Archive for January, 2009
1.18.09 - Divemaster Log
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Hello everyone.
Sunday, January 18th finds the Video Dude once again wearing his Divemaster hat for Parrot Island Scuba. This time I am paired up with Captain Jerry aboard “Fish Food” and we’re off to do a couple of dives on “The Balls” - a reef mooring system on the first reef line. I get everyone’s tanks and gear aboard and organized while Captain Jerry gives the boat briefing, and then we are underway out of the Inlet and into open seas. The weather is perfect and the seas are flat.
Captain Jerry gets us out to out first dive site on “The Balls” called “The Copenhagen”. If you have read many of my blog postings you know that “The Copenhagen” is an old wooden coal ship that has been declared a Marine Sanctuary by the State of Florida. Upon our arrival there, I tie off the boat to the mooring ball, and get buddy groups organized and assign dive flags while Captain Jerry gives the dive site briefing. Once everyone is ready, I assist the divers to the dive platform and, after checking their gear, assist them into the water for their dive. After about 50 minutes, buddy groups start surfacing and I begin assisting everyone back on board and to their seats. Apparently this was a good day to be on this site as I heard lots of discussions on what was seen and where.
After everyone is back on board, I secure the boat and untie from the mooring ball so we can travel to our next dive site called the “Pompano Extension”. This is a series of newly-added mooring balls on the first reef line and therefore the dive sites are relatively new to divers. I get the boat tied off to the mooring ball and once again I make sure the buddy groups are ready. After checking their gear on the dive platform, I assist everyone into the water for their drift dive. Captain Jerry and I keep a close eye on the groups and make sure boat traffic doesn’t get too close. After about 45 minutes, buddy groups begin to surface and it’s time to pick everyone up again. After getting everyone back on the boat and into their seats, I secure the boat and we head back for the dock.
Upon arriving at the dock, I get everyone’s tanks and gear off the boat and organized on the dock and begin to cleanup the boat and stow gear and supplies for lockdown. A nice day on the water and I got to help lots of divers (some students and some new divers) experience diving here.
Divemasterin’ the day away here in Paradise,
The (Divemaster) Video Dude
Tags: Divemaster, divers, Fish Food, Florida, Marine Sanctuary, Parrot Island Scuba, Pompano Extension, reef mooring system, scuba, The Balls, The Copenhagen, Video Dude, wooden coal ship
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1.17.09 - Blue Heron Bridge
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
Hello everyone.
Saturday, January 17th finds the Video Dude doing a solo dive at Blue Heron Bridge. Scuba Goddess Terri has a head cold today, so I am off to brave the chilly air temps and 70 degree water at Blue Heron. Once I arrive and get geared up, I carry my dive flag, camera and fins to the water’s edge and finish getting ready to get in. Once I am underwater, I drift with what little current is left just before slack tide, and see that visibility will only be about 10ft today. Well that’s OK because I now get to practice my “muck diving” skills and look for the little stuff that sometimes gets missed.
Several Starfish are about, along with hundreds of Sea Urchins - one had a small Crab skeleton attached as camouflage! There was also a small Flounder trying to hide from my camera, a Red Batfish, a couple of Lobster, lots of very large Arrow Crabs, and an Octopus that had made a “garden” from empty bottles. He actually tried to hang onto his “favorite” bottle while I was shooting video. It was kinda funny.
Click to play the video:
It was a great day of diving and I was glad I could shoot video so my sick dive buddy (and others) could see it. It was a little eerie not having a dive buddy nearby, but I am glad I had the experience.
More fun diving in Paradise,
The Video Dude
Tags: Arrow Crabs, Blue Heron Bridge, camera, Crab, current, Flounder, Lobster, muck diving, octopus, octopus garden, Red Batfish, Scuba Goddess Terri, Sea Urchins, slack tide, Starfish, Video Dude
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1.13.09 - Divemaster Log
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Hello everyone.
Tuesday, January 13th has the Video Dude once again donning his Divemaster hat for Parrot Island Scuba. This time we’re set up for an all-day schedule with both a morning and an afternoon trip booked. Captain Nick is piloting “Fish Food” today as we set off for our first dive destination: “The Sea Emperor”. I get everyone’s gear and tanks organized on the boat and get them started setting up while Captain Nick gives a boat briefing and we set out through the Inlet to open ocean.
When we arrive at “The Sea Emperor”, I am already geared up and ready to jump in with the descent line to tie off to the wreck. Captain Nick gives the “dive, dive, dive” signal and I am off to the bottom. I make it to the wreck and check current conditions before tying off. This enables me to judge which end of the wreck is best for tying off. After my ascent back to the surface, I give a briefing on conditions down below, and begin getting divers into the water and on the descent line. After about 40 minutes, divers begin coming back up the line and I assist them back onto the boat and into their seats. Once everyone is back on board safely, I get geared back up and jump back in to retrieve the ascent line.
