Keys shooting - Sunday 12/1/02

[johnhermes]

Well, I did not have anyone to go with me, so I went out alone to a wreck in Islamorada called the "Eagle". My Dad drove the boat, but he does not dive much anymore. I just wanted to drop down for a single tank and see what was up. To give you a little background, the Eagle is a ship that was intentionally sunk in 1986 and is a huge tourist dive spot. I dove the ship a couple of weeks after it sank, and I periodically go out there for a dive. It is one of the best wreck dives going. I honestly did not expect to come up with anything, but what the hell. When I hit bottom, the wreck was not terribly fishy, but I did immediately see a nice grouper. Before I could line up, he was gone and so were my chances. So I thought. I swam a little further and I saw another grouper. This time, a big one. I quickly fired and dropped him stone cold dead. Like turning off a light switch. Strung him up and kept looking. No more groupers, but I did shoot at a hog. Unfortunately, I missed, which is extremely embarassing considering its a damn hog.

When I got back up top, I weighed the grouper and he came up to a cool 17 #'s. Not bad for a tourist dive spot.

[dlock]

good goin' John. Always bring the gun...you never know what will be down there:D

[f94gator]

If you've never dove the Eagle, it's a good example of what the ocean can do when it's pissed off. It originally sank in one piece on it side. A few years ago a hurricance came really close to the Keys - messed up Key West pretty good, I forget which storm it was.
Anyway, the Eagle sits in 115' and this hurricane tore it in TWO. Sure, it DID have nearly 15 years to sit in the water and rust, but still, that was a damn big freighter to tear in two!!!

And John's right. We've dove that thing a million times and never found a damn thing.