Jersey Diving in FLA

Why do New Jersey divers roll backwards off their boats?
Cause if they rolled forwards they would land in the freakin boat!

Hello…. My name is Cheryl and I’m from New Jersey …. we did things a bit different there…….
First off, we didn’t start a dive trip without breakfast….. there is a reason Dunkin Doughnuts is open 24 hours….. but I am in Florida now and there is a Florida way….. Hmmm………

All dive boats leave at O’Dark Thirty…... why is that? At least that part didn’t come as a shock. I loaded up the truck the night before and was on the road before first light. The black quickly gave way to the dark blues and deep reds of predawn, slowly morphing into the pinks that give the first hints of sunrise. As I make my way to the marina, the colors of morning wash over me and with the help of hot coffee I slowly awaken to a new dive day.

It’s been a while since I made a dive boat trip. The reasons don’t matter, just the time….. and I have missed it …..a lot. There will be people I know on this trip, friends old and new, and I look forward to the day.

Today I am diving on the Can-Tank-erous with Tanks-A-Lot Diving. Captain Mike and Captain Heidi are my hosts and MissD aka Tracy, the dive master. [In NJ, someone, goes down and ties in and a Styrofoam cup or empty water bottle is sent up when the hook is set and ready to dive. When the cup is up, the pool is open and divers roll off the sides of the boat like rats abandoning ship and the diving begins.] Dive masters are new for me. They go down and set the hook, come up and give a report, and as each diver steps off the platform into the water they stand by to retrieve errant gear and divers. Interesting.

Dive boat rosters are always varied and interesting and this one no exception. The requisite young couple, a father/ daughter team from New York, two brothers who looked almost like twins (although one claimed his brother got youth and he got the good looks), a very quiet local diver, and the ruffians from FDF who were to be my buddies for the day, Jonny Bravo aka Jens (who has been in a baby induced dry spell) and Megaladonbite aka Dave (who is renewing his love affair with diving after a lengthy hiatus). I round out this group of merry divers and quite the group we are. The Captain took a group picture before we left the dock so he could pick us out of a line up or maybe it was for his online gallery, I forget.

It is a long ride out and the time passes quickly with dive stories and chat. (no Danish just dive stories and chat). The air is warm and the water warmer and with just rash guards and dive gear we head for the stern and step off the platform one by one and make our way to the anchor line. The water is warm, 89F warm. And the viz looked suspiciously like 40-50 foot as we make our way down to the ledge. [Please don’t ask me which ledge, I am new here and still trying to figure out the difference between a reef and a ledge…… ]

We are greeted by colorful corals and fish. [NJ has colors, there are many different greens and browns…but the history more than makes up for it] I bought a set of books (the Humann/Deloach Reef series) so I could identify what I saw when I dive, unfortunately it didn’t help. There were mounds of corals that reminded me of giraffes with their shapes and markings and stripes of purple coral lining the ledges edge. Green leafy algae floated just above the sand and pink and green corals filled in the spaces. Collar shaped egg casings sat in the sand. Could there be moon snails in Florida? Like a little retirement village of moon snails with little white belts and shoes scurrying along to the early bird special at the Krusty Krab.

We peeked under and over as we swam about and small grouper and bait fish flittered back and forth. A large arrow crab sat in one opening and small blue and yellow butterfly fish ventured out into the sand. As we moved along Jonny motioned for us to look and tucked in a large cavern under the ledge sat 2 small fish. And behind them swam a giant grouper. In the 200-300 pound range I believe. Let it be known the silt cloud around us was not diver induced.

As we swam on back I poked and chased the fish and they darted in and out. Fingers of sponges waved in the current and I began to look for a shell for my bucket. As I picked a large piece of broken conch shell from the sand something jumped. A small leopard crab had been comfortably nestled underneath and I snatched him up and had a look. I had never seen one before and he was a beauty. I placed him back in the sand and the shell back on top and moved on to catch up with the boyz.

The good captain had limited us to an hour this dive and at 52 minutes we headed on up. We were met topside by choppy seas and pummeling rain. As I arrived on deck the captain was taking pictures and I nearly drowned smiling for the camera. Hey I was getting wet!

With everyone aboard we headed on to our next site another ledge and this time I know the name! Bent Knife Ledge. [so named cause some biologists bent their knives trying to get some samples…. In NJ they use a crowbar….]

Once again we lined up to step off the swim platform and this time I held my nose as I jumped off exhibiting my usual grace and agility as I plummeted into the water. What can I say, it’s a gift.

We again dropped down in the water and arrived on the ledge to be greeted by groups of blue tube corals dotting the sand. Joined by MissD we made our way up the reef in search of turtles but alas none were to be found. But I did spot a hogfish snuggled up against a wall of coral and apparently napping. I made a perfect poke to the midsection taking him totally by surprise. With an annoyed look in my direction he prepared to swim off and I reached out and grabbed him by the tail. As he darted away I got one last poke in….ahhh I still got it.
We turned and swam back still looking to and fro, at times hanging almost upside down to peek under the ledge.

There were several more hogfish dotted along the route but they must have gotten the memo we were about and kept their distance. Tucked in one small cave and nestled into the sand sat a midsized toadfish with what appeared to be leopard like markings. Jungle animals seemed to be the theme today.

As we continued on we passed over a small abandoned anchor and MissD pointed and giggled. Now I remembered Captain Mike mentioning his retirement plan of collecting anchors and decided to gift him this little beauty. No longer carrying my wreck diving lift bag I needed to improvise and slowly unfurled my safety sausage. A little puff of air and I clipped off my spool and began to wrap line on the anchor. Another puff of air but nothing happened…. Hmmmm……. I picked it up and began to jump it over to the anchor line…… this was not going to work……hmmmm.

I put two more puffs into the sausage and it began to strain….. like the Little Engine That Could, it pulled and reached its way upward…..you could hear the faint echoes of “I think I can… I think I can…” but alas, it could not…..

I don’t think so…… I am a Jersey girl….. I pumped air into that puppy til I heard the seams scream and then….. we had lift off!! And up it went. I swam over to the anchor line towing my prize behind me.

As I broke the surface of the water, the squall had ended but the black clouds still loomed around us. The sun peeked through the clouds to the west but our day of sun had ended. We loaded onboard and headed home snacking and chatting, telling stories of dives past and to come. [ Jersey divers pack a breakfast and a lunch and often grill on the back deck of the boat too….]

MissD makes a good dive master, Meg has returned to diving as if he never left, Jonny…. he will be given another chance to redeem himself with Guava Danish, and me…….. well, I might be a Florida diver now….. but I guess I will always be a Jersey Girl at heart…… and no Captain Mike….. I don’t have an accent…..