Once I am back on board, we are off to our next dive site, a reef called “Lighthouse Ledge”. This will be a drift dive so I assign buddy teams/groups and equip each group with a dive flag. After checking each diver on the dive platform, I assist them into the water and make sure everyone is OK on the surface. Once all groups are in the water and headed in the right direction, Captain Nick and I monitor the diver’s positions and watch out for boat traffic. After almost an hour, divers begin re-surfacing and I assist them back on board the boat and into their seats. Once all divers are back on board, we return to the dock to pick up the group for the afternoon trip.
Back at the dock now, I assist the morning group with getting their gear and tanks off the boat and organized on the dock. After they are taken care of, it’s time to do a quick cleanup of the boat before loading the afternoon group’s gear and tanks aboard and getting everyone organized. After a boat briefing by Captain Nick, we are once again underway to our afternoon dive sites.
This afternoon we are doing two dives on “The Balls” - a series of mooring balls on the first reef line. Captain Nick decides to take us to a reef called “The Nursery” where there is a lot of juvenile fish activity and the occasional Nurse Shark. Once again this will be a drift dive, so I get the buddy groups organized and assigned a dive flag and check the divers over before assisting them off the dive platform into the water. We stay tied to the mooring ball while the divers drift with the current, keeping an eye on both them and nearby boat traffic. When the groups start to get too far away, we untie and head off in their general direction, monitoring them along the way. After nearly an hour, groups start to surface and we begin the process of picking everyone up and getting them back on the boat.
Once everyone is aboard and starting to changeover their gear for the next dive, Captain Nick takes us to the next dive site, “The Copenhagen”, an old wooden coal ship that is now a Marine Sanctuary. Once again the buddy groups get ready and I assign them flags for the drift. I assist everyone on the dive platform and make sure they are OK on the surface, then Captain Nick and I begin the surface watch for divers and boats. After about 45 minutes, groups begin to surface and I assist everyone back onto the boat and into their seats. After a final diver roll-call, I secure the boat ladder, untie from the mooring ball and we return to the dock.
Back at the dock the process of getting tanks and dive gear off the boat begins again and I get everyone’s gear organized on the dock. Then it’s time to clean the boat and store all the gear, snacks, camera/mask buckets and whatever else needs to be done to get the boat ready for lockup.
A long busy day, but a lot of fun helping divers out in Paradise!!
The (Divemaster) Video Dude
Tags: dive flag, Divemaster, divers, drift dive, Fish Food, Lighthouse Ledge, Marine Sanctuary, Nurse Shark, Parrot Island Scuba, shark, The Balls, The Copenhagen, The Nursery, The Sea Emperor, Video Dude, wooden coal ship
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1.11.09 - “The Tracy” and “Sunkist Reef”
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Hello everyone.
Sunday, January 11th finds the Video Dude and Scuba Goddess Terri once again aboard “ScubaTyme III” heading out to dive a wreck and a reef. Enzo, Captain Dave and Amanda welcome everyone aboard and get us situated on the boat before heading out. It’s another beautiful day on the water under sunny skies and with very little wave action. We’re a little crowded today as the boat is full (a good sign for the local dive industry), but everyone is happy to be out diving and, a good omen for the day, on the way out to our first dive site we get a pod of about 20 Dolphins riding our wake and jumping out of the water!! Way cool!!
Captain Dave gets us out to Dive site #1 - “The Tracy” fairly quickly and DM Amanda jumps in to tie off our descent line. She comes back up to report a bit of a current on the bottom and nice visibility. Terri and I jump in first since we will be penetrating this wreck and I need to get some video footage before the crowd shows up. We get down to the wreck and head inside, poking around in various areas, shooting video along the way, then we head outside the wreck for a tour around the exterior. This is where I find the Spotted Eel just sitting there posing for my camera. Very cool!! Then it’s back up to the boat and get ready for the next dive.
Dive #2 is on “Sunkist Reef” - a beautiful reef we have been on many times. It always has something amazing every time we’re on it though, so it never gets old. Almost immediately after reaching the bottom, Terri finds a nice-sized Cowrie shell, and a few moments later a lobster snare. She was relieved to find that because she had just lost mine the day before and was gonna have to buy me a new one. The one she found was in new condition, so it is now mine!! I also found a deep-sea fishing reel in decent condition and along the drift dive we saw a free-swimming Green Moray, White-spotted Filefish, and a Giant Anenome. Then it was time to get picked up by the boat and head back to the dock.
Yet another in a series of beautiful dive days here in Paradise!
The Video Dude
Tags: Cowrie, deep-sea fishing reel, Dolphins, Giant Anenome, Green Moray, Lobster, reef, Scuba Goddess Terri, Scubatyme, Spotted Eel, Sunkist Reef, Video Dude, White-spotted Filefish, wreck
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