Key Largo Day and Night
On Saturday afternoon15 club divers motored out from Key Largo to The Elbow Sanctuary Preservation Area, a bank reef with a well-defined spur and groove system and healthy deepwater corals located approximately six nautical miles southeast of Key Largo.
With flat seas, no current, vis around 35 feet and the water temp at a balmy 86 degrees, we were in for a great day of diving.
Our first dive was Mike's Wreck, also known as the Hannah M. Bell. This wreck, which sank in 1911, is believed to be the remains of a British steel-hulled ship built in 1893. After over a hundred years under water, it was more of a debris field than a full wreck. We saw a number of sea turtles, were treated to a curious and friendly free–swimming nurse shark. A few were lucky enough to see a huge spotted eagle ray before it gracefully “flew” away, disappearing into the misty distance.
As Mike’s wreck is all at less that 25 feet, we were able to move a short distance to “Anchor Chain,” and get right back in the water. The site gets it's name because a ship carrying train wheels sank on the reef and a train wheel as well as part of the wreck lies in about 20-30 feet of water. There is also about a 30 foot anchor chain among the wreckage that is covered with coral growth. Some of us were able to find the chain stretched over the large coral heads.
The site was covered with large coral formations with lots of sea fans. It was nicely undercut and provided a couple of nice passages to swim through. Here we saw all of the standard cast of tropical fish characters.
Brave night divers (from left) Dan Beery, Angelica Cookson, Pam Beery, Rachel Davis, John Davis, Sheila Schlafly, Tadeo Monterrubio.
Our night dive with Amoray was on the Benwood wreck. Benwood was a merchant marine freighter measuring 360 feet long, built in England in 1910. On the night of April 9, 1942, Benwood was cruising lights-out to avoid German U-Boat detection. Unfortunately, the steamship Robert C. Tuttle was also blacked out and the two boats collided. The Benwood, the older of the two, started taking on water.
Underwater photos by Angelica Cookson.
Amoray, the dive charter, got us out early so that we could have a nice long twilight dive. Immediately we spotted a sea turtle under the wreck, then behind us a few more turtles showed up to join the party. We spotted a really big lionfish, along with the usual colorful tropical sea life. The Benwood is quite a large wreck with lots to explore, and our team did just that as the light faded into darkness. Though the current started out mild, it picked up over the course of the dive, but all of our divers made it back to safety thanks to the heroic efforts of the Amory crew. The boat ride back to shore dazzled us with a million stars and a very visible Mikly Way galaxy against the backdrop of a slim crescent moon accompanied by gentle ocean breezes that danced through the mangroves. Key Largo delivered its usual magic and a beautiful day and night was had by all.
Welcome back long-time members Robert Bloomfield, Jeff Roth & Adriana Campa.
Welcome to the club Ralph Doerner, making his first dive with us, pictured with Roger Bach.
John Davis enjoys the aqua warm waters of Key Largo.
Welcome back Nancy Frank, pictured with Safety Officer Dan Beery and his lovely wife Pam.
Angelica Cookson and Aaron Brooks.
Steve Moore, Dan Beery & Brian McDermott.