May 18, 2008 - Divemaster Log

Hello everyone!

Sunday May 18 finds the Video Dude continuing his "Divemaster Thing" with Jon Landress, Instructor for Scuba Network in Deerfield Beach, FL. Today we are on board South Florida Diving Headquarter's "Aqua View" , heading out to one of my favorite wreck sites, the "Sea Emperor". Another great day weather-wise with no waves, a llittle stronger north current than yesterday, and about 40ft or so of visibility.

I get everyone's gear organized on the boat and start them all setting up and checking everything over. I assist them with any equipment problems, but allow them to do all the setup. Once they are done, I check everything over and Jon starts his dive briefings.

Once we are underway, SFDH Divemaster Robert gives his usual fabulous boat briefing and a briefing on the dives we'll be doing. Once we arrive at our location, he jumps in and ties off to the wreck so we have a descent line to the bottom. He comes up to report very little current and decent visibility. I get all the students into their gear and, after a final buddy check, we're on our way down the line to the wreck.

Since most of the diving skills were done on Saturday, we really only had to check everyone's buoyancy and have them all do a safety stop for their final requirements. This means we get to tour the wreck! Jon leads the group around the deck area looking for marine life and I make sure no one drops below our depth limit. There were 2 other boats on this site so there were a LOT of divers in the water. I think they must've scared off the "residents" of this wreck, because we didn't get to see the Green Morays, Goliath Groupers or Stingrays that are normally around.

Now it's time to head up the line, and I go first to keep an eye on the students on the way up. We do a half-stop at 30fsw for 1 minute, then another stop at 15-20fsw for 3 minutes before surfacing and re-boarding the boat. I get everyone organized on the surface and have them drift one at a time to the ladder and get back on board.

After gear swap out and another dive briefing from Jon, we find ourselves ready for the next dive - a drift dive on "Lighthouse Ledge". This time I am first in the water (with a dive flag) and the students follow with Jon at the end. I get everyone organized on the surface, check for problems, then Jon gives the signal to descend. We all get to the bottom and I get everyone organized again and we start our "tour" of the reef. I saw a good-sized Hermit Crab, a couple of Pufferfish, one Lobster and lots of Parrotfish. Jon gave everyone a turn at carrying the flag so they could experience it for themselves, and then it was time to head for our safety stop at 15-20fsw for 3 minutes.

Safety stop now completed, we surface and wait for the boat to come pick us up. I keep everyone together near the flag and we talk about what we saw and how we wanted to go back and do it again!

Congratulations to all of the new divers from today, and I hope to see you on a boat in the near future!!

More fun in the sun in Paradise!

The Video Dude