By Gregg Stanton and contributors

Gregg Stanton

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January 3, 2013

The Diving Emergency

What to do when the unthinkable happens.
The worst has happened, someone has been hurt during a dive. What do you do?
Recovery to the surface is important, and first aid will help if the diver is still alive.
Who do you call for help? What do you do with the equipment?
Get the diver to the surface. If you can’t remember your basic training, or if your basic training was insufficient, remember to hold your dive buddy’s regulator in their mouth, using their BCD, slowly bring your buddy to the surface while maintaining a steady ascent. If you are having troubles drop your buddy’s weightbelt to make things easier.
Once you reach the surface, assess the victim, are they responsive? If medical attention is needed and you are on land call 911. If you are on a boat, use the marine radio VHF channel 16 and call the coast guard PAN PAN PAN. This is a distress signal that will alert the coast guard that you need medical assistance. If the victim is unresponsive, administer first aid and assess CPR.
Ask someone to keep the equipment sequestered. Turn off the cylinder after you note the pressure in the tank and note how many times the valve turns to turn off the tank. Make notes of everything you observe, conditions of the dive site, condition of the equipment, dive profile, and get the contact information for everyone who was involved. Ask each person to write down a witness report, what they saw, as soon as possible.
Co-operate with law enforcement, coast guard, EMS and boat captain. No matter what happens, be prepared.
Oxygen on board/at the dive site and delivery equipment is one of the best first aid supplies for any diving accident. Be trained to use the equipment, in first aid, in CPR and in any of the medical evacuation procedures for the dive site that you attend. Know where the nearest hyperbaric chamber is located to your dive site, as well as the phone number of your local EMS and LifeFlight helicopter service. In Wakulla county, you will be transported to Capital Regional Medical Center under the care of Dr. William Kepper, their chamber medical officer.
Medical treatment for diving injuries can be very expensive. Medical evacuation and hyperbaric chamber treatment can exceed thousands of dollars. The Divers Alert Network (DAN), an advocacy group for divers in the USA, provides an insurance policy that covers these treatments and transports and are available at a minimum fee. They can be reached online or by contacting your local dive center. DAN also serves many uses so please look at their services for divers. DAN contact information: 1-800-446-2671 or (919) 684-2948, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Now the worst has happened, are you going to be prepared?

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January 10, 2013

An Underwater Look Forward in Wakulla County

Last week I attended the Beachwood 31st annual New Year’s Eve party at the Livingstons residence. There, amongst our friends and neighbors, we typically review what has happened during the last year.
This year the continued increase in home foreclosures, loss of jobs and general economic strife was distressing. Some are solidifying their resources while others are just leaving town for greener pastures. One dive shop in Tallahassee went out of business a week ago, and the other has branched out away from diving into archery.
Our efforts to open Wakulla Springs State Park to qualified recreational diving was defeated. Indian Springs (next to Wakulla Springs), owned and operated by the YMCA, sold their property north of Route 267 to private developers, who are now proposing to rent the property surrounding the springs. Access to the basin and cave for diving has been closed while the new owners decide how they want to proceed.
All of our December and January international attendance has canceled citing economic stress or disinterest in the county. The new cave dedicated store, Cave Connections, is busy identifying caves on private property that are only available through their facility, following in the footsteps of the out-of-town group that currently dives Wakulla Springs. None of this bodes well for Wakulla County economically.
What then, can we see for underwater Wakulla in the crystal ball? Providing we survive the asteroid that is scheduled to pass between the earth and the moon on Feb. 15, there is a summer reprieve coming. The inshore (out 9 miles) spear fishing season for Gag Grouper may open on April 1 through June 30, if the FWC draft proposal is implemented.
That season will close inshore and open offshore in federal waters (9 miles to the shelf) July 1 through November or December. Red Grouper also opens April 1 through the end of January. Amberjack opens Aug. 1 and closes May 30. Red Snapper has not been determined at this time according to the FWC website.
Our scalloping season in the shallow grass beds near shore now extends from July 1 through late September.
And of course, for those who visit the Florida Keys for lobster, the mini season is in late July and opens otherwise Aug. 6, closing at the end of March. This summer could be a bumper year if inclement weather does not interfere.
See http://myfwc.com/media/2455479/Gulf_Seasons_AtAGlance_2013.pdf for more details.
On shore, further cave exploration continues south of Route 98. The reported known 400-plus windows into the karst should be expanded with the renewed cave diving by several exploration groups.
Deep exploration is hampered by the rise in the cost of helium, now at over $100 per 280 cubic feet (cf) cylinder. A diver who, say, breathes 1 cf per minute at the surface wants to dive to 200 feet in a cave or off shore, which may use a 50 percent helium mix, will pay $3 per minute at that depth. At that rate, his twin cylinder set will cost him $107, (not counting decompression gases) just for breathing gas.
The dive will cost him/her in excess of $150, which encourages exploration divers to take up rebreathers….. or some other pastime.

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January 17, 2013

Time to get ready.

The weather may be uncharacteristicly warm, but few are currently diving. The ocean is still on the cool side.
I do see many boats on trailers pass by us preparing for the upcoming season.
And we are no different. A good friend donated a nice boat to our efforts to move more diving offshore. Folks are tuning up engines, testing electronics and charging or replacing batteries.
April arrives soon enough. The excitement is epidemic with this warm weather.
Your diving equipment is as important a life support technology as is your boat. Your cylinder may need a visual inspection, a hydro test or valve cleaning having sat idle since last summer.
Your regulator needs an annual tune up to perform at its best.
And just like the PFDs required by the Coast Guard, so too should you inspect and test you Buoyancy Compensator.
Every year our attendance at national conferences makes us aware of diving improvements.
Our evaluation of diving incidents has taught us two lessons: 1. Life support equipment not routinely serviced and maintained leads to needless emergencies. 2. The majority of emergencies underwater are the result of poor or “rusty” training.
Both have a basis in attitude.
Refreshment training is always a good idea. This can be done by what is called continuing education: upgrade to Nitrox breathing gas, or Oxygen Delivery for management of decompression, surface-supply hose diving, spearfishing, or even rebreather diving. Better diving technology and techniques abound.
Every one of these topics are new and exciting, enabling divers more and safer bottom time.
Training is not hard to find and timely with four months until April.
Yesterday, a boater told me he fine tunes his engine, and streamlines his boat and his boating skills to be faster every year. He said he wants to avoid ocean emergencies by having the ability to return to shore rapidly should a storm threaten.
We divers need to proactively engage in similar improvements to avoid the underwater emergencies we can avoid.
Safe diving, like safe boating, is no accident!

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January 24, 2013

Zero to Hero

In a time when near instant gratification is possible because of the internet, many are expecting similar options from all aspects of life.
An email arrives with the expectation of immediate response. When I don’t, the sender is offended.
Such technology permits rapid access to information increasing the efficiency of learning. Our younger folks are tuned into the internet.
Consequently, everything is speeding up.
I was told a few days ago that scuba instruction has been made more efficient by Internet e-learning. Students are plugged into a distant database and structure automated class, and “taught” the knowledge part of diving.
That left the water-work half of the class to finish training the student in one weekend. They doubled the number of students, making more money. Now, diving instructors can be expected to focus on the water skills and not on the knowledge of diving!
The shop owner did say she was disappointed how little dive instructors understood the science of diving these days, but she can now blame the agency producing the e-class when injuries happen.
When I taught diving at the university, our basic students took 16 weeks to learn to dive. Their instructors took a minimum of 16 months to become a certified scuba instructor. They first had to pass the Dive Technology course where they mastered how our equipment worked and is repaired.
The next semester was dedicated to learning how to assist in a class (Assistant Instructor). Passing those tough exams let the candidate move on to Dive Master, training to manage the risk of diving.
Passing those exams and supervising dive operations allowed the individual to enter a formal instructor course leading up to a battery of practical and academic tests at the end of the fourth semester.
Of course, everyone worked around the basic students every semester, a type of mentoring program from the top down.
Today we find people who only learned how to dive a year ago, teaching others to dive with little experience or understanding themselves. We call this a “zero to hero” situation.
I often speak to folks looking for refresher courses just to better understand what was missing from their basic scuba class. Pick your instructor and their training program carefully. Then take the time to soak up the information and skills to make diving truly enjoyable. Then find like-minded friends and go diving in the water.
Once comfortable, expand into new diving areas and skills. Diving is full of opportunity best taken as a journey, not a destination.
And like so many things off the Internet, let the buyer beware!

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January 31, 2013

Crustacean Condominiums

Two decades ago, Dr. Bill Lindberg of the University of Florida and I at Florida State collaborated on a Sea Grant study into crustacean reproductive strategies, by first building an artificial reef that would attract our target species.
We chose the Stone Crab for obvious economic reasons and expected community support (or so we thought). I set to build what we thought would attract this crab after discussions with local crabbers in St. Marks and Cedar Key.
Our presentation on the topic in Wakulla County was met with considerable push-back, ultimately informing us that if we tried, the shrimpers would drag the sites and destroy them. Taking the hint, we moved the research entirely to Cedar Key.
We spent the first summer building reef modules underwater out of broken cinderblock with a rebar mast in the middle. Mother nature pushed back as well, by sending us a hurricane that sat on the site for several days and buried it under three to six feet of sand.
My father, a civil engineer, reminded us of Archimedes Law, that states that an object is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the displaced material it occupies. In this case it was concrete in sand. Our reefs were heavy and easily sunk. His design was a floating block that would ride over the sand that hurricanes move.
The next winter I set to constructing reef modules or condominiums at the Hensen Wood & Hoe (HWH) cinderblock facility at Four Points, south of Tallahassee. The module contained holes on all lateral faces, elevated enough to keep the sand out and “float” the unit on the sea floor. HWH donated more blocks and let us assemble wooden forms to contain surplus concrete.
Each module cost us 50 cents each because of industry and student cooperation. Soon we had more than 250 modules, loaded up on several flat bed railroad cars and shipped to Cedar Key. They were loaded on a barge and dropped at the same coordinates of the previous reef the next summer.
For three years, we studied this reef underwater and found we could attract up to 10 crabs in our meter square module during the winter. During the summer, their residency was considerably less but more a matter of food limitations than mating strategies.
Single modules developed a halo in the sand around them, where the crabs would forage during the night. All of the halos were roughly the same radius suggesting when they ran out of food in the sand in a “comfortable” distance from the protective module, they moved on.
Assemblages of modules had the same radius out from the collective pile as the single module. The Crab Condominiums also attracted octopus occasionally, dispelling the crabs temporarily. Large fish also occupied the reefs suggesting a typical artificial reef community would ultimately develop and our exclusive habitat would develop greater predatory pressure.
I suggested a “scare fish” floating device that might chase octopus away, since we were farming the sea, but it was never tried.
This research reef still floats on the sand today, just as productive as it was during our study, and still used by UF students to study reef dynamics. The results of our research are published under Florida Sea Grant Publications.

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February 7, 2013

Business Underwater

Becoming a merchant has made me more aware of the challenges facing some of my underwater study subjects. Let me explain.
For years I observed marine creatures that survived by providing a service to their community. Science calls them cleaners, and by enlarge, dismiss their contribution as minimal and for the gratification of their host. Perhaps…
The most obvious to humans are the fish cleaners on a reef, specifically the Pederson shrimp found on Caribbean reefs. They are typically found roosting near anemones. Fish come to their location and are observed to patiently wait their turn, and then posture to the shrimp.
Once mutual consent is reached, the fish will expose an area of its body and the shrimp will jump on to pick parasites or flesh, “cleaning,” some times inflicting pain which is tolerated by the fish.
The fish will often open its mouth and permit the shrimp to enter, much like we humans do at the dentist. The shrimp presumably benefit with food, the fish with less parasites and better health.
Cleaner shrimp represent a benefit to many fish made obvious by the effort of fish to seek and defend cleaners and their station (The Wakulla News, Oct. 11, 2012) on a reef. Shrimp advertise their services by swimming away from the protective anemone (anemones sting like fire coral when touched) and “dance.”
Caribbean divers have learned to offer their hand in posture to these shrimp and are cleaned. I have witnessed shrimp refuse to clean a fish and be knocked off the station or later ignored.
Successful stations have a line of waiting fish, with multiple cleaners servicing clients. The established communications between these two species, more often in a predator-prey relationship, and the benefits derived by both in this relationship fascinated me then as a scientist and now as a merchant.
From our protective anemone, our center, we advertise our services (sign, newspaper, festivals, radio) which defines our facility. Our fish, customers, come to our station to learn skills for better health to safely enjoy a new realm, and acquire technology to make them more efficient. They occasionally flinch when paying for a service, but tolerate it for the derived benefits like the cleaned fish.
It is our customers after all, who defend our station and encourage our success. Like the cleaner shrimp, our success is only as good as the service we can render. Our customer participation at the center benefits our staff in terms of salary with which to feed their families. With more customer participation, more staff will be hired and our station will grow. Sound familiar?
At first glance it may sound far-fetched to compare our business with community life under water, and use the analogy to understand and improve our business processes.
Hans Hass, the Austrian explorer and naturalist, years before Jacques Cousteau, using an oxygen rebreather lived amongst the fishes, observing community dynamics.
Hass has made many movie documentaries, and written several books about his observations. It was later in life that Hass became a successful consultant when he made the connection between how fish literally integrate their behavior to minimize efforts and maximize outcome, and applied it to the business world.
This I just learned during a review of this article by Dr. Joerg Hess.
Now, about that dance…

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February 14, 2013

Decompression

By Travis Kersting

When you first take an open water training class it is a bit like drinking from a fire hose.
You will be bombarded with information, terminology and equipment, all the while you are daydreaming about that upcoming vacation. Much of what you’re force-fed only comes to realization much later in your diving career.
One of those things is decompression. A term often shrouded in fear, misunderstanding and disappointment.
Those who know nothing about it usually fear it, those who know very little usually avoid it, and those who are familiar with decompression tend to be disappointed by encountering it.
Decompression, or deco, is the term divers have given to stopping their ascent at specified incremental depths and for calculated amounts of time to allow the inert gasses that has accumulated in their system during the dive to be released safely.
The concept is often compared to opening a bottle of soda. Open it slowly and the gas is released and few bubbles are observed, open it fast and bubbles can overflow the top.
As divers we don’t want to bubble as it would literally make the blood boil.
Decompression stops are usually unnecessary when diving within the recreational diving limits, which is part of the definition of recreational diving in contrast to technical diving.
The practice of a safety stop was developed to allow your body to equalize a bit with the lessening pressure, typically at 15-20 feet deep. Your body undergoes the largest pressure change during the transition from the first atmosphere underwater, about 33 feet, to the surface. This safety stop is about half that distance to the surface, a critical point for one to ensure their ascent is controlled and the air spaces in the body can catch up with the pressure change. While not an explicit decompression stop the safety stop nonetheless minimizes bubble formation, and is a healthy practice.
Some instructors will teach that every dive is a decompression dive, which is technically true. More often than not that is the last and only time the subject is mentioned in an entry level class.
In single cylinder diving decompression is not recommended, as these mandatory stops often require ample breathing gas and prevent an immediate ascend to the safety of the surface.
That being said, if the water is warm enough, decompression stops are usually my favorite portion of the dive. I am able to relax, watch the local wildlife if present, or play games underwater. Some people even take books to read on dives where long decompression is planned. Deco time can be enjoyed on a wall dive in the ocean, tucked out of the flow in a cave passage, on a shot line in the great lakes, and anywhere in between.
You have paid for the breathing gas, fuel, food and other expenses associated with diving so why be in a hurry to leave the water?
Instead of doing two or three short dives in a day you could do one that is longer than the short dives combined and spend the rest of the day enjoying your vacation. This of course requires additional training and equipment but it can provide for a new way to explore and enjoy the underwater world when you are no longer as concerned with beating the clock of staying within the recreational limits.
Rebreathers ad an interesting twist to the subject. Suddenly you can do that extra long dive and still not acquire mandatory stops at the same rate of an open circuit diver.
How about diving to 70 feet all day and never having a deco stop pop up on your dive computer?
See you on deco.

