This time we are off to Key Largo, FL to shoot some documentary footage for the Coral Restoration Foundation and the Florida Marine Aquarium Society as we visit the CRF coral nursery and project reef. The CRF has been working hard the past few years growing and re-introducing corals back onto damaged reefs and other areas where the corals had previously vanished. They are currently working with Staghorn and Elkhorn corals and judging from the project reef that I saw, they are really making a difference!

Corals are grown from cuttings or “frags” from other corals and “planted” in the nursery until they are large enough to either provide frags for future corals, or are placed on the project reef where the corals had previously died off. Volunteers and CRF staff tend the nursery, monitoring growth, scrubbing off algae (which inhibits coral growth), or placing new cuttings in the nursery. Several growing methods are used, including a “line nursery” which resembles a clothes line with coral pieces hanging from it. This keeps the algae off the coral and allows the coral to grow in multiple directions, resulting in larger corals.

It’s nice to see a group making our reefs a better place for fish, animals and divers! For more information on the Coral Restoration Foundation, CLICK HERE. Be sure to make a donation or adopt some coral!

Always finding new subjects to video for everyone,
The Video Dude

Once again we take our cameras up to Blue Heron Bridge for some more footage of the lesser-seen animals that hang out between the pilings of the bridge. Ultra-Faboo Dive Buddy Joanie and I arrive around 2pm and get geared up for our dive (which ended up being 2 hours long) and head out off the beach to see what we can see. We start off over by the area where the houseboats are moored, looking for Seahorses and Octopi. We didn’t run into any of those, but we did find a Batfish, an extremely friendly Juvenile Filefish (it came right up to us and played with our fingers!) and a Pipefish. We also found the “Shopping Cart Reef” and the sunken boat with the mirror on it.

After exploring that area, we head over to the west bridge and navigate our way through the pilings. We encountered another Batfish, a Southern Stingray, several Scorpionfish, Banded Shrimp, a Stone Crab, and some Spadefish. We also found a Yellow Stingray, Arrow Crabs and several Cushion Sea Stars. We made our way through the pilings and over to the small fishing bridge to check out the small rubble reef (rubble from the old bridge demolition) and finally back to the beach and our exit point. It was a fabulous, relaxing dive and always a good time checking out which critters are “home” each time we go there.

Diving the days away here in Paradise,
The Video Dude

Friday, July 2nd finds the Video Dude and Ultra-Faboo dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie out diving at Blue Heron Bridge with a group from the South Florida Divers Dive Club. Conditions were clear and currents were manageable as we got in and began our dive. Joanie was my “guide” for this trip as she had discovered a new area to dive in on her last trip here. We began our dive directly off the beach and over to the mooring balls where I experienced a whole new dive site for the first time.

There were lots of small coral heads with juvenile fish, Arrow Crabs and Banded Shrimp and there were larger reefs made up from everything from pipes to shopping carts to submerged boats. Along the way we came across a Batfish, Yellow Stingray, Barracuda, Juvenile Angelfish, Stonefish and even a small Octopus! Joanie also showed me a submerged boat that had a mirror placed on it to attract fish. She had gotten a photo of herself in the mirror the last time she was there, so I tried my hand at getting a shot of myself with the video camera.

After over 90 minutes under water, we reluctantly had to come up and end the dive. I am definitely going back to those spots again. It was nice to explore something new and look for cool new things!

Another great dive here in Paradise,
Doug the Video Dude

Today I had the opportunity to travel to Key Largo, FL to shoot video of a group of disabled divers from Diveheart Chicago. This group makes the trip down here every year to give their recently-certified divers a chance to dive in tropical waters and experience what we get to see every day.

I arrived in Key Largo around 9:30am with Worth O’Brien of AQUANAUTS Scuba Academy, a local SCUBA Instructor who works with Diveheart South Florida and is a Disabled Diver Buddy Trainer for the Handicapped Scuba Association. We drive over to our dive charter operator for the day, Rainbow Reef Dive Charters to check in and make sure the logistics for the day’s dives are squared away.

