October 2012    Download the Entire Issue (PDF)

Vol. 27, No. 10   What's this?

Bahamas, Carriacou, Puerto Rico . . .

and choose from land-based or liveaboard options in the Galapagos

from the October, 2012 issue of Undercurrent  

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We get a number of readers' reports, which we bundle into an online Travelin' Divers Chapbook and send out to subscribers in December. Many reports deserve special note, because they inform you of new opportunities you might not consider, or to alert you to problems you might not want to face.

M/V Spree. If you've been diving for a while, you'll remember the M/V Spree as that bunkroom boat that dived the Gulf of Mexico's oil rigs. She now uses several ports to reach Florida's Dry Tortugas and the U.S.S. Oriskany, and Texas' Flower Gardens, but let us report on the recent addition to her itinerary -- Puerto Rico's Mona and Desecheo Islands, where, over the years, intrepid divers have traveled in hopes of finding the last remnants of big fish in the Caribbean. Brent Barnes (Edmond, OK) took a five-day journey in April. "A couple of land-based operations go to Mona from Puerto Rico, but that is rare, due to the distance and weather in crossing the rough Mona Passage. The Spree is not a luxury liveaboard but is functional. Owners Frank and Melanie are fun to dive with. They limit trips to about 18 divers; the lodging is bunk beds, with three inside heads and an outside head. Food is excellent and plentiful. There are virtually no diving restrictions, other than dive with a buddy unless you are solo certified. Planned no-decompression dives are not allowed. There are typically four to five dives per day, but the diving was somewhat disappointing. The first dives of the day were drift dives, with all divers dropped over the wall in a short timeframe and then each buddy pair picked up by the Spree itself. It was somewhat intimidating to see the 110-foot Spree barreling down on us, but Frank was a master at guiding the boat. I was impressed with the wall off Mona, which would rival the walls of the Cayman Islands, San Salvador or Cozumel. The coral was healthy and the visibility exceeded 150 feet. Other than a couple of nurse sharks, we did not see a single shark, dolphin or whale, and little pelagic life at all. We did see several eagle rays and a few turtles. Smaller fish were somewhat plentiful. I was amazed at the small number of larger grouper and jacks. Clearly, fishing pressure has had an impact on Mona and Desecheo." ( www.spreeexpeditions.com )...