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February 21, 2013

Our Tides

Last week my neighbor in St. Marks called to say my sailboat was leaning over so far that the mast was threatening bodily harm to the boat next door.
By the time I got there, the threat had passed leaving everything peacefully afloat. The river was noticeably low, presumably because of low rainfall. After all, the town of St. Marks is five miles inland and upriver from the sea. Could it be tides?
Gravitational forces of the sun and moon primarily pull our planet’s water towards them. As these objects move through space, one (the moon) orbiting the earth and the other (the sun) both earth and moon orbit about, they align their gravitational pull on the earth.
When both sun and moon are pulling in the same angular plane, this force is greatest, the tide is most extreme. We call this a Spring Tide. When these same forces are at perpendicular angles, the tides are minimal and are called Neap Tides.
So tides contribute to the rise and fall of the oceans water level. We take advantage of a falling tide to visit a mud or sand flat exposing marine life trapped in tide pools. Boats ride in or out over a harbor’s sand bar on a high tide.
We all know that fishing conditions are predicted based upon a rising or falling tide. And divers know that the high tide brings better visibility to a dive site with shore ward driven tidal waters. The movement of celestial bodies is predictable giving rise to tide tables.
If the tide was responsible for my boat’s behavior, then I could have found the low tide published. But other forces may undermine these tables.
On shore or offshore winds can alter the intensity of a tide, pushing or pulling water further on or off a beach than what the tide tables predicted. Typically, during our winter, we see a northerly wind (from the north) pushing the water south and creating lower tides. During our summers we have the opposite effect with southerly winds creating higher tides.
Tides reach inland through our rivers both above ground and below. Years ago, I placed a current meter at the opening to the Wakulla Springs cave (at 185 feet). The data collected reflected a tidal pulse.
Here two forces, earth’s gravity pulling water downhill and tides altered the flow of the water, reflected in the pulsing current of the spring. Many of our Archaehaline (marine connected) sinkholes have a tide, that is to say they rise and fall on a schedule that is tidal. They also reflect the water table, which is a reflection of the amount of local rainfall filling our aquifer.
My boat slip is on the shore of the St. Marks River and is usually floating year around. But on those days when the wind is out of the north, the rainfall or water table is low, and the tides are in spring condition, my hull rests on the river bank and for a short time lays her lofty rigging over those around her.
And I get the 2 a.m. phone call of a pending disaster.

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February 28, 2013

Water and electronics don’t mix

By Joerg Hess

Water and electronics don’t mix well. That is an old paradigm that holds true till today. Translated into everyday English, it means that you shouldn’t drop your cell phone in your drink. This is probably a painful experience most of us have had at some point in our lives. In the early days of diving, before electronics were even available, the underwater explorer was limited mostly to shallow depths and fairly short exposures. With the growing popularity of integrated circuits (also known as ICs) in the late 70s and early 80s, electronic gadgets grew in popularity. Up to that point, dive time was measured by mechanical (analog) dive watches which even today have a one way indicator ring to set bottom time. Depth was measured by mechanical depth gauges with limited accuracy.
The most successful attempt to combine reading of depth and time in a small device was made by a Swiss company by the name of UWATEC. It does not take much imagination to figure out what the name stands for. Their flagship product, the Aladin dive computer, was first developed by “Dive Team” in the early 80s. The ingenious trick they used was simply to embed the electronics in silicone oil, which is non-conductive, non-corrosive, and keeps water out of the thin-wall plastic housing. The resulting product could be mass-produced inexpensively and proved reliable. It was developed further for multi-mix breathing gas use and became a standard for divers in the 90s. Since then, many companies have produced better and cheaper dive computers. These computers became better at tracking a diver’s inert breathing gas absorption as they remain under water, and allow for a safer and slower return to the surface. Today, we have a vast variety of underwater dive computers to choose from costing from $200 to $2000. But that is not the end of the story!
The standard dive computer is merely a simulator with limited human interaction during the dive. The dive computer is well shielded from the harmful wet environment. The early ventures into self-contained, self-mixing closed circuit rebreathers, required electronics to not only measure, but actually intervene and control the life sustaining gas blender on your back. This includes exposing oxygen sensors to the moist breathing gas, as well as activating a powered solenoid valve to inject oxygen as the body required. One of the earliest reported attempts for a recreational rebreather was developed as early as 1968, and patented under US patent 3727626 as the “Electrolung.” The CIS-Lunar Mk1 rebreather was developed in 1984. It contained four independent computers. The Mk1 was successfully deployed during the Wakulla research project by the U.S. Deep Caving Team at Wakulla Springs, keeping a diver under water for 24 hours in a single dive.
Since the early days of rebreathers, their electronic control systems have been continuously improved. Unlike the dive computer mentioned earlier, however, rebreathers have not yet become a mass product. The development of electronic rebreather control systems has developed more slowly. We are happy to be part of this development, as some of the research into the high-tech electronics used in rebreather diving now happens at Wakulla Diving Center.

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March 7, 2013

Used SCUBA cylinders.

By Travis Kersting

Nearly every week I see a customer who has purchased a used scuba cylinder at a local yard sale or off Craigslist. The individual is usually very proud of the wonderful deal they found and I’m often wishing I had found it for myself.
Not all scuba cylinders are created equal and not all cylinders used for scuba are designed for it. Prior to my generation of diving it was not uncommon for divers to repurpose CO2 cylinders for scuba. This requires adapters and is actually illegal.
If you are looking at a cylinder, be sure it is EMPTY. Secure it from tipping over and slowly open the valve. If nothing comes out or the handle doesn’t turn then treat the cylinder with caution. There are safe alternate ways to drain a cylinder but please call me first. Under NO circumstances should you try and remove the valve while the cylinder could be pressurized.
Once the cylinder is empty carefully pick it up by the valve and tap the side with a block of wood or a mallet. If you hear a bell tone then it is steel. If you don’t then it is either aluminum, badly corroded inside and steel, or full of water. A magnet will tell you if it is steel or aluminum. In the case of corroded or water-filled cylinders tread lightly and avoid the purchase.
The next thing to examine is the stampings in the “crown” of the cylinder. You should see the letters DOT or ICC, these are required marking for filling and transport within the USA. You will also see markings like 3AA (Steel) or 3AL (Aluminum) and other variations starting with the letters “SP” or “E.” These marks represent the permit that the cylinder was manufactured under. Usually that set of markings is followed by the rated service pressure in PSIG. Together these will look something like: DOT 3AA 2250.
The manufacturers mark the cylinders in cryptic ways that are sometimes difficult to determine without training. If you can read the stampings the easiest thing is to call me and tell me what you see. If you see the letter “M” followed by a number then this is the manufacturer’s designation number and you could search it online. If you find any stamp marks in the wall of the cylinder it cannot be filled or transported legally.
You will see a series of stampings from hydrostatic requalification too. This process is done every five years. You should see a month, a symbol or series of small numbers, and a year for every requalification. If the date is past five years from today you will need to have it re-qualified. This costs usually $20-50.
At the time of hydro, or annually on cylinders used often, it is good to replace the pressure relief device too at an added expense. Older cylinders may need new valves or a valve service, as well, adding to the cost of bringing this used cylinder back to service.
Cylinders made of aluminum should be treated and handled with great caution until they have been properly evaluated. Never pick up a mystery aluminum cylinder when it is under pressure.
Trying to decide if a cylinder is worth $25 or $200 is, frequently, a complicated process. Scrap value is normally less than $10 and many scrap metal facilities will not take cylinders without some specific destructive measures on your part.
I encourage you to call me when you encounter any cylinder of unknown origin, contents, or age. Determining if a cylinder should be condemned is often subjective and difficult. Properly destroying a dangerous cylinder is also not so straight forward.

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March 14, 2013

Merritt’s Mill Pond.

The Merritt’s Mill Pond in Marianna, Jackson County, was once off limits to cave diving.
Built at the turn of the last century to drive a mill stone, the pond is a flooded valley that once had many springs. For years only a special few could dive their inundated caves, especially those of the Mill Pond known as Jackson Blue, Twin Cave and Hole-In-The-Wall.
During the mid-1980s, Parker Turner took me to the fish camp mid-pond and rented a small aluminum jonboat, which, after hours, we paddled across to the opposite side, to a land cave on the bank.
Folks called it Hole-In-the-Wall because there was a hole above an underwater cave. At that time, a small landing nailed between two trees made water entry with our heavy kit less likely to sink the boat.
The entrance was a narrow restriction at 20 feet after which a vertical shaft took us to horizontal passages going upstream or downstream. We would tie our safety reel to either one and explore huge clear passages that extended for thousands of feet.
Back then we mostly used open circuit air. Nitrox was just introduced and took a lot of time to blend.
Fortunately these sites usually did not go deeper than 100 feet so narcosis was manageable. At the end of the dive, we would slowly surface and scan the Mill Pond with our lights.
Our activity back then did attract the attention of the toothed kind, evidenced by twin reflected eyes staring back at our light beams. We would slowly move over to the platform and quickly climb out.
Several years later, the Jackson County Commission decided to open the headwaters or JB as it had become known to divers, to cave diving. They had already created a public park at this beautiful site complete with picnic tables, lawns, a beach and a diving board right over the cave entrance. For a fee, cave divers were permitted to dive only during the winter, when the park was closed to the public or after hours during the summer.
We had to drive to the far end of Marianna to the sheriff’s office, file a waiver, cave diver card and pay a fee, sign in and secure a key to the gate. When we finished the dive, we had to drive back to the sheriff’s office and let them know we were safely out.
Edd Sorenson was introduced to the area almost two decades ago, fell in love with cave diving and purchased a house with docks mid-pond. Typical to most cave support enthusiasts, he was soon filling cave cylinders from his garage and running pontoon boats to caves along the pond.
With support available and caves to dive, cave divers came! And they brought their money as well. Edd became the gatekeeper of the pond, cooperating with local authorities to keep diving safe in the area.
Then someone let an unauthorized person into the park who became entangled in a tight passage and drowned. The sheriff threatened to shut down cave diving in the county. But the National Speleological Society and the National Association of Cave Divers visited the county commission with data demonstrating that, since the park had opened to cave divers, these folks provided the bulk of their income. To the surprise of everyone, the commission not only kept the caves open, but also extended the diving opportunity year around, built cave diver-dedicated parking and buildings, and made check in/out easier by moving it to Edd’s place mid-pond.
Today, cave diving is recognized as the second largest income generation activity in Marianna and an internationally recognized dive destination. We like it. Every one of our students completes at least one day of training in Marianna.
During the summer we spend a lot of time explaining what we do underwater to the multitude of enthusiastic children with whom we share the park.

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March 21, 2013

Jackson Blue

By Joerg Hess

Last week, Gregg Stanton described one of the main spring systems for diving in North Florida, the Mill Pond in Marianna. Mind you, it has not always been that popular as a diving destination.
When I started cave diving in 1998, the Mill Pond was more of a secret rather than a destination. The county park was open to diving, somewhat, but under heavy limitations, to the point that only few diving visitors came.
The argument by the locals had always been that diving as an activity would never attract many visitors, or if it did, then these people would not spend money, or even worse, harass swimmers and fish, and destroy the environment.
I lived in Panama City in 2004, and Jackson Blue — the main cave in the Mill Pond — was just over an hour’s drive away. We would schedule Wednesday evenings as our dive time, checked in at the Marianna Sherrif’s office around 7 p.m., paid our dues, and were allowed into the park only after all other non-diving visitors had left for the day.
Jackson Blue at the time was considered an advanced cave, due to its depth of almost 100 feet, and extent with several miles of passage. The high flow also limited the diver’s ability to travel deep into the cave. In fact, the flow was so high (I was told) that it created a broil on the surface of the swimming area just under the jumping tower. Even using a diver’s propulsion vehicle or scooter would barely allow for pushing against the onflow.
As it turns out, none of the above were entirely accurate. Well, I suppose some of it was, at some point in history, but even 15 years ago technology had advanced enough to make “JB”, as Jackson Blue was lovingly nicknamed, a pleasure stroll in the park. The early days were limited to exploring a bit of the entrance area, less than 1000 feet distance from the surface. Bigger tanks, and additional tanks clipped to the side, called “stages” provided more gas, which meant more time spent in the cave.
Jackson Blue has other openings further into the cave. They may not be accessible for a person, but had been used in the past as a trash-disposal opportunity.
As a result, deep in the cave, a whole pile of trash and refuse, such as milk jugs, shoes and glass marks an area around what became known as “the traffic light.” An old discarded traffic light sits atop a limestone rock at 2,100 feet from the entrance. This became a good destination and turning point for our students.
Later acquisition of scooters allowed us to see the area behind the traffic light, which looks completely different. It reflects a night-time-winter-landscape, with fine grey-white sand and sand dunes that extend as far as the eye can see.
With the addition of rebreathers in 2005, the whole cave suddenly became accessible within an easy dive and little effort. Gas volume for breathing was no longer a concern, as long as sufficient breathing gas for emergency situations was carried.
Suddenly, the whole cave, once described as huge, appeared rather small, and the end of the cave as it was known at the time, at a distance of 4,500 feet from the entrance, became a popular spot for us, to venture around and smell the roses, pardon, limestone. For the most part, this “dangerous cave” had become tame, and is still a joy today.
Topside, things evolved as well. Cave divers followed their passion and acquired property at the Mill Pond, with additional access points to the water. Pontoon boats became available for rent, and the other caves in the pond became accessible for the diving public. Suddenly and almost over night, Jackson Blue and the Mill Ponds became an internationally known diving destination.
I still very much like diving in Jackson Blue, and there are still spots that I haven’t seen yet, so I need to go there once in a while and have a look. It allows me to de-stress from a hectic work schedule, and the visual impressions are still stunning every time I go.
Opening the site further has improved the infrastructure, and allowed the preservation of the whole pond. Even just a boat-ride on the pond is worth a visit – give it a try!

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March 28, 2013

New boat.

I understand the FSU Marine Lab has a new research vessel replacing a 50 foot craft that served them well for over three decades. Back then, the 65-foot RV Tursiops had just been returned to surplus property leaving the Marine Lab without a research and training ocean going platform.
Our fledgling diving program had faculty and students seeking marine exposure. With little funding and great resolve, I turned to the courts to find a replacement vessel. After two frustrating years of inspecting confiscated boats around the southeast, I found a Marine Management hull in the Miami River.
For the price of past due dockage, we could take possession of the Wolf, previously used to haul drugs from South America, now confiscated and turned over to FSU. With the resolve of youth, I took several students to Miami, stayed at a friend’s house and over two weeks reassembled what had been stripped (stolen) over the years. When the dock community figured out what we were doing they came to the rescue returning anchors, antennas, fixtures and engine components at no charge. We soon changed out crews and departed for the trip north.
Venturing out into the Miami River with our new boat was short lived. We met bow-to-bow with an incoming freighter, who with no room to maneuver and being much larger than us, forced me back on the dock! We did finally make it out into the Intercoastal Waterway headed for the canal that crossed south Florida through Lake Okeechobee.
Progress was slow as we struggled with contaminated fuel, weather and police raids.
A case of fuel filters accommodated the first problem, anchoring up during storms was relatively easy, but the police raids were another story. We later found out that the Wolf had a reputation which brought her passage to the attention of every legal jurisdiction we passed through.
Lights, sirens and bull horns became routine and small police craft would swarm out of hiding. Police, with hidden but obvious guns would demand our surrender. Paperwork would be exchanged and much frivolity expressed. I suspect they all used us as an exercise, alerting the next county along our passage for good measure.
A big storm kept us in Tarpon Springs for several weeks before moving on north. I had shifted crews again, this time taking on a student raised in Steinhatchee. With family there, we could hardly pass their harbor without a visit.
That night his father visited the boat and like so many before on this trip, recognized the craft. Only he offered to sanitize the Wolf, since he knew of the secret hiding places below.
I was ever so thankful to be rid of any lingering contents of its previous life and agreed.
On a late March evening, the Wolf, soon to be renamed the Nectes, then the Seminole, and finally the Cala Nectes, pulled into the FSU harbor to begin a new life in support of marine science.
I wish the new boat an equally rewarding experience.

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April 4, 2013

A dive saved is money earned.

