By Gregg Stanton and contributors

Travis Kersting and Gregg Stanton

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January 8, 2015

It is a New Year.

Once the parties are over and the resolutions made, it’s time to put plans into motion.
For most people who dive, this means preparing for the diving season to come. For others, changing their direction underwater, perhaps taking up a different style of diving or just upgrading their kit. We are expanding our activity into the Caribbean, which is an upgrade to all of the above.
Our local dive season for most relies upon warmer and calmer underwater sites. Winter diving is popular for some hearty souls that don’t mind the 55-60 degree water that can get bumpy out there. Winter seasons for most of our diving community becomes a time to get more training (such as cavern or Nitrox) and doing preventative maintenance (such as hydro testing and visual inspection of cylinders or regulator and BC servicing).
Our summer begins anywhere between March and May, based upon water clarity, calmness, and warmth. Mobile marine life have their schedules to keep as well. Scallops may come into the grass beds and grow to size early, late, or not at all during the summer. Grouper move in from warmer deeper depths when better feeding conditions prevail nearer to shore. It’s all choreographed into what we talk about in the past tense at season’s end.
Our annual spear fishing contest planning will begin in early January. Anyone interested helping plan this contest is welcome to contact Travis to get dates for the meeting. TCC’s Spring Introduction to Professional Diving class held at FAMU Aquatic Center will ramp up on Wednesday, Jan. 7, and run through April 2015 meeting every Wednesday afternoon. Continued Technical training in rebreathers and cave diving also continues into the new year, keeping everyone busy this year. And continued research into TCC’s Cave system seeks to trace the southbound passage under proposed construction and a biological survey of trogophitic (cave) creatures will begin in early February.
Our challenges for the new year include facing a reality on the effects of a population explosion of Lion Fish encroaching our fishing grounds. Offshore (beyond 9 miles) improvements on scuba technology permitting longer and more comfortable dives is exciting.
We anticipate expanded fresh water diving opportunities as more private property becomes available to diving. Resources are focusing on Caribbean dive sites, especially deep warm reefs, that will expand travel opportunities.
By looking back even five years, to a time when most divers in Wakulla breathed air from their scuba cylinder to now, when we profit more from dispensing CO2 than a significantly diminished request for air, we can now project into the future, a surge in the use of Nitrox and other exotic breathing gasses. This translates into more diving, more enjoyable diving, and a greater public support for diving as a reason to visit Wakulla County.
Happy New Year!

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January 15, 2015

On San Andres Island.

I have been in Colombia’s San Andres Island for more than a week. I am helping Dr. Juan Sanchez of the Universidad de Los Andes (in Bogota) to develop a deep water diving research capability. Several of his graduate students and collaborators are here as well. The coral reefs are beautiful and in good shape, but the fisheries are decimated, mostly from over fishing. Invasive species is another problem. On one four-hour dive to depths of 30 meters (100 feet), I counted 14 Lion Fish each big enough to feed a person. Absent were the anemones, the cleaning stations, sharks, and other expected assemblages on a healthy reef.
The corals and sponges, on the other hand, are extensive, diverse and fragile. I am used to the coral community of the Florida Keys where divers have smashed every thing fragile long ago. The black sponge is easily torn from its hold-fast here, so we must be very careful as we swim past. The lace corals form fans extending out over the abyss below. Giant plant eating crabs or, increasingly, Lionfish occupy the core of basket sponges that are bigger than people. Yes, I found one spiny lobster. Green Moray Eels come out of the coral canyons and swim with you hoping for handouts. I fear the local dive centers are feeding them, which makes for some added excitement on the dive.
Rebreathers are the next generation of dive technology expected here. With abundant deep reefs surrounding the island, diving tourism is expected to grow here in the next decade. Most reefs are close to shore, with spectacular drop-offs in clear water. During the winter, surfing is also a pleasant sport with 8 foot swells close to shore. Even when the surf and wind are up, the lee of the island is almost flat! We have made as many dives from a boat as from shore this past week. The lee of the island has a sharp rock ledge against the sea. Local folks have built platforms down to the water where you can jump into five to six foot depths and swim out reaching 100-plus foot depths within 100 yards from shore. This is an ideal environment for rebreather open water diving.
But today, helium is not available, and oxygen is, at best, 88 percent pure. I suspect the rest of their pure oxygen is a combination of argon and nitrogen (both narcotic gasses). We are finding greater narcosis challenges as well dive to increasing depths using our rebreathers. It is hard to remember what species you are counting when you are drunk underwater. We shipped helium to the islands to survey deep reefs, so next week we will work on different options to make up for the less than pure oxygen.
Of course when visiting foreign lands, one must recognize the local culture, which moves slowly, the people, who are very friendly, the traffic, which is slow but infused with many small motorcycles (no one waring helmets), and going every which way, fast. The weather is humid and 86 degrees, which is near the temperature of the water. It rains every day during January, but the sun is usually shining as it rains. The island can be described as over crowded, which may explain their lack of a fish population around the island.
Meanwhile, someone said there were caves in San Andres? Yes we did find a clear cavern that dropped to 15 feet with a side-mount restriction that dropped much deeper. The halocline could be seen at 25 feet through the restriction.
For now, the cavern is a favorite swimming hole for the local kids.

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January 22, 2015

Reaching 300 feet in seawater.

