January 27 Video Project

Hello everyone.

Funny what a difference a day makes. Saturday the 26th the seas were 3-4ft and visibility was about 15ft or so. Sunday the 27th was COMPLETELY the opposite! No waves to speak of, and both vertical and horizontal visibility was as far as you could see.

We found ourselves once again on the way to "The Sea Emperor", this time on a job for my good friend and instructor Juliet from Addicted to Scuba Diving. She had arranged for some of her students to be on Parrot Island's "Fathoms O' Fun", so they could be videoed by me and have a souvenier DVD of their first trip into open water after certification! The really cool part was there was just the four of us on the boat! Lots of room to be sure.

After we arrived at the wreck, I jumped in and headed for the bottom to be able to video the guys coming down the descent line. I almost missed them because waiting at the bottom were two of the resident Goliath Groupers out swimming around and being sociable. I wave the guys over to see the groupers and while I am taping one grouper, "Baby" the moray eel swims through my shot and heads over to the pipes! The guys are really excited by all this animal activity and we follow the eel and the groupers around for a bit. Then, as always happens, it's time to head back to the boat. The student's excitement was electric on the boat!


After our surface interval, we have arrived at "Turtle Ledge", one of my favorite reefs because of the high concentration of fish life. Again the visibility was forever, and I was amazed at the truly clear water and the impact it had on what we saw. We descended to the reef near a 3ft Black Grouper, and saw school after school of Grunts, Squirrelfish, Chromis, and Spadefish. Throw in the occasional French Angel, Midnight Parrotfish, Rainbow Parrotfish and Banded Butterflyfish and you have the perfect drift dive!

Now more than ever I wonder how this can be called "Work".

The Video Dude

January 19 Video Project

January 19th found us sailing our way to the "Ancient Mariner" once again with our friends at Parrot Island Scuba Adventures. There was quite a mixture of diver experience onboard - everything from first dives since certification to tech diver students doing checkout dives. Made for an interesting trip to say the least.

After dropping down the line to the "Mariner", I immediately spotted a nice-sized green moray hiding out in some wreck rubble near the hull. got some nice "up close and personal" footage of it, then through a porthole, saw a Goliath Grouper inside the wreck! They aren't seen on this wreck very often, so this was a unique experience for video. Unfortunately, some of the other non-tech divers spooked it and it "boomed" out a couple of times then disappeared. They're right when they say the sound hits you in the chest hard. I was a distance away and STILL felt it! Also on the wreck was a nice school of Midnight Parrotfish. They were doing their hunt-for-algae-thing and I was able to get some nice close-up footage of them as well. Of course there were the usual masses of grunts and snappers in the wheelhouse, and a sprinkling of angelfish to top off the mix.

After the wreck, it was a drift dive on "Turtle Ledge". This is one of the more active reefs around and I enjoy it every time I dive on it. I dove with a nice couple - the woman was on her first dive since certification - and we saw some interesting things. They found a 6-foot Nurse Shark under a small ledge! Add to the mix some big Burrfish, lots of Blue Chromis, and interesting High Hats and you have an excellent drift dive.

Continuing to wonder if this can be called "work",

The Video Dude

January 13 Video Project

Sunday, January 13th found us back in the water, this time with our friends at Dixie Divers aboard the Lady Go Diver, headed out to San Remo Reef and the Sea Emperor. Heather and Worth (more friends of VDP) dove with us this time. The visibility was 80+ ft and the reef was amazing. Lots of current changes though, causing us to get pushed out to deeper water, but we did get to see a small southern stingray, an 8 ft nurse shark and several blue angels. Short dive, but nice.

Dive #2 was on the ever-popular Sea Emperor where we had several close encounters with "Baby" the resident green moray eel. Actually bumped our camera several times wanting to be in the video! Not much goliath grouper activity this time, but a stingray partially buried in the sand allowed Worth to pet it before swimming off.


Another nice dive day which once again had me wondering if I could really call this "work".

The Video Dude

January 12 Video Project

On Saturday, January 12 we made another foray into the blue, this time with Parrot Island Scuba Adventures, to video the wreck of the Ancient Mariner. This is always an enjoyable wreck dive due to the easy swim-throughs and the masses of fish that are always present on the wreck. Donna and Barb (dive friends of VDP) went along on this trip and we all enjoyed the great visibility and flat seas. Lots of sand divers, sea cucumbers, grunts, and a stingray were highlights of the dive.

Dive #2 was on Lighthouse Ledge Reef, and the great visibility continued. The usual cast of fish characters, a green moray or two, a lobster that refused to be caught, and loads of grunts, angels, and chromis.

Great day of diving with friends. Hardly seems like work!!


The Video Dude

January 7 Video Project

On Monday, January 7th, we ventured out into the blue with South Florida Diving Headquarters aboard the Safari Diver to video the Rodeo 25 wreck. Visibility was @70ft with a slight north current. Lots of barracuda on this wreck, with most of the really big ones hanging out near the "crow's nest" on the mast. One of my fellow divers found a nice deep sea rod and reel that some unlucky fisherman lost.

Our second dive was on Sunkist Reef. Again nice visibility and a small north current. It's great to just drift along and relax! Nice footage of the reef as well as a cooperative green moray who seemed to enjoy posing for us!

See you on the water!

The Video Dude

New Year's Day Project Update

For a change of pace, we got a project in West Palm Beach for New Year's Day. With the help of our friends at Jim Abernethy's Scuba Adventures (JASA), we took a trip to "Shark Canyon" and "Governor's Riverwalk" in anticipation of getting more astounding shark video.

Unfortunately at "Shark Canyon", the sharks were not very social and only let us see them from afar. Managed to get one clip of a fast-moving Caribbean Reef Shark, but that's about it. Did get some excellent hawksbill sea turtle video, though. Also shot some cool video of the biggest concentration of cottonwicks I have ever seen, and got up close and personal with a school of spadefish!

"Governor's Riverwalk" is very interesting. A series of 5 wrecks laid out in sort of a trail format with some artificial rubble piles in between. Our divemaster zealously told us of the lemon sharks, barracuda, eagle rays and turtles that had been seen there previously and we were all anticipating an excellent dive. Well, the barracudas and the wrecks were there, but no other critters. All of the wrecks were in pieces due to various storms over the years, but were interesting nonetheless.

Overall, a great diving day with a flat-as-glass ocean, partially-full boat, and great visibility. Another trip is definitely in the future!

The Video Dude