This past summer we travelled with the Boy Scouts to the Sea Base High Adventure Camp in Islamorada, Fl. for a full week of SCUBA diving. We were there from July 31st to August 7th with 8 scouts and 4 adults. The scouts were between the ages of 14 and 18.
We did a total of 11 dives during the week. All the dives were coral reef dives on the Atlantic ocean side of the keys. The divers were to a depth of 20 to 30 feet. Water visibility was anywhere from 80 to 40 feet, depending upon the weather conditions. The scouts got to dive both hard corals and soft coral reefs.
The abundance of sea life was just out of this world. We got to see tons of reef fish. Just about every dive we saw at least one barracuda. On the night dive, we saw the barracuda schooling over the reef. We saw a couple of nurse sharks. On one dive some of the boys got to see some black tip reef sharks. The nurse sharks were great. They were between 5 and 6 feet in length and we were able to swim with them for quite some time. We saw some grey spotted eels and several moray eels. On one dive we swam with a sea turtle that was about 3 feet in diameter.
All the scouts and two of the adults had to get PADI certified in SCUBA diving before going on the trip. The scouts did their certification in May & June.
Dive Log:
| Dive | Date | Location | Depth | Time In | Time Out | Dive Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8/1/11 | Alligator Reef | 23′ | 1:58pm | 2:41pm | 43min |
| 2 | 8/2/11 | Long Key Reef | 25′ | 12:13pm | 12:55pm | 42min |
| 3 | 8/2/11 | Pillars of Atlantis | 25′ | 1:45pm | 2:30pm | 45min |
| 4 | 8/3/11 | Ham Reef | 36′ | 10:36am | 11:35am | 59min |
| 5 | 8/3/11 | Capt Grumpy Reef | 27′ | 12:00pm | 12:50pm | 50min |
| 6 | 8/3/11 | Alligator Reef | 24′ | 7:37pm | 8:31pm | 54min |
| 7 | 8/4/11 | Boink Reef | 39′ | 9:41am | 10:30am | 49min |
| 8 | 8/4/11 | Labyrinth Reef | 29′ | 11:02am | 12:03pm | 59min |
| 9 | 8/5/11 | South End of Alligator Reef | 25′ | 11:09am | 12:11pm | 58min |
| 10 | 8/5/11 | North End of Alligator Reef | 21′ | 12:32pm | 1:26pm | 54min |
| 11 | 8/6/11 | Landing Strip Reef | 34′ | 9:34am | 10:26am | 54min |
This summer we’re taking a group of scouts to the BSA high adventure sea base in Florida. We’re doing the SCUBA adventure program down in the Florida Keys for one week. The program is awesome. The scouts get to do 11 dives on the coral reefs in some of the most pristine water. We have 8 Scouts and 4 adults going on this adventure. The scouts are between the ages of 15 – 18.
One of the prerequisites is that everyone, adults included, must be certified SCUBA divers. We started the certification class 3 weeks ago. The boys have another 2 classes and then the 4 open water dives to become fully certified. I’ve attended parts of the class and the pool sessions. It is pretty cool to see how they are progressing. Last week they practiced out of air emergencies and equipment failures.