It took more than two weeks but we made our objective to train a new team of research rebreather divers from the University of the Andes in Bogota Colombia, to reach 90 meters (300 feet), collect soft coral specimens and pictures within this Mesophotic (twilight) environment. The team is now made up of 8 Megalodon CCR qualified science divers, in various stages of experience, but all with a clear vision of studies at 300+ feet. For the first week we trained up three more graduate students from scratch. They must get 25 more hours on the CCR before they can progress into Trimix or cave. During this time, team 2, already trained in cave diving, went exploring for caves and began blending for Normoxic (200 foot) dives.
The ocean did not cooperate, by staying windy and rough along the front of the island, leaving us to shore dive off the rocky lee side of the island. At least I had a chance to show off the Hawaiian shallow water entry! Those of us testing dives in the narcotic depths began to complain of odd feelings at depth. Research into the calibration of the rebreathers reviled the oxygen we were using, sold to us as pure, had only 88 percent oxygen. More investigation found they recover their oxygen by membrane separation, which means Argon is also concentrated with the oxygen. Once the basic CCR training was completed in shallower water, a debate began as to whether deeper diving would be possible or not. Assistance came from a number of sources all pointing to finding a better oxygen source before making the dives.
It turns out that there is a University Hospital on the Island. They have a reclamation system that claims 97 percent or better quality of oxygen. But to be sure, they also had imported 100 percent oxygen and were willing to give us a single cylinder. Now we had two qualities of oxygen and more training to complete. Week two began Normoxic CCR training (using Trimix 20/35 oxygen/helium blends) for other members of the team down to 200 feet. Bail out at 200 feet was accomplished using the good gas in the CCR and the poor gas in the open circuit bail out cylinders. At 190 feet we had a real bailout exercise and the student reported some (now closely monitored) argon induced narcosis. He reported it was like a “bad” narcosis.
With Normoxic training put on hold due to schedule conflicts (these folks have real administrative jobs as well), the deep team kicked in using pure oxygen and Trimix blends of 11 percent oxygen, 60 percent helium. One team member had made a small mistake earlier and did not change out his canister (policy dictated use of a fresh absorbent pack on dives below 200 feet), resulting in a CO2 breakthrough and severe narcosis hit (and bad headache). He and his team handled the problem well and exited safely. Early dives reached 70 then 80 meters with a planned bailout on the third dive to 90 meters (300 ft) that became quite the exciting exercise. At 10 atmospheres of pressure, technology must be able to take the abuse pressure will deliver. The displays of two CCRs cracked and one flooded. The other computer failed completely with no warning. Both divers completed a safe three hour surfacing, running the dive from a backup monitoring computer without incident. During this dive samples were collected and pictures taken by the third diver on the team. Even with an emphasis on training, much was learned from this new and growing laboratory in the Caribbean.
We now head home to figure out what happened, share our experience with others and set new technology in play to accommodate pressures beyond 300 feet. Meanwhile, a new facility is taking shape in San Andres where banked Trimix and CO2 absorbent is accumulating for continued dives once we secure a better oxygen source. In April scooter and more cave training will continue with team members. And in May we should see continued technical training for their facility manager/owner, all in sleepy Wakulla County.

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January 29, 2015

Reef encounters

Two weeks ago we spent a very long time decompressing on the top of several reef walls in San Andres Island. I have since returned to Wakulla County. As I have reported, there were few typical fish and no anemones or cleaning stations observed on all of our dives. Yet on one dive, I observed 14 Lion Fish of considerable size. But other creatures were discovered. A large green Moray Eel came out of the wall and swam along with us, apparently tamed by local divers. A single and rather small spiny lobster hid under a ledge within the wall at 130 feet. And a plant eating large crab occupied a giant sponge, big enough to host a small person if the crab vacated the site. But the most intriguing of the few reef creatures we encountered was the octopus.
The Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus briareus) is described as a coral reef marine animal. This creature has eight arms that vary in color, length and diameter. The mantle, in which a parrot like beak is shrouded, is large and chunky. This species is like a chameleon because it can change its color and texture to blend into its surroundings. Its chromatophore range is incredibly large; it can change from brown to green, and bumpy to smooth. It can weigh around 3.3 lb or 1.5 kg as an adult.
One late afternoon, at dusk, we chanced up not one but two of these relatively secretive creatures. The pair were in and out of a series of holes on the top of the wall. When I pulled up, they hardly took notice, so I kept my distance. From what I could see one was displaying to the other, eyes popping out the the mantle, much of the first’s body contained in the hole while the displaying individual danced around enticing the other out of the hole. The dance swayed with the surge. When my partners saw the activity he moved in a bit too close. The displaying individual, which by now we surmised was a male, quickly jumped in to a hole close by and glared at us.
But the other, we surmised as being a female, was not deterred. Soon long lenticels slipped out of the hole and reached out to my partner and gently touched his hand. He touched back and for a while it seemed my partner began the dance, moving back and fourth with the surge. Now octopus have no mouth with which to smile, but those eyes were riveting. Her color was changing throughout the dance, something more mesmerizing as time progressed. I wish I had a camera as it seemed the other, the glaring octopus in a near by hole seemed more aggravated than before. The dance progressed until my partner reported later, the grasp of the tentacles were greater than he had expected. And they were pulling him in closer to the hole.
With a sudden jerk, my partner yanked loose and withdrew a bit, ending the dance and breaking the spell. As soon as we pulled back, the other octopus came out, as if to vanquish us from its territory and continued the dance. Since we were at the end of our decompression and the night was nearly upon us, we began a search for the anchor and then rose to the surface to our waiting boat.
I am always thrilled with our reef encounters, made possible by the silent, no bubbles of rebreather technology.

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February 5, 2015

Automation.

