SCUBA Diving Molasses Reef

The reef got that name when in the latter part of the 19th century a large ship transporting molasses went aground there. Eventually there was a big spill and the reef was covered in molasses. This made the islanders very upset but not for ecological reasons, you see the molasses shipment only came in once or twice a year and as we all know it was a much needed necessity for the fabrication of rhum.

So I signed up to go with the camp crew on their boat the visibility. The rates are very good, the boat not crowded and the crew nice. Once again my big fear is the dam seasickness so I took all the usual preparations and after getting the surf report and making sure the waves were small I got onboard.

The ride to the site was 45 minutes and I was not seasick. On the ship the dive master was a young guy, I assumed he was around 25. He had moved down south from Michigan in 2009 and found a job as a mechanic in Miami. He had never seen the ocean before but after going snorkeling it was the discovery of a whole new world. In 2011 he entered apprentice program to become a Dive Master, Instructor. That was one and a half year ago and he has now 500 dives under his belt and is fully certified. I found it to be an interesting and inspiring story.

At last on this dive I was paired with a diver taking pictures, it changes the dynamics of the dive from a run, run, run to see everything to a relax, observe and photograph your surroundings. The temperature outside was 80f and the water around 79f so I dove with my shorty wetsuit and although everybody else was wearing a full wetsuit I was very comfortable, we went trough a few thermoclines but I'm not very sensitive to the cold.

The water was blue and the visibility was quite good. We did not encountered big fishes, stingrays, shark or turtles but there were quite a bit of small colorful fishes. Lots of corrals including a giant brain corral estimated to be more then 500 years old. This is the third largest corral reef in the world after the great barrier reef in Australia and the one in Belize. For that reason it's a protected area where you shouldn't touch and not even land on the sand. Boats are not allowed to anchor, they have to attach to mooring balls. I'll probably go again today if the Surf report is favorable.

On tuesday I'll go dive the wreck of the Spigel Grove one of Florida's top diving site.