Scuba Dream Time

Beautiful day of diving at Hale O'honu. If you have to work on a holiday, diving is the job to have. There is always something beautiful to see. We had two new divers on board today, it was their first official dive as certified divers. They both did very well. All others on the boat had a great time and we saw LOTS of turtles. As we were heading to the site to moor up on the surface were three turtles just waiting to greet us. As the divers descended down the mooring line they were greeted by an even larger welcoming committee. Turtles congregate in this area to be cleaned. They never appear bothered by divers so it affords divers an excellent opportunity to view them. Besides the numerous turtles, we also saw a large school of Black Durgons ( Black triggerfish; Humuhumu 'ele'ele; Melichthys niger) swimming by. This was a treat for me as I have only seen them swimming by themselves and the sightings have been very rare for me. Hope everyone is having a wonderful...

Brownie and I celebrated Christmas a day early this year since we have to work on Christmas Day. That is one of the few drawbacks of this industry; you work when others are on holidays. The high point is that when you are off the amateurs are all at home and working. We had an incredible day. We woke up early and opened our presents. We both did very well on presents. Niles would have liked some Greenies so he he was a bit disappointed. I'll have to make it up to him. He has me so trained. After all the gift opening was done and we left all the new electronics charging we headed out to explore Opeakaa Falls and the National Forest off the same road. Brownie decided to take a dip in the freshwater creek. The water tends to be a bit chilly but no too bad. Unfortunately I had to stay dry due to a bad case of swimmers ear. Imagine a diver experiencing an ear infection. But it was worth being on land just to capture the video of him trying to get out of the water while keepi...

SEASON'S ALOHA May you all have health, wealth, and happiness.

Great diving at House of Turtles (Hale O'Honu). There are always numerous turtles. In the Keys you are lucky to see more than one turtle on any given day. Here on Kauai it's almost a constant parade of turtles. Most of the turtles do look very healthy and are very large. Some are over 6 feet long, absolutely massive. A few have cracked shells as if they have had a run in with a boat prop or a very large Tiger Shark. What is disturbing is that some of the turtles have what appear to be hard white growths on the soft parts of their bodies. The growths are very visible and obvious (below are some pictures). The afflicted turtles generally appear unaffected except for those with a great amount of growth around their eyes. They sometimes bump into you. And you must be careful because it is a federal offense to touch turtles in Hawaii. The feds will slap you with a $10,000.00 fine, if caught of course. Overall, they are amazing and gracious creatures. If you ever wondered...

This morning I drove up to Koloa Landing to meet two DSDs students and their certified diver friend for a local shore dive. I was pleasantly surprised to run in to Cole Abbott. Cole was in my IDC class. As a matter of fact we graduate 366 days earlier. I must admit that at first I failed to recognize him and when I did I could only recall the unappreciated nickname bestowed upon him by our course director, Tom Witmer. The nickname was "the colinator". Not very flattering but definitely memorable. I never thought I would just run into someone I knew on such a small and isolated island. He has been here for the past 9 months so maybe he will show us some hidden gems for diving. The diving on Koloa was very nice. The visibility is finally improving after all the rain we have been having. We saw two turtles, two eels, and countless other tropicals. My two DSD students enjoyed the dives but were doubtful that they would ever dive again. They were on Kauai from Korea fo...

We arrived in Kauai on Saturday, November 24th. Niles made the trip. He will never get in his crate again but he's alive and chasing chickens. He has finally found a sport he can throw himself at. In case you are not aware, Kauai is full of chickens. I guess all kinds want to live in paradise. We did our first Kauai diving the very next day. We went to two sites known as Turtles House East and West. The known site name is in Hawaiian but I am still working on mastering some of the basics. Soon enough I will name all the sites in the local language. The sites were loaded with TURTLES, hence the name of the site. I don't mean a few turtles here and there but a great gathering of turtles. Some were just catching some zzzz's others were there to be cleaned by schools of cleaning fish. One even mistook Pat's hair for algae and tried to catch a quick meal. Turtle Cleaning Station Brownie & Turtle Besides the turtles we also saw eels, lion fi...

We finally Made it to Los Angeles, CA earlier today. It was a long a grueling trip. There was some beautiful scenery along the way, a dust storm, and some unique characters. On Day One we drove from Key Largo, FL all the way through to Baton Rouge, LA. That was the most grueling part of the journey. We did all of Florida, through Alabama, Mississippi, and finally Louisiana. We had planned to stay closer to Slidell , LA but we couldn't find a pet friendly hotel in the area. The Choice hotel chain claims to have pet friendly locations but I don't think they really practice what they advertise. Luckily we did find a Motel 6 in Baton Rouge that was true to their advertising on being a pet friendly location. The hotel was a located in a somewhat "rough" neighborhood but it was still a welcome reprieve from the road. On Day Two we got another early start and headed towards the grand expanse of Texas. We made it through much of Texas and wound up staying at the Mote...

Today marks the two-week countdown of our move to Kauai. On November 24, we board a flight to Kauai that will embark us on a new adventure. We are looking forward to learning about and experiencing the Hawaiian culture first hand. In addition to that we also get to explore new and fascinating dive sites. Florida Keys diving is spectacular but it is not wholly representative of what the world's oceans have to offer. We have anticipated the colder waters and have ordered new Pinnacle merino wool wetsuits in 7mm. That will be a big difference from Key Largo's no wetsuit needed diving. Our dog, Niles, is not quite looking forward to the adventure as much as we are. He has been getting use to his crate and is performing beyond all expectations that we had. He has had all his tests and shots and is signed up for direct airport release. He never would have survived the 120-day quarantine previously required. For his benefit through we are driving cross-country to Los Angeles...