This week I am training folks from Canada and Jacksonville diving highly automated rebreathers. Folks pay a lot of money for these beauties ($7,000-$10,000), much like you would expect to pay correspondingly for a Jaguar or Lamborghini car.
They are sold with the promise to take care of you while underwater. In fact one advertizes: “Open the tank valves, wet the switch on the back of the display, wait for the systems check and off you go. Forget about everything you ever heard about PO2, scrubber life and oxygen cells”
Ouch!
I find such statements and performance expectations as grossly misleading. I do understand that many people want technology to work like their car, that is they put the key in the ignition, turn it and the engine starts. Then a pull on a lever and the car goes. Push on a brake and the car stops.
But so much more is required before that car can go very far, or stop very quickly. Fluids must be maintained, tune-ups performed routinely, break shoes liners replaced, and repairs completed expeditiously. And the automobile industry has a lot more money and time behind it than our decade and a half rebreather industry.
Much of this automation is based upon conveniences. A car’s starter is a beloved convenience, not a requirement. A century ago we started cars with a pull crank.
Our electronic fuel gauge sure beats shoving a stick down into the fuel tank, but is not a requirement.
Brakes are a requirement unless you are Fred Flintstone. Rebreathers are no different. For a rebreather to work you need a loop to breath into, a source of oxygen (and diluent if you plan to dive below 20 feet), a way to remove carbon dioxide (we call it a “scrubber”), valves to meter the gas and assure one way flow and an oxygen content monitor.
My TCC students report there are plans available on the internet to build a rebreather for $200!
Everything else is a convenience. We have automated oxygen delivery using solenoids and trickle valves to replace the manual valve, computers to monitor the supply gases, automated diluent addition valves, CO2 monitors for our scrubbers, and even internal testers to assure sensor performance and leak detection.
All these gadgets need gadgets to monitor their performance, and the list keeps growing. And so does the price.
I had to pay big bucks for an automated rebreather years ago, for the privilege of my first and only “caustic cocktail,” a problem with rebreather diving when water gets into the scrubber and delivers a chemical burning substance to your mouth. There was no warning for that oversight.
We completed a full day of diving today. The student bailed out of the rebreather on to open circuit (bubbles) when his automation said to bail! He had run out of diluent gas, not a crisis requiring bail out, but a good thing to know obviously.
It would be similar to a flashing read light on your dash telling you to pull over and turn the car off because your windshield wiper fluid was empty. Even in most cars, the red oil light, and indicator there is real damage happening in your engine, does not demand you turn the engine off immediately, which you should do.
Yes, I like the convenience with automation in many things (cars and rebreathers). There is a place for some of it.
But at most levels it breeds complacency that is the basis of many of the fatalities in our community.
I have a week to teach my students to NOT rely on their automation.

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February 12, 2015

Vanishing Breed

While training at Peacock last week, I chance encountered a fellow diving instructor, and as time would allow, he described changes in our little world. The International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers had just moved to Lake City from South Dakota, he said with much enthusiasm. Now we can just drive over and pick up supplies and cards.
TDI, another training agency had moved from New Hampshire to a little further south to middle Florida. They allow you to make your own cards! Even NAUI years ago had given up on California and moved to Tampa. It seems that all the diving in the U.S. is now concentrated in Florida, and now so too are the agencies.
But he went on that many training agencies are moving to a new model where all the education will be online so that the instructors need only focus on skill training in the water! I had already seen the making of dive instructors (called Leadership) go that way for NAUI, something I commented in this column not long ago. He then pulled up his smart phone and said that PADI had all of his manuals available as a download, so students did not need paper manuals anymore. He predicted the technical diving agencies would soon offer cave and deep and rebreather education remotely delivered to students and relegating us instructors to just splash internet trained students.
Now, I have often embraced new ideas in the past, such as breathing Nitrox over air, using rebreathers over open circuit, and blending exotic gasses derived from liquids through an air compressor.
But such tasks served to make our diving safer and less expensive.
I must admit that if the technology is reliable (I still curse at all the hacking and misinformation delivered by the internet) the notion of progressive education delivered at your own pace in the comfort of your home seems appealing.
Lost is the ability to question the speaker if something is unclear. And the student is locked into the training agency philosophy, something I never fully agree with. The student looses the ability to seek out like minded educators, resulting in a loss of competition which by design, would lead to a less enjoyable experience.
Instructors d

ramatically vary in knowledge and delivery.
My wife’s father retired during such a paradigm shift. He was used to relying on a secretary who would take his notes or dictation and transcribe it into a typed product that was mailed to a person. He was then faced with a computer and the loss of his secretary. While the shift was gradual and we all tried to help, he just got more frustrated.
Granted, in his day programs were not as friendly as they are now. Ultimately, he gave up and retired from his career in the U.S. Geological Survey.
I recall at the time I was also ramping up with the same transition, but lacking the old tradition, I found ways to be more creative on this electronic gadget. I tabulated all the costs of building my underground home, tracked the activities of my students and eventually the Academic Diving Program. I introduced computers to the FSU Marine Lab!
This paradigm shift in diver training will be gradual as well.
Since I’ve already retired once, I may follow in my wife’s father lead and leave the sorting out to younger folks willing to build a different future, like I did way back when.

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February 19, 2015

Vegetative Fish Poisoning (Hola Hola)

