THURSDAY/FRIDAY
Caleb changes the oil while I shower, and then we drive down to Ruskin for dinner with Terry and Karley at Sunset Grill. This lets us sleep in on the boat and get mini burritos delivered via Karley (properly wrapped in a paper towel and foil) before the four of us, and Macaroni, make the drive to Key West, in two cars. We stop at Wawa to use a $25 gift card on gas, and since the milkshake machine is missing, we order frozen coffees instead.

Traffic slows down on the Overseas Highway so that each car has a moment to take in the man in a bucket hanging from a helicopter working on the power lines. We pick up our discount diving tickets and switch passengers after dropping most of our gear at the dive shop, Lost Reef Adventures. The guys gave the gate guard Karley’s ID, and he told them I was good to go as long as I’m not Argentinian. Not sure what the deal there is, but Caleb gets us checked in, and we walk to Waterfront Brewery for dinner.

We stroll into an art gallery, and as we have a look around, this group of four guys comes in. They are looking for their friend, and I say he’s the one putting something in his pants. They loved it! The gallery assistant wouldn’t let us leave until he brought us into a small room with a large sunset painting, by the artist, Shawn Mackey, working on another piece up front, and dimmed the lights to darkness, recreating the scene, something I would do if I also had the five grand to spend.

We continue on our way to the Southernmost Point as we attempt to get there by sunset, even if online says it’s temporarily closed. Mission accomplished, and we get to join in a couple’s argument in a fun way for us and a couple of guys who also hear the “fuck yous” flying by the count, “fuck you, three!” We’ll keep it up for the rest of our night in hopes we reach their ripe ages and become all right with arguing like that in public, but that’s still quite a few decades away, even by the oldest guy in our group.

Caleb and I remember finding the three-story bar for our first time and the view the rooftop provided, so we were looking forward to showing our friends, but the Bull & Whistle, with no changes to the live music stage on the first floor and billiards on the second floor, decided to add planters, benches, and speakers to keep guests a good two feet from looking down on Duval St. The Garden of Eden is a clothing optional bar, with no nudes this time, but a man dancing with a lemur. His pet is considered Class III and requires an annual permit to protect the most endangered group of mammals.

SATURDAY
We grab coffees for breakfast, everyone else having had camp granola in the room, and pack sandwiches for lunch. I’ll only be able to eat half of mine. We are one of two dive groups, the other being two dads, each with their son, and a lone diver who will join them. The first dive was stressful with one eye burning from sunscreen, but it went better than expected after a 15-month surface interval, and we returned to the boat after 45 minutes.

We see a reef shark on the second dive, but cut this dive short too, as the high current leaves me exhausted, so Caleb helps tow me back to the boat. I only use about half a tank on each dive. Usually, I stay fully suited, but today, I change out of my gear, leaving only my swim top on with a jacket over and sweat capris. After a short lunch on the pier, we are back to sea with a couple that is snorkeling. I’m wearing a 5/4mm wetsuit (thick body, thinner on arms and legs) with a 1mm sharkskin top while they float on the 77.8°F surface.

The third dive was the best. I get cold on the fourth, so I’m over it. We don’t need a safety stop as our max depth was 32 ft. I feel more confident in my diving and my ability to handle situations underwater. Karley and I will walk back to the room while the guys rinse and hang our gear at the shop. We can stagger showers this way and stop at Boat House for appetizers before moving on to Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar for rolls of Sassy Girl, Sunset, and JB. Karley and I head off again, this time to the Margaritaville gift shop while the guys wait for a to-go order of mango sticky rice.

SUNDAY
We grab breakfast from Old Town Bakery and return to the room to eat since our morning dive has been canceled due to a lack of available divers. Our friends are returning to Ruskin since one is still in the workforce and another is awaiting her first shift at a new job. Macaroni is ready for another car ride. We walk to Divers Direct to get Caleb a new pair of boots as he has outgrown our matching ones. I was going to get a slice of key lime pie, but we opted for strawberry pie on a stick instead.

Caleb and I will spend our first afternoon dive cutting fishing line that is choking out coral, but some of it is just too tangled for us to remove safely. I was surprised at the haul, but I know how much more we left, which makes me sad. We see a turtle before the second dive that magically disappears as soon as I enter the water. The visibility was six to 25 feet, but that’s just a measure of my poor gauge of length, as the internet says that March offers double and triple that distance. One of these dives, I’ll have to bring a tape measure.

On the second dive, we swam east for ten minutes and then flew by the boat in the other direction in three minutes. I checked on the boat’s location, stayed closer to the surface, and then called the dive when I realized how tired I was. I didn’t want to get so detoured again and have Caleb tow me back again. We were in the water for 98 minutes today and almost three hours yesterday. Upon return, I help Caleb rinse gear, we grab dinner, then walk to the room for showers and laundry, since the rental comes with a washer and dryer.

MONDAY
We packed up the room and were hoping to continue drying our stuff in the room for a couple of hours, but without a crew going out, the shop doesn’t open until 9. We’ll spend that time instead on checking out of the room, getting gas, and waiting for the MWR office to open so they can refund yesterday morning’s dive tickets. We grab our gear and head east. I stopped for an iguana to cross the road, only to have it hit by an oncoming truck while I watched. It’s those types of people that the famous slasher villains should be hunting down in their next film.

We stop in Key Largo at another chance at key lime pie, but this slice is lackluster. I’m not sure if my taste buds are changing or the recipes are different, but Caleb says the piece I got was frozen, which is why the texture was off, too. We’ll join Terry and Karley by their pool for a community dinner of tacos and dips. I appreciate being able to eat around our regular meal time, and we skipped the bar birthday party invite to continue home. Caleb finds us a detour around the parked train so we can unpack and leave all but our BCDs, SPGs, and regulators soaking overnight.

*Some of the sealife we saw: lizardfish, anemone, great barracuda, trumpetfish, French grunt, stoplight parrotfish, bluehead wrasse, damselfish, scrawled filefish, longspine squirrelfish, hermit crab, horse conch, canary wrasse, Christmas tree worm, flame streaked box crab, Atlantic blue tang, spiny lobster, reef shark, stingray, and sixbar angelfish.