February 24, 2008 - Video Project

The afternoon of the 24th finds the Video Dude and dive buddies Heather and Terri aboard the "Lady Go Diver" on our way to the "M/V Castor" and "Fink's Grouper Hole".

Dive #1 is on the "M/V Castor", a very nice wreck about 4 miles north of Boca Raton Inlet. After nearly an hour's boat ride, we arrive on site and after a briefing on the wreck, we all splash in and follow the descent line down to the wreck. The three of us take the grand tour of the wreck and try to see as much as possible. Terri did a few penetrations into the engine room and cargo hold, while Heather and I swam around outside checking out the tunicates and fish life. This is a big wreck and I am sure I didn't get to see all of it, especially since I cut my dive short due to maxxing out on nitrogen because of my deep dive on the "Captain Dan" earlier today. While on my safety stop at 60ft, the herd of students that were on the boat come rocketing past me heading for the "magic" 15ft safety stop without even a care for their ascent rates! What a mess. They end up causing the line to come loose from the wreck and all of the students start bobbing on the surface! A dangerous situation to be sure and fortunately no one was injured. Those of us with a little more presence of mind managed to avoid the problem of losing the line and made our stops successfully. Needless to say there were several lively discussions amongst the instructors, divemasters and captain once everyone was back on deck!

Dive #2 was on "Fink's Grouper Hole" and all I can say is that it now ranks as one of my top ten all-time favorite dives! I forgot all about the snafus of the first dive! Heather limited-out on Lobsters, we saw a 10ft Nurse Shark, a 7ft Green Moray Eel, Spotted Filefish, Blue Chromis, school after school of Grunts, Squirrel Fish and Angel Fish. A nice little current pushed us along, decent visibility of about 50ft, but a little chilly at 70 degrees! Still, the most fun I've had on a dive in a while and heather was really jazzed about all the lobsters! Fink's is definitely on my list of "Sites to Return To" that's for sure!

A long day of both work and fun in Paradise!

The Video Dude

February 24, 2008 - Divemaster Log

February 24th sees the Video Dude doing the Divemaster thing again with Bobby from Scuba Network Deerfield Beach and the Advanced Open Water students from Saturday night. Once again we are aboard South Florida Diving Headquarter's "Coral Princess" and this time we are heading out for the "Captain Dan" and "Sunkist Reef". It's another beautiful South Florida day with calm seas, warm temps and lots of comraderie aboard the boat.

Dive #1 is going to be the student's required Deep Dive and Bobby gives them their briefing and explains to them all their task for this dive. They are to spell a word backwards underwater while being timed and then compare it to their time done on the boat. When we arrive at the site, we all jump in and follow the descent line down to the wreck. Immediately we find a nice sandy area to do the word skill and everyone performs excellently! Then we get to spend a little time looking around before having to head back for the ascent line, our safety stops and ultimately the boat. Once back on the boat, everyone talks about their timed skill and compares their time with what they did on the boat and changes their tanks out for the next dive.

Dive #2 is on "Sunkist Reef" and Bobby once again briefs the students on the dive and the skill they are to perform- this time they are working on their Navigation Skills. Once at the site, I jump in first with the flag and, after everyone gathers on the surface, we start for the bottom. I find a nice sandy area to do the navigation skills in and I run a reference line for the students to use. The students then run through their reciprocal courses, kick-cycles and square patterns and we end up with a little time to tour the reef before heading up to our safety stop and then the boat.

Lots of work, but also lots of fun in Paradise!

The Video Dude

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

February 18, 2008 - Boynton Beach E-Divers Trip

February 18th finds the Video Dude and his favorite underwater model, Terri, as part of a group of E-divers heading to Boynton Beach, FL to dive aboard "Underwater Explorer" heading out to the "Captain Tony" and "Gulfstream Ledge". The "Captain Tony" is one of my favorite wrecks in this area, especially since there are a couple of Goliath Grouper that live on it and occasionally come out and swim around the cargo hold. Our E-divers group consisted of Kelly (Reef Photo) and her husband Scott, Rich, Terri and myself. Visibility was around 50ft, temp was around 74 degrees and very little current, and we saw Scorpion fish, Goliath Groupers, and tons of Painted Tunicates.

Dive #2 was on "Gulfstream Ledge" and conditions were pretty much the same as dive #1. Terri and I drifted along slowly enjoying everything we could see - from Anenomes, several Rock Beauty, a Sea Cucumber, Spotted Filefish, Barrel and Tube Sponges, Gorgonians and, of course, the usual cast of Angelfish, Blue Chromis and Grunts.

Yet Another Day in Paradise,

The Video Dude

February 10, 2008 Riviera Beach Project

Hello everyone.


