Dive Reports
Local Reports
Pompano Beach 4/27/08
What a day for diving !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, my "diving" weekend finishes up after doing 7 dives since Friday.
My ole dive buddy Peter took the day off .. and I dove with Dennis Maguire.
Today's dives took me over the the "Dive Outfit of the Century" ... SFDH.
Nye at Lighthouse Dive put me on board the Aqua View with the Captain of the Century,
the Venerable Capt. Dick Beard and his trusty sidekick ... "Queen B" Capt. Lori.
Well ... the rolling and choppy seas were really not foretelling of conditions below.
On today's first dive, we jumped in on the United Caribbean after Captain Dick found her
in record time without the use of his GPS. Capt Lori jumped in, tied off and came back with a stellar report of conditions below.
Viz was truly over 100 feet and the water was true blue.
You could see the shadow of the stern of the Caribbean from the middle of the rock pile.
On the sand, the current was virtually non existent with just a slight (very slight) push northward.
We went over to visit the Sea Emp, but we did not see any of the local population, so
we returned to the Caribbean.
The second dive, Capt Dick piloted us over to Lighthouse Ledge.
Viz was at around 60 to 80 feet with a slight push to the north ...
then the south ...
then the north again ...
There was plenty of life around and the reef appeared quite healthy.
Capt Dick allowed me 58 minutes on the first dive and 55 on the second.
With these conditions ... what more can you ask for?
Aside from the building seas ... it was really a perfect day.
Seven dives over the weekend ... 68 dives since Jan 1 .. .and Truk is only 13 days away.
Have a great week, everyone.
See you next weekend.
-Joe
West Palm 2/8/08
OW Class - Chelsea
W Palm Beach, Diving Solutions
Nice February day - high 70's air temperature, water turned out to be 75degs - nice and blue. There was a small group on Doug's boat doing drift dives at Flower Gardens and Teardrop. We saw lots of critters, all the big stuff except for a nurse shark. As Marine Bio student, Chelsea was able to really enjoy the Sea life, besides the regular schools of fish. We saw 3 species of Eel, 2 big crabs, southern stingray, small turtle, lobster, anemones, and a first for me, a spotted cleaner shrimp (Thanks Troy). A great set of dives; great introduction for an enthusiastic new diver. Congrats Chelsea.
-Jim Flynn
West Palm 2/24/08
3 tank Dive
W Palm Beach, Diving Solutions
Today was a dark and cloudy day up in Palm Beach.
Jeff with JND SCUBA had invited me to go out with him and Donna with Dive Solutions.
The boat left at 0745 for a three drop journey.
Dive 1:
We dove the Mizpah wrecks on the first dive ....
Conditions on top were pleasant with barely a roll. Below, was dark ... very dark .. almost like doing a twilight dive. The wreck is really quite a dive with a lot of life and areas to penetrate. The PC1170 is an old patrol boat right next to it and it was battered. but still
quite enjoyable.
Dive 2:
Well ... I would like you all to meet .. in imagery .. "Trinidad" the Triggerfish.
He was a rather brash sort who actually started off bothering Jeff on the second dive
which was on the Tennis and Bath Reef .. (or was it Bed Bath and Beyond Reef?????)
The water was cloudy and green .. but viz was pretty decent for what it was ... and
even though the sun peeked in and out, it was still pretty dark below.
Trinidad (Trinny, for short) was hanging around Jeff .. who made it quite clear that he was
not in the mood to play.
Trinny didn't quite get it as he kept going after Jeff time and time again.
Once Jeff " shoo'd" him away, he saw another target ... me.
Luckily, though, I had my trusty camera with me and Trinny loved seeing himself (or was it
an intruder ???) reflected in the dome port of the camera housing.
He kept banging into it ... with teeth (all 3 ... didn't anyone ever tell him that flossing should be a required activity every morning ???) showing.
You will see in one of the images, his lips pressed against the dome.
Anyway, he hung around with us for around 10 minutes ... even when we tried to go, he kept at it. Circling about, I was able to grab a couple of decent images of him.