I come from a distant past and culture even though I have been a resident of Wakulla County since 1976. As a military brat, the term affectionately given children of military personnel after World War II, my father took his family along to reside around the world. I spent time before 1st grade fishing through ice holes in Thule fiords, Greenland. (My brother was born in Narsaursuaq Greenland). I walked the tide pools of Cadiz, Spain at 10. I paddled the Klongs (canals) of Bangkok, Thailand as a teenager. I surfed the waves and dove the reefs of Makaha and Waimea Bays in High School. And in college I married my lovely wife (now of 46 years) and lived beneath the volcanic fountains of the Big Island of Hawaii.
In college (I was 21), I took a class called Ethnobotony, or the study of plants and their cultural use from a wonderful lady called Beatrice Krauss. I was still dreaming of joining the Peace Corps when I decided to investigate a long lost Hawaiian practice of vegetative poisoning tidal pool fish that were then served as a supplement to their deep sea fish diet caught back then by the young men of the village. Such a study uncovered fascinating results. I interviewed Hawaiian friends that I had made while a Park Ranger at Volcano National Park. And that lead to finding a source of the narcotic plant Tephrosia purpurea, and a dash to recover live specimens before a progressing lava flow destroyed the abandoned village where they were cultured in the distant past. In Hawaiian, my source chanted, what I later found, was a perceived cure for cataracts by passing the smoke from burning the same plant, over his eyes. The active ingredient called tephrosin, is now a prime target drug for cancer therapy.
In another interview, I discovered a verbally transcribed “Booke La-Au”, a book of medicine in Hawaiian taken by a family from their aged grandmother (a Hawaiian healer). When others translated it, they found the chant my source used, thus confirming the importance of the plant. So what to do?
I built an underwater camera housing for my super 8 camera, secured a small grant and some friends and spent 2 weeks on the Big Island documenting Hola Hola, as it was practiced before the “Haole” arrived. How naive can this be? But such a documentary movie was made. Our secured plants were planted at the City of Refuge and thus preserved for future posterity. An elderly Hawaiian ranger at that Park told me his grandfather once took him to a tide pool reserved for royalty, where he performed the procedure. With my enthusiasm, he agreed to recreate the procedure with his grandson, all on film!
The entire filming occurred over one tidal cycle. Our actor interjected steps, like mixing the crushed plant with “Pili” grass, and lining the tide pools with rocks, all lost to historic accounts. And it worked! At low tide the fish trapped in this tide pool began dancing over the rocks trying to escape the effects of the crushed plants. His grandkids batted them back waiting for when they “slept”. Everyone then collected what they wanted and tossed the fish on the hot beach rocks to dry. The rest woke back up with the incoming tide. It would take me six months of trimming film back at the University before I had a voice overlaid 30 minute documentary film, presented to the Botany Department along with the special audio Super 8 projector for future students to view.
I’m not sure where I learned that if you can dream it, you can do it, but I spent a lot of time growing old with folks who believed that anything was possible.

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February 26, 2015

Hydrology.

My wife’s father is a hydrologist, author of the USGS Springs of Florida.
Back in the late 1970s I found myself chiseling (drilling) a water well as we homesteaded our property. We had little understanding of what lay below our feet. My father-in-law told us that we must reach at least 80 feet, and we believed him. So we took the tire off the rear wheel of the pickup truck, built an “A” frame to hoist up the chisel fitted with a running water hose pipe inside a 2-inch steel pipe and beat on the ground until the whole thing shattered at 70 feet.
Frustrated I hired a local contractor who installed the well in half a day, only to 50 feet. When I complained that the authority said 80 feet he scoffed. At that depth he said I could expect sulfur.
But he agreed to write me a guarantee, for his entire lifespan, that if my well ever failed, he would drill me a new one.
How could I complain?
A week later he was dead, the consequence of a disagreement with a neighbor. But to this day, my well has NEVER failed, only requiring a new pump a decade later.
Our Floridian Aquifer is said to reach down to 600 feet, expand north into Georgia and Alabama, and southward into the Gulf of Mexico. Now that I dive in caves, I see that the waters we consume in Wakulla comes primarily from surface discharge.
And when I dive deeper, I find the occasional sulfur seep, a denser river of water moving from its spring and across the cave passage.
With so many windows into the Karst, I find water conditions quite variable, influenced by tides, rain fall and swamp overflow. The caves closer to the coast are bi-flow systems that not only change in salinity, but are occupied by creatures not normally found in strictly freshwater. In one site I may find pockets of clear warm water on the ceiling, tannic colder water on the floor and salty water in the deep shafts that permit us greater depth.
There is no doubt now that water falling on our county and to our north flows south to the Gulf. Along the way it picks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and all manner of dissolvable components on and under the ground. It ultimately finds a conduit through which to speed its progress to the Gulf.
A current meter I placed in Wakulla Springs back in the 1980s demonstrated not just a wide range of flow, but tidal influence that far inland.
Later water quality studies collected from water tubes we placed in several caves, documented increasing pollution, that has brought our attention to proactive solutions with our northerly neighbors and local residences.
Hydrology to us in Wakulla County is not just an academic topic. We drink it, bath in it, play in it, work in it and yes, recycle it through our septic and sewer systems.
I reflected upon this recently, when I recalled my father taking his used oil from his car and taught us kids to dig a small hole and pouring it in. How far have we come in a short 40 years.
Let’s keep up on our hydrology and protect our future.

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March 5, 2015

Dangerous Marine Life.

