The flow of the dive...That magical sense of when all is going right, everything is at peace, and you have no care in to world. Your buddy is right at your side, and everything is going right. This did not happen on these dives. Many things did happen that messed up the dive. While I do think it was an amazing weekend and I had an amazing time, the diving wasn't all it could of been.

In the begining...

Beautiful Ft. Lauterdale beach (yes I took this picture).

The day was Friday March 22nd. The day started with me waking up at the amazingly wonderful time of 5:30 A.M. to pick up my gear at the Florida Pool. After futaly trying to find a ride leaving after 6:00 P.M. due to a test in a certain and unamed computer class that covers a certain subject about some world wide thingy, I decided that I had to face it and drive on my own. Yes I know that It is a 5 hour trip and this means that I could not leave untill 7:00 P.M. I still had to do it. WE had to be at the diveshop at 8:00 A.M.!!! So after the test I flew home (at the speed limit) and picked up my stuff. I threw (gently) my scuba stuff into my trunk and jumped into my car. Because I was drving alone I popped in a "Book on CD" and drove off.

My diving stuff.

The Drive...

The drive was going well and somewhat fast with the book I was listening to. I next turned onto the turnpike and payed the outrageous toll. I got to Orlando (home of the Govenor of Florida Mickey Mouse) and I saw the most horrifying thing any sane driver wants to see, red and blue lights reflecting off my rear view mirror. I was freaking out thinking why the hell I was being pulled over because I was traveling 5 MPH under the speedlimit due to heavy traffic. The police cars then turned and flew by in the emergency lane. My heart skipped a beat and I yelled out in joy that I was not doing anything wrong.

Next an ambulance and two firetrucks fly by in the same way. I was wondering what the heck is happening and I turned on the radio thinking it was a high speed chase and somehow It was happening right in front of me. I was a big fan of those FOX t.v. specials of high speed chases with their dubbed sounds and fake helicopter reporting. The the traffic slowed to a stop. I stopped and tried to see what was happening but the cars infront of me were blocking the view. I called friends to see if they had heared anything on the news, and they had not. I had no cle what was happening. I was stuck along with many other unsuspecting drivers for over an hour on the turnpike. A quick look behind me showed a several mile long backup behind me and I was at least 300 to 400 feet behind whatever is happening.

Finally the traffic started to move and I saw what happened. While I had no clue what happened, from what I sawe passing by I could get a decent guess. The incident involved what used to be a car and a big flatbed truck. To mee it seemed from the damage that the truck was on the side of the road, the truck then tried to pull out or the car went onto the shoulder and clipped the back of the truck. The car then fliped one or more times and landed on its top. I have no clue if the people survived, but from the fact that there was no passanger compartment left in the car, the sadly probobly did not survive.

After I passed the incident, traffic started to move again. I made good time to the hotel which is the awful Sharaton Suits. But with 6 people in a room it only came out to about $50 per person for two nights. Which is not bad at all. So, after getting there around 12:45 A.M. I went to my room and went to bed a little later.

Plotting the dive.

The First Dive...

We woke up and got ready and left. We had no breakfast because sheraton does not serve free breakfast and we dont have the time, nor the money to buy $10 bowls of cereal and plates of eggs. Se when we got to the dive shop we got food a Dunkin Donuts and checked in our gear and set up our stuff for the first dive. We then got on the boat and made fun of eachother for the half hour trip to the site just off the Ft. Lauterdale coast ontop of a scuttled ship!!! It was awesome!!! We split up into teams with a divemaster, a instructor, and our advanced class. Then we jumped off the boat and went down. WE went down to 100 feet for 18 minutes. We saw this awesom wreck that was fully intact with tons of schools of fish swimming around! It was so amazing.

Our group getting ready to go diving.

The Second Dive...

When we got back on the boat I did not have a great time. The sea was rought, and I got seasick. This has never heppened to me before. I have been on my families sailboat countless times, but for somer reason I got seasick this time. I still have no clue why, but oh well. The second dive was great but not as good. We went drift diving off of the boat. We went to 60 feet for 14 minutes. I did not se as many fish, nor interesting objects, but I did see some large baracuda and some exotically coloured fish.

After the dive our whole class went to luch at the restauraunt next to the dive shop. All 40 of us were served by 2 waiters. We felt sorry for them but they got a huge tip . We then went back to the hotel and changed into our street clothes. After falling asleap for a couple of hours after exhaution from getting 3 hours sleep and diving all day in the sun we went out to dinner.

While everyone went out clubbing, I did not feel like clubbing so I saw a movie at the theater next to the hotel. I then went back and got some eagerly anticipated sleep.

The Third Dive...

The last dive was the worst and hardest. It was a navagation beach dive. We went down to 15 feet for 50 minutes and we got lost many times. Each buddy team had a compass and a watch. and we had to follow a strict triangular plan. But the leaders of the first part were swimming so fast, me and my buddy and out instructor were kicking our buts off. Along with that we also were swimming against the longshore current and had a visibility of less than 10 feet! Boy that was a tireing dive. Well after the dive we packed up and had lunch and left for home. The ride back was alot less interesting than the ride to Ft. Lauterdale, but it was nice to spend the time alone. We turned in our gear and I got to go back to my place and see my girlfriend who I missed alot.

Well that was the end of the trip and It was an interesting, enjoyable, and terrable weekend all in one. I hope that it influences you to go diving and visit the beautiful beaches of Ft. Lauterdale (just dont go beach diving).