During the latter part of the second dive we came across a couple of file fish.
Quite beautiful, really.
I was lucky to get one of them hanging and peeking through the rocks ..
Dive 3:
Later, we came across two rather large Puffer fish who were either playing or
mating or something ... They kept swimming in circles around each other.
(As this email is geared to all family members .. I will keep it clean.)
So, in honor of those who invited me, I named them "Jeff and Donna".
It was a really interesting behaviour to watch.
I think it was Donna actually chasing Jeff around.
I knew immediately which one was Donna, you know ... the female of the two ..
the one with the bigger mouth (as you will see in the images).
We watched it for a while and on a couple of occasions, Donna came by and also
nudged the port a bit. I think she was smelling Trinny ... but realized that Jeff was the
only one for her.
So, we reached our 40 minute limit .... yes ... limit ... and had to leave our new friends
to mother nature and make a bunch of new puffers for the sea.
-Joe Marino
Pompano Beach 3/2/08
Ancient Mariner and Sunkist Reef
Hi folks ...
I hope that you all enjoyed this weekend ... the weather was absolutely perfect.
Well .. Peter was ill today. Apparently he caught something from Janet .. his new girlfriend.
I tried to warn him ... but he just wouldn't listen.
Today, he had signed us up on SCUBATYME ... but unfortunately, he couldn't make it.
Let's hope he gets well by next week.
Jersey John couldn't dive either ... He was out hitting golf balls all day ....
Well .. I don't golf .. but I can' t blame him as it was a gorgeous day.
Capt John and DM Amanda took a boatload out to the Ancient Mariner and Sunkist Reef.
Seas were a sloppy 2 to 4 on top and below there was a strong south current with a west push.
Visibility was a silty 40 feet with a lot of particulate matter.
I met up with Bennie the Blennie on the wreck today, but he appeared very, very shy.
At one point he retreated into his hole and disappeared for a while.
So I only took shots of him from a distance today ...
No problem though, cause I met up with Bennie's cousin Lennie, who was more than
willing to step in as the "blennie du jour".
I spent over 30 minutes with Lennie ....
After 47 minutes, I ascended to rough seas and had to wait 8 minutes for John and Amanda
to bring the boat back and pick me up.
I got the SSS treatment today .......
SSS ????
Such SCUBATYME service !!!!!!!!!!!
(I do not mean you, Amanda ...)
The tremendous service was to continue, though ... Shortly after the first dive, the boat's
engine died and we had to wait for 45 minutes before John and Amanda could repair the
engine and get us going on the second dive.
(So .. Let's see ... 8 plus 45 .. makes for a nice surface interval ... )
On dive 2 .. we dropped onto Sunkist.
I was down for around 30 minutes and I heard this boat .... very loud ... and appeared to
be right over my head.
All within possibly 2 seconds, I looked up, saw the wake and immediately was pulled back
by the flag line; then it let loose ... or appeared to.
My line went slack ... and as I reeled it in, the flag was no longer attached to the line ...
So .. here we go ... similar to the old "You make the call" TV commercials on NFL games,
I will give yo a number of scenarios to determine what you would like to make of the remainder
of the story of today's dive experience ...
So, then ... "You .. finish the story ..."
A ... John was so ticked off by the engine dying, and wanted to get back to the dock,
that he raced over to the flag ... yanked on it, trying to get me to reply,
then promptly cut the line to cut my dive short ....
B ... Jeff was so upset that Peter signed us up for Scubatyme, that he had Capt Dick plow
the Aqua View over the flag until the prop cut the line ...
C ... Aria was trying to get John's attention .... and her Safari Diver came a bit too close to the flag ...
D ... The US Navy had me volunteer to search for sunken and lost ordnance. All I could find
was an old Coke can (Coke .. as in Coca Cola) .. Then a huge nuclear sub came by and
dragged me around 1/2 mile before the flag line severed ... It all turned out OK though
because Robert DeNiro was on deck and he jumped in to save me ...
(For you "Men of Honor" fans...)