At least the daylight is getting longer to suggest spring is nearby. Most of our favorite freshwater dive sites are flooded, typical of this time of the year, so the rush to the ocean is not far off. Travis is again ramping up for another spearfishing tournament, and I present my Dangerous Marine Life lecture this week.
Each year I must look into recent exotic introductions into our marine environment that may represent new dangers. The old ones must also be reviewed, such as fire coral and the fire worm in the Florida Keys, the biting creatures (sharks, barracuda, eels, alligators, and oyster crackers) also found up around here, and fish that can be poisonous to eat if not preserved on ice quickly after collection. Further south, Ciguatera is always a concern circum-tropically. If you don’t recognize what I list, Google it for more information!
Fortunately, most of the really challenging dangerous marine life is in the Indo Pacific. Cubo medusa, a small highly toxic jellyfish is more often felt than seen. The cute small Blue Ringed octopus can bite and inject a lethal poison when handled by the unsuspecting collector. Beautiful cones shell that I grew up with in Hawaii, can sling a poisonous harpoon at you if you get too close. And the elusive Lion Fish with feathery spines that do not run from you when approached is because they are armed with venomous injections if brushed against.
Oh, yes, well there you have it. The Lion Fish is now our problem as an invasive exotic species. And they get really big over here.
Diver Training Magazine this month has a great article about this topic, including a description of the Flower Urchin. I am still baffled how I missed this one. I’ve seen them before when visiting Palau years ago. But I was unaware of their venomous pedicellaria (small pinchers found between spines). These look like small flowers, which may encourage you to touch them…. but don’t… they bite! Fortunately they are still restricted to the Pacific, for now. Venomous Sea Snakes do roam the Pacific west coast of Central America but have not been reported in the Caribbean…..yet.
Fortunately, most of what challenges us in the marine environment is a threat when we invade its space. Defensive mechanisms are deployed when we bother these animals. Years ago, a skin diver swam around all the warning signs at Wakulla Springs and ventured down river, approached a nesting female alligator and was attacked. In my immortal days, I touched a Portuguese Man-of-War Jellyfish and went into shock after a very small sting on one small finger. The algal mimic anemone Lebrunea danae looks like a delicious plant, but has nematocyst batteries (stinging cells) that really hurt when touched. And don’t pick up the black long spined Diadema urchin or you will never get the quills out of your skin.
Best to look and don’t touch unless you know what you are dealing with. Safety through Education is not just a NAUI motto, it carries wisdom. Stay current on new challenges entering our waters and review the old ones. With expanded canals in Panama and new cross continent canals under construction in Nicaragua, we are bound to import or encourage many more exotic Pacific creatures into our relatively mild (and isolated) Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico waters.
Happy summer diving!

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March 12, 2015

Standards for your dive cylinder.

By Travis Kersting

Chances are good that most of you deal with cylinders on a daily basis and don’t think much of it.
For the purposes of this discussion a cylinder is a container with a valve and designed to hold contents under pressure. The Department of Transportation calls them “packages” but I’ll use cylinder.
If you work in a restaurant that serves soda, grill your burgers with propane, have fire extinguishers, or use scuba equipment, then you are in contact with cylinders.
DOT controls the transport and requalification of cylinders to make sure ordinary citizens are not put into unnecessary harm’s way and their guidelines called Title 49 and Title 29 and a private company called the Compressed Gas Association (CGA).
To avoid having to restate the guidelines that the CGA has developed, the government incorporates by reference the documents that it feels are important. In this way a private company has developed rules that are enforceable as law. Sometimes there are conflicts between what the CGA says and what DOT says and in this case the prudent thing to follow is the more conservative guideline.
The CGA developed the guidelines for the storage and use of cylinders for underwater use in a document labeled P-5.
A common argument people like to make is that annual visual inspections of scuba cylinders is not required by law. It’s an easy thing to rationalize that an inspection for cylinders that are in heavy use, or emptied underwater, or if the contents have a suspicious odor. Other logical reasons for inspections are in the event of damage like rolling a cylinder off a truck or caught in a house fire.
A newer issue is with new cylinders made under different standards regulated by the increasingly popular International Standards Organization (ISO). These cylinders, depending on the type of gas in them, can go up to 10 years between hydrostatic requalification. To inspect and requalify these cylinders requires that the inspector have ownership of the ISO documents just like the CGA documents. The CGA document P-5 section 6.2.1 says cylinders used for underwater breathing need to be re-qualified every five years (other DOT requirements say this as well). Here is a direct conflict in what is required between two agencies that provide input to the U.S. government on what should be law.
What does all this mean to you? Falling back to the rule of following the more conservative, or safer, practice I suspect divers will see no change in the requirements of five year hydro-testing and annual inspections. Just make sure the people doing the inspections are properly trained (required every three years by title 49).
For our non-scuba readers especially: Any cylinders left abandoned, suspect to damage, with unknown contents, or otherwise suspicious should be left untouched until you contact a professional. As example, finding a badly rusted but full steel scuba cylinder in the flooded bilge of a boat. A variety of things could cause injury or death had it ruptured. There are also recent reports of toxic chemicals stored in scuba cylinders. It is imperative, obviously, that cylinders be properly handled.

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March 19, 2015

Sick Underwater.

We get this question often: what happens when we are sick underwater? Where do I begin! Perhaps now that I have been sick all week while training students underwater, I can better relate.
Basic scuba training advises against going underwater when you are sick, yet many boat operators tell seasick customers to jump in to avoid throwing up.
If you are diving open circuit (blowing bubbles), the vomit will pass through the second stage of your regulator and out into the water around you, but the process is most uncomfortable. If you are using a rebreather, the vomit will flow into the counter lung leaving a most disagreeable smell/taste for the remainder of your stay underwater.
What motivates most of us to dive when ill is our investment in the activity. You have planned this vacation, flown down to tropical sites with others relying on your presence. To not dive is to disappoint friends, family, or even students. The culprit is usually a head cold, the kind that prevents equalizing your middle ear while you descend, or blocks any one of your five sinuses.
Of course on land you may take remedies that contain epinephrine to dry up the mucus that seems to cause the problem. But underwater, such drugs can be problematic.
Underwater our physiology spends most of it’s metabolic effort trying to keep our body warm. Proportionately, very little is applied to work underwater. The resulting overload consumes any medications we may have taken much faster than what is predicted on the bottle. And when the medication wears off, a reverse block can occur, a painful barotrauma as you surface. So it is best not to indulge in such medication before diving if at all possible.
Like me this past week, refraining from medications only meant that one suffers pain, both going down and coming up, resulting in edema or swelling in the passages affected. I moved slowly to avoid major damage. But eventually those places inflicted with barotraumas became infected, resulting in secondary problems such as sore throat, sinus infection and a nasty cough that comes with mucous drainage down the throat.
Coughing underwater is a bad idea. One quarter of us humans have a congenital problem called a PFO or Patent Foramen Ovale (a hole in the heart). Normally this condition is not a problem on land or even in the shallow waters in which we recreate, but under the increased pressure of the water, when we cough, the pressure in the chambers of the heart become temporarily reversed. In the presence of non-symptomatic bubbles (resulting from nitrogen coming out of solution as we ascend) which normally bypass the PFO on their normal exit through the lungs, now take a detour into the arterial system causing stroke-like problems.
Flooded rivers and caverns brought my class to an early end, just as I came down with a fever on top of everything else. My doctor would have told me to avoid all of these complications and just take the few days off from diving early on and be much better off for it.
But what do I tell the students?
You are correct – I need a back-up plan.
But a family business seldom has the resources to carry additional instructors on staff. I now empathize more with those asking.

