Philip Eskelin's Diving Log Details
126. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
This dive was supposed to be a twilight dive at the Cayman followed by a night dive at Nine Foot Stake. When we surfaced from the first dive, a huge storm had moved in, and already Captain Jeremy had seen three water spouts a few miles away. Before we knew it, we saw more spouts, and the storm was moving toward us. As things got more intense, Captain Jeremy canceled the second dive. Also, the Easy Divers boat was very close to a huge water spout, and we were unable to contact them over the radio. Assuming the captain and divemaster were in the water trying to retrieve divers, we drove the boat in their direction to help them. (We had several rescue-level divers on board, so a lot of us were trained for rescuing divers). Just as we were about 400 yards from the boat, the water spout got so huge that we could see its cone twisting around and could almost hear the huge frenzy of water at its base. What an awesome sight! (Now I see why the Greeks blamed it on Poseidon!) Finally, the spout broke, Easy Divers began moving away from the storm, and we were able to turn around and head home. As it was, just about that time, the Coast Guard ordered all boats to evacuate the water, because it was a strong storm and new water spouts continued to form.
I don't know if readers have ever seen a water spout, but it's an incredible sight. Try seeing one just once in your life.
125. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
124. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
123. Key West, Ball & Chain
122. Key West, The Humps
121. Key West, The Humps
120. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
119. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
118. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
117. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
116. Key West, Rock Key
115. Key West, Sand Key
114. Key West, Rock Key
113. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
112. Key West, Sand Key
111. Key West, The Alexander
After going to the other part of the wreck and mooring the boat to it, I traversed down the line only to find a nice-size silver stingray hanging out on a flat part of the deck, seemingly asleep. So I went up and just hung out next to it, then began to generly caress its wings. They felt like a really soft felt, not slippery as I thought they would be. Divemaster Todd and I also found a nice 6 foot nurse shark nestled under part of the wreck. At the end of the dive, just under the boat, I found another small stingray hanging out on the sea floor, and when I approached it, it swam off into the ether. Visibility was about 20-25 feet. Water 87 degrees fahrenheit, and fairly calm seas with a light current. Divemaster Grant and Captain Jeff.
110. Key West, The Alexander
This is an amazingly cool wreck. The Alexander is a Navy destroyer escort that was sunk in about 30 feet of water. It's very cool - part of one of the gun turrets is still intact. And you can swim into and underneath many parts of the wreck. One of the first things I stumbled on after entering down into the mangled mess was a fairly big jewfish. It was staring at me with its mouth wide open. I could have easily fit my head into his mouth. I waved my hand, and it moved side to side in a funny sort of a way, which basically meant "mind your own business" - you don't want 400 pounds of jewfish charging at you. If you really agitate them, they will knock you unconscious, which is not a good thing when you are 30 feet under water in a wreck. Then after scaling across the ship toward her middle, there was a trap door opening that went under the deck, and what do you know: another jewfish, and this one was at least twice the size of the first one! From that point forward I just hung out near the jewfish stealing glimpses, and occasionally swam around the wreck. At one point I saw a medium-sized silver stingray swimming by the wreck. Divemaster Grant and Captain Jeff.
109. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
This was one of those amazing night dives. We saw EVERYTHING except rays. Four nurse sharks, loads of lobster, loads of stone crabs, parrots, grunts, sargent majors, porkfish, banded shrimp, gazillions of barracuda, etc, etc. At one point we encountered a 5' spotted eel, which was slinking around the side of a reef. We followed it for about five minutes until it went into a hole in the coral. There was a pack of about 25 barracuda that were all about 6 feet long behind the boat, and at one point I saw another one getting aggressive on me, so I just turned my light away from it and swam in the other direction. It's dangerous because normally they can see that you are bigger than they are, and they stay away. At night, all they see is this light that wakes them up, so they seem to get cranky and charge it. Divemaster Todd, Captain Grant.
108. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
Typical dive down to the Cayman. Viz was at about 25-30 feet, fairly strong current, light seas, 87 degree water, saw the small jewfish swimming near the wreck. Answered the phone, carried one of the bikes down to the sand and propped it up near some coral. Divemaster Todd, Captain Grant.
107. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
A 5' barracuda got aggressive and charged my light after I had shined it in its eyes. Not a good idea. Luckily I had the light off to my side, and when it charged me, I quickly threw my arm straight up like a matador dodging an oncoming bull. At one point we shut our lights off and saw one helluva swarm of dinoflagellates glowing and swimming around us and in upward spirals. Amazing. Divemaster Dean, Captain Jeff.
106. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
Saw the moray eel. Otherwise, not much else. Divemaster Dean, Captain Jeff.
105. Key West, Joe's Tug
This was the most hellish dive I've been on. After getting down to the wreck and doing a box formation of 20 kicks out, left, and left to get back to the boat (we wanted to see some of the coral around the wreck) we tried to do the same on the other side of the boat, and both my compass was stuck (misleading me) and a very strong current picked up and took us off course. Probably a 3-5 knot current. So after not being able to find the wreck for 2 minutes, I guided the group to the surface, and we were about 75 feet behind the boat. After struggling through all the sea weed rushing by us (fields of it) and making it to the line, I pulled and swam my way to the boat. Even the 25 feet of swimming was a major effort. The other group got sent way way out - probably a few hundred yards - while trying to do a 3-minute safety stop. We decided to go and get them, and in doing that the line got caught up in the props, so once we drifted back and got them to safety, it took Grant and Todd 30 minutes to cut all the rope off of the props. The current was so bad, it seemed like we were in a river. And all at night - it was definitely a nerve-racking dive, and I learned some lessons. Make sure your compass isn't stuck, and feed the line in and keep it slack from the FRONT of the boat once it's swung around.
104. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
103. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
102. Key West, Rock Key
101. Key West, Western Sambo (East)
100. Key West, Western Sambo (West)
99. Key West, Cannonball Cut
98. Key West, Western Sambo
97. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
96. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
95. Key West, Rock Key
94. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
93. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
92. Key West, Western Dry Rocks (East)
91. Key West, Western Dry Rocks (West)
90. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
This was definitely my best night dive but possibly one of the best dives I've ever had up to now. When we got to the site, the water was so clear in the twilight that we could see clearly to all the reefs around our boat. We all waited to watch the sunset before going in for the dive, but I couldn't wait, so I jumped in with my fins & mask and swam around and practiced free diving to the bottom and back. Underwater, I could see clear reefs at least 100 feet away, and knew it would be an incredible dive.
Our dive lasted just over an hour. We saw several different kinds of creatures like crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and other nocturnal friends. A large pack of at least 50 barracudas swiming above us made me a bit paranoid about swimming near the surface. The water was amazingly clear. I must have threaded at least three eyes of the needle (swam through tight little tunnels in the coral). You'd have to be there to really understand it. Totally clear, 100+ foot visilibity. 79 degree water. Dark of the moonless night. Unseen animals, some predatory, some not. Out of sight wasn't necessarily out of mind. No current, no surge. Paradise!
89. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
Seemed like millions of teeming schools of fish - silvers, grunts, etc. Moved intact bike onto the deck, near the stern. Big green resident moray eel was tucked inside the wheel at the bow - as if it were there to greet divers working their way down the line to the wreck, and to wish divers good health as they made their way back. Divemaster Jeremy, Captain Grant.
88. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
Swam through the fingers most of the time with two huge 200+ lb tarpons, who looked bored, as if they wanted something new to swim around with. Divemaster Jeremy, Captain Grant.
87. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
86. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
85. Key West, Rock Key
84. Key West, Western Dry Rocks (East)
83. Key West, Western Dry Rocks (West)
82. Key West, Sand Key
Uneventful. Tropical Mike led the group and I held the flanks, and we did a square navigation through the deeper part of Sand Key and took it much slower. Since I tend to kick to hard and go to fast for people, it was good to see how Mike kicks and drifts and takes it easy so the tourists can keep up with him.
81. Key West, Rock Key
This was a fun trip because it was very rough, but once we got to the site, the divemaster had me guide four people. I made unrealistic assumptions that these people would be able to handle the rough waters. Since you need to travel up and down narrow fingers at Rock Key (unless you stay at the base of the fingers in deeper water), it can be difficult to navigate through each finger during high surge and surf. There was bad visibility and at least 6-8 foot seas. So when I started traveling up the first finger, probably within a minute my people lost me. One lady had gotten tangled up in the rope behind the boat and bailed out. So the other three were totally lost. After spending time trying to find them, I realized one had found his weight belt and was going back to the boat, and the others were very hard to find (especially with such rough seas and bad (8') visibility. So by the time I found them, we decided to bail on the dive and head to Sand Key for a longer and more stress-free dive.
80. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
Two sea turtles.
79. Key West, Rock Key
One sea turtle.
78. Key West, Sand Key
One sea turtle, huge pack of at least 60 large (5-6 feet long) barracuda.
77. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
Tank came loose, ended up taking my BC off, bringing it around, refastening it, and putting it back on while continuing to swim along with my two dive buddies. Second time that's happened! Major current.
76. Key West, Joe's Tug
One green moray eel.
75. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
HUGE green moray eel at stern of boat. Very rough seas. Cold water.
74. Key West, Rock Key
Saw two nurse sharks and a nice big crab. Pretty good visibility. Buddied up with a guy from Cuba.
73. Key West, Sand Key
Steve the captain started allowing me to help clean the boat and prepare for getting my divemaster certification. So I learned to tie the "bit" with the rope that ties the boat to the mooring buoy. Even better, I got to dive alone.
When you dive alone, in seas infested by great barracuda, or encounter the occasional shark, you cannot "hide" behind the presence of another person. It's like walking through thick dark woods in the middle of the night, alone, where every snapping twig convinces you that the big bad wolf is coming to claw your face off.
Anyway, I saw many barracuda and ended up finding a sea turtle that I hung out with for several minutes.
72. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
Saw four nurse sharks, a few lobster, and a really large pack of barracuda -- at least 60 of them. It seems right now that there are more barracuda than I've ever seen.
71. Key West, Rock Key
Saw Frank and Eddie (two resident nurse sharks), a nice big green moray eel, several barracuda, and a small yellow stingray. Buddied up with two women from Japan.
70. Key West, Rock Key
This was a shorter dive than usual because both my buddy and I had problems with air leaks in our regulators. However we moored onto a different buoy this time, so I got to see parts of this reef that I haven't seen before. We saw a small yellow ray and many swarms of large barracuda. They seemed especially fiesty this time, as if something weird was going down. Visibility was about 25-30 feet.
69. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
Even though I've been to this reef several times, this turned about to be one of the most incredible dives ever. As my first dive of the year 2001, I got to see something that was totally incredible -- a massive spotted Eagle Ray that glided in and around the coral for our entire dive. We followed it for most of the time, and even though it effortlessly glided along, we had a hard time keeping up with it. It must have had a wingspan of ten feet, and weight over a thousand pounds. What an amazing site -- its tail was at least eight feet long. I couldn't believe my eyes. According to Jeremy, the divemaster, "Larry" (the eagle ray) has been seen around Eastern a lot recently. For me, this was the most incredible thing I've seen in all of my diving experiences to date. We also saw another "smaller" green ray that was about half the size of Larry, but still huge, hanging out under some sand. Also saw lots of barracuda, with one at least six feet in length. This was also a dive where I my tank came undone, so I needed to test my skills and take my gear off, refasten the tank, and put it back on under 30 feet of water. No problems.