I had a wonderful day of diving with Silent World key Largo on the 1st of September. The water was wonderfully clear, the temperature nice and warm, and the current was nonexistent. There was also Captain Bob who was as entertaining as ever. If you ever dive with Silent World Key Largo be sure to request show tunes from Captain Bob. Lately I have taken up an interest in the local coral formations. It is so fragile and we have so precious little thanks to divers with poor buoyancy control, anchors, and mother nature. Below are a few pictures including common and scientific names. Please note that there might be some errors I am new to this and it is a work in learning. Great Star Coral with Polyps extended Montastraea cavernosa Pillar Coral Dendrogyra cylindrus Knobby Cactus Coral Mycetophyllia aliciae Staghorn Coral Acropora cervicornis Elkhorn Coral Acropora palmata

I have had an amazing week of diving in Tavernier with Conch Republic Divers. My week started with checkout dives for three students from Colorado. Sam, Georgia, and Katie were some of the best students I have had the pleasure of diving with. And luckily for them they had some amazing dives. On their first check out dive at Snapper Ledge we saw two graceful and large eagle rays just swim past us. On their third check out dive we went to China Reef and they swam with at least 30 different nurse sharks. At one spot in the coral formation there were six large nurse sharks feeding while many others circled around us. It was one of those very unique experiences. Keep in mind that this was not a shark feeding episode but simply good timing on our part. Later that afternoon I was guiding a couple from St. Pete FL on a private charter for lobster hunting. We did not catch any lobsters (it's been a poor season thus far), but I did see my first Queen Trigger in the Florida Keys. Th...

Brownie and I have finally recovered from Stephen and Bruce's visit to Key Largo. During the visit they both became certified Open Water Divers under Brownie's expert tutelage. CONGRATULATIONS to both of you. Besides the diving we also did quite a bit of drinking , at you guessed it Sharkey's. Molly did a fabulous job of knocking Bruce flat on his back. That was a beer bottle recycling record for us in Key Largo. First night in Key Largo's Sharkey. Besides drinking and diving we also managed a trip to the Everglades for an airboat ride. The city boys got a taste of Everglades wildlife close up.

It was a gorgeous day today as we headed out on our two dives. After our 40 minute boat ride to the Duane from Tavernier Creek Marina we were all ready to jump in the water. I was probably the most anxious as it was an amazing day. The water was as smooth as glass and the sun was shining brightly, hence the Sunshine State. Everyone jumped in and all was fine. And then.... about 10 feet down the descent line the current decided to just sweep in. It was quite a current. We hit the deck at about 100 feet. I decided to take us towards the superstructure to get some protection from the current. The current was picking up the entire time. After about 12 minutes into the dive my students were needing to get back to the line for an ascent. Though we were not far from our original bow line there was no way they were going to be able to reach the line while fighting the current and have ample air for a slow safe ascent and required safety stop. So I decided to take us up the smoke stack line. Th...

2 Spotted Eagle Rays in the distance. As we pulled up to the mooring ball they were swimming so close to the surface you could almost touch them. I jumped in as fast as possible, but it's impossible to match a sea creatures speed. School of Midnight Parrot fish. Florida Lobster. Notice: NO CLAWS. He needs to watch out. Mini-season is coming up next week. That's when the FL waters are full of amateur (IDIOTS) lobster hunters and diving related deaths and accidents sky-rocket. I'm cynical but true to fact. Too many novice divers take safety for granted and go out hurt themselves resulting in a misrepresentation of the sport as dangerous. The sport is not dangerous but inexperienced and unknowledgeable divers are very dangerous. Atlantic Spadefish School of minnows, bait ball.

Wet Dog Brownie and I took Niles on another salt water experience. He did better this time than last week. Keep in mind that it is all relative. Despite being part Labrador, Niles is not a big fan of water. He did manage to walk in to chest belly level all on his own. He's actually a bit too fat to swim properly at the moment. He went to the vet yesterday and he is officially 40+lbs overweight. We are working hard to bring down his weight. Every morning I take him on a nice jog and once a week we take him swimming so he can lose weight through stress. Niles in shallow water. Niles securely in Brownie's arms. Niles in water to deep for him to stand in. He's actually having to swim.

New Equipment, WOW!!! We finally closed on our house in Atlanta. Now we are totally free of debt and can soon fall off the radar. The other benefit is that Niles is now in Key Largo with us and I had funds to buy new gear and get a housing for my camera. I have some shots below taken with the new housing. The pictures were taken on a trip with Silent World Dive Center to the the wreck of the City of Washington and South Ledges in Key Largo. One of the many benefits of no longer working with RRDC is that we actually dive places other than Winch Hole, Fire Coral Cave, and the Benwood Wreck. The pictures have not been touched up in Photoshop. As is obvious a lot of the reds are missing. I hope to get a filter to add more of the red back to the pictures. Keep a look out for more pictures. I suspect I will be posting many more. Whitespotted Filefish Cantherhines macrocerus Scrawled Filefish Aluterus scriptus Nassau Grouper, protected species Epinephelus striatus City of Washington Soft ...