Dry Tortugas

Jeez crimeny its been a long time since I updated this. Is this thing still on? Working a lot of overtime at my real job and doing a lot of other activities have limited my time online, which I don’t think is a bad thing.

But a couple of weeks ago I got to dive the Dry Tortugas with my friend CP. He has been working on the MV Spree all summer as the photo pro of the boat. And they needed someone to fill tanks in-between dives on a 5 day live aboard, so called me and asked if I would like to work long hard hours and still get in 3 to 5 dives a day. Uh, that would be a big YES!

So I packed my bags, but not before Ethan and Cameron wanted to help me do a gear check and make sure everything was in order. Thanks Buddys!!!!


Getting there was a challenge. Flights cancelled, flights delayed and broken planes. But none the less I made it to Key West just in time to have an intro dinner with the crew and passengers before we set out to the Dry Tortugas. Which are about 70 miles west of Key West.

My main job was to fill the tanks of all 24 passengers and of the 8 crew. A lot of the passengers did all 5 dives everyday, some didn’t. So I was filling around 125 tanks a day, all day. But I got to dive when the passengers did. And the diving was great.


The reefs were in really good condition and there was a wide variety of marine life. Schools of fish, great macro shots and beautiful coral.







You couldn’t do a dive without seeing at least one great barracuda. Sometimes several.


And lots of groupers, which are becoming one of my favorite fish. Not the prettiest, or fastest, but very docile and inquisitive of humans. Much like my friend Denny.




Along with filling tanks I also took Capt Franks SDI's Solo Diver Course, so I could dive solo as a crew member. After years of diving with CP, I felt I was already a solo diver. But now its a official!

And it never fails, no matter how remote the location or how beautiful it is, we find trash left behind by the human race. It really is saddening and sometimes discouraging. 70 miles out to sea and still finding debree. Here is CP hauling back a blue tarp that was tangled up in the reef.

I myself had brought back assortment of trash including, beer bottles, plastic wrappers and discarded rope.

One of the other things that I got to do was to help Co-owner of the boat and Dive Master extraordinaire, Melanie, replace to 2 mooring lines that are attached to the reef by a big u-bolt. These are great so that boats do not have to drop their anchors and destroy the reef.

It was a great experiencing and I really enjoy doing that type of work underwater. I was reminded of something else. Blood is green at 60 feet. I read about it in the rescue and dive master classes. But have never seen it first hand. And that’s where I got a cut, on the back of my left hand. And a little green stream was coming up from the cut. My first thought, was Cool! Of course my blood was not actually green. But red is the first color to fade as you go underwater, so it only appeared to be green.

Despite working from 7 each morning till past 11pm at night, it was a great experience and opportunity for me. And I hope that I can do it again next summer. Although some of the days were physically exhausting and demanding. But at the end of the day I was sore and tired, I would look up from filling tanks and see this.

It sure beats the crap out of sitting in a cubicle.