April 13, 2008 - Divemaster Log

Hello Everyone!

The Video Dude's Divemaster role continues today with John L. of Scuba Network in Deerfield Beach. This time we are aboard South Florida Diving Headquarters' "Aqua View" heading out to the "Sea Emperor" and a drift dive on "Abbey Too Reef".

Upon arriving at the "Sea Emperor", we see there are already a couple of dive boats on the site and Captain Steve makes arrangements with one of the boats to use their downline after they drop off their divers. We get the students geared up, have them go through their buddy checks, and get them lined up to jump in the water and head down the line to the wreck. After the first few other groups got in, we found out that there is a tremendous surface current and people are having trouble reaching the downline. I jump in and, holding the line with one hand, grab people jumping in and pull them over to the line so they can descend. Everyone is on the line now except for one young lady and when she jumps in, she misses both me and the line and begins to get carried under the catamaran. I cut loose from the line and go after her, catching up to her just as we both go under the boat. She was in a little panic, but once I got her BC inflated a bit and she saw that we were just going to float right through between the pontoons, she calmed down a bit. After we cleared the boat, I spotted a tag line and ball float and steered us over to it. The captain and divemaster Holly pulled us back to the ladder where the young lady got back on the boat. Then they pulled me back to the downline and I re-joined the students for our descent. One student was having trouble clearing her ears on the descent but other than that and the continuously ripping current all the way down to the wreck, no other issues occurred on the descent.

The ascent back to the dive boat was mostly normal, still having to deal with the current all the way up though, until we get to the surface. The boat we were sharing the downline with had taken the boat tieline with them, so there was nothing left to hold on to except a tiny loop on the ball float. I am holding on to this loop with 2 students on my left arm, one on my right arm, and one holding my foot until the dive boat returns from picking up a group that had drifted away. With the help of a student and some careful maneuvering, we manage to get another boat tieline attached to the float and passed back up to the boat. Once I made sure the students were safely holding to the line, I drifted over to the boat ladder to be in position to "herd" the students to the ladder so they wouldn't drift past. One by one they drift towards me and I get them all aboard safely. I get them changing over their gear for the next dive and talk to the instructor about what we were doing for the drift dive.

Gear is now changed over and buddies have done their checks, so it's time to dive again! This time we are on "Abbey Too Reef" and I jump in with the flag and get the students to gather near me until everyone is ready to head to the bottom. Once everyone gives the OK signal, we descend to the reef and I begin searching for a sandy area so that the students can finish off their scuba skills. Shortly after we are down, I find a nice big sandy area and get the students positioned to finish off their skills. Once that is completed, we get to tour the reef a bit and let some of the students try their hand at taking pictures. All too soon it's time to head for our safety stop and, ultimately, our dive boat. Once we are aboard again, I get the students to begin breaking down their gear and get cleaned up so we can head to the shop and get their c-card paperwork done.

Congrats to all the new divers! I worked really hard over the last two days, but it felt good to know that I helped get some new divers started on the path to underwater adventure!

The Video Dude

April 12, 2008 - Divemaster Log

Hello everyone!

Saturday April 12 finds the Video Dude donning his Divemaster hat once again and assisting with a class of Open Water students with Instructor John L. of Scuba Network in Deerfield Beach, FL.

The morning began with getting the students and their gear to the beach, getting everything set up and checked out and getting the gear carried down to the waterline for easy entrance into the water. After another equipment check, the students were instructed to don their snorkeling gear for Dive #1. After our required surface swim, we arrive at a spot of required depth and have the students begin to demonstrate their surface snorkeling skills and their tired-diver tows, then it's back to the beach to don scuba gear for dive #2.

After a final gear check, the students head back into the water for their scuba skills checkout dive. A short surface swim and a short underwater swim later, we arrive at our spot for skill testing and the students begin to demonstrate their ability to clear masks, remove and replace masks and remove and replace regulators. Then it's back to shore for gear changeover and a break before getting back in for dive #3.

Now that gear has been changed over, checked and re-checked, it's time to head back out to our scuba skills location so that the students can finish demonstrating their skills. This time around we do some navigation, alternate-air breathing and controlled emergency swimming ascents (CESAs). Once more it's back to shore to break down and clean gear and get everyone headed back to the dive shop to work on their log books.

Terri, an instructor friend and often-times dive buddy of mine once gave me the best description of a divemaster's job with open water students - "Herding Cats" - and more often than not this is very true. Still, it was a beautiful day at the beach and a great opportunity to "get wet".

