Boca Raton, FL - June 2002

What a great trip! The thunder and rain tried to scare us away but conveniently subsided in the mornings for our dives. The water was warm, the sea life plentiful and fun was had by all!

Gorgeous sponges, sea fans and hard corals littered the reef intermingling with each other and full of life. Christmas tree worms, feather dusters, and gobies crowded the coral heads in magnificent colors. We enjoyed all of our dives, seeing the plentiful numbers of parrotfish, tangs, and barracuda.

We had some great encounters with 2 very large turtles, one of which we accidentally woke up from his sleepy cave. Giant green moray eels were also abundant and they looked very happy and well fed by looking at their size. Ribbon and leopard eels also entertained us slithering along the reef.

Rays were a highlight on this trip. Some of the giant gray rays had a wingspan of about 6 feet. Our cameras got very close (do rays have nostrils?) and results show awesome video footage. We'll have a video clip up soon.

Lobster were crawling around everywhere and got pretty boring after a while since they were out of season at the time. Filefish, trumpet fish, and balloon fish filled our masks with marvelous sights. We spotted the occasional stonefish and flounder as we practiced our camouflage detection skills. It was all relaxing, drifting along in the current, watching the reef pass by in it's fury of activity.

We dove two wrecks on this trip and they were both really great dives. The Ancient Mariner, originally a US Coast Guard Cutter named "Nemesis" launched in 1934, was later turned into a restaurant at Port Everglades. After one year operating as a restaurant, the vessel was sold to the Artificial Reef Program and sunk in 1991 for our enjoyment. She lays at 70 feet with her deck at 55ft and the wheelhouse is at 45ft

The barracuda were waiting for us as we descended on the wreck. The giant openings in the deck let a lot of light into the hull where schools of fish were finding shelter from the strong current above. There was a stairway to the lower deck that reminded us all of the grand staircase shown in the movie Titanic.

The Captain Dan was a U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender named the "Hollyhock". After many years of service including refueling U.S.A.F. seaplanes, aiding navigation, and breaking ice, the Hollyhock was used as a missionary vessel, spreading the Gospel from port to port. It was sunk in 1990 as part of the Broward Artificial Reef Program. The renamed 175ft long Captain Dan now lies in 108 feet of water. Her fore deck is at 95ft, the stern deck at 85ft and the wheelhouse at 65ft.

As with many wrecks, the ship is teeming with life. Large Angel Fish pecked at the coral growing on the deck and outer edges of the ship. We found a crab trying to disguise himself with some other type of shell, that he didn't want to let go of despite our trying. We even saw an eel who found his home in the plumbing of a toilet in the wheelhouse. Then the barracuda checked us out as we hung on the line for a safety stop. It was an amazing wreck to dive.

Towards the end of our trip, we took a drive down to Key Largo for a day of diving in the shallow reefs. The visibility was a little poorer than up North due to the weather, but the diving was still spectacular. There was a lot of life in the shallows. Turtles, barracuda, parrotfish, trumpet fish, grouper, wrasse, and all the normal players showed up. I always enjoy watching the damsel fish guard their territory, so ferociously even when I'm 100x its' size. The reef was very healthy and since it was so shallow, we were able to enjoy it for a very long time.