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March 26, 2015

Spearfishing tournament on May 16.

By Travis Kersting

Sometimes you gamble and win and sometimes you gamble and lose. That’s the nature of gambling, but when you lose it’s still disappointing.
In May 2014 we hosted a spearfishing tournament and hoped for 50 participants yet received only 27. Initially this was a catastrophic blow, even with nearly 100 folks showing up for the weigh-in and fish fry.
However, as the summer steamed on we saw an overwhelming interest in spearfishing and a growing customer base from Perry to beyond Apalachicola.
Was this because of the event or did everything else line up just right to make up for the lack of interest in local scalloping?
As an eternal pessimist I tend to think we just had the right combination of things to make for a bountiful season but Gregg, the optimist around here, wanted to try hosting another tournament and see what happens.
On Jan. 15 there was a meeting at Hamaknockers where nine people were invited and 17 showed up to provide support and input. Suggestions poured in over the next few weeks and I compiled things and compromised and made all the executive decisions.
The result is a second annual event on the same weekend as last year, May 16. We’ll be having a captains meeting the night before to finalize things but I still haven’t settled on a location for that. Weigh-in will include a fish fry at Wakulla Diving Center at 7 p.m., an hour later than last year.
Perhaps to the disappointment of everyone else involved, I elected to make the event more about the invasive lionfish than about gag grouper. Again, I’m the pessimist so I see a future without gag grouper and other desirable species if lionfish are not controlled. I’m not alone in this thinking – coincidently the state is hosting a state wide lionfish roundup on the same day, something I discovered well after picking the date.
For our event each lionfish harvested will afford you a raffle ticket valued at $10 and points towards trophies and other prizes.
To get the family involved there is a category for children who are not ready to spearfish but they desire to catch fish using rod and reel. The species are different but the kids can weigh more fish for a more equal opportunity to win prizes. I’m also working on getting a ladies prize but that one may remain a secret until May 16.
In conjunction with several sponsors we will be giving away, at the very least, two coupons for free diving training from Water Tribe, an Ocean Rhino RX4 limited edition speargun, a Nautilus Lifeline, a shearwater Petrel 2 dive computer, Analox O2EII oxygen analyzers, a DAN emergency oxygen kit, Waterproof brand 3.5mm wetsuits, Neosport brand wetsuits, Aqualung BCD, Faber 120 and 100 cuft steel scuba cylinders, Worthington aluminum scuba cylinders, A Dive Rite Hunter Pack BCD, Aqualung Regulators, Aeris Dive Computers, two spearguns from Mares, some freediving fins, numerous shirts, and of course trophies (something I forgot to order last year until the day before).
For more information, rules, registration, and liability waiver please contact Wakulla Dive Center
Any area businesses looking to have their logo on our event shirts should contact us about becoming a sponsor.

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April 2, 2015

Spring Underwater

Seasons exist underwater, much as they do above on dry land. Winter’s grip slowly gives way as sunlight and warmth stays longer, thus warming the surface waters and inviting the return of those who fled to the more stable conditions of depth.
You see, creatures of the sea often assume the temperature around them. Many prefer the warmth that permits faster movement and growth. Longer days bring greater growth, improved food options and procreation opportunities. And spring is when it begins!
Dusk begins much earlier and lasts much longer underwater. It has something to do with the reflective nature of the Sun’s light. Long before we terrestrial creatures decide the day is coming to an end, the lower Sun’s beam has been deflected off the ocean’s surface, creating a dusk environment on the reef. Light entering the ocean is also refracted, creating sun beams dancing about, the result of the prismatic effect of passing waves. Dusk underwater is spectacular!
I have often lingered underwater to witness the diurnal/nocturnal shift, when animals active in the sunlight seek shelter for the night while those in shelter come out for their night time existence. The night dwellers are usually the ones with the large eyes, such as the squirrel fish and Moray. Just look under ledges and you will find them hiding (resting) in daylight, waiting their turn to feed at night.
The Grey or Mangrove Snapper are typically active as solitary creatures at night, hiding in small schools under ledges during the day. They first come out and join in a gathering above the reef at dusk, grey in color and quite social. They then drop to the floor near darkness, change in color and skin pattern to blend into the night and seek crustaceans and small fish hiding in the protective grass beds adjourning the reef.
The eels, long and slender, are found slithering about the reef at night. If tamed by human interaction, they will rise off the reef and swim in and about diver’s legs in search of a treats. It is best not to feed them as your fingers look similar to a favorite food, the octopus.
Spring, with increasing daylight and thus longer dusk, provides the opportunity for creature procreation. I often witness a variety of fish chasing each other during this time. Usually, the fish are dimorphic, or different in size and color suggesting different gender, and often resulting in rapid vertical ascents spewing gametes (eggs and sperm) into the water column. The approaching darkness improves the survival of these newborns as they become part of the plankton. And of course this goes on over the summer season as well.
If you ever want to witness sharks underwater, understand they are most active feeding during the dusk and dawn. Some feed in packs, searching out those creatures not quite tucked into their protective hiding places. Obviously, spearing fish during this time period is inviting more attention to you than you may care to by a pack of hungry sharks.
We know spring is approaching as the diving community is assembling at favorite fill stations, adjusting their life support kit, tuning up their boats and talking about much anticipated adventures not yet experienced.
It’s like that underwater as well!

