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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!
Monday, November 11th finds the Video Dude, along with Faboo dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie, aboard Scubatyme III heading out to the ever-popular wreck of the “Sea Emperor” for a relaxing morning of diving. Captain Bob is at the helm and Divemaster Goddess Amanda is assisting everyone on deck as we head out on flat seas to our destination. Along the way we see a pod of Dolphins cavorting and jumping our wake. Captain Bob makes a couple of circles so we can see the dolphins and to give them a nice wake to play in. It was a great start to the morning and a good omen of things to come!
We arrive at the “Sea Emperor” and after Amanda ties off the descent line, Joanie and I head for the bottom. I nearly landed on the resident Stingray, who was out and about already. I had several face-to-face encounters, with the stingray occasionally brushing my camera and once even hitting it head-on! I always love to watch the grace of a “flying” stingray, they make it look so effortless! Captain Bob gave me some crackers to feed to the fish, so I went over to the sand and started feeding them so everyone could get pictures. We also found one of the resident Green Morays, and I found a 6ft Nurse Shark over amongst the pipes next to the wreck. We also came across a sick-looking Midnight Parrotfish who seemed to be having trouble just moving it’s fins to stay in one spot.
After our surface interval, we head over to Abbey Too Reef. Visibility on the bottom was much improved from the day before, but the east/west surge was stronger. We did see about 7 Lobsters all total though. No other critters besides the usual Grunts, Squirrelfish and Chromis.
So that’s about it. Good seas, Faboo dive buddy, better visibility and still warm water temps, plus a cool stingray encounter and a fish-feeding made for a great morning!
Still diving in Paradise (even in November!),
The Video Dude
Tuesday, October 20th finds the Video Dude out to shoot video along with Faboo dive buddy “Hall of Famous” Joanie. We’re off to visit the “Ancient Mariner” and “Abbey Too” Reef. The gang at Scubatyme Charters made us feel right at home and, as we head out into 4-6ft seas and rainy conditions, we wondered if this was a good idea today. We both agreed it was better than being in a cubicle, so we made the best of it.
Shortly after we break the Hillsboro Inlet, we arrive at dive site #1, The “Ancient Mariner”. Conditions on the surface made tying off to the descent line a bit scary, so we jump in and drift over to the descent line and make our way to the bottom. Once we reach the wreck we notice a pretty good south current blowing and we use the wreck as a shield for a bit. We got a visit from a Southern Stingray who circled us for about 8 minutes and performed some interesting maneuvers before leaving to play with the other divers. We also spent some time looking for an octopus we were told inhabits the wreck, but couldn’t find it. We did one swim-through of the wreck, then headed back for the ascent line and ultimately the dive boat.
Back onboard, we do our best to change over our gear in the “sporty” conditions and talk about our next dive on “Abbey Too”. Joanie has gone out on a limb and made some predictions of what we will see again, and we get ready to jump back in. After reaching the bottom, we notice a little East/West surge in the current and begin to make our way over to the drop-off of the reef. Visibility is only about 40ft, but still good enough to check out all the schools of Grunts, Margates, Squirrelfish and Juvenile Hogfish. We also saw one Lobster but no Eels, Turtles or Sharks. Well, if we saw them on EVERY dive we’d be too spoiled, right?
Today I had the opportunity to be a guide for a couple of newly-certified divers, Christine and Brad. Today was to be their first local boat dives since getting certified, and they were both excited and anxious to get in the water and have fun. We went out on “Scubatyme III” and Enzo, Captain Dave, and Amanda all treated us very well. We did two drift dives – “Anglin’ Pier Reef” and “Radical Rubble Reef” and, although the skies were gray up top, the scenery was beautiful down below. We even had a very curious French Angel come over to play with us!! We saw lots of Angelfish, Grunts, Jellyfish, Arrow Crabs and Chromis. Very small current on both dives, visibility was around 50ft and bottom temp was around 82 degrees.
A beautiful couple of dives and a very relaxing day here in Paradise!
The Video Dude
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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!
