Dive Review of Our own boat/our own RV in
The Continental USA/Keys

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Our own boat/our own RV, May, 2006, by Bruce Wallace, IN, USA . Report 2754.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	My wife (100+ dives) and I (1,000+) dives arrived in Key Largo in May 06 for a four month stay to dive the Pennekamp and Florida Marine Sanctuary. We own a 16' inflatable hard hull boat rigged for scuba diving. Our RV camp was located right on the Adams Cut with direct access to Largo Sound and the open Atlantic. Our runs to the reefs averaged 20 minutes. We started at Carysfort Reef/Light and spent the next four months diving nearly every mooring bouy group all the way down to Molasses Reef at the extreme south end of the Pennekamp Sanctuary. We dove depths from 5 feet to 130 feet with general conditions of no current (or not noticeable), waves between dead calm and 2 feet, visibility averaging 60 to 70 feet (measured by two divers holding up fingers)and mostly on reefs with the usual Grove, Duane, Bibb and Benwood wrecks thrown in for interest and T-shirts. The Benwood was our favorite at 35 feet (average), very distributed debris field, tons of hiding places and the greatest "scare" of all when a group of Tarpon "fly" through your dive area. Name the reef fish in the books and they were there to test your recognition specialty. Most fish are people friendly as they see hundreds and hundreds of divers and snorkelers every day. The Barracuda are particulary nerve-racking as they have been fed by dive operators and show little waryness to approaching divers. This can be disconcerting when we were easily approached within a couple of feet by 4 to 5 foot great barracudas looking for a "hand out" (try to keep your hands close to your body and use the camera housing for your defense moves. All in all, we dove over 100 dives in the four months. Air refills from World Watersports were $2 each. We dove 80's, 63's and a 50 to see how our time was impacted. The 63's were the best as they were lighter and we still exceeded 60 minutes (or wife's thermal limits). There is simply no need to dive 80's when max depth is less than 100 feet. We shot over 1,000 still pics and 30 hours of digital video. All in all, it was an "Endless Summer" to be remembered. THANKS!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	22 different islands in the Caribbean since 2002
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	82-85°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Recreational limits
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	We own our own dive boat, a 16' RIB inflatable with 40hp outboard. We set up a fresh water rinse tub and have a 10 gal fresh water shower on board. The reef of the Florida Keys are nearly unmatched for UWP. They are all there and if you let them, they will come to you for having their pictures taken.

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Dive Review of Our own boat/our own RV in The Continental USA/Keys

Our own boat/our own RV, May, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Our own boat/our own RV in
The Continental USA/Keys