6.24.08 - AQUANAUTS Open Water Class (part 2)

Hello everyone.

June 24th finds the Video Dude continuing video duties for AQUANAUTS SCUBA ACADEMY's Open Water class with Instructor Worth O'Brien. Once again we are aboard the "American Dream II" heading back to "Hog Heaven" and "The Caves" Reef. This time Captain Todd is at the wheel along with Divemaster Dave. The weather gods have smiled on us again as conditions are perfect for a great day of diving. The great thing about today is that there are only seven divers on board - we had the whole boat to ourselves!

Upon arriving at our first dive site, Divemaster Dave jumps in and ties off our ascent line and comes back up to report that conditions have improved since our last visit. Very little current and good viz this time around! I jump in with my camera and head for the bottom of the descent line to shoot everyone coming down the line. This time the group is a little more animated and I actually get some waves and hand gestures. We take a tour of the Pacific Reef Lighthouse tower again, then head over to the wreck where I actually take the camera inside so the students can see what it's like ( I was also scouting penetration points so I could bring Scuba Goddess Terri here for a wreck penetration dive). While inside one section of the wreck, I have a near head-on collision with a Goliath Grouper that had ducked inside the wreck to get away from the students!

After changing over our gear and a brief surface interval, we head over to "The Caves" Reef for our drift dive. We saw more Yellow Stingrays, a Golden Spotted Eel, a Green Moray Eel, and several Lobster. Very little current, temps in the low 80s and about 60ft visibility made for a beautiful dive. The students got to finish out their skills and graduate as certified divers. Very Cool!!

Being very busy diving in Paradise,

The Video Dude