SLA032611A Wreck dive on the barge

It was a beautiful day after a storm blowing through the night before, although it was a bit sporty. We had a relaxed start with a cooked breakfast and filled tanks on the way out to Sombero. The conditions were petty good. There was nothing out of the ordinary except for several lionfish under a few overhangs. We're seeing more and more of these; wish I had my pole spear. Next we moved on to an old haunt...Flagler's Barge. This is a big triangle of a barge. The top plates and ends are intact with a little framing holding it all together. Regardless, it counts as a wreck dive. There were alot of fish with the report of a large eel and two turtles. I saw one of the turtles, an old green turtle with a few barnacles on it's beat up shell. It stayed around, swimming around with the divers, giving them a good look at a turtle up close. We ended the day by coming back to anchor at Boot Key. The crew fished for baitfish, catching catfish and puffers too. Then they moved on to the big rods for a little shark fishing. It was a good day; no one lost a weight belt (almost one) and everyone had a great time.

SLA032611A Finally in the water

After Sunday's fiasco I didn't know how yesterday would go. We put them in the water to try the lead dive again at Looe Key. This time I had them all follow the mooring line down to meet me in the sand at the bottom. So far so good. One diver had to return to the boat because of ear problems. I lead the group up a sand channel to the shallows, stopping to do a head count. When we got to the shallows there was a Southern Ray that stuck around so everyone could get a good look. The group looked good, no bouncing off of the bottom, no breaking the surface so I turned them loose to have a dive. They all made it back to the boat on time. We moved on to Sombrero for the first 'buddy dive'. It too went well so we had dinner then did their first night dive. Two divers sat this one out. The conditions were great. I lead one pair of divers on a tour while all of the others were turned loose. We saw nothing of note except a lobster and a large coral crab in a barrel sponge. At the end of the dive I sat on the bottom with my light off to enjoy the bioluminescense .

SLS032611A New Crew...bad start

Yesterday we arrived at the boat and loaded up. Things went very well. This is a tight , motivated crew. Off we went for our lead dive at Western Sambo. On the way we heard several other dive boats chatting on the radio about how bad conditions (visibility, etc.) were at other dive sites. When we arrived at Western Sambo we grabbed a ball and found that the visibility was crap; we could hardly see down the mooring line. The Captain and I talked it over and decided to go to Toppino's Buoy and have a look. At Toppino's it looked a little better so I got in and did conditions. Visibility was a little better so we decided to try the lead dive. What a goat rope. The tag lines were all screwed up so I couldn't get them together on the lines. We finnaly went down and the group broke into two groups, immediately getting separated. I surfaced with my group, went to find the other group which had drifted further from the boat and surfaced them. One of the divers was having a problem, saying he had been stung by jellyfish. We all went back to the boat, got on board and ended the day agreeing to try again tomorrow at Looe Key. Oh yeah, I also had to recover a weight belt in the beginning...an omen.

Done with SLS031911A

The last day with the crew went well. Although we expected bad visibility at 'middle sambo' (western sambo) it was actually good. The vans were waiting for us when we arrived at the dock so the lucky crew didn't have to clean the boat. I was able to get a much needed nap on the drive home which made the evening go much better. The crew still had a pile of certification paperwork to complete for their advanture diver certs. which had us in the chart room until after 8pm. All I have left is a few loose ends on the paperwork and I'm done with them.
Now I have to deal with the next crew, which arrived a day early. Thankfully Christy and Laura did the swim test, equipment issue and pool check with them. There are two more crew members yet to arrive but that will be easy. Thanks girls!

Improved Diving

We started the day early by running for Looe Key, filling tanks along the way. Looe Key had improved visibility, a nice change for the crew. I saw a reef shark early in the dive. The shark was curious and stayed around for awhile.
We next moved on to Sombrero Reef. Visibility was even better there. The crew had a great dive, preparing for their night dive.
The night dive was also great, with visability even better due to the incoming tide. There was plenty of bioiluminescense that looked like a sky full of stars.

Diving in the murk

Visibility has not been the best lately. All three dives yesterday were murky. We were at Nine Foot Stake, Toppinos and Western Sambo. All of the divers did quite well except one group of chuckleheads that kept overshooting the boat, possibly swimming under it several times. It's unfortunate that they aren't seeing better visibility because they don't see as much unless they are right on top of things.

First dives

The crew did their first dives today. The weather was a bit cloudy, the wind was up and the air a bit cool. It was still a bit sporty and vis. was only 10 - 15 feet but we did the lead dive anyway. Because the crew is so inexperienced I was a bit worried about the dive. I was wrong. They did quite well. I didn't lose anyone and their buoyancy control was pretty good.
The second dive was a 'buddy dive'. I had to retrieve two weight belts at the very beginning of the dive. I hate retrieving belts and that was two more bounces I had to do. I spent the dive leading Beth and Emily on a pretty long distance dive at Toppino's Buoy. When I surfaced to locate the boat and take a bearing I lost them. I had left them on the bottom to wait for me. We were pretty far from the boat. I surfaced again to look for bubbles, didn't see any, thought about the surface current drift and went back down and located the pair. We headed back to the boat following my compass bearing and surfaced just ahead of the mooring line. Dive saved. Everyone else made it back to the boat with nobody getting behind the boat in the surface current. Good job!