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April 9, 2015

Past, Present, Future Reefs

Ever wonder how we are so fortunate as to have an abundant recreational fishing opportunity off our shores? This did not just happen arbitrarily. People like you contributed time and resources to make this happen, back then, now and will in the future.
And it gets better every year.
In the early 1980s, Mr. Oaks convinced a student of mine that a collection of tires, filled with concrete and rebar, placed by graduate students offshore in 1964 could be found supporting fish where few fish would otherwise be found. That student, as part of a required class project, convinced the rest of his class to follow him and Mr. Oaks blindly out into Apalachee Bay and document this reef. That student’s report, sent to the Department of Natural Resources, convinced state and local officials to expand this reef from a single patch reef into a 2,000 foot by 300 foot patchwork of reefs.
The Rotary of Tallahassee sought reef materials that the Wakulla Road Department moved to the Wilson property in St. Marks that were moved offshore by the Panama City Marine Institute to build the Rotary Reef. The Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR) was created based upon this model, to continue building reefs along the North Florida coastline.
But the state needed assurances that artificial reefs would be placed in productive locations, using appropriate materials, and be monitored over time. Joe Halusky (an IFS Marine Agent at the time), and others in the late 1980s collaborated to create a training program to qualify volunteers to survey sea floor anticipating reef deployment and monitor existing reefs to meet state requirements.
We taught basic (but at an advanced level) scuba, underwater survey skills, fish identification, and mapping procedures. Joe tapped into curriculum he and I used at Florida State University in the Academic Diving Program. Reef Research Teams began showing up all over the state. And so did artificial reefs. Each coastal county was to organize an artificial reef research team.
Mr. Jody Courtney stepped into my shop last week and asked if I knew of anyone interested in helping his Taylor County Artificial Reef Research Team survey off their county to select for reef deployment. Just a week earlier, I had met with several of my TCC Wakulla Environmental Institute (WEI) Introduction to Professional Diving students inquiring after diving opportunities. That week I gave my class Courtney’s contact information, then called the Office of Artificial Reefs at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee for a meeting scheduled this week.
Much of what I now teach at WEI came from the same curriculum used by Joe way back when, so why not now? Granted, the reef team training back then did not include basic certification, a pre-requisite which takes half of my semester schedule now. And practical exposure years ago meant more ocean dives rather than pool dives found in my current class. But adjustments are possible.
Bob Ballard’s vision for the WEI is to provide professional training for a new generation of environmental monitors (above and below water). Artificial Reef Research Teams today are volunteers, but their work is vital to the success of the State’s efforts to improve the biomass off our coast.
Join OAR locally, get trained by their Reef Research Team, (and perhaps in the near future, by the WEI) and participate in this grand adventure to improve our recreational fisheries. It is a lot of fun!

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April 16, 2015

The Hairy Crab.

Last week a customer was discussing his favorite fishing sites and included the Dog Island shoals, located between Dog Island and Alligator Point. I told him I had spent many months on that shoal, but not fishing.
One summer back in the late 1970s, I set out to help a fellow graduate students to locate a topic vehicle for his dissertation. He sought a creature that he could study to document its resource management and mating strategies. We began by spending a lot of time inspecting (diving) the Dog Island Shoals.
Schyzoporella pungens is the Gulf Staghorn Bryozoan or orange calcareous reef looking colony that attaches to the base of sea grass. Many people call this coral, but the individuals in the colony have no stinging cells. Bryozoans occupy a very different phylum from the corals in the animal kingdom. Various creatures cohabit around these colonies, most notably, the Hairy Crab Pilumnus sayi. To get a good idea of the extent of this population, we expanded the survey to count the Bryozoan associates and their distribution on the shoals. The water was shallow, close to the FSU Marine Lab and during the warm summer, a great place to study. We soon found that other creatures felt the same way.
The Remora, a fish usually associated with sharks and rays, soon became a frequent visitor while we were spread out over the shoals. These fish have suckers on their head and love to attach to their host for a free ride. That was creepy enough when upon exiting the water we would find ourselves pulling the sucker fish off each other. But when they got hungry and found our ear lobes available for consumption, we had to solve yet another somewhat painful problem.
Robert Cowdery came up with a pneumatic mini- spear gun driven off our buoyancy compensator, which was convenient, inexpensive and accurate. As soon as the herd of Remoras arrived, our research team bulled our “guns” out and began a shoot-out until the marauders fled the scene. Eventually we had to post a monitor to keep them away.
What Bill and his team discovered was this small male Hairy Crab would move under a Bryozoan, and perform push-ups as a way to evaluate the suitability of the host before occupation. By placing the claws down on the sand, and pushing up under the Bryozoan, the host would rock or sway on its attached sea grass blade. If suitable (solid?) enough, our crab would then move in, possibly even carve out a pocket in which to attract a female and raise a family. The shoals are shallow and exposed to the waves of the open Gulf, so if he was wrong, his home and family would roll off in a storm and perhaps his Bryozoan might be broken open, thus exposing him and his family to easy predation.
So how then does the female of this crab family evaluate which male to join and build a family? Is her decision just random or based upon the size, shape or security of his house (the host Bryozoan).
Or is there some other feature of his physique, such as his ability to do push-ups, that catches her eye?
Such is the wonderfully challenging nature of marine research.

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April 23, 2015

Portals Opening Again.