E ... Nye wanted to cut my dive short so that he could have the air in my tanks and use it
to fill some of the other tanks at the shop as his compressor is still down ...
F ... Enzo was actually hiding behind the reef and cut my line because he hates my emails
and wanted me to get lost ...
G ... A hungry Tiger Shark was ticked off at the media for yet another total misrepresentation
about the facts that occurred about that diver in the Bahamas last week, so he chomped
onto my flag line thinking that it was attached to a bait ball.
H ... Cap't Nicks girlfriend Nancy was using her little dive scooter and became so excited that
she finally caught a lobster that she wasn't watching where she was going and plowed into
my flag line severing it with the scooter's prop ...
I ... Some South Florida boater was just out joy riding today and wasn't watching where
he was going. He (or she) hit the flag, pulled it and almost immediately cut the line ...
pulling me back around 10 feet ... then forcing me to cut my dive short.
OK ... So .. Finish the story .........
Have a great weekend .. and a better week.
-Joe Marino
Pompano Beach 4/5 & 4/6
Open Water Class:
Congrats to our four new Open water divers. They faced some challenging conditions on their checkout dives. On Saturday the conditions were 4 to 5 feet, but the visibility was about 20' and water temp about 77 degrees. On Sunday, the seas were 3 to 4 feet.
Sunday Morning:
After a lite shower of rain while loading the boat, the sun started to rise and it was going to be a great day. We headed out the inlet and made are way south to dive the Scutti and Tracey Wrecks. Upon arrival of the wreck sites there was another boat on the Scutti. Ed our divemaster, jumped in with chain in hand and tied us into the wreck of the Tracey. It was a great dive, plenty of places to explore and lots of critters to watch. The visibility in the 50+ ft range and bottom temp. of 78 degrees. For the second dive half the group dove the Coleman Tugs and the other half dove Sunkist Reef. The group who dove the tugs had a great dive, and got a little surprise, well big surprise. They saw about a 10' bull shark cruising around waiting for us divers to get out of the way.
-Anthony
40 Fathom Grotto & Eagles Nest
Friday 4/11 & Saturday 4/12
I did 4 training dives in two days at the grotto. The topside weather was bright and sunny, and the water conditions were not too bad either. The new management has done a great job with getting 40 fathoms in probably the best condition it has ever been in. We dove pretty much everything from 150' to the surface. Even though they killed off the Duckweed, they put tilapia, which seems to be doing the trick. The vis was around 25-35' and temp was about 68 degrees.
Sunday 4/13
First time at Eagles Nest today, and I like it a lot. Our plan was to drop down the main line to where the downstream and upstream lines meet. We then headed down the upstream line until we reached 150' and headed straight to the wall. As we reached the wall we just swam around the edge and spiraled our way up. From 120 to 150 feet the vis was great, as far as your light could shine. As we moved up to 120 and above the vis got worse, there were large particles floating around. We ended our dive at 25 minutes and began our ascent. Started deco at 70' on backgas and worked our way up to 20' were our O2 was waiting. Deco was pretty much uneventful until I was at my 30' stop and a avalanche of green moss crap came dropping down on me . There was a group of 3 divers coming down and I don't know what they were thinking. One was in doubles; maybe 17 years old, 1 was in a single with a single 80 slung across his waist and the third diver just in a single 80. So after getting crap all over me and they went down, I moved to my 20' stop and found plastic bait. This gave me something to do when I reached the catfish in the log I went fishing, but then the fish got the best off me and stole the bait. All in all it was a great dive and can’t wait to dive it again. The vis in the basin was 10 to 15', with overcast sky’s and little rain drizzle
-Anthony
Rodeo 25 & Lighthouse
TODAY MY DIVE BUDDY JOE AND ME VENTURED OUT INTO
THE MIGHTY ATLANTIC OCEAN,OK, WE WERE REAL CLOSE TO SHORE.....
RODEO WRECK AT 135' TO THE SAND BUT SPENT MOST OF MY TIME IN THE 90-70' RANGE SO I COULD GET MORE BOTTOM TIME.....
