Please Help.

[wingman]

Hi, I'm doing some artificial reef research with some colleagues at Appalachian State Univ. and we developed a survey that we are going to send to a large number of divers. This is about wreck diving and large ship artificial reefs in the Florida Keys but any diver will be able to complete it It shouldn't take you any longer that 10-15 minutes. This is a pretest of the instrument so please complete it and if you have any comments, criticisms, deletions or additions we would appreciate the feedback...just either PM me, comment in this thread, or send me an email at [email protected]. Thanks for your help. Bill Huth

https://appstate.az1.qualtrics.com/j...UemKvkScaXP8r3

[oms121]

I live in Atlanta and the drive to the keys, particularly the lower keys, is not very attractive to me. And, if I'm going to pay for airfare, I'm going somewhere in the Caribbean for better diving (likely), cultural diversity, and a greater sense of going somewhere "special". If the keys are considering sinking more ships, I would recommend trying to drop them toward the upper keys.

Re: the survey, it may be helpful to ask questions that attempt to determine how attractive a keys dive trip would be compared to a Caribbean trip or another diving destination as that is likely the choice many divers make who don't live within easy driving distance of the keys.

Mark

[MORGAN]

I completed the survey, but if I'm flying or driving more than a few hours to go diving, it's to go cave diving.

Mike

[tbone1004]

I'm in the same boat as Mark so it probably messed your survey results up. I think sinking an artificial reef off of Key West is stupid. The cost to get to, and stay in Key West is the same or more than going to more appealing places in the Caribbean which have a lot of other appeals.
Some of those are in true technical diving depths and ranges, and I don't want to fly with that much gear and rely on renting tanks while I'm there. I am looking at a 15 hour drive from my place to Key West, and quite expensive diving bills. I'll take a half as long drive with similar boat fees, and dive off the cost of NC before I'd ever consider going to back to the Keys. Largo is a stretch and I haven't been back to the Keys since I taught at Sea Camp in college. Highly unlikely I'd go back on my own dime.

With ocean warming, you may be better off finding areas farther north that have temperatures and current that are more ideal for the coral and being proactive about putting artificial reefs in that environment. Added advantage to us of shorter drives. Heck, your area in Pensacola would be ideal if the environment is conducive

[wingman]

I live in Atlanta and the drive to the keys, particularly the lower keys, is not very attractive to me. And, if I'm going to pay for airfare, I'm going somewhere in the Caribbean for better diving (likely), cultural diversity, and a greater sense of going somewhere "special". If the keys are considering sinking more ships, I would recommend trying to drop them toward the upper keys.

Re: the survey, it may be helpful to ask questions that attempt to determine how attractive a keys dive trip would be compared to a Caribbean trip or another diving destination as that is likely the choice many divers make who don't live within easy driving distance of the keys.

Mark

Thanks, usually when we build a travel cost model there is a substitute good option. We are also in the process of doing the same survey only instead of the keys, using the panhandle and the Oriskany instead of the Vandenberg. Thanks for the input. Bill

[wingman]

Thanks, the Vandenberg has generated a lot of economic activity for the keys. Yes, we are doing this for the Panhandle as well. We are doing the Keys first because we have another paper that was published using keys data a couple of years ago. Bill

[tbone1004]

Thanks, usually when we build a travel cost model there is a substitute good option. We are also in the process of doing the same survey only instead of the keys, using the panhandle and the Oriskany instead of the Vandenberg. Thanks for the input. Bill

I think the Big O is a myth based on how few charters get out to it due to weather :-P please find a more reliable spot to sink boats up there and I'll go down to your neck of the woods more often

[wingman]

Yes, the Oriskany location was not great and Hurricane Gustav made it even deeper so the deck is a technical deco dive. There are still boats running out to it on a pretty regular basis. We actually found in an earlier study that divers valued another wreck in shallower water on the way out to the Oriskany as much as they did the Oriskany. That way you spend 2 hours going out, do a fairly deep dive and then get a surface interval on the way back to shore and a second dive on a shallower wreck and then back to the shore, would break up that long ride back.

[Benderr]

I think the Big O is a myth based on how few charters get out to it due to weather :-P please find a more reliable spot to sink boats up there and I'll go down to your neck of the woods more often

This is simply untrue. Some operations are doing morning and afternoon trips during the longer days of summer, and you can easily get a ride out in all but the coldest months.

Yes, the Oriskany location was not great and Hurricane Gustav made it even deeper so the deck is a technical deco dive. There are still boats running out to it on a pretty regular basis. We actually found in an earlier study that divers valued another wreck in shallower water on the way out to the Oriskany as much as they did the Oriskany. That way you spend 2 hours going out, do a fairly deep dive and then get a surface interval on the way back to shore and a second dive on a shallower wreck and then back to the shore, would break up that long ride back.

The deck is 145ft where the port side of the tower touches the deck, and people do it every weekend without going into deco (I know, I know). Boats are still full of divers that burn two or three tanks exploring the tower without ever diving deeper than 120ft, and no one is complaining. What people don't like is the long-ass boat ride out there. The depth actually seems to help, as only rebreather divers seem to be killing themselves. Keeping recreational divers out of the hangar, and lower decks, seems to be working out well so far.

Aside from that, I'd much rather dive Jupiter, Pompano, Lauderdale, Panhandle, than anything in the Keys, mostly for the same reasons as stated by others above.

[tbone1004]

@benderr that was more tongue in cheek than anything serious.... though the colder months is when I think most of us try to get out there which probably doesn't help