Scuba Dream Time

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 ...