Bienvanidos a Miami!

I'm in Miami for a work conference for a few days. I'm privileged to be here and am certain to learn a lot in my field, but that's not what this blog is about. My Wayfaring Ways is about exploration and travel, so that's what I'll try to deliver despite my condensed time line and work obligations. I'm actually here twice in the span of two weeks. Lucky duck eh? Minus the four nearly back-to-back 9-11 hour flight paths.

So for post número uno I'm going to focus on my nerdly obsession with marine and avian life. First however, we'll start with some deets. I'm staying at the Mandarin Oriental in downtown(ish) Miami. We're right on the water facing south looking across the bay at South Beach. 

Not a bad view from my balcony!

I didn't do much other than arrive on the first night but was delightfully (rudely?) awakened by a fireworks display around 9 pm. I have no idea what they were for on a Wednesday night in late January. 

I have no idea why...

I had very interesting and productive conference time until late Friday afternoon. I decided to try a few dives as I read scuba is fantastic in Florida. I can only conclude I went at the wrong time or place. I wasn't a fan of the company I booked with, but won't bash them by name here. They were lax with safety and had no real customer service. A very do-it-yourself shop for such a tourist laden location and when no one on the boat was local. 

Anyways after heading to the shop, picking out and signing out my rental gear and then schlepping it to the marina (after having to get the marina location of my own accord), it seems two different companies packed on the boat. There were a few divers finishing their certifications, but other than that, they announced we were at our destination and told us to be back on the boat by a certain time. Uh... Some of us don't know where we are, what the site is like, who our dive buddies are supposed to be, or that we were suppose to bring our own dive watch or computer (note: I should really get one but they run in the hundreds of dollars to start). Blerg. 

After getting it mostly sorted out, my dive buddy (also a confused Canadian tourist) and I geared up and started the dive down to a sunken, upside down barge.

The visibility was not great; about 40 feet. And the most exciting things I saw were a stonefish and a small barracuda, but we fully explored the wreck in our roughly estimated 50 minute dive. Here's a little video of diving inside the wreck and some photos of me doing what I love: annoying nature. 

Trumpetfish

Stonefish

Juvenile Blue-striped Grunt

Ashley Fishart

The second dive was Rainbow Reef (we even got a name for this site). My buddy and I were given an additional diver to take with our group. His friend was boat sick and you cannot dive alone. I was quite worried as he clearly had somewhat of a language barrier and didn't listen to instructions. But the site was only 30 ft deep so we couldn't get in too much trouble. 

Off the boat and we already had problems getting our new friend to stay near us. After descending we learned the visibility was about 10 feet. Hoorah... As you probably guessed we lost the new guy about 10 minutes in. Following protocol, we waited a minute and then surfaces carefully to reconnect. Buddy never surfaced. The dive crew told us they'd look out for him and we should enjoy the rest of our dive. We later learned the missing diver decided to go off on his own after we bumped into a different group of divers and he got confused as to who to follow.

Back down we went and did have some fun. I saw a HUGE gray angelfish, some pretty friendly juvenile black groupers, a big lizardfish, found a wine bottle, a tiny timid eel and a fun little yellow stingray that hammed it up for the camera.

A HUGE Gray Angelfish

Yo ho ho and a bottle of wine

Smooth Trunkfish

On the way back in to South Beach, a few bottle nose dolphins followed us for a while. Too far for a photo though. 

We tore down, washed and packed our own gear and loaded it and the tanks and a few folks headed back in the shop truck. I didn't have the option when booking to bum a ride in the truck, so dripping wet I tried to flag down a cab to go back to the chaotic shop and then another back to the hotel. 

While it wasn't a great experience, it wasn't terrible. I simply did not do enough research and based a lot of my expectations on assumptions. I've learned better for next time. Or have I?