MARCH 26TH, 2017 – FIRST DAY OF THE ROAD TRIP!
Christine and I had been planning this day for weeks and we were extremely excited to get going. The Dive and Drive was beginning!!! We arrived at our starting point, Key West, the Southernmost Point in the USA just as the sun was starting to rise.
Our goal was to grab a photo with the iconic buoy, then quickly drive over and find parking downtown. We set our odometer reading to zero at mile zero.
Our plans were to go out scuba diving on the first morning charter with reservations made weeks ago. Then, as soon as we got back from diving the USS Vandenberg, we would jump into the car and start driving north to get to our next destination where we have reservations.
Plans made? Check. Plans followed? Nope.
I found parking right near the dive boat, and started prepping our gear. We ate our breakfast burritos as fast as possible while checking we had all of our masks, fins, regs, wetsuit…everything ready to get on a dive boat in a few minutes. Christine walked over to the dive company office to check in. Then, she started walking back to me with a frowning face…waving her finger…
Our charter was cancelled. Without any notice. No diving this morning. Boat isn’t going out. Apparently conditions haven’t been great and not enough people signed up for the boat. Boo. No one called. No one emailed us. We had no time to wait until another boat in the afternoon (other reservations tomorrow), so we had to just leave Key West. No dive here this time. 🙁
Grrrrr.
Well, we thought…let’s start making calls! So I started driving north. Christine and I searched high and low for another option. Fort Lauderdale shore diving! We called a company and …nope, rough waves making it a bad day.
Maybe we can free dive in the keys! We stopped a bunch of times as we drove through, but it was really more of a day to fish than play in the water. Big currents.
IT WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY…for the beach! And to drive!
Then we decided to shore dive the Blue Heron Bridge! Yes! This looks great! We drove an extra hour to the Bridge, read all about the history and marine life. We arrived and started getting out our gear and…woah. There were A LOT OF PEOPLE. And police. And more people. And more police. And…trash. And…was that a drug deal right next to our car? And…um…we just couldn’t do it. We really felt like our vehicle might be missing some essential belongings if we left it here too long…ugh…it was just not going to happen. Darn.
We decided to stop looking and set up for the night around 7:00 pm. We ended up darting all over Florida looking for a fun place to jump in the water for around nine hours, driving 340 miles. That was enough. Our gifts for the day were beautiful views and great laughter.
All in all, it just wasn’t a day for the water. Final Score– Ocean :1 Christine and Adam: 0
Now we’re off to Crystal River, Florida to play with the manatees. Check out how Crystal River turned out here!
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