wasn't that much worth capturing on this dive anyway. It did feel strange on have anything in my right hand.

Dive #11: Pillar Ledge
Depth = 63fsw     Time = 37 min.     Vis = 30 ft.     Temp = 60º

It seems like we always save the best for last. Not that Pillars is a pretty reef, far from it, there is a lot of damage on this reef. But life is still abundant. We saw several Nurse Sharks including one I missed swimming right past me as I shot some Yellowhead Jawfish. A couple of Green Morays were spotted and I found a Parrotfish hiding in a whole getting cleaned by two little blue fish. Up in the water column there were pink moon jellyfish doing their dance making for some cool photo and video chances.

        Jeff and I got our tanks refilled and settled up with Conch Republic, sort of rinsed the gear and headed back to the condo. This time we did clean up before heading out for dinner at Sundowners. I had shrimp and a great house salad and they actually had Dos Equis. After returning to the condo I packed and started watching the World Series. Jeff who had gotten very little sleep the night before fell asleep on the couch and I wasn't far behind. So feeling confident the Red Sox could win without my support and knowing I had that 11 hour dive in the morning I went to bed at 10:00. My ride back to Atlanta was as uneventful as the ride down, I was home before 7:30PM.

        I'm not too sure this trip could have been much better barring a Whale Shark sighting. The weather was perfect, the seas were pretty calm with 2 - 3 footers max. The vis couldn't have been much better and the dive on the Eagle was unbelievable. Add in operators that did their best to show us a good time and great dive buddies this was a memorable weekend. I can't thank Jeff enough for inviting me and for his hospitality.