Everglades USA Exped – Day 10

USA Expedition Blog: Key Largo, Florida | YEPs first dive with Christian Miller

by Jule Holland and Ann-Kathrin

After a short night sleeping outside in the open air (no tents) on a dock in Key Largo we woke up with the sunrise early Tuesday morning. The air was nice, fresh and everyone enjoyed the sleep under clear sky, it gave us a feeling of freedom after all the nights in the narrow tents seeking cover from the rain and insects.

After waking up, we had to wait some time until Mike and Tristan came to pick us up at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park with the dingy to bring us back to PANGAEA which was anchored out about 20 minutes from Key Largo. Apart from the slight sadness to leave the green paradise of canals and islands we were happy to get back on the boat. Arriving all together one could feel the happiness of resuming life aboard together after the life-changing experiences shared in Everglades National Park . We settled our equipment back in our rooms and met at the conference room to publish the blogs about the last six days, our experiences, developments and emotions. After getting used to the ship’s movement again, Mike announced the first dive of the expedition would be today. Everyone was filled with excitement for the tour to the bottom of the blue ocean. But first, we did a short dive safety briefing on the deck where Christian Miller (a PADI Staff Instructor for over 10 years) explained and repeated with us the most important diving skills and precautions.

Once we got all the gear organized we did a buddy check and went into the water. The sight under the water (about 25-30 meters deep) was awesome. Arriving at a sandy spot we practiced the “out of air” situations with our buddy. This showed us how important safety and organization is while diving

During the 30-minute dive we discovered an incredibly beautiful world with many, many different kinds of corals and fish in every single color of the rainbow. We even got to see a shark and a sea turtle! I love this calm, almost untouched environment, it opens my heart wide and puts a big smile on my face!

After the dive we quickly rinsed all the gear with fresh water and tidied up the boat.

We are looking forward to more dives in the days to come here in the beautiful Florida Keys — home of the only living coral feel in the United States of America.