February 9, 2008 Video Project

Saturday February 9th turned out to be another full day of diving and video shooting for the Video Dude.

In the morning I had my Discover Scuba student Vanessa getting ready to make her first foray into "the big pool" aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun". She was a little nervous and excited at the same time as I went over our dive plan and the procedures we would be using on the boat. We were to be dropped on a reef while the rest of the boat went to dive the "Ancient Mariner". Upon arriving at our reef dive, we jump in and make sure everything is OK before beginning our descent. We had some difficulty here as it became apparent that Vanessa could not clear her ears. We took it slowly and little by little started descending, but ear clearing became more difficult and we discontinued the dive and went back to the surface for pickup by the boat. After a rest during our surface interval, Vanessa was willing to attempt another go, so we geared up and jumped in, only to have the same problem with ear-clearing again. We're not completely sure why she had this problem, but Vanessa will be back in two weeks to try again!

The afternoon finds me once again diving with my friends Sharon and Terri, but this time we are also joined by my Instructor friend Kim (who is also a great DM!!) aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out to the "Sea Emperor" and "Lighthouse Ledge Reef". All the residents of the "Emperor" were out to play today. We were immediately met by "Stubby" the stingray as soon as we dropped down. Also, "Baby" the eel and the two Goliath Groupers were out.


Kim and I took a side-trip over to the wreck of the "United Caribbean" so I could get some stock footage for another project I am working on. The wreck is pretty broken up now after several hurricanes have blown through, but it is still a visually exciting wreck with areas you can swim through and lots of fish life.

The second dive of the afternoon was on "Lighthouse Ledge Reef", a visually exciting reef full of great fish life. With lots of Blue Angelfish, Barrel Sponges, and tons of juvenile fish, it made for a nice drift dive. Kim was able to get 5 lobsters, too!

So it ended up being quite the dive day for sure. Lots of work, but tons of fun! Another day in Paradise!

The Video Dude