6.30.08 - AQUANAUTS Beach Open Water Class

Hello everyone.

Monday, June 30 finds the Video Dude teamed up once again with Instructor Worth O'Brien of AQUANAUTS SCUBA ACADEMY, videotaping an Open Water student's final check out dives on Oakland Park Beach. It was a bright sunny morning when we all arrived at the beach to get geared up and ready to dive.

Worth gave his student, Olivia, a dive briefing on the location and what skills she would be performing, then we headed off to the beach. Olivia was joined by her aunt (who is going to be her dive buddy and is already certified) and we make our beach entry. After a brief surface swim, we drop down to the sand and swim over to the first reef. A very beautiful reef with large Boulder Coral heads, Brain Corals (and even some Staghorn Coral) and lots of fish life. We saw a Southern Stingray, a Yellow Stingray, Pufferfish, Angelfish, and some Flamingo Tongues attached to a Gorgonian. Very Cool!

We next found a sandy area for Olivia to finish her skill evaluations and toured the reef a little more before heading back to shore. The swim back was nice and easy, and we found a couple of sand dollars and I found a flourescent yellow golf ball.

Congratulations to Olivia on passing her skills and getting her certification! Another new diver here in Paradise!

The Video Dude

6.29.08 - Return to "Hog Heaven" and "The Caves" Reef

Hello everyone.

Sunday, June 29th finds the Video Dude and Scuba Goddess Terri back aboard the "American Dream II" heading out for "Hog Heaven" and "The Caves" Reef. I have been to both sites quite a bit lately, and really wanted to bring Terri to "Hog Heaven" because of the great penetration spots I had discovered on my previous visits. Today we have Captain Todd and Divemaster Rebecca and Divemaster Brian as crew, and they get us out to our dive site with their usual skill and speed.

After the dive briefing, Terri and I jump in and head for the bottom. We spend a little time looking around the Pacific Reef Lighthouse tower, then I lead her over to "Hog Heaven" to start checking out the wreck and the penetration points. We saw so many cool places to swim through, investigate and just look at. We both agreed it would make a cool night dive too! Terri found a nice Tube Anenome, and we found several nice Cowrie shells. Sadly, we had to head back up to the boat - but we're definitely coming back!

Back onboard, we change over our gear and get ready to drift on "The Caves" Reef. We went REALLY slow on this dive and just checked out everything we could see. Looked at lots of small stuff like Banded Shrimp, Gobys and found more shells. I found a Flamingo Tongue shell! We also saw a Sea Star, Lobster and a Spotted Eel. Terri went into some of the swim-thrus on the reef and, after an hour's bottom time, we both realized we had enough air to stay down another 30-40 minutes if we wanted to. Only problem was the boat wanted us back on board after an hour, so sadly we had to return.

Awesome diving with an excellent buddy in Paradise!

The Video Dude

6.28.08 - "Tons O' Steel" Tour

Hello everyone.

Saturday afternoon June 28 finds the Video Dude and Scuba Goddess Terri aboard the "American Dream II" to do the "Tons O' Steel" Tour - 6 wrecks in 2 dives! We have Captain Dave at the wheel this time along with Divemaster Rebecca and Divemaster Brian, and conditions remained awesome for this dive as well.

Dive #1 will feature 4 wrecks linked together - the "Pride", the "Scutti", the "Tracy" and the "Merci Jesus". The divemasters tie off descent lines on both ends of the dive site so regardless of the current we will have a descent and ascent line. The key is to drop in on one end of the site and just drift along stopping at each of the wrecks along the way.

After we're all tied off, Terri and I jump in and start checking out the wrecks. We have never been on the "Pride" and only occasionally on the "Scutti", so we spend most of the dive on these two wrecks (although we DID get to visit the "Tracy" and the "Merci Jesus" briefly at the end).

Dive #2 features 2 more wrecks linked together - the "Wendy" and the "Edminster" - both of which neither of us have ever seen.
The "Wendy" had tons of Snapper on it - so much so that it looked like a "whiteout" and I could barely see Terri at times. Only a couple of spots to penetrate on this one, and I stayed outside to tape Terri coming out of the various hatchways. Then we headed over to the "Edminster" and discovered we could penetrate inside all the way from one end to the other. I shot lots of video on the inside, and we checked out every opening and nook we could find, before having to head for our safety stop and then the boat.

Wrecks, Wrecks, Wrecks here in Paradise!

