The MV Spree Live-Aboard vessel has announced a diverse slate of departures for 2012. The popular vessel continues to be one of the most popular choices for divers seeking some adventure without having to travel long distances to reach the boat.
According to Captain Frank Wasson, this year offers something for everyone. He outlines the 2012 monthly schedule by talking about these highlights – “We have an awesome Dry Tortugas lineup for you, starting in late February with a 6-day trip to the Dry Tortugas and the Florida Keys. The trip is sponsored by Aqua-Tek Scuba from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (go Oilers!) and will be led by Jeff and Paula Stals.” He adds that in March there will be two 3-day weekend trips sponsored by Divers Direct and Deep South Divers.
In April the MV Spree will present a special trip to Mona Island planned. The vessel will dock in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico for boarding and disembarkation. It’s the only facility on the west coast of Puerto Rico that can handle a boat the size of the Spree. That trip will include a lot of live boat drift diving. Be ready for an adventure.
After Puerto Rico, the MV Spree will present a special technical diving trip. Between Rebreather Forum 3.0 and Innerspace, the group will be diving some awesome wrecks including the USS Kendrick, USS Wilkes-Barre, USS S-16, and USS Fred T. Berry. “If you are planning to attend RB3 and need something to do before Innerspace, consider our trip to the Key West Ghost Fleet,” Wasson points out.
Finishing May and kicking off the summer season will be the annual Memorial Day Dry Tortugas weekend trip with Dayo Scuba.
June brings what many divers have been asking for – the Florida Keys Wreck Krawl. The trip includes diving 8 of the 9 Florida Keys Artificial reefs over June 11-17. “Weather permitting we will dive all 9 wrecks, but the Spree is bigger than Joe’s Tug and if the wind is blowing we can’t tie up. We’ll start in Key Largo at the wreck of the USS Spiegel Grove and finish up in Key West at the Cayman Salvor (Joe’s Tug weather permitting),” he said with anticipation.
June finishes with a trip to the Araby Maid for the technical crowd. Well-known wreck diver and technical guru Richie Kohler will be onboard for this trip. The group will be looking for the bell (which has never been recovered) and whatever else we can find that’s interesting. All dive days on this trip except for the final day will be on the Araby Maid.
July we’ll be running two Dry Tortugas sport trips, a 4-day with our friends from Dive Below H2O in Nashville early in July and a 5-day open booking mid-month. July and August are some of the best months for sport diving with clear warm water and little current. In August we have loaded up on the sport diving trips, starting with a 4-day trip with ScubaVentures in Alabama, a 5-day open booking, and then the Nauticam photo trip. Last year’s trip was a success, and we’ve modified the itinerary a bit to make this year’s even better. This year’s trip will involve open deck half days on very shallow sites, deeper dives on the other half of the day and more clinics than last year. August finishes with my home dive club from Houston, the City of Houston Underwater Mariners–CHUM.
September has some of everything. We start with a 3-day Dry Tortugas sport trip, then head out to dive the Dry Tortugas Deep Wrecks. The 5th through the 10th is the Monkey Diver rebreather trip, then the 11th through the 16th we’ll be back in the Key West area for the deep wrecks of the Ghost Fleet. We finish September with a 3-day weekend sport trip, and October finishes our season with 3-day weekend sport diving trips to the Dry Tortugas.
For more details on the entire 2012 MV Spree schedule visit the website
Photos courtesy of Christopher Parsons
