If it’s nearing Thanksgiving, it must be time to head to FL to visit Glen’s mom and brother. But this year was a little different and special — Glen’s mom wanted to have a family reunion in a rental house in Key West. Whoo Hoo! But rather than flying into Key West, we decided to fly into Tampa and take a leisurely drive down, stopping to visit friends and do a little diving. First stop was at De Soto National Monument that commemorates the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto and the first extensive organized exploration of Europeans in what is now the southern United States. It’s not clear that there is any evidence that this was the actual location De Soto landed, but the area does have some indigenous and early settler ruins, so hey, why not?
From there we drove down to visit friends Valerie and Terry outside of Key Largo. Ryan and Glen took the opportunity to do a couple of days of diving on the USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32) that was deliberately sunk in 2002 (sort of — actually, it unexpectedly sank and rolled over 6 hours before it was to be scuttled!) as an artificial reef for divers. As a result, the ship was at 130 feet on its side — making it inaccessible for recreational divers. As fate would have it, Hurricane Dennis flipped the Spiegel Grove and it ended up resting on its stern with the bow now facing upwards, starting at about 80 feet. The first day’s dive was marked by 10 foot seas, divers getting bashed about, and Glen losing some of his weights (making him a floaty little balloon!). A second dive at Frenchman’s Reef was much nicer. The next day was a really great set of dives on the ship, where we got to explore the interior. While Glen was in the Navy, he grew quite familiar with some of the Spiegel Grove’s sister ships, so he actually knew his way around.
Following the dives and some quality time with our friends, it was off to Key West!
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