The Video Dude

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

6.22.08 - AQUANAUTS Open Water Class

Hello everyone.

Once again the Video Dude is teamed up with AQUANAUTS SCUBA ACADEMY to video tape an Open Water Class for six students. Instructor Worth O'Brien has us booked aboard the "American Dream II" and we're heading out to "Hog Heaven" (wreck) and "The Caves" Reef. Another absolutely beautiful day weather-wise, and sea conditions were practically flat as Captain Dave heads us out of Port Everglades towards our first dive site.

Upon arriving at our wreck site, "Hog Heaven", Divemasters Merlin and Tina get us all tied off to the wreck and Worth gets all the students geared up for the dive. After hearing the condition report and getting a site briefing, we head down the line. Worth has all the students together on the line, and I am waiting about halfway down with my camera to shoot the excitement as they come down the line. Upon arriving at depth and getting the students to perform their skills, we take a brief tour of the wreck and the nearby Pacific Reef Lighthouse tower structure. Lots of Grunts, Snappers and Porkfish, and an occasional Hogfish. After the tour is over it's time to head up to our safety stops and then to the surface.

Back onboard, the students were electric in their discussions of what they saw and they were buzzing to get back in for our second dive on "The Caves" Reef. We drifted along with the current, stopping occasionally for students to perform their required skills and toured the reef. We saw a couple of Yellow Stingrays, Sand Divers, Lobster and Hogfish. Now, it's time to head up for a safety stop and then get back on the boat. It's really great to be involved in the beginning of a diver's certification and see their excitement.

Another reason I dive in Paradise!

The Video Dude

6.21.08 - The "Rodeo 25" and "Sunkist Reef"

Hello everyone.

Saturday June 21st finds the Video Dude and Scuba Goddess Terri aboard South Florida Diving Headquarters' "Safari Diver" heading out to do a deep wreck dive on the "Rodeo 25". Conditions were awesome as Captain Aria and Divemaster Robert took us out to the site. Upon arrival, Divemaster Robert jumps in to tie off our descent line and comes up to report beautiful conditions down below - only a small thermocline near where he has tied off the line. No Big Deal.

Terri and I are ready to jump in, so down we go. We DO notice the thermocline at about 60fsw, but what Divemaster Robert didn't know was there was another one at about 90fsw that was so severe we nearly called the dive off! My data logger showed a temperature drop down to 64 degrees!! That was a 20 degree difference from the surface temp! The one benefit to the cold was the visibility was 100ft or so, so seeing things was easy at least. We did several penetrations of the wreck, including going into the engine room and a couple of the holds. It was a blast! I'm starting to get the hang of this wreck penetration stuff, finally.

All too soon we have to head up for our safety stops and ultimately the boat. After changing gear over and taking some surface time, we are ready for our drift dive on "Sunkist Reef". A very slow and easy drift dive zig-zagging back and forth across the reef ledges and finger reefs where we saw a Southern Stingray getting cleaned by Banded Shrimp and Purple Gobys, a Spotted Moray Eel, and a couple of Lobster. After nearly an hour's bottom time, we have to return to the surface world and our return to the dock.

A beautiful day of diving in Paradise!

The Video Dude

6.19.08 - Night Dive on the "Captain Dan"

Hello everyone.

The Video Dude has been going like gang-busters lately so once again apologies for delays in postings. The night of June 19th finds me and Dive Diva Heather along with Charlie (Tuna) and Kimmie and Bob McKinney aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out for a night dive on the "Captain Dan".

It was a beautiful night with just a hint of a threat of rain as Captain Mikey takes us out to the site. Upon arriving, Divemaster Dale jumps in and ties off our descent line and we get ready to jump in. Since it's not yet completely dark, there was a twilight feel to the wreck as we swam around checking everything out. There was very little current this time, but also very few critters out and about. We managed to check out a couple of barracuda and several brittle starfish wrapped around some tube sponges.

Unknown to us at the time, conditions on the surface worsened due to an approaching storm front. Everyone made it back aboard before the rain, wind and waves got to us and, after continuing for several minutes, Captain Mikey calls off the second dive and we head back to the dock.

Oh well, that's diving in Paradise in the summertime!

The Video Dude

June 15, 2008 - Dania Beach "Eurojacks"

Hello everyone.

Another amazing week of diving comes to an end here in Paradise with a shore dive in Dania Beach, FL with my friend Joanie and her friend Susan. This time we are in search of the "Eurojacks", a series of concrete forms resembling toy jacks which have been placed off of the beach to prevent erosion. The secondary function is to provide an artificial reef structure for fish and other sea life to live on.