After a brief time to relax and grab a bite to eat, we start to meet up with the members of the Chicago group and make preparations to get aboard our boat for the afternoon, the “Tropical Adventure”. Captain Zack and Divemaster Amber welcomed us aboard and disabled diver buddy volunteers from both Chicago and South Florida helped get all the divers and their gear aboard the boat. After a couple of briefings from both the captain and Diveheart leaders, we get underway and headed out to our dive site for the afternoon. After a brief ride, we arrive at a dive site called “Grecian Rocks” and we get ready to dive in an area protected from wave action by the reef itself. Depths range from 5-10fsw and visibility is a bit murky due to surge action stirring up the sand and seagrass.

The buddy volunteers bring the disabled divers one-by-one to the dive platform and assist them in getting into their gear and, ultimately, into the water where their dive buddies are waiting for them to take them on their big adventure. While shooting video of all the activity, I got to see

first-hand

how disabled diver buddies are crucial to the success of these dives, and I got to put some of my buddy training to good use as well. While underwater with the various buddy teams, I also got to see the excitement in the eyes of the divers as they got their first glimpse of the underwater world in the Florida Keys. It definitely made the trip worthwhile!

Another great video project completed here in Paradise!
Doug, the “Video Dude”

Thursday, June 10th finds the Video Dude once again aboard “Scubatyme III” heading out for a video shoot on the “Captain Dan” and Lighthouse Ledge. Captain Bob, Divemaster Amanda and Owner Enzo are all aboard along with 8 other divers, out to have a great day on the water. The seas are almost flat, hardly any current and it’s a bright sunny morning as we head out of the Hillsboro Inlet.

Captain Bob gets us out to our first dive site - the “Captain Dan” in no time, and we all prepare to jump in after Amanda comes back up from tying off the descent/ascent line. I am first down the line and only encounter a mild current on the wreck while making my way from the stern towards the bow and back. Friendly Horse-eye Jacks and Spadefish watch me closely as I document the wreck on video. All too soon it’s time to head back to the ascent line and do my safety stops on the way back up to the surface.

After switching out gear for the next dive, Captain Bob heads over to the ever-popular Lighthouse Ledge Reef for our second dive. Once again I am in the water first and going solo on this dive to shoot more video of the reef. Almost immediately after reaching the reef, I encounter a large Porcupinefish, a Green Moray Eel, a Spotted Moray Eel, Arrow Crabs, Pufferfish, Squirrelfish and tons of Grunts and Snappers. With the sun being out the whole dive, the reef was really “poppin’” with color and was the prettiest I have seen in some time!

That’s about it for this video project report. If you’re interested, there’s a link below to purchase ($20) your own video copy of these dives to share with your friends.

Diving the days away here in Paradise,
The Video Dude

Today marks another diving milestone for the Video Dude as I completed my 600th (non-teaching) dive. Super-FABOO dive buddy Joanie was my buddy for this momentous occasion as we boarded “Scubatyme III” and headed out to dive on the “Sea Emperor” and Lighthouse Ledge Reef. Captain Bob, Divemaster Amanda, and Owner Enzo were on board as well as 8 other divers as we headed out of Hillsboro Inlet to our first dive site.

In hardly any time at all, it seemed, we arrive at the “Sea Emperor” and Joanie and I are ready to get in first. We head down the line and find a good current on the bottom, but not so tough to swim into as we begin touring around the deck. Our friendly resident Southern Stingray came over for a visit and we played with it a bit before heading down to the sand to look for one of the resident Green Moray Eels that like to come out and check out the divers. We found the little eel pretty quickly (or did she find us?) and she came over to play with me while Joanie took pictures. Pretty cool being on the OTHER side of the lens for a change! After one more tour around the wreck, including a trip inside to rest from the current a bit, it’s time to head up to our safety stops, and then the boat.

