We were the only divers on the boat, so the skipper gave us free choice of dive sites. Not wanting to push my luck, I asked the skipper's advice between diving the Mizpah, an old Greek luxury liner, and the Owens, a medium sized freighter, both in about 25 metres of water. One of these, but what does he recommend for a second dive?
"You Brit divers are used to decompression aren't you? Do both wrecks and deco a bit on the second dive." Not the answer I had expected, but one enthusiastically accepted by the group.
The Gulf Stream was running north at about 2 knots. With good visibility we dropped up current and drifted on to the bows of the Mizpah. There were fish everywhere. Mixed shoals of snappers, fusiliers and grunts flowing in an out of the wreck. Entering the wheelhouse an enormous baracuda grins at me. He's not moving aside for any upstart diver, so I have to retrace my steps.
2 hours later our surface interval is over and it is time for the Owens. The afternoon thunderstorm has just arrived, generated by strong on-shore breezes at the end of a day of harsh tropical sunshine. We are treated to a violent display of lightning striking the tops of tower blocks along the beach. The local rock radio station is playing the Doors, Riders on the Storm. The best place to be is underwater.
The Owens is part of a close group of wrecks. Again dropping up current and drifting, the first wreck is a large barge covered in fish and encrusting corals and sponges. We quickly cover its length and move on to the freighter. From the port bow we can just see one of Palm Beach's most unusual wrecks, a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow donated to the artificial reef program by one of the many millionaires who like to do their bit for the community.
Most people think of Florida as being Disney World and the Florida Keys. Less well known is that the east coast of Florida is teeming with wrecks. In addition to some great wartime wrecks and other losses at sea, wreck diving is such a big thing that there is a blossoming artificial reef program busily sinking more wrecks every year.