The three of us arrive at the Dania Beach Pier around 8:45am and discover that there are now 4 of us as Susan has invited Erica to come along as well. We gear our gear assembled and now we have to walk about 500 yards north of the pier to line up with the jacks. Not an easy hike with full dive gear, but we all made it ok. We get in the water (which was dead calm this morning), and begin our swim out to the jacks. Along the way I found a Starfish, and we found a couple of patch reefs with juvenile fish on them.

Once we find the "jacks", we swim along the entire length marveling at the placements and how so many different species of fish are able to use this artificial structure as a home. We saw Puffer Fish, Angel Fish, Snook, Gobys, Blue Heads, a small Sea Turtle, and so many juvenile fish it was hard to keep track! On our swim back to shore we also saw about 7 or 8 VERY large Tarpon (about 6ft long) swim right under us! Once back on shore, we have to walk back towards the pier and our cars. Joanie's husband, Andy, brought us a small picnic breakfast of bagels and fruit and we got to relax a little and talk about what we all saw on the dive.

A beautiful day of diving with friends and meeting new dive buddies on a new dive site (to us anyway) here in Paradise!

The Video Dude

June 14, 2008 - The "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too!" Reef

Hello everyone.

What a busy week this is turning out to be! Saturday, June 14th finds the Video Dude once again aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out to dive on the "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too!" Reef. Captain Mikey is at the helm today and Divemaster Kimmie is on deck.

Captain Mikey gets us out to the wreck site with his usual skill and I get to "jump the wreck" (tie off the descent line)! Very cool and good practice for me too! I jump in and get the line attached and the rest of the divers come on down. I spent most of my time inside the wreck looking for places to get inside (Scuba Goddess Terri would be proud!) and just generally played around inside. I DID go outside to look for my friends Lennie and Bennie, the two Blennies that live on the wreck and finally had to go back to the boat. I assisted Kimmie with getting all the students and certified divers back on the boat and, after a 25 minute surface interval, I jumped back in to untie the ascent line.

Now we're off to our next dive site, "Abbey Too!" Reef for a drift dive. This section of "Abbey Too!" was very beautiful. We saw a Sea Turtle sleeping under a ledge, Lobster, a Crab, Blue Chromis, Blue Angels, and lots of Grunts. A nice relaxing drift with 60ft visibility and water temps around 82 degrees.

Fun, Fun, Fun and a little bit of work (?) here in Paradise!

The Video Dude

June 12, 2008 - Humble Family Scuba Class

Hello everyone.

The frenetic dive activity continues as Thursday, June 12th finds the Video Dude getting the opportunity to shoot video of a family reunion scuba class! Through the efforts of Grandpa Dave Humble and Worth O'Brien of AQUANAUTS SCUBA ACADEMY, this group of 8 members of the Humble Family came to Florida to get their Open Water certifications and try out the diving here in Paradise. Really Cool!!

We find ourselves heading out aboard the "American Dream II" based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, with Captain Todd at the helm and Divemaster Dave on deck. We are going to dive on the wreck of the "Tracy" (aka the "Ken Vitale") and do a nice reef called "The Caves". Captain Todd gets us to our spot in no time, and I jump in so I can shoot video of the family coming down the descent line. We get down to the wreck with no problems and begin touring around. I shot video of everyone near the wheelhouse and through the windows of the swim-throughs on the stern. A very beautiful dive and all of the family members were chatting away about what they saw when we got back on the boat.

After our surface interval, we find ourselves at our next dive site, "The Caves" Reef. This time, the family is divided into two groups which is supposed to make it easier for me to shoot the groups. Hector and Bill, instructors from Divers Direct in Dania, FL were on-hand to help out with the groups and to try to kep everyone together. Lots of beautiful stuff on this reef. I saw a Golden Spotted Moray, a few Lobster, a Crab, lots of Grunts and Squirrelfish, and French Angels the size of serving platters! All to soon it is time to come back to the boat, and again the excitement from the family was electric onboard the boat.

Everyone had a blast and got to experience a taste of diving here in Paradise!

The Video Dude

June 8, 2008 - The "Sea Emperor" and "Abbey Too" Reef

Hello everyone.

I apologize for this post being delayed. Dive season is upon us here in Paradise and things have been very busy. Anyway, Sunday June 8th finds the Video Dude once again aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" destined for the "Sea Emperor" and "Abbey Too" Reef. With Captain Jerry at the helm and Divemaster Chris on deck, we're sure to have a great couple of dives.