After everyone gets their gear switched over, Captain Bob heads us over to Lighthouse Ledge Reef for a nice drift dive. This is my dive number 600 and Joanie and I get in first again and drop down to the reef and begin our drift. Since she is carrying a camera, I carry the flag and we drift lazily along until we encounter a couple of Spotted Eels, a Golden Eel, a couple of Pufferfish, Lobster, Grunts, Snappers and a Queen Angel or two. Very beautiful colors today and a nice relaxing drift dive.

After consulting my logbook, Joanie and I discovered that my dive number 500 was almost exactly 1 year ago (6.8.09) which was another reason to celebrate. 100 dives in a year! I am truly blessed! Thanks again to my Super-FABOO dive buddy Joanie and to everyone else I have met or dove with on the way to this milestone!

Keep on gettin’ wet!
The Video Dude

Sunday, 2.21.10 finds the Video Dude joined once again by Roberta, DJ and John LaFlair of Scuba Network at the Blue Grotto, located in Williston, FL. This is a natural spring that is large enough to be used as a dive facility. You can enter the Grotto by either a giant stride entry off of a platform, or walk down a set of stairs. There are dive platforms at various depths for students to practice skills, underwater lighting, and even a diving bell you can stick your head inside and breathe air! There were lots of students there working with their Instructors, and a few rebreather divers doing checkouts as well.

After getting our gear set up, we splash into the water and head down to one of the dive platforms so I can get some video of John and DJ pretending to be Instructor and student doing some skills. Then we head over to the diving bell and check it out a bit before heading down to about 65ft to an area known as “Peace Rock”. This is the final point for divers who are not Advanced Open Water certified to go. As we dropped over the side of Peace Rock and into the cave portion of the dive, we followed the guide line in a loop around the bottom of the grotto and back to the cavern area. It was really cool! I went back around a second time to get more video footage, then we all headed over to one of the dive platforms to do our safety stops and get ready to exit the Grotto. It was very cool experience and if you get the chance to go, you should definitely do it!

Another great first experience for me here in Paradise,

The Video Dude

Saturday, 2.20.10 finds the Video Dude, along with Roberta, DJ and John LaFLair of Scuba Network on our rented boat headed out to King’s Bay in Crystal River to shoot video of the manatees. This area is a major congregation point for the manatees in the cold weather, as the water is warmer than the ocean and they can huddle together for warmth. Almost immediately upon setting out, we see signs of manatees swimming in the shallow water. We head over to a side canal that leads to Three Sisters Springs and I jump in to begin the adventure of capturing video of these amazing creatures. Visibility is a little murky here, but I was able to get close enough to most of the manatees to get good video. John was able to rub a few manatee backs and get them to play a bit before they swam away.

After staying in that spot for a while, we headed over to Three Sisters Springs, where we discovered the water was much clearer and there were probably close to 200 manatees in various areas around the springs. The water in the springs is only about 3-4ft deep in places, so getting nice “up-close and personal” video of the manatees was fairly easy. Most of the manatees here were sleeping on the bottom, huddled together for warmth, but there were a few that were swimming around and enjoying the attention they were getting. After staying in the springs for over an hour, we headed back to our boat (docked outside the channel into the springs) where I encountered a baby manatee (if you can call a 6ft-long manatee a “baby”) who was very happy to come over and check out my camera and give me some great video moments. Probably the best stuff I shot all day! After that encounter, we motored back to the marina and got some lunch before setting off towards King Spring for our afternoon dive.

Lunch all done and back on the boat, we head over to King Spring inside of King’s Bay just across from our hotel. Unlike our manatee encounters of the morning (which was all done on snorkels), we get to strap on our SCUBA gear and dive into the spring. The water in the top of the spring was a little brackish and green-tinted, but once we dropped down below the point where all the Open Water students were hanging out, it cleared up quite a bit. This was my first cavern/cave dive ever and it was awesome!! We found some Blue Crabs hanging out amid the rocks, John found a Mullet, and we dove around the perimeter of the spring until we came across an exit point and had to come up. What a great dive! After that, we get back on the boat to discover that the wind has picked up a bit, so we do our best to get out of our wet stuff and stay warm while we cruise around the bay a bit more before heading back to the marina.

Tomorrow it’s off to Blue Grotto for some more cavern and cave diving!