62. Key West, Joe's Tug
Saw the resident green moray eel.
61. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
Saw (at count) a pack of 19 fairly large-sized barracuda "guarding" the wreck about 20 feet above it.
60. Key West, Eastern Sambo
Saw a cool little yellow ray and just about got attacked by a 3-foot barracuda.
59. Key West, Rock Key
Saw a cool little yellow ray and a bunch of big groupers.
58. Key West, Eastern Sambo
57. Key West, Western Sambo
56. Key West, Eastern Sambo
55. Key West, Western Sambo
54. Key West, Rock Key
53. Key West, Sand Key
52. Key West, Rock Key
51. Key West, Sand Key
50. Key West, Joe's Tug
49. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
48. Key West, Sand Key
On the way to Sand Key, we encountered a squall which was a lot of fun. Since it was already rough, most of the boat, infact 18 of 21 people on the boat, were sea sick. Seemed like an episode out of M.A.S.H!
47. Key West, Western Dry Rocks
46. Key West, Rock Key
45. Key West, Sand Key
44. Key West, Toppinoe Buoy
43. Key West, Joe's Tug
42. Key West, Lost Reef
On the second dive, directly below the boat, me and William found another 10 lobster! They were all tucked into a few pockets below some shallow coral. Only a few of them were legal, and one that looked fairly big was too feisty to catch, so we bagged two and went down the reef and back. When we got back to the dock, William and his girlfriend and I gave three of the lobster to the waitress at the Conch Replublic while they were still flopping around in the bag, and they cooked them up and served them to us with mashed potatos & vegetables & rice for six dollars. Trips happened on Sea Hawk with Captain Tropical Mike & Divemaster Gary.
41. Key West, Trinity Cove
This is by far my favorite reef dive ever in Key West. Located in the Outer Reefs, the coral reefs stand at least 20 and 30 feet high in some places, and it's a 60 foot dive, so the fish are larger and the chances of encountering a huge grouper or tarpon or nurse shark are high. Tropical Mike asked me if I would dive with a diver who was hunting lobster, and I had no problem with that. His name is William Vogel, and he works as a character for Walt Disney at Disney World in Orlando. Anyway, it turns out that I am really good at finding lobster. We bagged two nice big lobster at Trinity Cove and William offered to give me one if we bagged two more. Great dive.
40. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
39. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
38. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
37. Key West, Sand Key
36. Key West, Sand Key
35. Key West, Rock Key
34. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
33. Key West, Sand Key
32. Key West, The Humps
Saw two huge green moray eels about ten feet from each other. Dives occured on Sea Hawk with Tropical Mike & Divemaster Gary.
31. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
30. Key West, Joe's Tug
29. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
28. Key West, Joe's Tug
27. Key West, Joe's Tug
26. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
25. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
24. Key West, Joe's Tug
23. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
22. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
21. Key West, Toppino Buoy
20. Key West, Joe's Tug
Naturally, this dive was really amazing, since it was my second night dive. Once we got to the deck, we saw a 3-foot barracuda who was guarding the cargo bay. As my buddy and I moseyed on the coral off the port side, we saw a little thing cruising along the floor that looked like a lobster with no antennae or legs. When my buddy touched it, it tensed up into a rock.
We also saw a really cool little puffer fish that kept bumping into my buddy's light like it couldn't resist. Also cool was that I pointed my light up above the boat and saw a pack of about ten barracuda glide by the wreck very swiftly. An awesome sight. This was also the first time I got to shut off my light and still see due to moonlight and see the phosphorous follow my hand as I waved side to side.
19. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
This was cool because it was my first night dive. We saw two very large groupers swimming around in the hole below what was once the bridge (it was removed to ensure it wouldn't stick out of the water). Cool site. Also, one of the three bikes had been brought up to the starbird side.
