ScubaDadMiami

After staying out of the water for two weeks, I really needed to make a dive. So, when I got the word from RunAwayLobster about a mid-week night dive to the wreck of the Sherry-Lyn, I just couldn't say no.

Luckily, conditions were pretty good for our dives: flat seas, almost no current, and the visibility was reasonable, probably 40 to 50 feet. The Sherry-Lyn lies in about 100+ feet of water. It is in two pieces or so, having been broken up in Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

We were on a very full dive boat, the Big Com Ocean, which is the best dive boat in Miami. The boat was completely booked. So, we were lucky to procure two spots. We were the only rebreather divers aboard.

Although the boat was full, many of the divers were doing their first night dives as part of dive training. The kept them on the section of the wreck to which the dive boat had anchored. Luckily for the two of us rebreather divers, we were all alone on the other half of the wreck, which lies perhaps 100 feet from the section to which the dive boat had anchored.

We spent our time cruising through the wreck's innards, passing through the engine compartment, and we traveled through the many openings and some tight passages the run the length of this half of the wreck. Since we were the only two divers on this half of the wreck, the interior was clear of the silt that is typically stirred up by divers passing through.

By the time we made our way back to the half to which the boat had anchored, we still had a good ten minutes or so without other divers in the water, having made their ascent by this point. So, even with a full boat, it was almost like the two of us were the only divers in the water for almost the entire dive.

After 40 minutes, we began our ascent, and we climbed out of the water in a little under an hour. We headed to our second dive on a local reef.

For most of our hour long dive, we were within inches of a school of feeding squid. It was amazing to watch this action so close up. The squid were darting into our light beams, catching small finds that we illuminated. It was a win-win situation: they got easy meals, and we got the reward of close up interaction for assisting them in making their catches.

What a great night!

__________________
Howard Packer
IANTD CCR Instructor
Miami Beach, Florida
CCRDiveTraining.com

Tienuts

The Big Com Ocean is no fun when booked full! Those dives are usually Amateur hour. Glad you had a good dive regardless.

mempilot

Very cool! That would have made some cool video.

BTW Howard, I saw a laggerhead swim by today on the Hydro that had a camera setup strapped to his back that looked very much like the one you left on the bottom that day. :D

Any plans to replace it?

vidodivr

Reminds me of one of my first night dives here in Florida.
We were beach diving off Oakland park and I saw this squid, of course thrilled with excitement, I crept up on him with my light beaming on him saying "oh look, he's changing colors"...all of a sudden, WHAM, hits me in my mask. My mind went immediately to the horror films where the giant squid is wrapped around the guys face. After a couple of swats and screams, I calmed myself only to see my buddy laughing is ass off :D

Dsix36

OK, you owe me a keyboard.

I needed a good laugh today!