Try Diving Off the Florida Keys

A good Debrief for October 14th 2011.

Today I went to the Tavernier Keys in South Florida and tried out a special Dive tour that covered 3 different spots within 3-4 hours!

SandDragon's (MonoFin)


Me and a friend went on the Dive boat Mystic Blue of Tavernier Cruises a brand new charter tours that even offered a scenic riverboat style ride.... Compared to other cruises ,I found this one a bit more relaxing and the guys running it were super flexible as I experienced no Limitations that the others often imposed such as a ban on wearing dive belts and requirements to always wear those anoying floatation devices that would slow a professional swimmer... maybe this was the pro tour session!







We went to a reef they called Chickens and hens, a deep cluster of reefs that rise and fall and is mostly in waters 15- 20 feet deep.
the water was nice except for some stirred up silt , some strong currents and the potential of running into a jellyfish!




About maybe an hour later after some epic deep diving and dodging of Jellyfish we reboarded and went to another further most outter reef.
It was much clearer here and was even deeper....There is a sudden drop of about 80 feet nearby so I took a deep plundge!




Time to Really take a deep breath now!
A few Impressed girls also tried to follow me deep down ... Its just ear crushing if you are not trained to dive deep!

I took some rather nice photos of the silent deep as well as many fish and it could have only have been better if the sun was out and the Current was not so strong!

This tour also offered a nice cruise down the channel and through the Mangrove preserves!....Although the Camera was not fully charged so only underwater photos were taken.... this part of the trip is like something out of the African Queen adventure!

Later on we ate good food out here, having the fresh catch of the day out here in the Florida keys...




For you Locals out there, take advantage of the last days of summer before the Dive season gets cold, crappy and full of Man-O-War Jellyfish!

What up sanddragon, I would of never guessed you like to free dive. cool bro.

I free dive the artificial reef at dania beach alott, also anywhere we can swim out from the beach.

those fins your wearing are intresting, ive never seen those.lol

the jelly fish were super thick all over the beach's like a month ago, thousands of them in the water,there was no way to get around them without getting stung.

Great pictures sanddragon , looks like lots of fun. I would like to try that one day

e46hoodrich wrote:

What up sanddragon, I would of never guessed you like to free dive. cool bro.

I free dive the artificial reef at dania beach alott, also anywhere we can swim out from the beach.

those fins your wearing are intresting, ive never seen those.lol

the jelly fish were super thick all over the beach's like a month ago, thousands of them in the water,there was no way to get around them without getting stung.

The Monofins I use are known in the proffessional freediver circles and are actually the fastest way to swim as well as conserve energy for deep free dives.

I actually own 3 monofins and dropped using sterio fins al together.

Monofins I have range from $1500.00 dollars- to The humble $400.00 dollar Finis Monofin!
Since they are often so expensive I often invite people a chance to test drive one of my fins so they cansee if they are a natural born Dolphin!

In my trips to the Carribean and the Bahamas I often must cover them up while carrying them to exotic beaches , otherwise the Locals and tourist would stop me so many times with questions that I would lose too much time.

You guys already know I am not your average Joe!

nicee bro.. do you go lobster hunting? i need to get back out there now before the water is frreeezziinggg.

Heres More Pics of Free Diving action in the Florida keys!... Me and my Landlord often go almost every week and I have been egging him on to try out his new water proof camera!




This is photo stuff of a recent dive trip to key Largo before the 2011 Thanks giving weekend....This is really getting Personally interesting because I actually rarely have Photos of my Freediving activities...I am hoping to go on a few more dives before the winter season puts enough ice to discourage my motivation to go diving!

Once again the water is almost crystal clear!....I Encountered a BULL SHARK!- sorry no one photoed it!
-And Lots of Jellyfish darting in the sea.









The Flipper I am wearing is known by Expert freeDivers as a Monofin... I have been able to dive down to an ear crushing 115 feet and hold my breath for almost 4 minutes!...monofins wielders are the only people who can gain enough speed to actually leap out of the water like a dolphin!





Living in Florida is great if your main hobby sports are mostly water sports and other related activities.
Do take advantage of where you are and where you live!

Thats awesome SandDragon , what kind of camera did you guys use

Looks like you found a suit that fits tight! You sexy Merman.

I should be in the keys next Wed-Fri Fishing and lobster diving.

Goatee wrote:

Thats awesome SandDragon , what kind of camera did you guys use

panasonic type said to be good for down to 40 feet!

I should also get myself a cool camera as my old camera is now damaged and actually leaks!