We arrive at the "Sea Emperor" to find a couple of other dive boats already there. Fortunately, they had arrived earlier and were finishing up getting their divers aboard so we didn't have to wait very long. Today I am without a dive buddy (Scuba Goddess Terri is teaching today), so my video camera and I jump in and head for the wreck. There were still some students from the other boats finishing up their skills, but other than that I (temporarily anyway) had the wreck to myself. Shot lots of footage of the wreck, then found a Stingray over in the sand and laid down in front of it for some nice video. By this time, I notice a crowd at the north end of the wreck, and I kick over to discover they have found the smaller of the two Green Morays that hang out on the wreck. More video of that, then a quick tour around the side to find a Hermit Crab eating something out of a shell. More video of that then it's time to come back to the boat.

After my surface interval is up, I am teamed up with Sean and Fabio for a drift dive on "Abbey Too" Reef. Beautiful conditions and a great drift dive with a Green Moray Eel, a Stone Crab Claw (no crab in sight though), White-Spotted Filefish, Angelfish and Triggerfish. Visibility was around 60ft or so and water temp was 82 degrees. Shot lots of nice video (available soon), and after nearly an hour of drift, it's time to go back up and re-join the surface dwellers.

Two really beautiful dives, and I got to meet some new people as well here in Paradise.

The Video Dude

June 7, 2008 - The "Captain Dan" and Grouper Bend Reef

Hello everyone!

Saturday, June 7th finds the Video Dude and Scuba Goddess Terri aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out to dive on the "Captain Dan" and "Grouper Bend" Reef. A beautiful morning with bright sunshine, flat seas and little current.

Captain Jerry gets us out to the "Captain Dan" with his usual skill, and Divemaster Chris jumps in to tie off to the wreck. After returning to the boat and giving us the details on conditions down below, Chris announces the "pool is open" and we get ready to jump in. Terri and I are planning to do some wreck penetrations, so we jump in first to get down to the wreck before it gets silted up. The "Dan" is full of penetration points and swim-throughs, so it's easy to find a good starting point. Our penetrations take us to several areas of the ship that I had not previously seen, and we even found a BIG Green Moray in the bottom of the wreck watching us swim around. I'm starting to like doing penetrations now, and I felt really relaxed and comfortable while inside the wreck. I plan on doing more in the future - practice makes perfect you know!

After our surface interval is up, we find ourselves getting dropped off on "Grouper Bend" Reef. A very pretty reef with lots of marine life on it. Arrow Crabs, Puffer Fish, Spotted Moray Eels, a couple of Lobster, and tons of Grunts, Squirrelfish and Blue Chromis. A nice drift with a decent current, visibilty about 50ft and water temps around 81 degrees.

More good times and new experiences in Paradise.

By the way Terri, YOU ROCK!!

The Video Dude

June 1, 2008 - The "United Caribbean" and "The Sanctuary" Reef

Hello everyone.

Sunday, June 1st finds the Video Dude heading out for an afternoon dive aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fish Food", accompanied again by Scuba Goddess Terri and this time joined by Dive Diva Heather. Terri and I planned to do some wreck penetrations today and visit some areas of the ship we hadn't seen before. Heather loves the wrecks because of all the shells she can find, so that was her plan for the day. Also on the boat were friends (and former dive club members) John and Kathy, who were planning on doing some underwater photography. A perfectly fabulous afternoon for diving as the seas were flat, sun was bright and water was in the low 80s.

Captain Mikey gets us out to the "United Caribbean" with his usual skill and Divemaster Chris jumps in to tie off to the wreck. Chris reports excellent conditions down below and we get geared up and jump in. We head straight down as quickly as possible in order to give Terri and I enough time for our planned penetrations and we meet at the wreck. We take a brief tour around the outside of the wreck before deciding on an entry point to try out. We did several of these entry points and got to see some new areas (at least they were new to me!). It really was a lot of fun and we paid close attention to every detail both on the wreck and in our procedures.

We still had a little time left, so we swam over to the "Rubble Pile" to check out the fish life over there. There are three rubble piles between the "United Caribbean" and the "Sea Emperor", which usually makes it easy to navigate between the wrecks on the same dive. After a few minutes, we have to head back for the ascent line and head back up to the boat. After getting back on board, we discover Heather has found a treasure trove of shells and everyone takes a peek at what she found.

