February 23, 2008 - Divemaster Log

February 23rd has the Video Dude putting on his Divemaster hat and assisting Bobby from Scuba Network Deerfield Beach with a class of Advanced Open Water students. This time we're doing a night dive aboard South Florida Diving Headquarter's "Coral Princess" and we're heading out to the "Ancient Mariner" and "Lighthouse Ledge". It's a beautiful night with flat seas, star-filled skies and fun on the boat. After our boat briefing, Bobby gives our students their night dive briefing, goes over the skills they'll be doing and answers questions about the dive. We get to the site and jump in on the descent line and head for the bottom. The students perform their tasks and we get to briefly tour the wreck on our way back to the ascent line, and then head back up to the boat.

Dive #2 finds us on "Lighthouse Ledge" and Bobby briefs the students on their skills for this dive as well. I jump in first with the flag and, after everyone gathers together on the surface, we drop down to the reef and start our tour. I find several Stone Crabs, Shrimp, Lobster, two Spotted Morays (one free-swimming), and lots of Spadefish. The students got to do their fish ID skills and got to see lots of cool stuff, too! All too soon the signal is given to end the dive and we head up for our safety stop and ultimately the boat. I was the last one on the boat, so while waiting for everyone to climb the ladder I got to lay back and look up at all the stars. Magnificent! Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the moon started to rise and it was a brilliant orange in color! It was almost like a sunrise, that's how bright it was.

Even though it was nighttime, it was still a great day of diving!

The Video Dude