Ok cool I will look into it I've wanted a underwater camera for a while know but was skeptical on quality on the pictures taken but seeing the pics you've taken I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

i need to go back to the keys to do some well deserved rest time from school. i can just chill and fish...and then eat those fish that i catch! ...lol

Nice lil Barracuda sanddragon. Those yellow grunts are annoying, they eat everything you throw at them.

daamnnn i need to go fishing.

grunts are the best! you just need a good spot where you can get a lot of them, and prepare yourself for some fried fish! I love fishing, and Even though i love fishing "Hot Fish" I like grunts as an entertainment. I reel my line out and wait for the Mahi Mahi, but while i wait i like grabbing the yo yo and throwing it right under the boat, the chum attracts the small fishes under the boat so i have a blast filling up a cooler. Thumbs up for Fishing!

xTwiiisteDx wrote:

grunts are the best! you just need a good spot where you can get a lot of them, and prepare yourself for some fried fish! I love fishing, and Even though i love fishing "Hot Fish" I like grunts as an entertainment. I reel my line out and wait for the Mahi Mahi, but while i wait i like grabbing the yo yo and throwing it right under the boat, the chum attracts the small fishes under the boat so i have a blast filling up a cooler. Thumbs up for Fishing!

I use an old trident spear... funny that It may relate to my Neptune merman like appearance!

I cannot use it on most dive boats as they DO NOT ALLOW IT! and the reefs are protected... I have only used it to poke at stupid aggressive sharks and destroy a few jellyfish!

lol, were exactly do you dive off at? I would like to go, looks fun!

xTwiiisteDx wrote:

lol, were exactly do you dive off at? I would like to go, looks fun!

well tommorrow I am going with friends on board SunDiver III at Key Largo...They Often set off John Pennicamp state reef park and the reef we might visit is known as Grecian rocks...My favorite reef is much deeper - one called wheelers and another called Bananna for there strange shaped configurations.

I try to go on weekdays because it will upset any potential airsoft sessions or whenever I am on call for a job at a beach resort.

Maybe one day I we will host a roll call for any potential deep sea divers!...If you can fit into one of my Monofins, maybe you will find your inner dolphin tallents!

All my Mono fins are sized 9 and 10s.

idk if they'll fit lol my shoe size regular is 11 but sometimes 10 1/2. I do have like three pairs of flippers though, not mono but i have long US Divers, and short US Divers, as well as a pair that really don't know the name. lol but yea i love to go, let me know when and do you have to pay? and how much if yes

xTwiiisteDx wrote:

idk if they'll fit lol my shoe size regular is 11 but sometimes 10 1/2. I do have like three pairs of flippers though, not mono but i have long US Divers, and short US Divers, as well as a pair that really don't know the name. lol but yea i love to go, let me know when and do you have to pay? and how much if yes

The Standard rate dive trip is about 25- 30 dollars and is hosted every day of the week at these state parks...Check your local dive shop for recommended charters...Let me know if you are going and I will see if I can join you....One dive shop in Miami beach actually off south point called tarpoon lagoon goes directlly to deep sea wrecks and runs about 50 bucks!... They cater more to scuba divers but free divers are welcome if you can manage an ear crushing 60 feet or more!

Of course the ultimate experience is always a trip to the Bahamas... Occationally I fly over and spend several days on the beach building sandcastles and freediving as well!

LOL well ill let you know when i do go, I can not go to deep free diving because i had a tumor in my ear and i can not decompress the air any more. I used to free dive but idk if i can anymore, I will have to check with the Dock. And is it the whole day or some hours?

xTwiiisteDx wrote:

LOL well ill let you know when i do go, I can not go to deep free diving because i had a tumor in my ear and i can not decompress the air any more. I used to free dive but idk if i can anymore, I will have to check with the Dock. And is it the whole day or some hours?

actually only a few hours but I try to make it a day long session...I am said to swim like a fisH!

Many reefs we do dive are actually not too deep...you can still see everything by snokeling from the surface and many spots are about 20 or 30 feet ... the reef itself may shoot up all the way to the surface so you do not need to follow me to the extreme deep end of the pool!

lol i think anywhere from 20 25 ft i will be ok, as long as i dont go down another ATP

I went back in August, and Man! were there some jellyfish. Some sizes of basketballs and in a 10x10ft of water area, there were minimum 5.

i have a house down in the keys and i go fishing every weekend i go...if i dont go play at pb...and there have been so many moon jelly fish the size or watermelons! and every time i try to fish they get in the way and ruin it cause there are so many of them that i cant fish around them!!...we should kill all the jelly fish!

i'm not sure if moon jellyfish are purple, but the ones i saw while lobstering and spearfishing were purple, HUGE!!! and burned really bad when they touched you. My cousin got touched by one and got stuck to his face, he felt like crying, and he plays football (got invited by Packers last season to play for them, he's trying out after this season is done)

Louis wrote:

i'm not sure if moon jellyfish are purple, but the ones i saw while lobstering and spearfishing were purple, HUGE!!! and burned really bad when they touched you. My cousin got touched by one and got stuck to his face, he felt like crying, and he plays football (got invited by Packers last season to play for them, he's trying out after this season is done)

ya moon jellyfish are purple and huge!...i hate them...and congrats to your cousin