This morning I did a couple of dives with a couple of guys from Rec.Scuba.
Both dives were something special.  Contrary to what one clueless individual
thinks, there's plenty to see and do in S. Florida waters.

Dive 1 was on the Budweiser at a maximum depth of 93 fsw, average depth 58
fsw and time of 41 minutes - no deco (EAN 36).  My buddies and I were the
tie off team, charged with dive bombing the wreck and attaching the mooring
buoy.  This, of course, gave us a chance to see anything that would depart
as divers arrive.  This time, it didn't matter.  As we came down on the
wreck, there were 4 Goliath Grouper (fka Jewfish) hanging out in the cargo
holds.  They ranged in size from a damned big fish to Volkswagon on
steroids.  While they all moved off the wreck as the rest of our group
arrived, surprisingly, at least a couple stuck around about 15 yards out.
The current was stiff, so I spent most of my dive in the cargo holds and/or
in the current shadow of the wreck.  As I was exiting the hold and heading
toward the bottom, along came a medium sized sea turtle (green I think) that
leasurely swam the length of the ship with me.  Of course there was the
usual assortment of lobster, snapper, grouper and large resident barracuda,
but down here, we see them on pretty much every dive.

Dive 2 was on a series of patch reefs.  Maximum depth 63 feet, average depth
52 feet, total time 1hour 6 minutes.  Also no deco, also on 36.  This
portion of the reef system is visited much less often than the better known
third reef.  It's in very good health and one of the more colorful dives in
this area.  Again, the best part of the dive was at the start.  In the first
10 minutes, I found a larger than average spotted moray and, almost
immediately after, was treated to a close up light and magic show by a trio
of squid that seemed to be perfectly comfortable about a foot and a half
from my mask.

The day could not have been much better.  I met and dove with two people I
had not been diving with before and was treated to some of the best diving
I've had in a while.  Living in diver's heaven is a tough job, but someone
has to do it.

Lee

PS:  Did I mention I got 11 good sized lobster on the first day of Florida's
Sportsman Season (2 day mid week mini season).  Judging from the size of all
the lobster I've been seeing over the last week, this is going to be a
delicious year.