VIZ ON WRECK AND REEF IN THE 40-60'RANGE WITH ANNOYING
CURRENT AND SURGE ON THE REEF...
NOT TO MUCH GOING ON THOUGH BUT WE GOT OUR 1HR
BOTTOM TIME IN ANYWAY....
SEAS ON TOP WERE 3-5' WITH WIDE CRESTING WAVES,AT
TIMES.....
BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY WITH WATER TEMPS FROM 78-81F.
-Peter Welling
Student Checkout Dives
Today is Sunday, June 8, 2008 and we went to Pompano this morning. The seas were 2 to 3 feet and a few people were sick. All the students did a super job. They are very excited. We did Sunkist and Touchdown reef. On Touchdown, the second dive,
the group saw a huge nurse shark, about 9 feet. There were lots of lobster and this reef was just loaded with grunts and lots of fish. It was the most fish I have seen in one place in Pompano.
-Donna
Touchdown Reef & Copenhagen
Hi folks ..
Peter and I took a morning off to go diving with our newest "favorite" Captain ... Lori.
With Florida in its current rainy season, all is well at Grass Grow .. so CEO Peter
was able to grab some time off to go diving with me.
Lori and Matt took Peter and I on the Aqua View over to the Touchdown Reef and The Copenhagen. Our plan was to do the RSB, but the current that came to the area over the weekend is still with us. Matt dropped 3 times and did his best to tie off .. but called it (rightfully so) after the third attempt even after tying in.
Seas were just a tad on the rough side with 2 foot waves. The current was pretty tough .. but not devastating. It made for a lot of pull on the flag; hence, making it tough for picture taking.
I saw a lot of critters that I have never really seen before and got caught up on
what I think is a mantis shrimp.
Anyway .. Have a good week.
-Joe
Trip Reports
Key Largo 2/9/08
Spiegal Grove, Duane, Benwood & Reefs
Key Largo, Captain Slates
"I had not gone diving in a while, but needed a break and Key Largo sounded exotic. We got to Captain Slates Atlantis Dive Center and to my amazement; there was a film crew on one of the boats going out. It was not the deep dive boat I was on, but some of the folks from the group went aboard the boat to be on the video. It turned out that Frazier Nivens (a world class film expert) was doing a documentary on the reef and was using the divers on the outing as his backdrop for the film. Frazier had logged a lot of work with the Discovery Channel and I found had won an Emmy for his work in the past. The dive was getting interesting.
That afternoon we dove the Spiegel Grove. It was a deep dive at 92 feet. We could have gone to 120 feet, but wanted to tour the top of the sunken ship rather than a quick down and up. Both Jeff and Donna, the owners of the JND dive shop, took the time to find my level of expertise and gave me a lot of one on one instruction during our conversations on the boat as well as at the dive center. Their instruction allowed me to stretch my dive limits and I felt confident given the discussions we had on the surface. We saw a lot of large fish and it was a treat to see the artificial reef created by the ship. Later we dove the BenWood wreck.
While on the wreck, I floated through a school of Yellow Tail Snapper, and as I emerged through them I was surprised to see Donna on the other side of the school with a camera in hand. She motioned that she was going to snap a picture. I had fish all around me. With the flash of the camera, I had my valentine’s present and a lot of memories in the bag."
"The next day we were to dive the Duane wreck and Molasses reef. The Duane was a treat of the trip. The current was a bear. Prior to the descent, Jeff advised the group of the hurdle and instructed us on how to use it to our advantage. While down I counted 32 Barracuda off the bow of the ship, I got within a foot of a four footer, and we saw loads of coral. What a thrill!"
- Clinton Valverde
Truk & Palau
Back From Paradise
What more can be said....This most recent trip arranged by Jeff and Donna can be summed up in one word.......MARVELOUS.... We are the lucky ones to have traveled halfway around the world and visited two spots most divers can only dream of or read about in the dive magazines. We have just returned from Chuuck and Palau.