February 10th finds the Video Dude and friends Terri, Sharon and Bernice in Riviera Beach aboard "Little Deeper" heading out to "Governor's Riverwalk" - a series of wrecks laid out in trail-like fashion and connected by cables for easy navigation. The bottom was around 80fsw, the temp was around 74 and the visibility was around 50ft or so. Captain Dave dropped my group on the first wreck and we were to drift along the "trail" to view the other wrecks. We were responsible to locate the wreck and wait for the other groups to come down. While I am waiting, I notice a 300lb Goliath Grouper swimming around and I make a note to go video it as soon as I am able. Swam through the wrecks a couple of times - despite a pretty good current - and shot some good video. Didn't make it to all the wrecks on the trail, so I am definitely planning on doing this dive again soon.

After our surface interval, we're off to a reef called "Four Windows". A beautiful reef with tons of Gorgonians. A good current that day so there was very little kicking going on, temp was around 74 again and visibility was about 50ft. Felt more like we were flying on the reef, but not so fast that we couldn't stop to look at things like Spotted Morays, Ocean Triggerfish, a school of Spadefish and a Sea Turtle! Terri found a nice-sized Cowrie shell that everyone oohed and aahed over and then the dive was over - way too soon in my opinion!

I hope our friends Bernice and Sharon had a great weekend of diving with us and, since Bernice runs a dive shop in CT, hopefully we'll see some of her CT friends down here real soon!

Another day in Paradise,

The Video Dude

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

February 8 Video Project

The morning of February 8th finds the Video Dude donning his Assistant Instructor hat in a swimming pool and showing a potential new student the wonders of scuba diving. The Discover Scuba Course is a great way to introduce someone to diving who has always been interested, but never managed to take the first step and sign up for a class. My student Vanessa was here from Panama and wanted to try scuba. We spent a few hours in the morning talking about some basic scuba theory and rules and did a few necessary skills in the water to get her comfortable with all the gear. She did very well on all of her water skills and was looking forward to our open water dive the next morning.

The afternoon of the 8th finds me diving with a bunch of friends aboard "Lady Go Diver" heading to the "Captain Dan". My friend Bernice (from CT), her friend Sharon and my best dive bud Terri were all along for the ride. Bernice had been diving with Terri and I last year and had such a great time she decided to come back and bring a friend along. The seas were flat, the visibility was good and the wreck was beautiful. I shot lots of video of the three girls swimming in and out of the wreck having a great time.

Dive #2 finds us at a very pretty reef called "Sunkist Reef". Lots and lots of stuff to see here. 2 varieties of Sea Anenomes, a Spotted Moray Eel, a Golden Moray Eel and Terri found a Slipper Lobster! Along with that was the usual cast of Blue Chromis, Angelfish, Spotted Drums and lots of Barrel Sponges.



A great day of diving with great friends and I helped a new diver start her scuba adventure! No way this can be called work!!

The Video Dude

February 2, 2008 Video Project

Saturday February 2nd found us once again on our way to the ever-popular Sea Emperor aboard Fathoms O' Fun with a celebrity roster of divers on board. Besides myself, Kelly Turmaine (wife of Fathoms captain Jerry), Kimmie McKinney, Donna Sacco, Richard Finkus and two of his co-workers from the Shark Foundation, and last, but not least, Mikey (captain of Fish Food and DM for the day). There were also a lot of recently certified divers getting a chance to fill out some pages in their log books, and a rebreather diver. It was an extraordinary day - sunny weather, completely flat seas and no current at all!

After we get tied off to the Sea Emperor, we all drop in to see what's happening with the locals. Visibility was about 40ft or so and the water temp was around 74 degrees. Lots of activity today with the eels and groupers, but still no stingrays! Shot some excellent footage of Kelly playing with "Baby" the green moray, then went off to an area I seldom go to - the "Rubble Pile" which lies to the SSE of the wreck. Played around there a bit, then headed a little further east to the United Caribbean wreck to see what was happening over there. That wreck really got torn up by a hurricane a few years ago and pieces are strewn everywhere. At least the wheelhouse and some of the deck is still intact. Then it's back to the Sea Emperor to hit the ascent line, but along the way the eels still wanted to play and caught sight of the small (250 lbs) grouper.

After our surface interval, we arrive at Abbey Too Reef. Haven't been on this one in a while, so it was nice to get a chance to see how it is holding up. Visibility was about 40ft or so and the water temp was around 74 degrees. Lots and lots of schools of grunts and snappers, a burrfish, juvenile french angels, and an occasional blue angel.

An excellent day of diving all around. Lots of new divers on the boat who, I am sure, had lots of tales to tell their friends back home, and I got to spend time with good friends who enjoy diving!

Another day in Paradise,

The Video Dude