By Travis Kersting

Murphy’s Law simply states that anything which can go wrong, will go wrong.
This is the basis for a process commonly called prepping. Individuals gather supplies, make arrangements in case of emergency, and even build elaborate shelters.
As divers we have been prepping, on a minor level, since day one. Dive gear breaks and stops working all too frequently and for a variety of reasons.
Companies have tuned into this and offer what they call “Save-a-Dive” kits. Usually these small kits are little more than a container with some of the common failure points. Perhaps a mouthpiece, a fin strap, a pack of O-rings, and some zip ties.
These kits are inexpensive and usually compact enough even for travel. Some are more elaborate with tools and even some even come with service tools for repairing regulators in the field. Many newer commercial versions can get very pricey and often contain items only for divers with a more in depth equipment knowledge.
The cave and rebreather diving community have taken the Save a Dive concept to whole new levels. It’s not uncommon to see individuals with entire trailers designated to their kit. That is the extreme side and this week I started putting together something easier to transport and specific to the rebreather used by our current students.
Fundamentally I started with a list in Excel. It included the description, part number, price, quantity, and a check box for inventory purposes. Some of the items can be sourced from the shop I work in, others needed to be sourced from hardware stores, while some will need to be special ordered.
All in all the kit will be nearly $1,000 but should contain virtually every tool needed to disassemble the rebreather as well as any common spares and even several more elaborate parts which we see wear out. Of course I don’t expect anyone to buy it, complete, but build it over time.
What I provide is a foundation of tools, the checklist, and a container.
This may seem like an unnecessary expense but the students, in this case, do scientific work in remote areas where equipment support is unavailable. Most times their research window is short and having to wait for a $3 part is not an option. Knowing what parts will wear out or misbehave isn’t always easy so the redundancy adds up fast.
I encourage all my fellow divers to be prepared to make minor equipment fixes at the dive site. However, few people should disassemble a regulator in the field, like I did for a diver at Ginnie Springs last week. What spares you carry is up to you but I would recommend it be something compact and easy to transport so you can take it on every dive.
It should also be water tight, or have a compartment that is, for the items which could corrode. On trips where you fly it may be impossible to take your kit but a trimmed down version is always good. You may not need it but someone else might and having that O-ring handy might earn you a free beer after the dive.
When you add up the cost of driving to the dive, lunch, boat fees, breathing gas, and the other expenses associated with our hobby it’s likely that the Save-A-Dive kit will be a real savings to your wallet over time.

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April 11, 2013

Rain!

We hope the spring rains are over! While most terrestrial folks have seen yards and ditches fill with an abundance of water, the story is entirely different underwater.
Yes, we love the rain, but when the swamps overflow as they most certainly have done recently, the discharge finds its way into sinkholes that deliver these tannins and other organics into our caves.
Mind you, the residents of these caves are only too happy for the replenishment to their limited diet. Local caves are teeming with blind crayfish and amphipods foraging on the ceilings, walls and floors.
The Suwannee River rose so high that Peacock Springs State Park went underwater several weeks ago, back-flushing their springs and caves. And nearly all the caves along the Suwannee are inundated.
Little River, a favorite county park was closed when river water covered most of the two stories of steps leading down to the waterfront. I met some desperate British cave divers who swam with a line tied to the flooded steps out into the park in search of the cave opening, which they did find. It was clear but with a low flow.
Manatee Springs, east of Tallahassee in Madison County, is also flooded. There are just too few sites left right now.
With the usual Spring Break diving tourists (many from Europe) arriving in the middle of our deluge, they found slim pickings at the usual dive sites.
In Wakulla County, the conduit running from Tallahassee to the Gulf of Mexico was very dark and flowing fast. I visited Emerald Sink and Whiskey Still Sink to witness these conditions myself.
Our visitors also inquired at Indian Springs, now under new ownership and management, to find conditions there deteriorated. So we sent them to Marianna and Jackson Blue Springs. All of the Merritt’s Mill Pond dive sites are clear and busy for all divers (within their respective diving qualifications) this time of the year.
I have never been so busy with classes on cave and rebreathers during these flooding times. We trained continuously for six weeks either at Jackson Blue, Ginnie Springs east of us over by High Springs, Blue Grotto near Williston and Eagle’s Nest north of Tampa.
We even made a dark dive in Squirrel Swamp near our facility.
One class stood out above all the rest. I trained four diving scientists from Bogota, Colombia on rebreathers.
They are marine biologists like myself, so we could relate to the many joys a rebreather will bring to their research. In spite of the long drives and challenging visibility, they mastered the skills and challenges required to continue their coral reef studies. They were not cold-acclimatized, we had a cold spring weather, and even our year around constant water temperature was a big strain on them.
We bundled them up as best as possible and they endured.
I have been advised to NOT bring a dry suit when, in September, I am to travel to Cartagena and join them on a coral spawn investigation.
Imagine a toasty south Caribbean ocean dive for four hours chasing coral gametes! Nothing could be finer.

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April 18, 2013

What is in a flag?

Apart from the cloth, design and colors, a flag is a symbol. Most countries have a flag that symbolizes their struggle for independence, their moral values and history.
Flags are used as a form of communications to identify nationality, types of activities or letters of the alphabet. Aquanauts use flags too.
Early in my career I used a flag as a current meter below our under ice portal in the Antarctic. The start of every dive began with a surface inspection of the flag at 15 feet. When seen fluttering at full extension, we would postpone the dives. When seen flapping gently in the current, we took note of its direction to plan our days activity. In 27 degree water, every contingency was carefully considered.
For centuries mariners have used a series of code flags to describe what is going on around their boat. Chapman’s Piloting, Seamanship and Small Boat Handling describes these flags in all their colors and shapes. The red diver flag for example, appears to be a derivative of the guest flag, which was blue with a white diagonal bar, and used when guests were aboard. Perhaps the diver was a welcome guest!
Divers inherited two flags used to indicate people in the water. The state of Florida adopted one, a red flag with a white diagonal bar from top pole to bottom outer tip as the required flag to designate a diver is within 100 feet.
Boats are not allowed to approach this flag within 100 feet under penalty of law. Divers in the water not displaying this flag in Florida waters can be fined $50. A person need only wear a mask to be defined as a diver so beware snorkel divers while scalloping along our coast.
Beyond State waters, 9 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government requires the blue against the pole, white pennant or Alpha flag for similar purposes. Technically these flags are not interchangeable.
We display the American flag high on our radio pole at Wakulla Diving Center. We display the Florida dive flag under our sign, a recognition that divers are found here. And we fly a green flag with an orange diagonal bar that designates that technical diving is supported here. These colors represent our blended breathing gas called Nitrox. These days, we produce more Nitrox than compressed air, the other gas divers breathe underwater.
This month I am attaching to our technical diving green flag an old symbol, the infinity or figure 8, which represents recirculation, to represent our re-emerging rebreather technology.
It was first used by Borelli in the 1700s next to a drawing of a hypothetical rebreather diver. No one took the drawing of the diver seriously and consequently overlooked the bow of a submarine protruding into the picture.
Cornelius Dribble’s submersible however, successfully used rebreather technology to support his submariners while underwater, and the rest is history.
Yes, that’s right – technical diving is older than recreational diving by several centuries.
And I want our flag to represent that proud heritage.

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April 25, 2013

Swamps.

I train many divers in the art of diving caverns, the daylight entrances to caves, that penetrate our karst aquifer.
In past columns I have described these entrances found in Wakulla County as springs, and siphons, with interconnecting swales or slough, sinkholes, sumps and the occasional offshore blue hole.
But I neglected a most impressive Karst feature integral to the story of our water’s journey from Tallahassee to the Gulf of Mexico: the swamp.
Swamps are defined as wetlands that are forested, usually defined by their vegetation, and often lining rivers or lakes.
In our county, swamps are often the result of collapsed features. Our local topography was once flat, the result of an ancient sea floor. Once elevated above the water table, subsurface cave formation followed water’s journey to the sea, opening ever larger tunnels that became underground rivers. As these passages outgrew their ability to hold the overburden of the earth above them, they collapsed forming the classic Karst features I listed above.
But the most common feature is just a collapsed feature, a dry sinkhole, often many in a line, commonly seen around the county as depressions in the landscape.
Many are dry as their surfaces don’t quite subside below the water table. Many cycle from dry in our dry season, to standing water during the wet season when the water table loads up with rain water.
Many have permanent water, while others cyclically fill and drain.
We can describe our swamps driven by two forces: rain and tidal. Of course in our county most every swamp is affected by both forces, but usually dominated by one.
The closer we are to the Gulf, the more tidal influences prevail. Recall the tide gauge at Wakulla Springs records sea tides at 185 feet depth near its opening. The surface waters of Harvey’s Hole near the Coastal Highway rise and fall with the tides.
If it is true that our swamps are defined by their foliage, then look at a satellite map of Wakulla County and, following our water’s journey, also see associated collapsed features along the same route. Swamps typically host cypress trees that show up on satellite pictures as a different, lighter color.
Sinkholes also support a different foliage, creating a halo effect around this water feature.
One day many of the underground rivers of Wakulla will be plotted on land maps. And many will coincide with our county’s swamps.

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May 2, 2013

Future Generations.

I was honored to spend Monday at Shadeville Elementary School talking about our water’s journey in Wakulla County to the entire fifth grade.
It took all day, what with 100 attentive students and five teachers all with excellent questions.
I challenged them all to tell me on one page, where water came from and where did it go in Wakulla County. The assignment is due in a week and will be graded by each teacher for spelling, grammar and content. The best of each class will be given a mask, snorkel and fin set from my shop as a reward.
I spoke to a generation that will help solve many of our next water management problems. I discussed the water cycle, what it was like to live underwater and underground – similar abodes, both of which I have some experience.
Each student tried breathing from a sanitized scuba regulator to feel the flow of gas and hear the noise from a life support technology, in an attempt to empathize with the divers of the upcoming film. Cave formation and water flow then served as a segueway to the film “Water’s Journey” by the late Wes Skyles.
For those not familiar with this film, Skyles creates a project to track a pair of divers down a long underground river in North Florida. Footage of both the surface trackers and those below are used to tell the story of our underground rivers, their pollution and proposed solutions.
Running parallel to this adventure is a discussion about agricultural pressures such as fertilization and animal waste have on the Floridan Aquifer and how every day families can make a difference.
Clearly, everyone today found the diving part a lot more exciting. But the lessons of the film were not lost in the details presented. When I had to stop the film early because of time constraints, every class was upset, even though I stopped it during a non-diving segment!
The film’s effect was stunning.
After the film, student comments were very revealing. Some described recovering bottles from a swamp, others finding dumped trash next to the Wakulla River. Several said they had sinkholes, some clear and some not, on their family property.
Many good questions were asked. Most agreed we have a problem that needs attention. But what can they do?
Some suggested reporting polluters, others suggested clean ups like the Coastal Cleanup only for sinkholes and rivers. One teacher reminded her class that they were empowered to make a change.
I pointed out that their future included a college education and a career to find answers to many of these pressing issues.
Mind you, very few of these young adults are old enough to be certified to dive, let alone drive a car to a dive site, yet they are embracing their future responsibly.
I was impressed!
And I look forward to reading their papers next week.

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May 9, 2013

The international connection

We have for the longest time, advocated that Wakulla County should be a destination for the international visitor.
Wakulla Diving Center certainly is a destination, as better than half the advanced students come from abroad. 
A few months ago we had four visitors for advanced rebreather training visit from Colombia. 
These people came to us seeking our expertise.
What they usually take with them, beyond knowledge and skills, is a number of technical solutions, designed and manufactured by our center’s research department. 
The center’s staff have become very used to seeing and supporting these visitors and their individual requirements for diving technology and long-distance travels.
What took everyone by surprise, though, was a customer who walked in the door last Thursday: a visitor from Japan, who spent his 10 days of annual vacation in cave country, specifically around Lake City. 
His enthusiasm was contagious as he investigated new options available to his rebreather that were developed in our facility.
He had driven over 150 miles just to see us, and asked very politely if he could see a demonstration of our upgraded parts for his rebreather. He had read about it on the Internet, and wanted to see it for himself.
When comparing the new system to his existing one his eyebrows popped up, and he uttered Japanese terms we could not understand, but which we took as approval.
We were all taken by his excitement when he realized that the upgrades he wanted could be installed in 15 minutes. 
He ended up acquiring many more products from us, none of which are available anywhere else in the world, happily investing in toys he will take home to show off.
This gentleman was a real delight, and pleasure to deal with. Unfortunately he had to leave the same day for the flight back home the next morning. 
The cultural exchange, while appearing entertaining in this case, makes the whole business side very interesting and stimulating. 
We still don’t know how to pronounce his name, unfortunately, but his visit certainly made our day!

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May 16, 2013

One man’s trash.

By Travis Kersting

At an early age I took an interest in the outdoors. This was especially the case with the wilderness areas surrounding my home in Northern Minnesota.
As a juvenile adventurer I did my best to research things like wilderness survival, camping, and methods of fishing. The result was a rather extensive personal library on these subjects.
One of the books I owned early on was called “Minimizing Impact on the Wilderness” by Michael Hodgson. At an impressionable age this was, no doubt, a key component to building my behaviors today.
Last summer I had the opportunity to visit K Tower about 26 miles offshore of our local coast. Gregg Stanton was teaching some basic open water scuba students and between their dives I would dive for a slightly extended period to allow them a proper lunch and surface interval.
On both of these dives I went with the intention of shooting video footage, hoping to find some Goliath grouper and maybe some sharks. This mission ended up taking a back seat to something slightly unexpected.
Divers are accustomed to seeing trash, after all it’s (currently) an inevitable consequence of our existence on this planet, and normally divers are seen removing this trash from our rivers, lakes, and oceans.
My dives at K Tower were no different. Rather than the occasional trash bit I found lots, more than I could recover alone on many dives.
In these cases I concentrated my efforts on the collection of lead! Yes, that heavy metal that we don’t want in our drinking water or on our children’s toys. It seems the tower was covered with it. Between the two dives I filled an ice cream pail with about 58 pounds of the stuff.
Where is this lead coming from?
Fishermen who have their lines cut or broken tragically lose more than just the fishing line, which is bad enough. The lures and weights, used to catch fish, litter the reef-like structure.
Ordinarily the trash that divers retrieve has little value but in this case I had about $200 in lead, at a retail value, enough to cover the fuel to get to the tower in any case.
Diving in our Gulf waters for any reason can be a low impact activity and by spending an extra minute or two recovering some trash, or in this case a valuable metal, before leaving the bottom helps to lessen the impacts of others and preserves these places for the next generations of both fish and fisherman.

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May 23, 2013

CO2 in water.

Few people caught the milestone we passed a few weeks ago, where an observatory on Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii registers Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere at 400 parts per million, or 0.04 percent of the entire atmosphere.
It was not that long ago that we were all taught in school that the atmosphere has a steady CO2 level of 0.03 percent.
Our world’s industrial output dumps a high load of CO2 into the atmosphere, resulting from the mining, production and use of petroleum products, natural processes that generate methane, and our generation of energy from fossil fuels, just to name a few. This increasing trend is not expected to end any time soon.
So what does increased levels of CO2 mean to our underwater world here in Wakulla County?
Water is an enormous CO2 sponge, probably the greatest CO2 absorbing body on the planet. When water absorbs CO2 it becomes more acidic.
We were aware of the damage acid rain had on ecosystems around early industrial centers. Acidic oceans inhibit marine life embryology. We also know that our caves were created by acidified water dissolving limestone at the water table.
We live in a karst environment here in Wakulla County, by definition, an area of subsurface dissolved limestone formations covered by a thin sand veneer.
When the underground passageways get too big to carry the overburden (sand and rock), they collapse, creating windows into our aquifer called sinkholes. Those of you who have property know we have plenty of sinkholes in Wakulla County!
I am often asked by anxious landowners to inspect their sinkholes, both new and old. They all ask the same question: will sinkhole formation change and can anything be done about it?
Speliogenesis, the dynamic formation of underground caves, is usually driven by the abundance of acidic water. New passage is crated by a change in the water table, enlarged passage is created by long standing existing water tables. Both are driven by elevated CO2 in the water.
As long as the atmosphere CO2 is increasing, cave formation can be expected to increase.
We have been filling in sinkholes with all manner of debris, but the sad truth is that flowing water eventually washes everything away unless the area of the lost overburden can be capped.
Two thousand feet into Jackson Blue cave in Marianna is a trash room made up of relic garbage dating back to the 1930s. The ceiling is now blocked, capping the lost overburden that when dropped at one time resulted in a sinkhole.
The floor of this cave area is indistinguishable from the rest except for the few relics sticking up from the mud.
One owner (not in our county) filled his sinkhole for years, only to find from divers invited to inspect that he was filling a giant void several hundred feet deep. Imagine, if his house was near the lip of this expanding sinkhole, what would happen in the course of time.
Later this week, the National Speliological Society Cave Diving Section will hold its annual convention at Wakulla High School. They will fan out around the area looking for caves to investigate.
This is an international sport, much like kayakers who love to investigate our local above ground waterways.
Talk to them, invite them to inspect your sinkhole. They are a wonderful source of revenue to the county, when given the chance.

