Florida Sea Base: A life in Paradise.
Just imagine; for 7 days nothing but the smell of the sea from a sail boat, relaxing and talking to your friends while laying in the sun, corral reef snorkeling, swimming and touching wild sharks, lobsters and some of the most colorful and rare fishes in the world, catching fish bigger then you are, eating fish that cost a fortune to buy and of course going around Key West with your friends. Sounds like a dream, doesn't it, but its not. It's exactly what I did the week of July 27, 2003 .
It all began at 3:30 am as my friends and I scrambled to get our stuff together so we could get to the airport. We departed St. Louis at 6:10 only to be greeted by thunderstorms in Miami. Finally after a 2-hour drive south of Miami, we reached our destination Florida Sea Base on Key Largo. First thing we did was to take a swim test. Since this was the first time I had ever swam in saltwater, I had a hard time but I passed. Next we checked out snorkel gear and took another test, this was much easier. Afterwards they dropped a bomb on us when they told us all the luggage we can take must fit in a pillowcase. After we got all the important gear together like CD's, clothes, and money, it was all fun from there on out.
The next day we met our captain. His name was Scott and he owned our boat, the Adventurer. It was a 48-foot long boat. We gathered our week's supply of food and set out. For the next 6 days of my life I was in paradise. I made my first memory the first dive we did at the shipwreck of Almno. As I swam in and around a shipwreck I got my first glimpse of a hammerhead shark. As I came to the surface I saw it clearly. It was 7-8 feet long. My first instinct was to swim for the boat, but the Captain yelled to everyone to stay still so that's what I did until it disappeared into the wreck. After the first day I realized as we were anchored for the night that I couldn't sleep under the boats deck so I went outside and slept.