Video Dude Productions

Hello everyone.

October 11th finds the Video Dude out to shoot video with his Faboo dive buddy, “Hall of Famous” Joanie aboard Parrot Island Scuba’s “Fish Food”. The weather was perfect and the seas were calm and, although we heard rumors of fast currents, we were still excited to be out diving! Due to the currents we were forced to change our first dive destination (which was to be a wreck) and ended up with 2 drift dives instead. Captain George and Divemaster Dale got us all situated onboard and we headed out to the reefs.

Dive #1 was on “Sunkist Reef”, a very pretty reef I have been on many times before but seems to always be different each time. Joanie and I dropped down to the reef and, although the current wasn’t nearly as swift as advertised, it was still good enough for us not to have to kick very much. We saw lots of schooling fish like Grunts and Porkfish as well as Blue Chromis, and we came across a MONSTER Rainbow Parrotfish that we both determined had to be 4 1/2ft long and about 2ft high! We had never seen one that huge before. It was tucked under a ledge just chillin’ and even had a 2ft Remora attached to it’s belly!! Additionally we saw a Stone Crab, Hogfish, lots of French Angels and 2 Squid. All too soon our bottom time is over and we have to head for our safety stop and then the surface.

Back on the boat, we change over our gear for the next dive, talk about what we saw, and I ask Joanie for predictions on what we’ll see on dive #2. She replies, “a Turtle, a Shark and an Eel!”. So, once we arrive at dive site #2 which is the ever-popular “Lighthouse Ledge”, we hit the water and drop down to the reef. Still a moderate current and, wouldn’t you know it, we almost immediately see a Hawksbill Turtle! Not long after we find a Green Moray, a Stone Crab getting cleaned by a Damselfish, and the final part of the prediction, a 7ft Nurse Shark!! Just in time too, cause our bottom time was up and we had to head back to the boat! Overall a Freakin’ Awesome day of diving with my favorite buddy! Next time I’ll get her to predict a Whale Shark and a Manta Ray too!!

Divin’ the day away here in Paradise!!

The Video Dude

Here are some still frames from the video (which is now available for purchase, see link below!):

Hello everyone.

September 29th finds the Video Dude in Sint Maarten, Netherland Antilles to dive with Scuba Fun Dive Center. It was a glorious day weather-wise and the seas were running about 2-4ft. Aboard our boat, the “Coral Palm”, Captain Jarvis and Divemasters Kelly, Guillaume, Nichole and Michelle were getting all our gear situated in preparation for our upcoming dives. We are scheduled to do a Wreck/Reef combo called “Proselyte Reef” (where a ship was wrecked in 1801) and another reef called “Shark Attack Reef”.

In great spirits for the day, we all arrive at “Proselyte Reef” for our first dive. Depth on this dive was @60ft and the coral canyons were amazing. Coral heads nearly reached the surface from our 60ft depth, and there were good spots with Lobsters, Trunkfish, Trumpetfish, Grunts and more. Also on this reef are the remains of a wooden ship called “The Proselyte”, which sank so many years ago that the only thing left are the anchors and cannons (and even they are really overgrown with coral!). Soon this dive is over and we have to head back for our safety stop and then the boat.

Back onboard, we get our gear changed over and get ready for dive #2 on “Shark Attack Reef”. As soon as we dive in the water with our divemaster Michelle and get to the bottom, I notice 2 Caribbean Reef Sharks swimming parallel to us about 100ft off to the side. I signaled Michelle I was heading over to get some video, and swam along side the sharks for a bit. About that time we found an area that another dive operator had set up for feeding the sharks, so we all swam over to that spot and sat down on the bottom waiting for the rest of the sharks to appear. Ultimately, they start to come over one at a time, circling us and waiting to see if we had food. One or two sharks got a little braver and swam in between some of the divers and myself. Was really amazing to watch the grace and fluid motion of these animals! Although I would have been happy staying with the sharks, we did have to go check out the rest of the reef, so off we went. Again beautiful coral heads/canyons and schools of juvenile tropicals of all species. Then it’s off to the boat again and get ready to head back to the dive shop.

Thanks again to Scuba Fun Dive Center. Antoine and the staff there are first-rate!!

The Video Dude

Below are some still frames from the video which is now available for sale (see link at bottom of posting!):

posted by Video Dude @ 11:35 AM