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May 30, 2013

Where does water come from and where does it go?

By Gabrielle Carter

Several weeks ago I told you about a day I spent with Shadeville Elementry School here in Wakulla County, where I spoke to five fifth grade classes about Water’s Journey. I tasked them with writing a paper as titled below.
Each of the five class teachers selected their best paper and awarded that student with a mask, fins and snorkel that Wakulla Diving Center provided. The best of the best was then submitted to me for The Wakulla News.

Where does water come from
and where does it go?

By Gabrielle Carter
5th Grade Shadeville Elementry School
(Mrs. Robert’s class)

Most of Earth’s water is in the ocean so lets start there. The sun, which drives the water cycle, heats water in the oceans. Some of that water evaporates as water vapor in the air. Air currents then take the vapor up into the atmosphere, along with evapotraspiration, which is water transpired from plants and evaporated soil. The water vapor rises into the air where cooler temperatures cause it to condense into clouds.
Air currents move clouds all over the earth, and cloud particles collide, grow, and fall out of the sky as precipitation. Some precipitation falls as snow and can accumulate as ice caps or glaciers, which can store frozen water for thousands of years. Snow packs in warmer climates often thaw and melt when spring arrives, and the melted water flows overland as snow melt. Most precipitation falls back into oceans or onto land, where, due to gravity, the precipitation flows over the ground as surface runoff. A portion of runoff enters rivers in valleys in the landscape, with stream flow moving water towards the oceans. Runoff, and ground water seepage, accumulate and are stored as fresh water in lakes.
Not all runoff flows into rivers, though. Much of it soaks into the ground as infiltration. Some of the water infiltrates in the ground and replenishes aquifers (saturated subsurface rock), which store huge amounts of fresh water for long periods of time. Some infiltration stays close to the land surface and can seep back into surface-water bodies (and the ocean) as ground water discharge, and some ground water finds openings in the land surface and emerges as fresh water springs. Yet more ground water is absorbed by plant roots to end up as evaporation from the leaves. Over time, though, all of this water keeps moving, some to re-enter the ocean, where the water cycle begins again.

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June 6, 2013

The windy alternative.

We have been reporting about what is happening in and around the Wakulla underwater world for quite some time now.
The reason I live here in Wakulla are the amazing and awe-inspiring caves, and as of last summer I even took up spear fishing in the gulf. The truth is, however, that I found myself not doing enough of any of these lately.
Life has a way of changing plans for you.
Conditions in the caves are seasonal, as flooding brings dark and murky waters. Conditions in the gulf are seasonal as well, and the trip to an offshore site always carries the risk of simply being blown out. Diving in wind and waves can be fun, but can quickly become dangerous.
About 25 years ago, and I’m starting to feel old writing this, my dad was happy to find me as a buddy to go windsurfing. These were the early days of the sport, and technology and knowledge were mostly adopted from sailing, with limited success.
Whenever there was a bit of wind on the weekend, my dad would pack up the boards onto the roof of the car, we tossed our wetsuits and other gear in the back, and off we went for an hour’s drive to a lake. During the week we would longingly look at trees bending in the wind.
Even the cold winter would not hold us back.
The sport slowly came to an end when my dad found himself unable to pursue it further. Until the other day, when I received an invitation to give it a try at the local surf club.
As it turns out, the beach is 10 minutes from my house, and after over 20 years I found myself standing on a board again. Technology has improved vastly, making rigging and handling of the board much simpler.
Shaky in the beginning, I still knew the moves, and quickly became accustomed again. What a blast!
What that means, I guess, is that I have no more excuses: If the caves are black, and the wind keeps boats from going far into the gulf, I’ll just ditch the dive gear and don the surf attire.
I just wish my dad was still around so I could tell him, he would have enjoyed the news.

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June 13, 2013

The aquarium.

By Travis Kersting

Keeping a creature penned up in a cage always bothered me, so aquariums have never been of interest. That being said, Gregg Stanton is a marine scientist so putting fish in a box and watching them interact is his idea of a good time.
Out of his fish interest came a store aquarium with more to come.
The aquarium was mostly uninteresting until recently. We started with some simple live shrimp from the marine supply store, since I was new to aquariums and especially to salt water aquariums.
Shrimp can be entertaining but they mostly enjoy burying themselves in the sand.
My next attempt, out of sheer simplicity, was to get some baitfish from the same marine supply store. Though not colorful, there was a good bit of entertainment value in watching them feast on the shrimp.
Lesson one, being an aquatic creature can be rather precarious.
After a few months, the great folks at Gulf Specimen Marine Lab in Panacea helped us out with a few more interesting and colorful critters. Our new residents included two large anemone, three urchins, two starfish, and hermit crabs. I’m told many animals do well in aquariums and we have only a small portion of what is available.
One of our hermit crabs came with four very small anemones that live on his shell and help defend him against Shame-faced crab predation. When these crabs move to a different shell, they usually take the shell residing anemones off and place them on their new shell. Our crab seems to like his new shell with only one anemone at the moment, leaving the rest on the old and now vacant shell.
The pink urchins we have, called Litichynus, love to decorate themselves with sea weed or shells. In our case they decorated themselves with the skeleton of their dearly departed amigo. The remaining bits were happily cleaned up by the starfish. Lesson two, nothing in the ocean goes to waste including waste.
Our starfish are also almost always on a random adventure. They stick to the glass not unlike “Peach” from “Finding Nemo.” If I hand the starfish a food pellet they slowly move it to their mouths with tiny hydraulic fingers. They stay there and digest the food for many hours. You can watch the pellet slowly dissolve, being digested by the starfish’s inverted stomach.
One of our starfish has six legs instead of five. I’m told this was due to an injury. If they lose a leg they sometimes grow two in its place.
I have since collected a few more hermit crabs, some small conch, and a dozen snails from the boat ramp in Dickerson Bay.
One crab was released again as it was a bully and a second became dinner for our mini ecosystem. Overall though, the aquarium is remarkably stable and the animals get along rather well.
Snails get decorated with anemones and take free rides on the backs of crabs, the urchins play a game I call “rearrange the fake plants,” and the crabs move the rocks around.
Those of us at the store have spent a good bit of time staring through the glass at these thought-provoking creatures and frequently customers and their children watch too.
We need small colorful fish creatures next!
I still don’t agree with caging animals but there is a phrase which says, “we don’t protect what we don’t understand” and this couldn’t be truer.
Lesson three: these animals are tiny in comparison to the large gamefish our divers seek and yet they are just as important to the reef and its ecology.
Bonus, they are fun to watch for hours on end, above or below the waves.

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June 20, 2013

Underground storm driven tidal bore.

Tropical storm rain that falls to our north, in Georgia and Alabama, comes down hill and often underground to us in North Florida.
Our rivers to the east, such as the Suwannee and Santa Fe, typically fill up and backflow into local springs. This flushing event recharges the local aquifer with valuable water and nutrients for the cave animals.
Our early season Tropical Storm Andrea recently brought 50 mph winds and a sea surge of around 3 feet, but more importantly, plenty of rain. Wakulla received 2.5 inches of rain, with more falling to our north.
Much of that rain went right into the ground locally, but that our north is now flooding dive sites at Madison Blue Springs, and Little River to our east.
When Tropical Storm Debby visited us last year in June we had a flooding event in Wakulla County, recording nearly 29 inches of rain falling in the county over two days. The winds were 55 mph with a sea surge of 2 to 4.5 feet.
While flooding occurred during the storm, there was a post-storm groundwater level rise of an estimated 4-plus feet at my house days after the storm passed. This post-storm flooding caused me more damage that the rain during the storm! Rain that falls must also make it to the sea, creating a second flooding event.
Now imagine a storm that drops a whole lot of water just to the north of Wakulla County (as it skirts our coastline) followed by another storm hitting a week later running to the south of Wakulla sending its surge northward. The effect of the high water table load going south and the surge pushing north on the coast would be disastrous.
Such may have been the case, we are told by a Wakulla County landowner, in the summer of 2008.
Tropical Storm Fay cut across North Florida in late August 2008, dropping nearly 28 inches of water in Thomasville Ga., just to our north, before making landfall in Carrabelle (fortunately with a low surge of 1 foot).
Hurricane Gustav however, arrived in the Gulf of Mexico one week later making landfall in Louisiana on Sept. 1 as a category 2 storm with an effective radius of 200 miles towards the east into our coastal arena. While we did not see the 10 foot surge reported in Louisiana, coupled with our high September tides, and the prevailing high ground water levels headed for the Gulf, water very likely backed up in our underground caves.
Today the water in his sinkhole resides at 30+ feet below ground level. Today his sinkhole has a tidal rise and fall that is six hours behind that of the Gulf of Mexico. He once had a beautiful bridge that spanned this feature. He tells a fascinating story of groundwater during Hurricane Gustav, suddenly rising over the banks of his sinkhole, washing away the bridge and docks and flooding his property.
What a fascinating research site this could become, to better understand the performance of our groundwater in Wakulla County.

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June 27, 2013

Dive equipment repair.

One of the hot topics of debate is equipment servicing.
Regulators for example, that device that delivers breathing gas to the diver at ambient pressure, is considered to be life support equipment. The buoyancy compensator has been lumped into the same category.
These products have been sold under manufacturer guidelines to be serviced annually.
Some manufacturers, like Atomic Aquatics, are backing their service intervals down to 200 dives or two years, whichever comes first. But many assumptions exist.
Numerous manufacturers are no longer in business. Dacor is a classic example of a company that closed its doors after flooding the market with very good regulators.
Some of their replaceable components can now be sourced by third parties but many dive stores won’t service due to liability concerns (no manufacturer to blame).
Even the companies who specialize in just servicing regulators, usually for dive stores, won’t touch these discontinued models. Many stores offer plans to restore these “vintage” or discontinued regulators under the condition that they not be used for life support, that is to say – you put them on display only.
What exactly is happening to your equipment when it is being “serviced”? How much should it cost? Is the person servicing your equipment both qualified and certified to do so? Is the store that is servicing it a dealer for it and able to get parts? Is servicing really necessary?
These are ALL things you, the diver, should be asking when you bring a piece of equipment in for service or repair.
When a regulator (or any dive equipment) is brought in for service it should first be inspected for obvious signs of corrosion and/or damage.
The hose protectors should be pulled back to inspect the hoses and then the regulator should be function tested. In many cases the regulator is probably functioning just fine. It may need a tuning, but chances are good that if you care for it then the machine is operational.
If an unqualified technician takes it apart there is a good chance they could damage it internally or that it will perform worse than when you dropped it off.
It’s imperative that you discuss your use of the equipment with the technician and make sure they are qualified and in stock of most, if not all, service parts. The delay from having to order a part can be significant.
The scuba world doesn’t follow the trends set by automotive parts stores so there aren’t any warehouses a few cities away offering next day shipment of critical components.
Inside your average scuba regulator is little more than an organized arrangement of O-rings and some seating surfaces. The seats consist of a soft, plastic like, sealing surfaces.
Over time the soft seats can wear and this allows a leak past the orifice. The O-rings can dry out and crack or diaphragms can be eaten by roaches. A standard service consists of disassembly, cleaning, replacing these rubber components with new ones, and adding a bit of lube to dynamic seals.
It’s extremely basic to work on, but knowing how to troubleshoot an issue and properly tune them for optimal breathing is critical.
As a diver it’s ultimately your responsibility to make sure your equipment, including regulators, cylinders, valves, and buoyancy compensators are in good working condition.
It’s also your due diligence to be informed about the workings of your specific equipment so that you can best make decisions about how, when, and where it is serviced.

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July 4, 2013

Marine Resolve

Every year our facility attracts young graduate students with grand ambitions. They come in search of a rewarding future based upon a noble past.
But our government’s support of underwater research has waned recently, defunding the Aquarius Habitat (an underwater research lab in the Florida Keys) and all of the National Underwater Research Programs.
What does our future in the sea look like?
Our current generation of space age life support technology we call rebreathers, is the result of a NASA study in the late 1960’s where engineers and aquatic graduate students lived in an underwater habitat called Tektite. NASA wanted to study how people would live in the cramped quarters of a space lab soon to be called Sky Lab.
These early aquatic scientists spent long hours outside the station on an early version of the space suit built by General Electric. Space suits are rebreathers, based upon a two-century old technology – a recirculating breathing machine that takes your exhaled gas, cleans out the carbon dioxide, adds oxygen, heats up the mix and adds moisture. There are few bubbles!
My mentor, Dr. William Herrnking, was one of these graduate students back then, and is one of the many reasons I now live in Wakulla County.
Soon afterwards, Fred Parker and other engineers on the Tektite project opened a new company called Bio Marine, making smaller versions of the GE rebreather dedicated to military applications. Through government surplus of these units years later, a cottage industry grew up in the 1990’s resulting in the civilian production of thousands of affordable rigs, some that permit the diving enthusiast up to a comfortable eight hour dive.
With the current breed of rebreathers, caves have become smaller, wrecks more accessible, deep reef research more common, and recreational diving more pleasant. It is said that if Cousteau had not had an unfortunate experience on an early rebreather in the late 1940’s, we would all be diving them today in lieu of the loud open circuit scuba.
This brings me back to the future. Last month I was privileged to provide education and training to several graduate students from many countries, including our own.
The first is an aerospace engineer from Taiwan who stated up front that she will become an astronaut expecting to dive the subterranean caves of Mars. They are expected to be similar to our North Florida caves. She will return at Christmas to complete her rebreather training while attending Stanford in California.
The next is a neurobiologist seeking skills to better understand those who take these “extreme” challenges willingly.
This week I continue working with a marine biologist headed to Hawaii to study the deep reefs down to 500 feet. He is joined by another marine biologist studying microbiology in Florida caves.
All speak of their continued interest in developing future university dive training programs to perpetuate their underwater vision.
All of these very bright folks are in their early twenties, and full of the bright prospects of an underwater career.
And here I was worried that with the recent downsizing of the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administrations support of underwater science and technology, we might lose our commitment to our vast underwater environment.
Not so, say my students. Just you wait and see!

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July 11, 2013

Scallops!

Our Bay Scallop season has just begun (June 29) and with it the thrill of the hunt for these delicious creatures.
Our season will last until Sept. 24 this year, thanks to an extension provided by the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Our available search area runs from Tarpon Springs to our southeast through Port St. Joe to our west.
And don’t forget a Saltwater fishing license and Florida diver down (red with white diagonal stripe) flag are required.
This year you may harvest only two gallons of the whole animal or one pint of the meat per person, with a boat limit of 10 gallons of whole (unshucked) animals.
The bay scallop usually lives for only one year, reaching a shell size of 3 inches. If you find one over that size it is probably an uncommon 2 year old.
They are a bivalve or mollusk, that lives in the vast grass beds of the Big Bend. And they swim when threatened so catching them can be fun.
They have a row of eyes that stick out of the front edge of their shell to detect motion. They hide at the base of the sea grass stocks in 3 to 6 feet of water. So a keen eye for their round shape is required, then a rapid snatch before they take off.
Take a goodie bag to hold your catch while out collecting.
A mask, snorkel and fins make collecting more enjoyable.
Be sure to wear sun protection such as a T-shirt and waterproof sunblock. Your boat needs an awning for sun shade. And stay close to your dive flag so as to be visible to boaters in your area. The boat can have a larger pole mounted flag and the scallopers can drag a smaller floated flag.
Scallops reproduce in the late summer releasing millions of eggs and sperm which grow into planktonic veligers that float in the water until they settle on seagrass blades, ultimately falling to the sea bed to grow out to adults by the next summer. So please follow the rules and leave a few to repopulate the nursery for our next year’s crop! This is truly a resource to enjoy and protect.
Once collected, cleaning is easy and fast.
I use a table knife (not sharp) to pry open the shell, scrape off the white muscle that holds the two shells together from one of the shells, then with a good thumb nail, I scrape the mantle off from around the adductor muscle and pull it away.
Keep the mantle (and guts) if there is no red tide in the area and make scallop soup. If not, then discard it overboard as the fish will LOVE you.
With that same thumb nail pry the muscle off the shell and store it in a container. I love them raw since this muscle is sweet to the taste.
Others will sauté it in butter or lightly cornbread cover the meat before deep fat frying.
This activity is pure family fun! When my kids were younger we would run east off the St. Marks Lighthouse or in St. Joe Bay and see who could catch the most scallops on a single breath.
Some days we landed our quota quickly while other days we had to spend half the day searching.
Lazy naps and marine life lessons filled in between relocating the boat to better scallop grounds.
I hope to see you out in our Big Bend grass beds this summer!