A great day of freshwater diving and having new adventures here in Paradise,

The Video Dude

Saturday February 13th finds the Video Dude, along with 5 other very brave souls, out for a morning of diving, underwater hunting, and shooting video aboard a private boat. The air temp was in the low 50s with wind-chills down in the 40s, but the ocean was flat and water temps ran in the low 70s. I learned a new term for this kind of diving - “Viking Diving”- and the phrase definitely fit!

We were all guests aboard South Florida Spearfishing Club member Tom Campbell’s private boat for the morning, as we got all our gear stowed and began heading out for our first of two drift dives. Being as it is a private boat (and one of the six divers was the captain), we rotated through the first dive so that everyone got to dive. We were on a reef called “Pine Tree” just north of the Hillsboro Inlet and fairly shallow at about 40fsw. I was buddied up with Pat, a friend of Heather (one of my dive buddies), and off we went - he was in search of something to spear or snare, I was in search of good video. We managed to get two Lobsters - the second one put up quite a fight! - and that was about it. We had a couple of very curious Gray Triggerfish following us around for most of the dive, and I saw a school of Spadefish, two Pufferfish and 2 Burrfish.

After coming up from our dive, Captain Tom informed us that since the air temps were dropping, we were canceling our second dive. That was OK with us since, after we got out of the water, the wind was cutting through our wetsuits and chilling us to the bone! So we had a short morning of it, but everyone had a good time. The total catch was 15 Lobsters and one Mutton Snapper, so it wasn’t a total wash. Of course, on the way back into the Inlet, we get stopped by a Florida Fish & Wildlife officer who wanted to inspect our boat and our catch of the day. He was very friendly (and cold like us) and probably bored as we were one of maybe two boats out with divers aboard in this “viking” weather. We are released without a fine and head back to the dock - and a hot tub! - at Tom’s house.

Shootin’ video and making new friends here in Paradise,

The Video Dude

Saturday, February 6th finds the Video Dude aboard the “Island Magic” with members of the South Florida Spearfishing Club heading out on a beautiful day to do some spearfishing and hunting for lobsters (except me - I was shooting video of course!). “Island Magic” is a wonderful boat carrying 6 divers with plenty of space, a covered cabin, shower and marine head, and even a couple of berths down below. Captain Jim is very laid back and makes everyone feel at home. Check out their website at: http://island-magic.com/boatchrt.php

After leaving the dock, we have about a 20 minute ride up the Intracoastal Waterway, then another 15-20 minutes to our first dive site, a reef called “The Mounds”. I am buddied up with Lance, one of the club members, and we jump in and head down to about 90ft looking for stuff to hunt/video. As soon as we hit the bottom, Lance is circled by 3 Remoras checking him out closely. Meanwhile, I am looking for their ‘ride’ in case they were attached to something big that might be sneaking up on us! We drift along the reef without seeing very much for either of us to shoot, so we’re relaxing and having a good time. Then it’s up to do safety stops and back on the boat, where we discover that one of our group, Maureen, has speared about a 13-14lb Mutton Snapper! She was VERY happy about that.

During our surface interval, Captain Jim takes us in towards shore to a calmer area so we can all relax and swap stories a bit. After about an hour or so, we head off to our next dive site, the “Pompano Trench”. I have never done this site before, so it was pretty cool to see all the stuff down there. Lance and I came across 3 Lobsters (he caught 2 of them) and a Lionfish just before hitting the Trench, then we entered the Trench itself and followed it for a while. I felt like a bug in the Grand Canyon it was so huge. There was a nice Anenome on the bottom, and in one section, there were old cement trucks (the round part that carried the cement) that had been placed on the bottom with holes cut in them for reefs. Lots of Glassy Sweepers inside most of them and supposedly there were Goliath Grouper as well, but we didn’t see them. There also a lot of tires on the bottom, not deliberately placed there, that apparently drifted over from other areas. Soon we have to come up to our safety stops again, and back on the boat.

Lots of fun on a new boat with friends and good times here in Paradise.

Doug the Video Dude.