After our surface interval, Captain Mikey drops us off on "The Sanctuary" reef. That was cool because we had just done it the night before, and now we get to see it during the day! An awesome reef night or day, we drifted along the bottom edge of the ledge looking for the smaller critters and shells. We saw Yellowhead Jawfish, Blennies, Arrow Crabs, Banded Shrimps, a school of Squid, a Snook, Blue Angelfish, Rock Beauties, and so much more. Another nice relaxing dive with over an hour bottom time!

What a weekend of diving in Paradise this has been! Good friends and excellent dive buddies make it all that much more fun! Let's do it again real soon!

The Video Dude

May 31, 2008 - Night Dives!

Hello everyone.

Well no sooner than Scuba Goddess Terri and I get back from our afternoon dive trip, we find ourselves turning around and heading back out aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" for a couple of night dives on the reefs. This time around we've got Captain Mikey and Divemaster Kimmie as crew, and the whole trip was put together by Mat (Instructor and Manager of Scuba Network FTL) who also brought along some friends.

Captain Mikey gets us out to our first spot in no time and we get geared up to drop in on "Abbey Too" reef. Terri and I are joined by a couple of Mat's friends and the four of us head to the bottom and start touring around. Admittedly, we temporarily lost the reef for a bit (hey, it's NIGHTTIME remember?), but then picked it up again soon after. There were lots of Brittle Starfish, Basket Starfish, Spadefish, Lobsters, Crabs, and so much more. We didn't want to come up, but reality set in and it's time to surface.

After our surface interval, Mat's friends joined his group this time around and we picked up a former student of ours, Curtis, who was looking to do some spearfishing on this dive. Captain Mikey took us over to "The Sanctuary" reef and dropped us in. We toured along the reef ledge marveling at all the Basket Starfish, Brittle Stars, Spotted Eels, a Conger Eel, and a Hawksbill Turtle which seemed a little perturbed by our dive lights. Curtis was able to spear a Hogfish and found a Slipper Lobster, too! It was a very beautiful and relaxing dive with over an hour bottom time.

So, another diving adventure in Paradise comes to an end! Night dives are so much fun. I'm going to have to plan for more in the future!

The Video Dude

May 31, 2008 - The "Nursery" and The "Copenhagen"

Hello everyone.

Saturday afternoon, May 31st finds the Video Dude - along with Scuba Goddess Terri and former dive club member Paul - aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" for what we hope to be an afternoon of relaxing diving in 30fsw on the Pompano Drop-off (also known as "The Balls" because of the mooring balls along the reef). My friend Joanie was to join us, but she awoke this morning with a head cold and didn't want to risk diving.

Also on board today was a friend of Terri's - Karla - who brought her friend Jennifer who was planning on doing some snorkeling while we dove. Jennifer is a paraplegic who is working towards her open-water certification (she's already done her confined water classes).

So it's just us three, and Captain Jerry gets us out to our first dive in record time. We drop down on a reef called "The Nursery" and begin to drift along with the current. The visibility was remarkably clear today (it can be hit-or-miss with the shallower reefs) the sun was bright underwater and the water temp was a balmy 80 degrees. As we drifted along we spotted all kinds of critters and fish darting in and out of the reef. There were Pufferfish, Burrfish, Arrow Crabs, Yellow Stingrays, Southern Stingrays, Blue Chromis, a Midnight Parrotfish, a Sea Cucumber, and so much more. We also got to see some fish behavior (well it IS mating season and we WERE on the Nursery!) and be amazed at the vibrant colors of the reef. Soon, to our dismay, it's time to come up.

After our surface interval is up, Captain Jerry takes us over to another of my favorite shallow dives, the "Copenhagen". A wreck of a wreck, the "Copenhagen" was a coal ship that ran aground in the early 1900s. In the early 1940s, the Navy used it for target practice and scattered it pretty far around the reef line. Scuba Goddess Terri actually found a piece of coal that was still on the wreck!

We drifted for a while on this one checking out the anchor and the plaque signifying this was an Archaeological Marine Preserve, and checking out the Scorpion Fish, Arrow Crabs, more Stingrays, Hermit Crabs, and a couple of very friendly Coronet Fish (about 4ft long) that tended to follow us throughout the dive. A very nice dive with 50ft visibility, and water temps around 81 degrees, ending up with about an hour and ten minutes bottom time.

A beautiful day of diving with good friends and a chance to make new friends in Paradise!

The Video Dude