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July 18, 2013

The Underwater Working Person

I am a Diving Professional, which I began when I was 16.
Back then I had few places to go to get training. I became a Diving Scientist, a Diving Educator and an Underwater Investigator by the time I retired.
I also now own and operate a dive center, but that did not require being underwater, only the business of diving!
Most of our diving activity is recreational, that is, performed for sheer pleasure and little else.
OK, spearfishing can be intense, but the thrill is in the hunt, not the dive.
And recreational divers are often defined by depth and duration. Technical diving (greater depth and duration) is still recreational but is more challenging, requiring more detailed skills and commitment.
Most cave divers attracted to North Florida fall into this technical category. They tell me they enjoy our underwater sculpture, the thrill of discovery of new passage and the glory of their conquest. Without this glory, many would visit elsewhere.
But there are people, men and women, who work underwater. These folks are defined by their mission, usually make their living underwater, and are called professional.
To them diving is a vehicle to get to their place of employment. Safety, reliability and creature comforts are important to them just as a safe, reliable and comfortable car is to the professional who drives to work.
There is seldom any thrill in the dive, conditions are often marginal (cold, poor visibility and challenged), but the pay can be good.
People at my center are professionals who dive. Some dive recreationally as well. The dive instructor (Discipline: Education) who taught you to dive is a professional, his or her mission is to teach you how to safely use scuba equipment and enjoy the aquatic environment.
To get to this professional level, (s)he had to start at the basics and dive recreationally, then learn the technology (dive technology), then learn to teach by assisting in a few classes (Assistant Instructor), then learn to manage the risk of divers (Dive Rescue & Dive Master), and finally mentor under an Instructor Trainer to eventually take his or her professional board exams (under a Course Director).
This may take our professional years to complete.
There are, of course, several professions that work underwater. They include Diving Scientists, Underwater Investigators, Marine Engineers and Technologists (Ocean Engineering), Underwater Photographers, Aquaculturists, commercial fishermen, and even construction to name just a few.
Each of these requires a discipline, say Anthropology, engineering or photography attached to the techniques and technology of diving to succeed underwater. Not surprising, these professionals go to universities for their education.
Universities however, are often focused more on education and less on skill training. A common option was to take courses from an academic diving program, like the one I set up at Florida State University in 1976.
But those programs nationally have lost their support in recent years. What has shown promise is the renewed quest for jobs by the community college system. By offering professional diving training, which can be coupled to any number of professional disciplines, the Diving Professional is again possible.
At 18, with my love of marine biology, I would have started at a community college dive program, had I had the opportunity.
Enjoy the journey.

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July 25, 2013

Bug Alert!

For two days (July 24 and 25) or more precisely 48 hours, the Florida Keys will become a parking lot of boats in search of the (spiny) Florida Lobster, Panulirus argus.
The spiny lobster is not a true lobster like those clawed creatures from Main and Massachusetts, but rather a large crawfish like their smaller kin found in the Louisiana bayous. But absent the large claws, these crustaceans are not easily captured. Legally protected from spearfishing, they must be captured by hand or tail snare. Once out of their den, they can swim!
The reason for care is sound, so that they can be released if found to be undersized or with eggs. The carapace, or shell of their back, must be at larger than 3 inches long from back to forward between the horns. And they will not sit idle while you measure them either. These creatures are armed with large spines that penetrate most gloves and certainly the unprotected hand.
There is an easy gauge (tool) available (and required to be with you) to measure them underwater. Be sure to use “bug gloves,” a special glove available in most dive shops, to avoid injury.
I spent many summers in the Florida Keys surveying reefs from Miami to west of the Dry Tortugas. And yes, we did survey for diseases in the lobster population. No, we do not divulge where we found abundant lobster dens!
We used the tail snare to minimize injury and permit us easy data collecting while underwater. Our catch and release was required as we surveyed during most of the summer under a research permit.
Your task collecting these delicacies this summer is daunting, and fun. Be sure to have a saltwater fishing license, a lobster stamp, a carapace measuring gauge and a Florida dive flag close by (it can be a zoo out there!). Gloves, collecting bag and tickle stick or tail snare will make your collecting more enjoyable.
Lobsters are nocturnal, that is they individually roam the reef at night. During the day, when you are likely to be looking for them, they will be hiding back under ledges, usually clustered in groups. They like to return to a series of familiar dens at dawn strategically located around the reef and near grass beds.
I have seen lobster dens with as many as 50 critters. Super males maintain a harem of females, which they push out when the den is threatened.
When you find a den, remember where it is for future raids, as lobsters you did not catch this time will return later. Watch for Red Grouper which will protect lobster dens. I suspect they eat the occasional molting lobster and otherwise protect their herd.
Beware: the grouper will be upset if you raid their herd. At dusk lobsters will get agitated in their dens and be found around the opening preparing for departure.
Dusk underwater, because of the reflection of the sun off the surface of the ocean, is an hour or two earlier than sunset! Of course this is also when several other not so friendly creatures are out feeding, so recognize the relative risk involved.
Please remember that due to intense fishing pressures in the Florida Keys, virtually every legal sized lobster is harvested.
Be careful to not injure lobsters if undersized or females with eggs (called berried), to protect the next generation, the next season’s harvest. If we can be conservative, there will be plenty for everyone to enjoy for years to come.
Call (305) 852-7717 or visit http://floridakeys.noaa.gov icon_external.pngfor more information and about no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

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August 1, 2013

Narcosis is real!

By Travis Kersting

Most of us have gone out for a few drinks. Sometimes in celebration, other times in mourning or usually just to help relax a bit.
Alcohol is considered a depressant and as a such it slows one’s ability to react, clouds their judgment, and can even cause memory loss.
In diving you hear the term “nitrogen narcosis” and it’s often compared to having a few drinks. Textbooks sometimes call it the “martini effect” and movies use the phrase “rapture of the deep.”
The general rule was that for every atmosphere, or about 33 feet of depth, you descend in the water column what you feel can be compared to drinking one beverage. Most people would argue they don’t experience this until closer to 100 feet but sometimes as shallow as 60.
Other factors besides depth can contribute to the onset of narcosis, most notably colder temperatures and poor visibility. During my dives in Minnesota, where the bottom temperature was 36-42F, I frequently dove in excess of the recreational depth limit and dove them on air.
In the summer time, when the sun was high in the sky, I would feel remarkably clear-headed but doing that same dive in the colder months or at night was usually far more disorienting and I had trouble remembering much of the dive.
Growing up in Minnesota and very close to what I would consider a 220-foot deep pool meant that I would regularly dive to these deeper depths and test my own narcosis threshold. In 2007-08 we started playing with adding helium to our breathing gases by blending in our garage.
On an experimental dive, to evaluate if we thought helium was truly worth the added time and expense, I took a heli-air (a mixture of 15 percent oxygen and 27 percent helium) cylinder to 205 feet. I didn’t use that cylinder from the surface down but instead used ordinary air to get to the bottom and then switched to the breathing mix containing helium.
Narcosis is something I really experimented with. I knew that at about 140-150 feet my hearing would fade away and the sound of bubbles became little more than a whisper. My breathing slowed, my air consumption improved, and I calmed down.
At 160-180 feet my vision would start to narrow and by 210 feet I could see only what is directly in front of me. Switching to the helium based gas was like turning on the lights in a very dark room. With clearer vision came memory of details I had never recalled seeing on previous dives. I was pretty well sold on the concept but the price of helium was a huge deterrent.
Helium is not the only answer to limiting narcosis, simply ascending in the water will usually clear one’s head. However, under the effects of narcosis it is sometimes difficult to make the decision to ascend as some people become rather carefree about the dive, forgetting to check pressure gauges or the mounting decompression obligation.
Hal Watts and the late Sheck Exley both regularly did record-setting dives on air often in competition. Hal still speaks on narcosis management and had a training agency that offered courses on deep air diving. In conversation with him it was clear that he was a proponent of diving air to depths shallower than 200 feet. Several training agencies are backing off the 130 feet recreational limit to 100 feet and instead offer “recreational Trimix” classes to extend one’s range back to a 130 foot threshold.
Diving to these greater depthsrequires training and equipment designed for it. The effects of nitrogen shouldn’t be taken lightly. But instead of having a drink at the bar I’d much rather be diving!

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August 8, 2013

Diving Panama City

We get many requests for places to dive.
Since Wakulla has decided to prevent folks from diving the most famous cavern and basin in the state, and the coastal margin is seldom accessible without a boat, we must send divers east or west.
The most popular dive destination to our west is Panama City.
This city 100 miles away, boasts of numerous dive stores that host boats to take you out to a variety of offshore artificial reefs.
Advanced reservations will assure you get to go to your desired dive destination if the weather permits.
A less expensive but equally interesting dive site is the jetty dive at St. Andrew State Park.
No reservation is required, and the weather is less limiting but be sure to watch the tides.
Water passing through the inlet draining St. Andrew Bay can run very swiftly during a spring tide.
The ideal dive at the jetties is near the high tide, when clean water, which has been filling the bay, slows to a stall before draining begins.
You have a window of around an hour or more for a splendid dive. Be sure to take a floating dive flag!
Rig up behind the dunes next to the parking lot under the pavilions. Then walk over the dune stairs and over the beach.
Begin your dive in the kiddy pool behind the jetties. There you can adjust your rig and look at the fish that have jumped the jetties during the incoming tide.
Follow them over the opening into the inlet and down the inner rocky jetty slope down to a depth of about 40-50 feet.
You can swim parallel to this rocky slope at any depth toward the ocean or the bay. I like to head out to sea against the current since I can expect the tide to change and alert me to the tidal peak.
When I feel the water pushing outward, I turn and swim back again, against the current.
When I get back near the opening in the jetty into the kiddy pool, I turn and go up.
In this way I avoid most of the fishing lines and surface surge. Be sure to carry a knife in case you get tangled in fishing line.
You will see every form of creature transiting the inlet during these dives.
And don’t forget to look closely at the small creatures living on and between the rocks. This is a state park so don’t disturb these residents.
A second and very different dive can be made in the same area on the other side of the beach, the ocean-facing beach.
Once through the surf, swim out a bit on the sandy bottom and turn eastward towards the jetty.
Once at the jetty turn seaward and begin what I call the treasure dive.
Folks loose masks, fishing rods, anchors and all sorts of stuff that end up in this corner of the park.
At the tip of the jetty, the current can pick up and pull you around, so stay close to the bottom and be prepared to reverse course and return to the beach with your booty.
These are simple and fun dives, often used by instructors as check-out dives.
The cost to get in is by the vehicle and very reasonable.
Enjoy the sun, the surf and the dives in beautiful Panama City Beach.

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August 15, 2013

End of the Diving Season Coming Soon

By Travis Kersting

Once children are back in class, the diving season begins a rapid slowdown in Wakulla County.
With water offshore and in our springs murky at best, even the scallop season has been slow. We encourage folks thinking about how their diving cylinders are holding up should consider the following.
Scuba equipment is like cars, as long as it’s running and getting you from A to B then life is good. Follow a few maintenance intervals, suggested by the manufacturer, and it stays that way.
Well, that’s usually the case but sometimes things go wrong, parts wear out, critical components fail, then you are stuck with little more than a mechanic to help you and you always question his honesty.
What is a scuba cylinder? The hazardous materials world loves to use the word “container” and most of the scuba community uses the term “tank.” The correct term is “cylinder,” though container is not incorrect it’s just not descriptive.
Once a valve is applied then the container becomes able to hold great pressure.
Scuba valves have come in over 300 different variations. Some with reserve systems built in, others with sonic noise makers which alerted the diver to low pressure and of course the traditional valve we see on most cylinders, the “K” valve.
More than just a simple component for turning on and off the air supply from a cylinder a valve comes with some important features. A pressure relief device (PRD), often called a burst disc, is a standard component of valves used on scuba cylinders in the U.S. PRD assemblies are not always found on cylinders in Europe. These devices are required by law and work to protect you, your family, and your home. They consist of a copper disc that is calibrated to rupture before the cylinder and drain the contents of the cylinder in a safe, though loud, manner.
Most valves have a dip tube. This is essentially a tube that works like a straw into the cylinder. If a diver should have water or any other foreign matter in his cylinder and inverts (goes head down) underwater, this material could end up in the regulator or the diver’s lungs. A tube that extends into the middle of your cylinder aims to eliminate this problem.
The dip tube can sometimes break or come unscrewed. You can hear them rattle inside the cylinder. Draining the cylinder to replace the tube is necessary. We check to make sure they are secure when doing an annual visual but still sometimes they come undone. It’s a bit like the mystery of the missing sock in every load of laundry, impossible to explain.
Your cylinder valve also has a soft seating surface that can wear out but they handle abuse pretty well. That being said, over-tightening can damage them and eventually no amount of tightening can stop gas from escaping the valve. Always turn the valve finger tight to avoid damage to the high pressure seat.
We are drifting into a throw-away society and unfortunately a proper valve service usually costs more than a new valve. Some parts are easy for the user to replace in the field and others require draining the contents and some minor mechanical understanding. Either way you go, it’s not an item to avoid looking after. Your cylinder wouldn’t work without its valve, not unless you wanted to make it into a lamp or a bell anyway.
Hopefully that sheds some light onto an item of great importance to your safety which is otherwise usually goes unnoticed. When your local dive store suggests a servicing on a cylinder valve perhaps you can have an honest and fair discussion about what is really needed and what expense is justifiable.

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August 22, 2013

The nature of our underwater summer

Travis and I just recovered our third 160-liter liquid oxygen Dewar flask this summer.
A Dewar flask is like a special very insulated icebox that has coils wrapped around the outside to slowly turn the very cold liquid oxygen into a gaseous oxygen. We own the flask and have a Tallahassee supplier fill it in Georgia. We make Nitrox by taking this gasified liquid, blending it through our compressors, and store it in those huge white cylinders you see outside.
We have approximately 80,000-cubic feet of stored gasses at our facility. Each Dewar flask we fill in Georgia will make over 40,000 cubic feet of 32 percent Nitrox! This turns out to be double the volume of oxygen that we used last summer. And all agree that this summer, has been wetter than most in the past (except for TS Debbie of last June).
Something has changed!
Our summer season is defined by the arrival of the open water divers, recently awakened by the warmer weather and the promise of a bountiful ocean harvest. Over the past two years this began as early as March. The first wave included those repairing or upgrading their life support technology (regulator service, cylinder inspection and BC repair). With the opening of popular fishing seasons in April, servicing and accessorizing spear guns adds to the workload.
By May, the ocean is much warmer bringing out the more timid divers in search of masks, fins and snorkels. With the close of local schools, June and July are so busy at our facility, hire extra help and we give up working special projects to focus just on customer support. A shift from spear fishing to more scalloping depends upon the year’s predicted harvest and rainfall. This year has seen so much rain people are finding it difficult to see the scallop shells in the grass beds. But there is still time! Scalloping season now extends through much of September.
Only with the return to classes in August does the traffic slow down. Labor Day marks the technical end of our summer season which this year falls on the last days of August. Our underwater summer is currently six months long.
What differed from last summer was the abundance of training requested throughout this summer over the last. Folks want to learn to dive, to use Nitrox, to dive caverns and caves, to learn side mount and rebreathers and dive deep breathing Trimix (a helium, nitrogen and oxygen blend we also mix at our facility). Perhaps this is a reflection on an improving economy, availability of more free time, or better prices and interest in the sport now that diving support is readily available.
I always expected folks to seek dive training in the cooler more comfortable winter when water clarity was better. But this summer has not seen the temperature soar into the 100s as it has in the past.
Many of our training sites however, have been flooded much of the summer, yet the demand continued. The consequence is I now seek another diving instructor before next summer to be better prepared!
All of this additional diving resulted in the consumption of an increase amount of the gasses that we blend using liquid oxygen. I took a chance when I invested in the Dewar flask two years ago. It set us back $1,000 (used), but reduced the cost of the commodity so much, we will recover the investment by year’s end. This fall we get back to projects (new Hydro station, expanded oxygen fill station, new repair facility, new web site) and dream of new directions (TCC courses in Diving at the Environmental Institute).
See you next summer!