18. Key West, Eastern Dry Rocks
This was one of my best dives yet. Me and my two buddies got to see several lobster, a 300-pound tarpon several times as we swam through coral fingers, a green moray eel, a 6-foot nurse shark hanging out at the bottom of some coral about 30 feet from the boat, and three really huge puffins.
17. Key West, Rock Key
Lots of lobster, prrots, grunts, and jacks. Saw six-foot nurse shark, a gold moray eel, many lobster, large barracuda, and a stingray. Javier was my dive buddy, and I dove with Grant and Jeremy on the Sea Eagle.
16. Key West, Nine Foot Stake
Threaded the eye of a needle again, stared lobster down while inside the tunnel, saw very large barracuda, huge green moray eel, and a few lobster. Saw some really really cool brain coral. Really looked like a brain. Cerebrum and all. Wanted to swim into it, but there was a rather large barracuda inside it. Those guys are like dogs -- they stare at you and growl, showing thheir sharp teeth. Dove with Southpoint Divers. Pavel from Poland was my dive buddy.
15. Key West, Marker 32
Threaded the eye of a needle. Dove with Southpoint Divers. Pavel from Poland was my dive buddy.
14. Key West, Looe Key
Lots of colorful parrots, many lobsters, very colorful and beatiful coral, and saw two small barracuda. Threaded the eye of a needle. Dove with Southpoint Divers. Martin Watts was my dive buddy.
13. Key West, Adolphus Bush
This is a penetratable dive, so we swam around in the cargo bays and up through a smokestack located behind the bridge (as if it might be in front of it). I was paired with two guys, not just Martin. The other guy seemed to have problems with his BC on top, and when he got down, after about two minutes he shot for the surface. Martin tried to grab his fin, but he was long gone. Martin did his 3-minute safety stop, then went to the surface, while I waited by the line for two minutes, did my 3 minutes, then surfaced. They gave the guy oxygen and didn't let him go on the second dive. Supposedly he ran out of air, but it might have been hyperventalation or something else such as our depth that caused him to freak. Dove with Southpoint Divers. Martin Watts was my dive buddy.
12. Key West, Eye of the Needle
This time it was really cool - we saw two crabs fighting or mating or something. They both had a hold of each other. Initially cool, but they move really slow, so we threaded the eye of the needle and then saw a big 3-foot stingray, and one lobster. Dove with Captain's Corner Dive Center. Gary was my divemaster, Tropical Mike the captain, on the Sea Hawk.
11. Key West, Toppino Buoy
Several lobster in the various reefs of toppino buoy, swam up current for 30 minutes then saw a 3 foot tarpon. Dove withCaptain's Corner Dive Center. Gary was my divemaster, Tropical Mike the captain, on the Sea Hawk.
10. Key West, Joe's Tug
Aside from the turtles, saw several barracuda hanging out around the wreck, 30 feet above it, and one right below our boat. It's as if they are guarding something. Saw the usual suspects -- grunts, jacks, and parrots. Dove with Subtropic, I think.
9. Key West, Cayman Salvage Master
Saw the two bikes, lots of parrots and jacks and atlantic spade. On the way to our next dive, we saw two big sea turtles mating on the surface, and before we could get near them to snorkel over and watch, they were finished (details intentionally left out). Dove with Subtropic Dive Center.
8. Key West, Kedge Ledge
Saw a really nice looking stingray, several lobster, and three big rusted kedge anchors. Dove with Subtropic Dive Center.
7. Key West, Joe's Tug
Saw one spotted moray eel, and witnessed many barracuda and black groupers. Dove with Subtropic Dive Center. David Hoffman was my divemaster.
6. Key Largo, Little Conch
Saw many moray eels and lobsters. David Duvall of Key Largo Dive Center was my divemaster.
5. Key Largo, Davis Reef
Saw two small moray eels, and pet the underwater Buddha statue.
4. Cozumel, Playa del Corona
3. Cozumel, Playa del Corona
2. Grand Cayman, The Reefs
1. Grand Cayman, The Reefs