8.30.08 - The "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too" Reef

Hello everyone.

Saturday August 30th finds the Video Dude, along with "Scuba Goddess" Terri aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fathoms O' Fun" heading out to dive The "Ancient Mariner" and "Abbey Too" Reef. Surprise guest dive buddies today were "Dive Diva" Heather and Charlie "Tuna". Their boat trip had been cancelled so they showed up hoping to get a couple of seats, and they did!

Today we have Captain Jerry and Divemaster Dale as crew and, after Jerry gives his usual eloquent briefing, we get underway. Jerry has described today's sea conditions as "sporty" which meant we were in for a bit of a ride today. Seas were predicted to be in the 4-6ft range and we were not disappointed! In quick time, we arrive at the "Ancient Mariner". Divemaster Dale jumps in to tie off to the wreck and reports pretty decent conditions down below. Once we get the all clear, Terri, Heather, Charlie and I all jump in and head straight for the bottom. Heather and Charlie planned to spend most of their time out in the sand looking for shells and other small critters, and Terri and I plan to spend most of our time inside the wreck poking into places that most people won't go. Inside the wreck we saw two Sea Stars and we tried to find the "mutant" lobster again but he was nowhere to be seen. Outside of the wreck there were several beautiful "bait balls" swimming around the deck, a few Yellow-Head Jawfish dancing in the sand, and we saw a nice-sized Southern Stingray swimming around letting divers touch him. On our ascent to our safety stops we saw lots of beautiful Moon Jellyfish and another school of baitfish with a huge Barracuda swimming through it. We also were teased by a friendly Remora looking for something to attach to.

After our surface interval is up, Jerry takes us over to "Abbey Too" Reef. This time Terri, Heather, Charlie and I are all going hunting for lobster. We get dropped on the reef and start our search for the best bug hiding places. There are several different ledges on "Abbey Too" Reef and we spent a good deal of time on all of them. Charlie found a big Green Moray under a ledge and Terri found a Stone Crab. I tried to get a Lobster I found, but he was too small and too skittish to tease out of the hole. Terri ended up with three Lobster for the dive and Heather ended up with one. When we got back to the dock, I got the opportunity to try my hand at "tailing" the lobsters. I had been shown this technique before but never had a chance to practice it. Scuba Goddess Terri said I did an excellent job! So after all is said and done, it ended up a great dive day. We got to do several different things on the dives, and I learned a couple of new things as well!

Living the life in Paradise,

The Video Dude

8.24.08 - The "Copenhagen" and "Field Goal Reef"

Hello everyone.

Sunday the 24th finds the Video Dude along with Scuba Goddess Terri and "Hall of Famous" Joanie aboard Parrot Island Scuba's "Fish Food" heading out to do a couple of drift dives on the first reef. Terri and I are going to entertain Joanie by attempting to catch lobsters - yes, you heard correctly, I am going to make my first attempt at catching some "bugs". Captain Chris and Divemaster Kimmie are guiding the boat out to our first dive site on an ocean that looks like a sheet of glass under very sunny skies.

In no time, we reach the "Copenhagen" and the three of us jump in and begin our search for "bugs". Almost immediately I spot a large Green Moray hiding in the timbers of the wreck and later I find a Spotted Moray as well. Joanie - (ol' Eagle Eyes) - finds us some lobster right away and the fun begins. I let Terri try the first one, which she snares right away making it look way too easy. Now it's my turn with the tickle stick and net. Well, let's just say that I am really good with a tickle stick, but not so great encouraging the bugs into my net. For most of the morning, we switch to tag-teaming the bugs - I tickle them out and Terri snares them. We also saw lots of Spadefish, most of which could care less that we were around, a couple of Flamingo Tongues attached to a Gorgonian, as well as a tiny Nudibranch (maybe an inch long) crawling along the reef.

Dive #2 was on a reef called "Field Goal" which is a new mooring ball on the first reef set. The water was a little murky when we first jumped in, but near the bottom things cleared out and the search for bugs continues. We get a few more chances at them, including a shot at "Bugzilla", a huge lobster. We now know why he is so large, he was really smart! He evaded all our tactics at capture, and he even tried to stir up the sand so we couldn't see him. We ended up catching his neighbor though and one other one for a total of 4. I even caught another one by myself - yes, in the net! - but it was too small to keep and I put it back in it's hole. So, according to Joanie, we ended up 5 for 9 for the day. Towards the end of the dive we saw a small Golden Eel and we had a close encounter with a lone Squid who showed off his color changing skills, then joining a school of fish swimming by, changed colors to match the fish and disappeared into the blue.

It was a great day for getting back in the water after so many life-changing events had occurred to me in the past month. I got the catch of the day (and the lobsters were good too!!).

Always learning something new in Paradise,

The Video Dude

8.19.08 South Florida Spear Fishing Club meeting

Hello everyone.

Through the courtesy of one of my dive buddies, Dive Diva Heather, I was invited to attend a meeting of the South Florida Spear Fishing Club at Galuppi's in Pompano Beach, FL. This was my fourth meeting with this group, and I have to say that they seem to be a good bunch of people. Most of you who know me, know that I used to join every group in town only to have those same groups self-destruct a few months down the road. I'm a little gun shy now, but I do like the people in this club.


Tonight's speaker was to be Lad Akins from REEF, but due to the mess in the Florida Keys (where REEF is located) from Tropical Storm Fay, Lad had to postpone till next month's meeting. So club member Captain Jim McMillan, owner operator of dive charter boat "Island Magic", stepped in and gave us a very nice lecture on "Speargun Safety from the Captain's Perspective". Correct procedures for embarking/disembarking the boat, storing spearguns, descents/ascents with spearguns, and much more was discussed in great detail with attention to safety for all passengers.

Included in our meeting fee was a very nice dinner and for an extra fee you could participate in a raffle for nice prizes such as free air-fills, diving accessories, dive boat trips, etc. A great time was had by one and all!


Social Networking in Paradise,

The Video Dude

8.17.08 Cubs vs. Marlins Game

Hello everyone.

You're probably wondering about the subject of this post - a baseball game - and what it has to do with diving. Well actually, it has more to do with NOT diving, as there have been a lot of things going on in my life away from diving (I have a life away from diving?) that have kept me out of the water for a bit.

One of those things was a two-week visit from my son who lives in Charlotte, NC with his mom. Try as I might to introduce him to the underwater world, he so far has no interest (I'm still working on him though), so I had to find other things for us to do. So, through the courtesy of one of my dive buddies, Joanie, we found ourselves at Dolphin Stadium to watch the Marlins take on the Cubs. It was an extremely hot afternoon, and although there was a little breeze in the stadium, and we were only a day away from Tropical Storm Fay making landfall, we had a blast! It was my son's first ever ball game too, so it was extra special.

Most of the first part of the game was a little slow in the "action" department, but in the 6th inning the Cubs broke the game open with 9 runs in the inning and went on to win 9-2. Since we were sitting in an area surrounded by Cubs fans, we played it safe and cheered for the Cubs!


The main thing was I got to expose my son to a new experience and I got to enjoy something of the "surface interval" life as well. I guess occasionally it doesn't hurt to get out of the water for a bit. My son managed to get his flight out before TS Fay made landfall and is safe back in NC.

Had fun with my son in Paradise,

The Video Dude