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August 29, 2013

Where do old divers go?

Winter is again approaching. We know this because our customers are occupied with family, school and the adjustments those require.
The summer beach fun is set aside over the next month or so as thoughts of hunting deer replace the challenges of hunting fish. The threat of squalls over the Gulf gives way to the threats of September hurricanes. These annual cycles waif through our center like the changing tides and we embrace them fondly.
But I face the onset of Social Security!
Our six months of hyperactivity will now give way to a slower pace, where projects placed upon the back burner will again see the light of day. My new space in the back will become a reality. The hydro station and fork lift will finally get that much needed upgrade, the tank farm will be moved safely away to the back of the lot, and Travis will get his new repair facility.
For the next six months we will dream about next the summer season and what we may do differently. Join the debate!
A good friend of mine stopped by last week, an old-timer like myself, who has been underwater as long and at many of the same dive sites as me. I always ask how his diving goes.
Between thoughts of knee replacements, significant weight loss and his heart attack, he is thinking about cutting back on the diving. He is after all still an open circuit diver. We share past delights, old dive equipment, and sea stories often. I encourage him to stop by more often.
One day I will get him back to the future. His near daily visits are not near enough, as he too is still employed trying to pay off school debt for his kids. At least now we will have more time to talk.
When I was in my 20s, I was told I would hang up my fins when I reached 40. Of course I was breathing air from a surplus CO2 cylinder and thought my 50 dives- 50 hours a year underwater was average.
By the time I was in my 30s, I had dedicated scuba cylinders and all the conveniences we attribute to the sport today, enabling me to average 100 dives-100 hours underwater a year.
By the time I reached my 40s, we had discovered Nitrox, which reduced the fatigue of diving. I found I was logging 130 dives-150 hours underwater a year. I happily sailed through my 40s with ever increasing use of specialized gasses, such as trimix (helium blends) and high oxygen for decompression diving diving deeper and further into caves.
But age began its demoralizing effect in my 50s such that carrying twin 100 pound cylinders a mile back into a cave was no longer fun. Over a decade ago, I decided rather than retire my fins, I would go back to the future and embraced the rebirth of rebreathers. In my late 50s and early 60s, I continued to increase my diving activity, exceeding 200 dives and 400 hours underwater a year.
Wakulla Diving Center became my vehicle to share this journey, dedicated to training the future underwater enthusiasts of our world. Next January we will partner with the TCC Environmental Institute to train future underwater professionals. I continue to help young and older divers transition from open circuit to closed circuit (rebreather) diving as I did over a decade ago.
For us old divers, the future in diving is bright.
I hear Curacao, where I will present a paper in October, has warm awesome diving. Perhaps my next decade will be in dive travel! Age only requires more technology and determination.

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September 5, 2013

Finding my way back to the water

By Nicole Stanton

Once upon a time, I was a diving goddess. A fish in the water, I would find any and all excuses to find some body of water, be it fresh or salt, and fall into it.
Then the anticipated and dreaded happened, I went off to college.
Exiled to Rhode Island I was far from the warm waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. There I spent my weekends studying, giving myself neck cramps and back pain that follow me to this day.
Gone were my sunny, warm days of cave diving in the woods, gone were the summer cruises where it was common to make three dives a day for weeks on end.
Here I was trying to make something of myself beyond the fish that swam in my veins.
Now it is seven years later, I am no longer the fish like teenager who wore nothing but bathing-suits for an entire summer straight. I am a woman grown, dreaming of being that kid once again.
It is true that as children we all want to just hurry up and grow up, and as adults we just want something to remind us how to be kids again. This brings me to my topic, after years of being a landlocked mermaid, how do I find my way back into the water again?
I think that many of us find ourselves asking this question, maybe you learned to dive in college, or on your honeymoon, or even as a kid yourself.
Now you are asking yourself how do I find my way back? How do I do dive tables again (or do I need to)? What kind of equipment is even used these days? Do I need to take a refresher course?
To answer some of your questions, diving, like dive tables, are like riding a bike – it’ll come back to you quicker than you know!
Refresher courses are not very helpful because it is just reminding you of something you already know, so take the next class that interests you, and there you can get basic practice under the watchful eye of an instructor.
No, your certification never runs out, it is yours for life. Finally, a very interesting question indeed, how do you learn what kind of gear is even being used these days?
Imagine this – you walk into a store, you are there by appointment and are greeted by the proprietor. The sitting area is welcoming with a pedestal to show off the latest merchandise. Is this a bridal boutique or maybe a custom car shop? How about a dive shop?
Yes, a dive shop where you get the boutique VIP treatment with an educated guru in the latest toys with personalized attention to find you your perfect dive kit. Notice that I didn’t say this is the best, nor the most expensive, but the kit that fits you. Even if that is your own kit, the one from the 1980s.
Imagine that, an experience where you get to play with the newest toys on the market and maybe find that inner kid again, the one that wore nothing but a bathing suit for an entire summer.

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September 12, 2013

What’s next with the lionfish?

This summer we had increased reports of lionfish invading our fishing grounds! Search the Internet for “Eradicate and Lionfish” and you will be overwhelmed with documentary articles, YouTube, and anxious plans to reduce this explosive population.
Lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) is a beautiful, but toxic-spined aquarium fish that has escaped into our wild and with few natural predators, taken over the Caribbean, Bahamas, Atlantic Coast of the U.S. and now the Gulf of Mexico. Two years ago we first reported finding this invasive species in 105 feet depth off Cape San Blas.
They are now commonplace in deeper water off our shore, and will soon move closer to shore. Our customers are posting video of their exploits killing large numbers found on local reefs and ship wrecks. http://nas.er.usgs.gov/taxgroup/fish/lionfishdistribution.aspx
In a recent article on reef health at specific survey sites, Lad Akins at Reef.org stated, “Between 2008 and 2010, the combined biomass of 42 reef species declined by 65 percent, on average, across the study reefs” due to lionfish predation.
Presentations last year at the FSU Marine Lab on lionfish research in the Bahamas documented the destruction of healthy reef communities as these apex predators (in competition with grouper and snapper) moved in.
So what can be done?
We could create a market for the fish and thus a demand at restaurants and fish markets. There are lionfish cookbooks in print already. The fish will need to get big enough to harvest, at which time they will have done the greatest harm to the reef inhabitants. The larger fish are found in deeper water, where fewer people frequent.
We could exert intense eradication pressure on selected popular dive sites in an effort to keep their numbers low. New collecting technology is coming to better protect the collecting diver, such as small tripoint spear guns, protective gloves and solid see-through holding bags.
The Florida International University Scuba Club (http://fiuscubacats.wordpress.com/dive-for-a-cause/lionfish-eradication-initiative/) has organized a lionfish hunt complete with rules and prizes in South Florida. They combine the hunt with a fish fry of their catch of the day.
Lionfish Eradication Certification from SDI is available in Panama City Beach on Oct. 20-22 for under $400. Become qualified to safely handle these beasts as injury is both painful and can be severe.
If the risk is so high, why bother? Information is slowly coming out that a focused effort can make a difference. Removing 20 lionfish on a single dive equates to saving approximately 300,000 juvenile fish over a one-year period, Dr. Dayne Buddo remarked recently, pointing out that one lionfish is capable of eating 20 juvenile fish in one feeding event, and they normally feed twice per day.
In-water monitoring has shown a reduction in the numbers of lionfish at key locations around the island studied. Researchers have also seen good results from the catch data from the fishermen, as they have reported a reduction in the lionfish catch, reported Dr. Dayne Buddo of the University of the West Indies’ Discovery Bay Marine Lab.
One of our customers suggested a reward for collecting a predetermined number of lionfish, such as a tag permit for a Goliath Grouper. Let us know what you think and how can you assist.

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September 19, 2013

Muscle memory.

Have you ever observed someone who is learning to drive a car?
I can say that the people I have watched seem to suffer from sensory overload. They’re almost constantly moving the steering wheel to compensate (or over compensate) for the car’s position between the lines on the road.
All the while watching dashboard gauges, some more important than others, watching mirrors, taking directions from the co-pilot, and hopefully not driving up on the sidewalks. Now fast forward a few months (or years) and that same person can be found talking on the phone, eating, and driving simultaneously.
That multi-tasking behavior may be ill-advised but it’s a reality today and an example of how we manage complex skills. In time we build knowledge, skill, muscle memory, and comfort, often with a measure of complacency.
If you want to get technical most of what we do is the result of what we call muscle memory. Walking for example is something we have over-trained ourselves to do. Most people do not consciously think in order to walk, “it just happens.” When you do something over and over you effectively train your muscles and brain to do that task without thinking it.
Various studies have been done and the number of times it takes depends on the muscles involved and the complexity of the task.
In diving, muscle memory is extremely important to one’s safety and efficiency underwater. We see new divers fumbling for things like pressure gauges or the BCD’s power inflator. After as few as 10 or 15 dives it becomes second nature for them to reach for those tools when wanted.
With experience, divers work to reduce the complex idiosyncrasies that plague our sport. I see no shortage of problems that our customers are trying to solve; even seasoned divers are still working out things as they continue to make more and more complex dives. Tech divers are advised to never dive a new configuration before first testing it for new complications in a pool.
What I’m getting at is that divers fresh out of basic scuba class might think twice before picking up a spear gun or a camera or getting into cave diving or rebreathers. You need to let your brain sort out new skills to build comfort and muscle memory on the scuba basics like monitoring cylinder pressure, donning equipment, and maintaining neutral buoyancy.
When these tasks are second nature, they no longer become distracting factors to your adventures. You are now free to experience the underwater world stress free.
When you make major equipment changes like a new BC or regulator, moving from single cylinders to back-mount doubles, side-mount (one cylinder worn on each side of the body), or rebreathers, there are new muscles memories to develop too. That’s why Gregg and I spent the afternoon in the pool, working with a new rebreather platform called the Prism2. We made a series of changes to the unit and needed to test them in a controlled environment before rolling off a boat or exploring a cave. And we found problems with solutions that will now alter our configuration design!
It’s a learning experience, a retraining of your body, and we embrace it enthusiastically.

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September 26, 2013

Pressure Gauge? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Pressure Gauges

By Travis Kersting

Last week I talked about how building muscle memory can help make you a safer, less stressed, and more efficient explorer underwater. Things like checking pressure and depth are second nature.
But what do we do with this information? Why is the information important?
The more experienced I get the more I question why things like time, depth, and pressure actually mater on a minute-by-minute basis. I suppose we can call this complacency but I don’t feel that way at all.
For example, I know I can use a single aluminum 80 scuba cylinder for over two hours at an average depth of 30 feet. Checking my cylinder pressure every minute is pretty much pointless and extremely distracting. Now I don’t dive single cylinders very often so I usually have complete redundancy on board in typically four to six cylinders of breathing gas. Since I have a good feeling for how much gas is used at common average depths it’s not unheard of for me to not check pressure but about every 20-30 minutes.
Having depth and time on my wrist is a convenient way to monitor my air pressure without actually reaching for a gauge. You can argue about leaks, I have had them and it’s pretty obvious when something blows.
Gregg, with his rebreather, is checking cylinder pressure even less. In fact almost not at all unless there is a problem or leak detected. Even with such small cylinders, usually about 20 cubic feet each, his rebreather can run for hours and not run low. His primary concern is a value called PPO2 or the partial pressure of oxygen he is breathing. This he checks every minute or two but if he is distracted with a task underwater the values are still visible on a heads up display. Because rebreathers are perfect nitrox mixing machines and they can run for many hours underwater even depth is much less of a concern, so long as the diluent gas is suitable.
Depth is often a primary concern for divers. It becomes a fixation out of either fear or adventure. All too often I hear “We aren’t going to dive deeper than….” and I usually tell people depth doesn’t matter. Your equipment choice, for more or less recreational depths, doesn’t really matter. Gear that keeps you alive at 60 feet will do the same at 120. When you venture much outside of recreational depths there is only a concern because of the additional (or specialized) equipment you must carry, specifically breathing gas.
The issue of decompression is another frequently monitored threshold in diving. Decompression shouldn’t scare you but you should be aware of it. Every dive is a decompression dive and so long as you have the available breathing gas to complete the obligation then what else matters? Take a course in decompression diving and it will shed some light on this taboo topic. Watching your dive computer every few seconds to get every second on the bottom but not push into mandatory decompression can be more dangerous than staying longer and doing the deco. After all, we paid for the fuel to get to the dive site so why not do a little decompression and spend as much time underwater as possible?
If we know the average depth of a dive site, the amount of gas available or PPO2 for the rebreather guys, and have a way to measure time then the rest is almost redundant. This allows for much greater efficiency when completing an underwater task and reduces overall task loading. Shek Exley proved that even a watch isn’t relevant if you can keep a calm head. He completed a lengthy decompression by counting seconds in his head when he lost use of his time piece. Later Shek died exploring this same cave, Zacaton, to nearly 1,000 feet.
Building experience at your favorite dive sites and in your favorite equipment configuration will help you to estimate remaining air supply or remaining time before hitting decompression. This can be a handy tool if a dive computer stops working mid dive or a pressure gauge sticks. These things happen, don’t let them ruin the experience.

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October 3, 2013

Lionfish venom

By Joerg Hess

Increased sightings of the Lionfish Pterois off our coast have heightened the interests of our Wakulla fishermen and divers alike.
Since collecting these beautiful fish is anticipated, in part because they taste good, are easy to spear and their population needs to be kept down, their spines have become the talk of the town. Lionfish injury rank second in number of marine stings worldwide, exceeded only by the stingray.
What happens when you get too close, are stung and subsequently injured by their venom?
The venom is a neurotoxin, primarily located on the dorsal (top), ventral and anal spines of the fish. When threatened, this slow moving fish will extend its spines and bow toward the aggressor. Upon impact, the venom sacs on either side of the spine are squeezed sending poison from the venom glands through groves in the wall of the spine and into the puncture wound. The primary toxins are the neurotoxin acetylcholine, and a neuromuscular toxin. The pain is immediate and can last up to 20 minutes, or longer in more sensitive people.
A common treatment to denature the toxin is immediate soaking the afflicted area in hot water (no higher than 114 degrees F) for 30 minutes. If hot water is not available, aspirin can be taken but do not treat with both. Gentle removal of any remaining spines in the wound and direct pressure may be necessary to treat the physical injury.
People react differently to the venom of insects and fish. A person stung by the Lionfish venom may experience intense throbbing, sharp pain, tingling sensations, sweatiness and blistering. Those who are allergic to the venom will react with more pain than others. Allergic reactions (anaphylactic shock) are not uncommon so be prepared to monitor vitals and provide CPR if necessary. Lionfish anti-venom has not been identified, but stonefish anti-venom may help. Unfortunately, you will not know how reactive you are before the sting, so prevention is an important plan of action, and be prepared to treat the sting before exposure to the threat. Have a hospital evacuation procedure available.
Clearly, injury prevention is required. Today, spine proof bags and gloves are finding their way into area dive shops. The paralyzer tipped (three tips) small pole spears easily capture the Lionfish and permit easy placement into a lobster-like collection bag where fish removal and containment is untouched by human hands. Once the fish has died, the venom in the spines can remain active for up to an hour. A dedicated cooler on the boat can hold the fish out of harm’s way until removal of the venom spines can be accomplished safely ashore.
Once “defanged,” cleaning, and cooking the fish becomes routine. Lionfish cookbooks abound.
I recommend visiting Lionfish Hunters website for a fascinating learning experience and watch some of their YouTube presentations. (http://www.lionfishhunters.org).
I grew up with Lionfish in my waters in Hawaii. We took them in stride and treated them with respect. As an invasive species here in the Gulf of Mexico, we may yet make a little lemonade out of this otherwise challenging dilemma.