The Video Dude

April 6, 2008 - Pompano Beach, FL

Hello again!

Sunday April 6 finds the Video Dude doing video for Worth O'Brien of AQUANAUTS SCUBA ACADEMY (along with Divemaster-in-Training Donna) for his open water diving students. We were all aboard the "Lady Go Diver" headed out to the "Sea Emperor" and a reef. Seas were much flatter today - less than two feet - and it was a beautiful day to boot!

We arrive at the "Sea Emperor" and drop down to the deck to be greeted immediately by one of the resident southern stingrays who gave us all quite a lot of attention. Everyone had at least one up-close-and-personal encounter. Worth and Donna took everyone on a little tour of the wreck and I went to look for "Baby" the resident green moray. After looking for her in her usual hiding places, I finally found her free-swimming around the concrete pipes.

Our second dive was on a new reef for me - "Chalfonte Reef". The students got to go through their OW required skills while I videotaped and then we got to tour the reef a bit. This reef is a fish counter's dream! There were so many large schools of grunts, snappers and squirrel fish it was hard to get them all in the video. Additionally we saw a mola-mola, which is supposed to be rare to see here. The students all did well and congrats to them all!

Ah, the life of a videographer in Paradise!

The Video Dude

April 5, 2008 Lantana, FL

Greetings All!

Saturday April 5 finds the Video Dude and dive buddies Donna, Heather and Worth aboard "Starfish Enterprise" headed out for a couple of nice drift dives. Seas were in the constant 3-5ft range with an occasional 6-footer thrown in for fun.

Our first dive took us to "Boynton Ledge", a very nice reef with a wide variety of animal life. Within 30 seconds of dropping down we ran into a sea turtle! I followed it for a bit with the camera then found some nice white-spotted filefish, a scorpionfish, a midnight parrotfish, a lobster and a huge green moray! We also got to witness a barrel sponge spawning, something I had heard about but never seen.


The second drift dive was on "Gazebo Reef", another beautiful spot for a variety of animals. Shot video of a burrfish, a spotted moray, two schools of spadefish, blue angelfish, and 4 or 5 more barrel sponges spawning. The sight of the sponges spawning was sooo neat! I think the reefs in Palm Beach County are in much better condition than Broward County (just my opinion of course!).


Another day of diving and comraderie you can only find in Paradise!

The Video Dude

March 22, 2008 "Joanie's Return to the Sea"

Saturday March 22 was an interesting mix of diving and video shooting for the Video Dude.

In the morning, I was hired as a guide for a young man from Canada named Sam. He was Open Water certified with 6 dives under his belt, but had not been in the water in a year and his father wanted someone to guide him and make sure his skills were ok. After getting our gear aboard "Fathoms O' Fun" (Parrot Island Scuba) and getting set up, I had a briefing with Sam to go over some basics of boat diving, hand signals, and orientation on the wreck and the reef we would be doing. Our first dive was on "The Ancient Mariner" and we followed the descent line down to the wreck with no problems. Visibility was about 40ft or so and the temp was 74 degrees. We spent a great deal of time checking out the fish life all over the deck and wheelhouse, and then it was time to come up. The reef was "Lighthouse Ledge" and after a quick briefing with Sam on drift diving, we jump in and head for the reef. Lots and lots of fish today, as well as a few lobster and even a spotted eel! Sam was very good on his buoyancy skills and stayed close to me on both dives. I don't think his father has anything to worry about!


The afternoon brought a unique opportunity my way to shoot video for a (now) friend of mine, Joanie who had had a stroke 8 months ago, almost died from it, then was told she'd never be able to dive again. After 8 months of intense work and therapy, her doctor released her to dive again! She was so excited to get back in the water she brought along an enlarged laminated copy of her release form to take underwater and pose with for pictures! Joanie and I dove together aboard "Fathoms O' Fun" and we got to dive on "The Copenhagen" and "The Nursery" - two really great shallow dives with lots of fish, pufferfish, a spotted eel, trumpetfish, and one crab. We had a blast! Joanie kept the dives short so as not to over do it the first time out (plus it was cold!), but I think if she could've stayed all day, she would have! She was so happy about getting back in the water after 8 months! I know I get itchy if I'm out of the water for more than a week, so I can only imagine how she felt.


It was a great (full) day of diving and I made some new friends as well!

The Video Dude