The first group set out for an adventure that would touch their souls. Growing up, we learned about the great dogfights and the battleship encounters of the South pacific in the history books and through the movies. I'm sure it was nothing like what was to be witnessed by the JND Dive Team. To have seen so much left untouched for over 50 years. Can you only imagine what it's like to see holds of ammunition and tanks and the many supplies that have outlasted their perile? While the sights below the surface were awe i nspiring, the above surface activities left a lot to be desired ( or at least they could have been better, maybe a pool would have been nice). But i guess the food was great and the wrecks were absolutely the best.
The first group met up with the 2nd group in the beautiful country of Palau . We all agreed getting there was so tough that the diving better be good, and it was great. Some of the sites visited were Turtle Cove, Lighthouse Channel, Drop Offs-Big; New; and Short (which was our fantastic Nautilus dive) Blue Corner (3X for some of us) Ngemelis Wall and a few others. Highlight of the trip was snorkeling at Jelly Fish Lake, and it was just as cool as we thought it would be. We encountered so many fish and animals not seen my many of us before such as, Clown Fish to numerous to count, White Tip and Reef sharks and a lone sighting of a Leopard shark, many Turtles, Queen Trigger just like the one on our t-shirts, Lion Fish, and so many others it's hard to recall them all.
WE must keep in mind a few travel tips... know for sure which day you are leaving for vacation, be prepared to be sitting on the wrong side of the plane when stopping in Yap as you will depart for security check, learn how to use your camera before getting there or you will waste a few days and will miss some great shots (I know firsthand), be careful which buttons you push on your camera while reviewing or you may loose all that you have shot, be careful when repelling down the side of a hill or you may hurt your foot and be on crutches the rest of your vaca, always know where you left your dive gloves or there may be talk of Palauian CSI/Police and or a threat of strip searches ( and if your fin fits a little to tight you might want to check there first), don't forget extra medicine cause you will get sick, if you want to see creatures from 1,000 ft deep you must offer up the Na utilus gods a sacrifice (tastes like chicken), you must decide which you prefer... Oscillate vs. Pulsate and of course if dryer is needed.
Big Thanks go out to : Maria and Ken for the awesome jewelry given to all; to Karen for reading my camera manual and getting me on the right photography track; to Rikki and Steve for sharing in the SURVIVOR excitement; to Burt for all his funny stories and for saving my camera, to everyone on the JND Dive Team who made this the most enjoyable trip, but of course Many Thanks go out to Jeff and Donna for all they do like arranging and convincing all of us to travel to far off destinations for the time of our lives. This was a trip of a lifetime.
- Take Care and Dive Safe,
Paula ( almost spelled the same as Palau )
For more picture Click Here.
Truk Lagoon
HELLO ALL,
JUST RETURNED FROM TRUK LAGOON WITH MAJOR JET-LAG BUT SHOULD BE OK IN A FEW WEEKS!!!!!
50HRS IN A PLANE IS NOT MY IDEA OF FUN BUT HAD TO BE DONE.......WEATHER ON CHUUK WAS IN THE 80'S WITH LOTS OF CLOUDS AND RAINY SQUALLS AND SOME OFF AND ON SUN..ACTUALLY SUN CAME OUT THE LAST DAY OF OUR TRIP!!!GO-FIGURE!!!!!
OVER 70 WRECKS ARE IN THE LAGOON, ALL ARE MERCHANT SHIPS THE JAPS SENT OVER TO RE-SUPPLY THEIR FLEET.....LOTS OF BOMBS,TANKS,AMMO,GUNS ETC.....,WATER WAS ABPIT 84F WITH LITTLE CURRENT....VIZ VARRIED FROM 30-150FT AND MOST WRECKS WERE ABOUT 100FT OR LESS...SANFRANCISO MARU WAS IN 200FT OF WATER AND WE WENT TO THE DECK AT 165FT TO SHOOT THE TANKS AND GUNS.....THAT WAS OUR DEEPEST DIVE....ALL IN ALL, A GREAT DIVING EXPERIENCE WORTH THE MANY HOURS IN CRAMPED AIR PLANE SEATS....
HOPE YOU ENJOY...........
- Peter Welling
For more picture Click Here.