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October 10, 2013

Predator

As I have explained in past articles I am an animal lover. In recent months there has been numerous reports of sharks being killed by our spearfishing customers, some claim self defense and others think they are doing everyone a favor. I find this alarming and it bothers me to no small degree. We have become the top predator on our reefs seeking out tasty marine predators such as grouper, snapper, amberjack and now Lionfish. Before humans invaded the ocean the sharks were the top predator and their job was to promote evolution by removing the sick, dying, and injured animals from the reefs. Sharks are seldom harvested for food and when they are it is typically wasteful, inhumane, and outside of regulation. Sharks are there for the health of the reef, so why then do we continue to kill them?
Sharks are attracted to us when we hunt and kill fish because we create the very feeding conditions they search for. Our struggling and bleeding prey are their prey as well. We become competitors in their ocean and we are the intruder. An all too common solution is to kill them because we have the technology to do so. Dive stores have carried “personal protection devices” (often improperly called “bang sticks”) and other tools specifically for killing sharks. These devices are attached to a spear that upon impact will explode and kill a shark (or any large creature). In the past these devices were often permanently attached to the spearshaft and were used to harvest large fish like Goliath Grouper, an illegal activity today and possession of these weapons is illegal as well.
I am no shark expert, but I spent quality time with them during numerous encounters in numerous oceans. Unless you have created a frenzy when sharks bite at anything moving, they are usually a very cautious creature. My earliest shark encounters found them as curious about us as we were about them. One day when I was searching for a specific specimen needed for the lab, I turned to see a tiger shark larger than I drifting very close by, only to pause and look in the same hole before swimming on. My instinct has always been to freeze but my bubbles would give me away!
Size and numbers matter. They can add! When I worked on artificial Reefs in Hawaii, we patrolled the reef crests just like reef sharks, counting target fish species to estimate population dynamics. When our team numbered more than their’s, they would break off and swim around us. But when they out numbered us, they plowed right through us, with no apologies. If we were bigger than them, but numerically the same, we prevailed , but if the opposite happened, they prevailed. Only when the numbers and sizes were similar was there conflict, agitated behavior and real threat.
Killing a shark was the act of last resort, partially because the blast brought more sharks into the equation increasing our threat level. Dragging dead fish was equally problematic, but feeding our speared fish to them served to train sharks to know we represented access to easy food. Today, spearing fish in the Florida Keys will attract Nurse Sharks who will come up between your feet and expect to take your catch before you realize they are there! Of course some sharks are more aggressive than others. Locally, Bull Sharks are known to cause many of our shark encounter problems, whether they are trained to know divers have dead fish or are just plain ornery.
Today we advocate respect and education about sharks. One powerful tool is to go on a shark diving experience at Stuart Cove in the Bahamas. It takes only a few minutes to realize these large and numerous animals are there for dinner and you are NOT on the menu. They bump into you, rub along your legs, and are much like puppies. You are still in their dining room and if you don’t follow the rules you could have problems but to my knowledge that’s never been a problem at Stuart’s.
We began selling the Shark Shield as a nonlethal solution to shark protection. It emits an electrical field that sharks can sense but most other fish cannot. The sharks don’t like it but it doesn’t hurt them. The device isn’t inexpensive but it can keep sharks away for about 200ft. The tool can be towed behind the diver, hung from the boat, or deployed on the reef for later retrieval. We live at a time where technology can nearly eliminate the threat of being bitten plus save the lives of these important and majestic animals. The use of personal protective devices should no longer be called defense, it is murder and there isn’t an excuse for it.

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October 17, 2013

Why is the water so dark?

Actually, our best diving in North Florida usually happens during the winter months. Our recently defined winter diving season begins the day after Labor Day, when football season steps on a weekend underwater.
Our store attendance drops from 20 paying customers to three per day. Also at this junction, the bulk of the rainy weather has passed, the hurricane season is winding down, and cooler, dryer weather finds its way on to our shores. All this can translate into clearer water for diving.
OK, not yet this year. The sheer volume of rain that has saturated our aquifer, creating a surge of dark water flushing our underground conduits that is now draining Wakulla into the Gulf.
Key monitoring sites are just now shifting from a raging torrent to something we can once again investigate.
This rain water is delivered to the Gulf through many underground passages that open via springs to feed rivers that drain southward and to inundated sinkholes that vent into the sea well offshore. Some are well known such as Ray Hole or Escudo Hole.
But the majority of them are undocumented, many covered in sand, observed as offshore fresh water seeps.
Decades ago Dr. Bill Burnett of FSU’s Oceanography Department documented the seepage by sinking 55 gallon drum lids with water capturing devices attached in selected sandy seafloor areas of the Gulf.
Dr. Burnett studied the distribution of geochemical tracers like radium isotopes and radon used to trace groundwater discharge and mixing in the ocean.
Coastal waters in the Gulf of Mexico have a higher concentration of these isotopes closer to shore because of inputs via submarine groundwater discharge. Further offshore, the level of isotopes drops off because the ground water has mixed with ocean water that has lower concentrations of radium and radon. Since we know the rate of decay, he could subtract that out to get the amount of ocean mixing.
The direct discharge of groundwater into the marine environment has been overlooked as a pathway for fresh water, nutrients, and pollutants escaping the land.
His studies in Florida and elsewhere indicated that this process may be much more important than previously thought.
Recall our ground temperature remains stable year around. I live underground for just that reason. My house in mid Wakulla County has a temperature of 70 degrees and a shift of plus or minus 10 degrees.
Once the winter weather patterns settle in, we can expect the ocean water to cool down but will clear up offshore and clear in North Florida caves.
Fishermen must currently travel well off shore to find good visibility, something that will improve later in the year.
And come March of next year, summer divers will again return to the coast, dust off their fins and spears, shine their boat props and, as our store demographics suggest, venture out in search of marine adventure once more.

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October 24, 2013

Air Force Towers

I found myself discussing offshore diving opportunities with customers recently. I always show off the outstanding Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR) charts that document their reefs and the Air Force target range.
And that leads to question about the towers.
These U.S. Air Force towers are a familiar fixture to area fishermen and boaters since they were constructed in mid- to late 1970s.
K tower is located roughly 22 miles (29.39.715 by 84.22.388) south of the FSU Marine Lab in 60 feet of water. This tower is one of a constellation of six that the USAF uses for jet-fighter training based out of Eglin Air Force Base near the Panhandle’s Panama City. Each tower is welded to a 20 foot high large rock filled barge resting on the sea floor. The tower portion sticks up out of the water to an elevation of 100 feet, has navigation lights on at night and has a fog horn on during portions of the day.
A wide range of fish and invertebrates occupy the tower and barge, making it an ideal dive during good weather. Do not tie up to the tower please. Anchoring to the barge requires a diver to release the boat before departure, or anchor to the surrounding sand.
At 40 feet depth, the top of the K tower barge makes a good introductory dive with many smaller swarming baitfish, lumbering crabs and perched urchins covering the rock ballast. Then drop over the side and down to the sand to continue to explore the crevices created by the forces of weather on the barge/sediment sea floor. There I find flounder, goliath grouper, shark, oyster crackers, eels and such treasures that has been accidentally dropped by fishermen. Once around the barge and most folks are ready to head back to the anchor.
FSU scientists won permission recently from Eglin officials to use the K tower (and others) to mount a variety of both subsurface and topside instruments, which will include a live camera for studying wave conditions.
Earlier current meters demonstrated tidal currents in the vicinity of K tower. When fully operational, these newly installed devices will be capable of sending constantly updated measurements on such oceanographic and meteorological phenomena as the speed and direction of wind and currents, turbidity, salinity, water temperature, humidity and wave heights.
S tower is a favorite tower of mine located in 106 feet depth, located south of Apalachicola, through the Bob Sikes pass, and out 27 miles (29.17.806 by 84.36.788). While this tower is in deeper water, it serves as a beacon for the Exxon Template, sunk in 1980 in close proximity (to the west) and found by using your fathometer or looking for the sea turtles that hover at the surface. This Template was once used to guide drilling pipe into position on the sea floor from a drilling rig positioned above. It looks like a spider’s web of pipes supporting large funnels resting on the sea floor.
Now obsolete for the oil patch, it serves as a very productive artificial reef, attracting a wide assemblage of very desirable fish. I have seen the density of fish on this structure such that the anchor line would knock them out of the way with each passing wave. It’s a long run out to the site, but well worth the effort if the weather is calm.
With new ocean monitoring technology in place, better sea conditions can be evaluated before making the investment of the trip offshore.

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October 31, 2013

Field Report

I am visiting Curaçao, an island just north of Venezuela.
I have been here for six days attending the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and teaching a Trimix class to colleagues from Colombia.
You find me at breakfast right now. I’m eating a breakfast of crushed crackers, chopped fruits, in milk with Gouda cheese on the side and water to drink. Its 8:30 a.m., and no sign of our students.
There is no urgency since we have plenty of time now that we have completed almost all the required dives for the Trimix class and most of the skills.
They are very happy with the results, but don’t like the pace. My argument is make hay while the sun shines. Their reply is the sun always shines!
Either they are immensely fortunate or I am a hopeless Yankee. So the pace will now slow down. Island time!
With our AAUS meeting now over, papers presented and a successful dive yesterday afternoon ending in a night dive, we are now ready for more theory of helium diving, and trimix routines for the next three days with my two students. One will stay two more days and fly out on Friday, Nov. 1, along with me.
Bernardo, the local Dutch gas blender, took us to Snake Bay and an easy entry-exit place complete with a picnic table and sand beach. He said he could not join us since we were so slow and would likely end up returning after dark.
We were and we did, but these folks were very comfortable with night diving, so much so that one student did not even have a light. He just hung around the other’s cave light after it got dark.
Visibility here is… well, at 200 feet I could see the surface waves — from the underside, of course. The coral is unscarred and plentiful. Black coral swiggles protrude from the reef everywhere.
Large Brain and lettuce corals cover the wall. Sponges are seen in abundance and of many shapes.
I saw six lionfish, one very large and very few very small fish. There were plenty of pelagic fish in small schools along what might be called a wall, more a steep slope. It leveled off at 220 feet on a sand flat.
At around 250 or so I am told the edge of their world can be found. The ledge is an undercut that if you go there you will be in an overhead environment. I asked but they told me they know of no caves. And I could not get them to tell me how far in this reverse ledge goes. Bernardo said the island is like a giant mushroom. Talk about the ideal mesophotic zone (the depth and life forms below 150 feet and above 350 feet) in the ocean.
And we swam 5 minutes from shore, 7 minutes run time to a depth of 200 feet. The beach we dove is 10 minutes drive from the lab and five by boat down the coast.
These folks do not know what the term logistics means. And I am back in my Hawaiian lifestyle, but without the surf. Many entry sites are ledges with rolling waves crashing in.
How do I get a CCR to perform with the shallow-water entry? For now, I differed to a beach entry.
If I go missing, I tell my wife, I’ll blend in to the landscape around here – I’ll surface when I sober up. Who needs blood pressure medicine when you have — what we called in Hawaii — Polynesian Paralysis. It’s like narcosis, you can function reasonably well as long as you focus on the mission. But when you let your mind slip, the sun, the sea and the warmth of the Island take you away.
It’s a different world.

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November 7, 2013

Caribbean Travel in Today’s World

I am just back from Curacao. Wakulla Diving has expanded into the Caribbean, opening an opportunity for local divers to travel outside Wakulla County.
I visited one of three Dutch Antilles Islands, once called the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). My trip to Curacao was, in part, to present a paper on our team’s investigative capability on diving fatalities at the American Academy of Underwater Sciences.
I was also invited to work with the University of the Andes to dive into the twilight zone, the Mesophotic Zone, to depths between 50 meters and 150 meters (150 to 400 feet). And lastly, I went to see if the reefs of the south Caribbean Sea are similar to our Florida reefs.
To meet all these objectives, I took a new recreational rebreather as a carry-on in a backpack.
Transit down through Customs and Immigration went smoothly from Tallahassee through Miami and straight to Curacao in one day.
I noticed as we approached the Island that the reefs drop off very fast and close to the shore.
Wakulla County, in contrast, has a lengthy shelf that extends 50-60 miles offshore before reaching this twilight zone. We require expensive boats, fuel and time to reach these depths.
We all met up at the Carmabi Marine Lab just south of Williamsted, their largest city. We located the only other rebreather diver on the Island, Bernardo van Hoof, who provided us with cylinders, oxygen, trimix and nitrox for the week. We configured equipment in the morning and attended the conference in the afternoon.
By day three we made our first morning dive, for almost three hours by stepping off the Lab porch and into the ocean through a short beach. Within minutes we were at 120 feet, where we conducted training drills until lunch time.
With the conference over the next day, we launched dives to 200 feet at several beaches north of the Lab. We drove a car to the beach, strapped on the rebreather and bailout cylinders, and within seven minutes, were at 200 feet (unreal conditions!).
After some drills, we began surveying fish populations on our way up the slope. The corals were lush – soft and hard corals. We were so engrossed in these dives we missed the sunset and exited in full darkness to a bright shoreline.
At dive 5 we made a dive on the Superior Producer shipwreck located at 110 feet next to the wharves of Williamsted. The wreck sank in the 1970s with a full complement of rum in small bottles. Today, empty bottles are scattered about the rather large now gutted hull.
We ended the project with seven dives, at the west end of the island, again to 200 feet and again with fish surveys for almost 4 hours bottom time.
Yes, the reefs are healthy and abundant in the south Caribbean, many of the species are the same and offer a wonderful experience for both the traveler and diving scientist.
The flight to Miami was uneventful. But after customs, several of us were ushered out of the transient secured area and out onto the curb in Miami. Airport hotels were booked up. While we were on the curb, we were treated by the police like vagrants, told we must move along and not sleep. Everyone was exhausted by their return from the Caribbean and confused about the new policy.
At 5 a.m., we got in to find a TSA agent had been shot in Los Angeles. I think the TSA panicked across the country.
I guess air travel has many adventures, some great and some problematic.

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November 14, 2013

DEMA

Once every year we close the Center to attend the National Diving Equipment Manufacturing Association (DEMA), which this time was held in Orlando.
For the past several years we have witnessed this event shrink, evidence the industry is changing. This should not be a surprise, since in our area, we have witnessed the reduction or closure of three dive stores, and a change in focus of the only remaining dive store in Tallahassee.
Is this change the result of the growth of internet stores, the lack of organized diving (diving destinations), or just a loss of diving opportunity or interest in diving?
One can argue that the current national economic stress will reduce the amount of funds available for leisure pursuits so the industry should be on an upswing. There are internet stores that provide the customer with bargains, but they often come at the peril of no warranty, no service and try filling your scuba cylinder online.
We might argue that keeping local resources closed that would attract international participation and protection will dissuade visitation of the diving community. On top of all that is greater population growth and climate change causing a loss of environmental quality.
Missing from DEMA was the younger generation.
We met many of the older generations as you might have expected. They live upon the memories of what was once a great and unimaginable bounty in the sea. But upcoming young replacements were not on the DEMA floor.
Are the youth missing because there are better jobs in high technology or law? We noticed fewer of the small innovative companies showed up on the DEMA floor this year. Many that I spoke to complained of the spiraling costs and reduced participation making the effort not worth the investment.
Examples of ways these companies were gouged ranged from $80 a gallon coffee to $150 fees for hanging your own banners and logos.
It is true that electronic rebreathers dominated the displays at DEMA. Many dive destinations displayed one or both of the recreational rebreathers they are now catering to. Perhaps one or two new models showed up but nothing game changing.
It is clear with Poseidon’s 100-meter upgraded rebreather that divers want to go deeper and the companies are responding to this demand. Scientists have been actively exploring the mesophotic zone, the twilight depths below 150 feet, for decades but never before with such freedom and ease.
We attended days of upgrade workshops before, during and after the conference, making the trip worthwhile to us. To maintain the ability to get parts and teach the wide range of products we do provide requires attending costly annual training.
We can now sell, train, and repair the new Prism2 and Explorer rebreathers, which may be popular with the spearfishing community next year. I continue to provide NAUI course director status which will be very important as we expand the regional general diver training programs, the result of a two-day requalification workshop post DEMA.
NAUI announced that to stay in the industry, we must adapt to the new generation’s way of doing business. And that means more flexibility, distance learning using electronic (internet) support, streamline access and open local opportunity. When an industry becomes too difficult to reach, the population goes elsewhere.
We had a great summer and look forward to new policies and procedures to bring the next season a greater success beyond the disappointment of the current trends at DEMA.

