From: rarobert@ursa9.cs.utah.edu (Robin Roberts)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Florida Keys - REALITY
Date: 31 Aug 92 20:35:11 GMT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept

I just got back from a week-long dive trip in the Florida Keys, so I
thought I'd post some first-hand information about the conditions down
there.  (By the way, we dove every day.)

I got down to the Keys on Saturday, the 22nd.  We were staying in Big
Pine Key (mile marker 30).

We kept an eye on the storm's progress, and by Sunday noon we expected
to get 75mph winds in the Lower Keys.  We were staying in a typical Keys
"stilt" house, 12 feet off the ground, and on a canal.  The boat captain
lives in a similar structure on the next canal over.  We decided to put
the hurricane shutters up on both houses and cross-tie the boats in the 
middle of the canal.  We had plenty of food, ice (to preserve food when
we lost power), fresh water (about 20 gallons) for drinking and sea water
for flushing (just in case we lost the water line).  Basically, we had
plenty of everything we would need, including supplies for the aftermath
(in case it got that bad).  

Since the Keys get their electricity from Miami, we knew when the storm
hit them.  It was an ominous feeling when the air conditioners went off
at about 4am.  I went and sat out on the porch at about 5:30am - just
waiting for the storm to hit us.  Fortunately, it never really did!  We
had rain and 30mph winds.  That was it.  By 3pm, we had pulled the metal
shutters off the windows and doors, and were laying out in the sun.  (I
don't mean to minimize what happened up north, but I do want to clear up
all the rumors and misconceptions about the Keys.)  We even made a night
dive in the canal on Monday night.  

We started to get some power from the Key West generating station by Monday
night - various sections of the Lower Keys got power in 3 hour shots - mostly
to run the refrigerators.  The Key West power station is normally closed, 
but they keep it in working order for situations like this.  Unfortunately,
Key West can only supply about 27% of the needs of the Keys.  By Tuesday 
afternoon, the power had become pretty constant with only an occasional 
short outage.  The only hardship was that we were not allowed to run
air conditioners.  They warned us that if consumption on a particular
island got too high, they would shut us off.

Tuesday, we loaded up the dive boat and headed out to Looe Key National
Marine Sanctuary (about 5 miles off of Big Pine Key).  Everyone told us
we were crazy to go out - but we figured that it wouldn't hurt to head
out for a look.  Marine weather reported seas at 3-5 feet.  (The boat 
captain is Bill McGehee - one of the legends of the diving industry - 
and I personally know that he wouldn't take us anywhere that he wouldn't 
take his own family, so we were confident about our safety.)  In reality,
the seas were 2 1/2 feet, and the visibility was 40 feet (as opposed to 
the usual 100 feet).  We had some GREAT dives!  The reefs were fine - 
I had been down on Looe Key back in July, and things looked the same then.  
I'm also happy to report that the lobsters are fine (and mighty tasty, too)!

Tuesday afternoon we had the most serious crisis of the storm (for us) - 
dive shops weren't able to pump any/much air.  Luckily, we were also 
prepared with enough spare (full) tanks to get through Wednesday.  By then,
the power company was letting shops run their compressors for a few hours
per day.  

By Wednesday morning, we had long distance phone service restored and we 
were getting mail and some normal truck deliveries.  By the end of the week, 
deliveries were getting pretty regular, and were almost up to normal levels.  
We had dinner in Key West on Thursday - town was a little more quiet than 
usual, but virtually everything was open and operating as usual, except 
that there was no air conditioning.  No big deal.  We did a night dive out 
on Looe Key Thursday night - and it was the best night dive that I've ever had!
The seas were like glass, and the visibility was terrific!!

Key West airport reported resumption of flights to/from Miami by Thursday.
Before we left Big Pine on Saturday, we ran into the next week`s group.
They had just driven down from Washington, DC - through all the mess in
Miami.  Other than heavy traffic through the Miami area (which was to be
expected) they had no problems at all.  The word that we had gotten about
driving through the Miami area was to get gas and food, and to make pit
stops BEFORE leaving the Keys, or well North of Dade County.  The people
who had just arrived said that someone from the Georgia Highway Patrol told
them not to come to the Keys - that the Keys were gone!  There's a lot of
false information running around!

We were scheduled to fly back to Salt Lake from Miami on Saturday (the
29th) in the evening.  We called the airlines, and even offered to drive
up to Tampa or Orlando, but they assured us that all scheduled flights 
were operating normally.  It was an interesting drive out of the Keys -
everything looked normal until we got into the Upper Keys.  There, a
few places still had boarded up windows.  Evidently, Islamorada and Largo
were not getting any/much power from Key West (Marathon was also having 
more power problems than the Lower Keys were) so more things were still
closed.  Near the north/east end of Key Largo, a few trees were knocked
over, and a few of the flimsiest signs were down.  Other than that, it
was fine.  The section of Route 1 between Key Largo and Florida City (that
runs through a part of the Everglades National Park) was the first area
that had some noticeable damage.  Some of the big power poles (basically 2 
very tall telephone poles with cross-bracing) were down (as if they had never
been there) or broken off.  Florida City is, of course, a mess.  Lots of
roof damage - mostly stripped of shingles and tar paper, a few with some
of the plywood missing.  Most of the rest you have all heard/seen on the
news.  Miami airport was a zoo.  There is a shortage of air traffic 
controllers, so the aircraft traffic was almost as bad as Miami roads!
Around the airport, the damage wasn't too bad - mostly signs and a few
trees down.  

I hadn't intended to make this post so long - just thought people would
be interested in some of the details.  The bottom line is that the Keys
are fine.  Especially the Lower Keys, since they have more power than 
anyone else.  Travel in and out of the Keys is normal, except for heavier
traffic through the Miami area.  The reefs are FINE.  

If any of you netters out there still don't believe me, and have reservations
for a dive trip in the Keys in the near future, let me know.  I'll be 
happy to take your place! :)  :)
 
                               robin roberts
                               dm-51077