This year, we spent the holidays underwater.  On Christmas Eve, after a day of sailfishing on DoubleD Charters in Miami, we drove down to Key West.  After a nice dinner in Islamorado, we checked into our hotel and turned in early.  On Christmas Day, we dove with Key West Diving Society.  Not only were we the only passengers on the boat, I think we might have been the only divers in the water.  The water was cool and the visibility wasn't great, but we had an awesome time.  The first dive of the day was on the Cayman Salvage Master, a a 163' long US Army minelayer built by Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware in 1937.

The Cayman Salvage Master was launched as the Lt. Col. Ellery W. Niles.  She was a twin screw, diesel electric powered vessel. The sheaves on the bow were originally used to raise and lower bottom moored mines in coastal defense controlled mine fields. Converted in 1965, she became known as the Research Vessel (R/V) F.V. Hunt of Marine Acoustical Services, Inc. (later TRACOR) of Miami, Florida, named for Dr. Frederick V. Hunt, an acoustical researcher.  Neglected, she sank at her dock in Key West. She was eventually scrapped and was prepared to be sunk in deep water as an artificial reef. However, as she was being towed to her designated resting spot in August of 1985, she sank prematurely, landing in 90' of water on her port side; later in 1985 Hurricane Katrina up-righted her.

After the Cayman Salvage Master, we moved over to Marker 32 - a shallow reef.  We saw a nurse shark and some barracuda and even tried our hand at lobstering but were unsuccessful. 

That night we enjoyed a nice dinner on the water.  It was a perfect Christmas!

The next day we went out with the Key West Diving Society again for two more dives.  First, we went to Joe's Tug - a 65 foot harbor tug.  She was sunk as an artificial reef in 1986, after sinking originally at her dock in Safe Harbor Marina; rumor has it that it was scuttled under the cover of darkness by a band of pirates, led by a locally famous, (or infamous) boat Captain after consuming large quantities of Cuban Rum.  On the dive we saw a huge turtle sleeping under the stern and some barracuda.  The next site we went to was Sambo's Reef - again, we saw some barracuda, a nurse shark and a lobster. 

Enjoy the pictures below.