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November 21, 2013

Professional Diving

As a species, we humans relate to the underwater world in several ways.
For the vast majority, this inhospitable realm is full of mystical creatures, darkness and fear, and best avoided. Water for these folks is best consumed at the dinner table, traversed by boat and virtually observed on the flat screen.
Then there are those who embrace the underwater world as a recreation. In search of adventure, these intrepid souls learn to breathe from machines that enable them to submerge into the liquid world and become a creature, however briefly, of the aquatic realm. Most simply observe, others become gatherers, spearing fish, collecting scallops, capturing specimens for their aquariums. They do more than drink the water, they play underwater.
A fraction of these people become professionals in a wide number of careers that can apply their trade underwater. Diving becomes a way to reach their job. The term professional diver is applied to anyone who earns a living while working underwater.
Most of you may immediately think of commercial diving in the oil fields of the Gulf, and you would be correct, but the term is not exclusive to that career. Commercial divers can make a lot of money and do live a challenging, exciting life.
The other well known diving career is military diving, available through all the branches of the services, and mostly taught at one facility in Panama City. The Naval Diving & Salvage Training Center provides all branches of the military with a unified quality training opportunity. Anyone interested in diving and a military career should visit this command for an impressive tour.
Of course, once you become a scuba diver, you are encouraged to become a Dive Master, Assistant Instructor or Instructor by most training agencies. These are professional diving careers, but as stand-alone options pay poorly. The pay is better when you can repair their life support technology as a Dive Technologist. Combine the Instructor and Technologist and you become a valuable employee in the dive retail market.
But there is a wider application of the term professional diving. The scientist, engineer, criminologist, chemist, anthropologist etc. who investigates their topics underwater are also professionals who dive.
I was involved in the generation that defined these folks as diving scientists. A PhD. is not required to become a Diving Scientist. The Park Ranger who monitors the spring for water quality, the Department of Natural Resources Agent who surveys the fish or scallop populations to guide policy managers deciding population control, and the crime scene detective recovering a submerged fatality are all professionals who dive.
Until recently these folks were trained by specialists within their respective disciplines or through recreational dive shops. A few colleges provide programs that address this topic on the west coast and one fine program in the Florida Keys.
Beginning this January, Tallahassee Community College, through their new Wakulla Environmental Institute, and through a public private partnership program with Wakulla Diving Center, will offer a semester long course called Introduction to Professional Diving. In 16 weeks, this survey class will train (to certification) students in basic diving skills, and expose them to additional life support tools of the trade. Examples include hose diving, side mount, rebreathers and ROV. We will use the Florida A&M University pool in cooperation with their Aquatics Program to provide an ideal training opportunity.
This class will be the first of many yet to come as our Wakulla Environmental Institute continues to grow. Be sure to enroll soon as space in this class is limited.

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November 27, 2013

Oxygen Delivery

When diving rebreathers in Curaçao last month, I discovered how spoiled we are here with an abundance of available pure oxygen.
Rebreathers need 90 to 100 percent oxygen to efficiently operate. Once found in the islands, the cost was prohibitive, and moving it from one source to another very challenging.
Here at the Center however, I purchase oxygen in the liquid form, gasify it and blend through a compressor or booster pump into any concentration from pure oxygen to nitrox and trimix.
When I shifted from purchasing gaseous oxygen by the $20 per 300 cubic foot cylinder to a Dewar flask of liquid oxygen, I cut my oxygen cost by 75 percent. The cost of the Dewar was half the cost of the oxygen storage cylinders. But this technology is heavy, and can be unstable. Access to liquid oxygen can be challenging in the Caribbean. Try carrying a Dewar flask on a sailboat! It’s just not going to happen.
So what other options do we have to make oxygen? Beer brewers, needing a source of nitrogen, developed a membrane that separated nitrogen out of air. They dumped the leftover back into the air.
Bob Olsen then became a diver and learned about Nitrox, the undesirable stuff he was dumping to get nitrogen. He (and others) reversed their process and now produce Nitrox by pumping air at around 800 PSI down a long pipe membrane. Out from the sides of this pipe comes nitrogen, off the end, an enriched Nitrox. However, this process, which is available in Crawfordville at the other dive shop, usually makes no more than a 50 percent Nitrox blend, and requires a low pressure and high pressure compressor, in addition to the expensive membrane.
Again, convenient technology, but not likely going to fit on a sailboat or easily installed at a remote lab in the Caribbean.
Earlier this month we were at the Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association conference in Orlando and reviewed oxygen accumulators called Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) technology usually associated with health care.
A resort in Micronesia has an Oxygen Bar available for their guests to breathe flavored 90 percent oxygen after a long day of diving to reduce decompression stress. Here, air at low pressure is fed through twin beds of nitrogen absorbing granules that filter or flush alternatively on a continuous cycle delivering 90 percent oxygen. By placing a booster pump downstream of the PSA system, we can fill a 300 cf cylinder in 24 hours! And the entire unit weighs under 100 pounds! So we purchased one and brought it back to the shop. What an awesome technology!
I contacted the folks setting up rebreather fill stations in the Caribbean and found considerable interest in the application of PSA technology. And I will add this capability to my sailboat currently being upgraded for Caribbean research. Next year this time I will be working with the University of the Andes (Colombia) diving the Mesophotic (Twilight) Zone conducting fisheries surveys.
Yesterday, my 95-year-old father needed continuous oxygen. We used the traditional oxygen delivery systems until we ran low and realized we had the exact make and model required for his care.
What a wonderful world of opportunity technology has provided us that we can solve the challenges of one community through the success of another.

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December 5, 2013

Personal Configuration

By Travis Kersting

In the early days of scuba there weren’t any manufactures like we have today. You couldn’t go to a dive store and buy a widget to make your underwater experiences safer. The tools of the trade were made, one at a time, and usually by hand in garages or workshops. You might not think this is the case in modern scuba diving but you couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Sure, most dive stores are well equipped to put the average diver into the underwater environment safer than ever before. Production equipment rolls off the assembly lines by the thousands for these people. The divers who operate on the edge of possibility, who explore the farthest into the caves or deepest into the ocean do not have the luxury of such conveniences.
Many of the “production” rebreathers currently available for example, come out of garages and hardware stores. The concept of changing or building one’s own diving equipment is not foreign in the commuty of technical divers. Today any one of you could visit the local hardware store and find most of the components necessary to make a rebreather. Equipment like double rebreathers are not available from a manufacturer, less maybe one, so divers such as Krysztof Starnawski built his own and took it to over 920 feet.
Rebreathers are a good example but do you think open circuit divers make their own gear too? Of course we do.
Early double cylinder configurations were made by drilling out the side of a scuba valve and inserting a tube which was then soldered into place. This created the connection between two cylinders that resulted in a single large volume capacity. Today we have manifolds to do this that are stronger and built for the job at a price around $150 to $200. The bands that held early sets of doubles together were made by hand as well. Before sidemount harnesses were commercially available, people built their own, either from scratch or by modifying off the shelf recreational gear. The list goes on….
This is where I am today. I purchased a harness designed and built for side-mount cave diving. OK, actually it’s more of a “pre production” item that is being sold but there are small changes between production runs as the design is modified. Before even attempting to dive it, I knew there were some changes needed to fit my preferences.
Before long I had stripped it to bare components, all the way to removing the bulkhead connections on the buoyancy device. From this I made two piles, one of parts to keep and one of parts to put on the rack for another project. It’s amazing how much extra stuff is on these “off the shelf” units. I start by removing all padding, it takes weight to sink and with my drysuit it’s totally unnecessary. Then goes anything brass which in this case was all the clips, it’s just my preference but I only use stainless steel bolt snaps. Next started some sewing and cutting and gluing. The result is equipment that barely resembles what I started with.
It goes without saying that modification of scuba equipment basically voids all warranties and transfers the liability to the person doing the modification. I’m a huge advocate of personalizing your equipment and making it your own, but these changes don’t come without risk and learning to manage that risk.
Think through every change and talk to others so you fully understand what implications these changes may have on your life.
Now we must get the training agencies to recognize side-mount diving as a recreational activity, not just a technical option.

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December 12, 2013

The Caustic Cocktail

We suspect there is an alcoholic drink by this name at a bar somewhere.
When divers use the term Caustic Cocktail, they are not amused. This condition refers to a rebreather diver that has had water leak into their carbon dioxide scrubber, usually through the “loop”, flushing the granules of their caustic dust and transporting a now high pH solution to their mouth. When taken into the mouth, a chemical burn follows.
We have only seen three such events happen at Wakulla Diving Center over the past decade, usually during training, and never a pleasant event. Fortunately, none have required hospitalization. But let’s go back to the basics first.
All humans consume oxygen and give off carbon dioxide as we metabolize food for energy and generate heat. Know that an open circuit diver exhales his breathing gas into the hydrosphere (water) and it bubbles to the surface.
Recall a rebreather diver circulates his expiration gas into the machine on his back to be reprocessed before re-breathing it. This passage is called the loop, a series of hoses leading from the mouth, through breathing bags, into the CO2 canister, back through some more breathing bags and returned back to the mouth by way of more hoses. There are few bubbles lost to the surrounding water.
This process includes adding oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. The canister holds granulated calcium hydroxide mixed with potassium and sodium hydroxide, all used in an acid/base capture of the exhaled carbon dioxide. The process is exothermic, which means it gives off heat. The chemical process also generates water in the form of moisture vapor.
Divers appreciate the work of the carbon dioxide capturing canister that also generates heat and elevated moisture during the dive. Sponges are placed strategically to capture excess moistures in the rig. But we cannot forget that we are diving in water all around us. Any mistake or damage that violates the integrity of the breathing loop will introduce external water into the machine.
Water, then races through the canister and can move quickly to the mouth. If the diver is not aware of the situation he or she can drink the cocktail. Their reaction to this condition is predictable: an immediate spitting out of the mouthpiece and washing the mouth out with surrounding water.
The caustic fluid tingles at first, then burns and later can get worse. If the fluid goes down the throat, the divers voice changes and the victim can later have difficulty breathing. Such extreme cases require hospitalization.
Fortunately, during training, we put into practice bailing out and ascent skills (a common time for mistakes that let water into the loop) off to the very end of the dive. As a result, the time of possible exposure to the granules is kept to a minimum, thus reducing the severity of the chemical burn.
Two of the three cases occurred at the end of the dive and were very mild much to the relief of the student. The third happened to me.
I was returning from a long and deep dive and still had 90 minutes of required decompression to complete before I could exit the cave. I looked up and felt the burn on my lips and tongue but stopped any further ingestion.
I bailed out to open circuit and raced through my stops to my open circuit 100 percent oxygen cylinder located at 20 feet , some 45 minutes away. By the time I came out of the water my mouth was numb, but I was otherwise in good health. An over-pressure valve had failed and leaked.
My last class suffered through the third caustic cocktail this week and are now busy planning a bar drink by that name in honor of their experience. They are trying to match the tingling sensation without suffering the mouth numbing effects! I appreciate and marvel at their attitude in the face of such challenges.
And I am thankful of our good fortune.

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December 19, 2013

Scooters

Winter brings out the cave divers and their toys.
Our cave waters are clearing up as the effects of the heavy summer rains flush into the ocean. Some of these cave systems are long, many miles long, requiring an underwater motorcycle, a DPV (diver propulsion vehicle), or scooter for short.
A DPV usually consists of a pressure resistant watertight casing containing a battery-powered electric motor, which drives a propeller. The most common type of DPV tows the diver who holds onto handles on the stern. Military scooters would take up an additional column to discuss (see Wikipedia for more details)!
The first scooters were torpedo shaped tubes filled with batteries and ridden like a horse. Ribricoff in the late 1960s added cameras and rode his system while photo documenting the reef. Aquazepp and Farallon scooters in the 1970s became very popular as a diver towing vehicle, unlike the riding style, and soon found their way into the caves of Florida.
Swimming 60 meters between the 200-plus Stone Crab artificial reefs modules we had planted that year just took too long to monitor. As a diving scientist on that project, I used the Farallon scooter to travel between reef modules off Cedar Key. The problem became obvious when the battery ran out and you were far from the boat. Fortunately we had boat tenders to come pick us up when the juice ran out. I still have a half dozen of them in my shop, left over from a different era.
The recreational diving market loves toys as much as we do. They spun out small tow scooters called Teknas. The Appolo/Dacor/Torpedo also made a small scooter in the 1980s. Today there are many underwater human propulsion machines available, from a sit-down mini sub to something you strap on your scuba tank or legs.
There are fan looking contraptions to long slender torpedoes. Divers don’t need to swim anymore!
When cave exploration in the Woodvile Karsk Plain began in the mid 1980s, Bill Gavin began making a serious scooter that carries his name to this day. This week we had three Gavin scooters in our facility, under various states of repair. They are very heavy, large and solid construction. But when in the water and properly trimmed out, they are neutrally buoyant. I call them tractors rather than scooters as they can pull two divers from a mile in a cave safely out to sunlight. And that’s what counts!
To test that idea, Dr. Joerg Hess took his Gavin scooter to the back of Jackson Blue Springs in Marianna towing me (both on a rebreather). We then spent an hour nearly a mile back in the cave, had lunch on a rock in the stratosphere room (all underwater) and then towed us both back with not so much as a hiccup.
Today, there are several companies that make scooters for the serious diver, and they are not inexpensive. The Florida based Silent Submersion Magnus is small and so powerful that it twists the diver when turned on. A helmet and tight fitting mask is highly recommended. It also costs $6,000 each.
The Divex scooter out of Washington State is made of aluminum and driven by a brushless motor at half the cost but much less power. European scooters are also making their way into the USA competing for the cave divers attention.
I have a Divex scooter but I would rather swim myself. I am impressed with the culture surrounding the Gavin Scooter as I often see them returning for service after almost 30 years.
Scooters have become so engrained in diving culture that some training agencies focus all their diving standards based upon the expectation that you will drive a scooter underwater one day.

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December 26, 2013

The consequence of silt.

By Travis Kersting

Have you ever ventured out on a trip with a plan, perhaps on a tight schedule, and life inconveniently intervened which derailed or delayed your trip?
Something as simple as a flat tire could cost you hundreds of dollars and many hours depending on your preparedness and the extent of the damage. Adding further anxiety to the situation could be loss of contact with help and the onset of weather or darkness. It’s important to stay calm and think logically through the situation so you can take measures to get home safely.
I recently revisited a story written online about a diver who was on a rebreather with the plan to penetrate a shipwreck. The diver, though experienced, was diving in over 200 feet of water and didn’t run a guideline into the wreck. His inappropriate fin kicks disturbed the silt and completely blocked his vision of a way out. Because he was on a rebreather he had some time to wait and allow the silt to settle again.
Meanwhile his decompression obligation was adding up fast and all he could see is the blinking light of his computer display.
This diver made a critical mistake of not maintaining a continuous line to the surface (or open water) and was several rooms into a shipwreck in fairly deep water. He was left with two options, to look for the exit by feel and potentially risk meandering farther into the wreck or to wait. Both options had a high chance of injury or death, especially if he could not remain calm. His rebreather afforded him more time to work on his problems but it came with its own complexities to work out.
Thankfully, he lived to write many pages about his ordeal, albeit with considerable decompression obligation and a new-found respect for silty environments.
Before I read his article, I too had experienced a silt-out. However, I was on standard open circuit scuba and in a cave. It was not nearly as deep, about 125 feet, but the situations nearly paralleled what the shipwreck diver had endured.
My visibility was lost due to a dislodged bacterial mat on the ceiling of the cave which my exhaled bubbles penetrated. The cave was a siphon and during the entire cave penetration this material followed me in as it came off the ceiling. When I stopped to investigate a potential new passage I lost momentary sight of the guideline and was engulfed in what appeared to be floating insulation.
I knew the layout of this room fairly well and knew I could not exercise a “lost line” procedure for lack of solid rock to tie to. Instead I waited and watched the OLED computer display, the only thing I could see. I shut off my light and waited.
For exactly 10 minutes I watched and plotted my potential options. Either the water would clear and my exit would be expedient or I would have no option but to feel my way around for a guideline. One can’t help but think about the other alternatives when faced with them head on. Thankfully staying calm was fairly easy as when I solo dive I carry abundant amounts of breathing gas that are not intended to be used, this includes extra decompression gas.
Obviously, I too, made it out of the cave. Not without considerable effort and more unplanned decompression than I want to admit. It was a learning experience that I describe to our cave students in much more detail in hopes that they will not make the same mistake as me and so they will plan for inevitable failures.
The consequence of disturbing the silt is being lost and lost underwater is never enjoyable. We all make mistakes, we all have flat tires or broken timing belts or other accidents, and we learn to manage these risks every day.
Or we don’t listen.