Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Florida
This was our long awaited first proper vacation since finishing our PhDs. So the plan was to meet up with Ben and Jo (diving friend from London), hire a big car and sample as many of the different dive areas as possible.
We all flew into Orlando and after a little trouble at the car hire desk, we were eventually on our way to Ginnie Springs. The north of Florida is covered in hundreds of underground freshwater spring and cave systems, and with the constant stream flowing through them they allow for some of the worlds clearest diving. Ginnie Springs has three main dive sites and is accessible to the non-cave diver certified - Brilliant.
The next day we headed south west to Crystal River in search of their famous manatees. Unfortunately there had been a rather big storm a few days before so the water visibility was a bit like pea soup. But after some persistence by Captain Bob we found a manatee and her calf. Although there are really strict rules against manatee molestation we were allowed to get really close and spent almost an hour with them.
The next day we hit the road again and headed to the east coast to do three days diving in West Palm Beach. The diving included some of the fasted drifts we'd ever experienced and tonnes and tonnes of giant turtles. There were also rumours that a few sharks were spotted, but as usual Rich and I failed to see them.
After WPB we headed south for the Florida Keys. The diving her is tropical and very like the Caribbean. It also houses some of the best wrecks in north America. While we were there we got to do one of the local favourites the Spiegel Grove, a huge wreck which was lying on it side until it was righted by a hurricane a few years ago. The sea life down south was much more plentiful and colourful, a point proved when even Rich managed to see two sharks on the very last dive.
Whilst in the Keys we also drove the 100 miles down to Americas most southern 'city' Key west. Although it was a bit list Western Super Mere in the height of the school holidays we still had fun driving down the 7 mile bridge, visiting Ernest Hemmingway's house and 6 toed cats, and taking in the Keys famous sunset.
After a nice relaxing time in the keys we drove back to Orlando (via WPB where we had managed to leave our wetsuits on the dive boat). We rounded up our week long trip with a great visit to Gatorland.
¶ 1:54 PM 
We all flew into Orlando and after a little trouble at the car hire desk, we were eventually on our way to Ginnie Springs. The north of Florida is covered in hundreds of underground freshwater spring and cave systems, and with the constant stream flowing through them they allow for some of the worlds clearest diving. Ginnie Springs has three main dive sites and is accessible to the non-cave diver certified - Brilliant.
The next day we headed south west to Crystal River in search of their famous manatees. Unfortunately there had been a rather big storm a few days before so the water visibility was a bit like pea soup. But after some persistence by Captain Bob we found a manatee and her calf. Although there are really strict rules against manatee molestation we were allowed to get really close and spent almost an hour with them.
The next day we hit the road again and headed to the east coast to do three days diving in West Palm Beach. The diving included some of the fasted drifts we'd ever experienced and tonnes and tonnes of giant turtles. There were also rumours that a few sharks were spotted, but as usual Rich and I failed to see them.
After WPB we headed south for the Florida Keys. The diving her is tropical and very like the Caribbean. It also houses some of the best wrecks in north America. While we were there we got to do one of the local favourites the Spiegel Grove, a huge wreck which was lying on it side until it was righted by a hurricane a few years ago. The sea life down south was much more plentiful and colourful, a point proved when even Rich managed to see two sharks on the very last dive.
Whilst in the Keys we also drove the 100 miles down to Americas most southern 'city' Key west. Although it was a bit list Western Super Mere in the height of the school holidays we still had fun driving down the 7 mile bridge, visiting Ernest Hemmingway's house and 6 toed cats, and taking in the Keys famous sunset.
After a nice relaxing time in the keys we drove back to Orlando (via WPB where we had managed to leave our wetsuits on the dive boat). We rounded up our week long trip with a great visit to Gatorland.
¶ 1:54 PM