Decades ago I often stopped at Emerald Sink on my way home from FSU to take a leisurely swim under the road to Cheryl Sink. It is located near Route 319 on New Light Church Road. The dive was only 70 feet deep and took only 30 minutes.
I knew I could swim further, near 1,000 feet, to reach the Black Abyss, a shaft that went to more than 200 feet deep, but required a different breathing mixture if I was to go that deep. Instead, the few times I visited this site, I stayed shallow and enjoyed the view, much like millions of visitors at Grand Canyon enjoy the view in that Arizona National Park.
The underwater trail continues south towards Clear Cut Sink, by passing under 319 at a depth of 160 feet.
Such a traverse would take more time and is recommended on a light helium breathing blend.
Rebreathers are ideal for such a traverse, because of their considerable capacity.
From Clear Cut Sink, I could swim the chain of sinks trail southward through the forest, surfacing periodically for some sunshine and casual discussion about what we see with my dive partner.
This trail continues through countless sunshine windows for more than 3,000 feet, mostly at shallow depths, until I reached Go-Between Sink, ending at Promise Sink before dropping again down to more than 200 feet depth.
I could exit the trail here and catch a ride home through one of several diver friendly private properties that are adjacent to the forest.
Ever since the Wakulla State Park System purchased the property, restrictions against diving have frustrated efforts to attract visitors to our underwater attractions. A two year effort by the now abandoned Wakulla County Dive Club to open county dive sites resulted in a rejection to their request to open sites to the public by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
But over the past few years, several lesser sites were slowly opened to limited diving, such as Cherokee Sink and more recently, Clear Cut Sink.
On March 15, Wakulla Springs State Park published a public flyer with procedures to dive Cherokee, Clear Cut and Emerald Sinks.
These procedures appear to be very reasonable, a large departure from past policies and consistent with other state parks with similar dive sites.
I hope this new policy will reflect a new chapter where the diving public may re-engage with park managers to better protect the resources we all value highly.
Discussions to photo-monitor underwater sites have begun.
I, for one, will take my daughter Nicole (and even one day my son when he is ready), on an underwater stroll one day soon, from the glimmering Emerald Sink down to the plummeting Promise Sink and reminisce in the many portals to our aquifer along the way, about how it used to be.
Care to join me?

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April 30, 2015

Mimicry Underwater

We know there are many ways to avoid being eaten on land. Evolution has selected for these creatures by rewarding their success at deception. All forms have similarities underwater. Most rely upon the age proven mechanism of deception some might call magic! These deceptions are a form of mimicry.
Mimicry is an excellent way to survive, especially if you are lacking in big defenses or hunt stealthily. This strategy requires looking like something less palatable, more (or less) threatening than you really are, or just disappearing from sight altogether.
Above water we find the Robber Fly that looks like a bee, the flatworm that looks like a poisonous slug and my favorite, the caterpillar that looks like the neck and head of a snake. Many insects look like the leaves they reside on.
Some underwater mimics may look like and behave like fish cleaners, thus garnering the protection afforded that group of valued reef creatures. But when a fish presents to the mimic to be cleaned, the mimic takes a painful bite out of the fish and runs. The anemone Lebrunia looks just like the common harmless reef alga Dictyota, but stings small fish that may land on it absentmindedly. The long and slender Coronet Fish swims vertically amongst the reef’s soft corals, surging suddenly to swallow small unsuspecting fish below.
Camouflage, another form of mimicry, is the art of blending into the immediate background. Many creatures underwater play this game very well. The poisonous Stonefish uses camouflage to hide from its prey, who blunder in too close and is quickly consumed. They hide so well that we are injured when we step or put our hand unsuspectedly on their poisonous dorsal spine. Reef fish often change color to blend into the colors or shapes of the background reef. Sargasso is a floating alga with residents that often look just like the weed. Next time you visit a pile of the algae at sea, take a look underwater and see how many fish, shrimp, crabs and other creatures you find hiding in plain sight. But my favorite is the octopus, which is a master at camouflage, shifting through what seems like an endless array of colors and shapes as it moves across the reef only to disappear suddenly until disturbed again.
And now consider the master of many forms of mimicry, the angler fish. Here is a fish that pretends to be a leaf or detached sponge swaying to and fro in the surge on the sea floor, while dangling a seemingly distressed shrimp (mimic) from its forehead. When a naïve small fish tries to grab the bait, it is consumed quickly.
Not to be out done, the mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) is amazing. This octopus mimics a variety of poisonous or noxious creatures that share its domain, from snakes to Lionfish to Mantid Shrimp, varying its color pattern, body posture, and movements to blend into the presence its predators.
Simply awesome.

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May 7, 2015

Back to the future again.

When I was 17, shortly after learning to scuba dive in Hawaii, I was fortunate to purchase my first regulator. It was primitive compared to those used today. Even so, it was one of the earliest of the single hose variety we all use today. While it lacked the pressure gauge, not yet invented, it came with a neck strap that held the regulator mouthpiece to your mouth should you become unconscious underwater. We were taught to always wear it.
It so happened that one day while diving our favorite Hanauma Bay dive site, at 50 some feet of depth, my equally young (and immortal) friend ran out of air. Rather than swim to the surface exhaling as we were taught, he chose to ask for my air and buddy breathe. I would have happily complied, but I could not get the strap around my neck disconnected.
He was remarkably patient as I struggled, but finally placed a hand on my chest and regulator in my mouth and forcefully parted us breaking the strap. His reward was fresh breathable air. We ascended safely and cut all neck straps off our regulators.
We began calling the straps “gag straps” and widowmakers and soon enough they disappeared from the scuba market.
Now fast forward to this past week when Paul Haynes, a friend and colleague from Scotland, made a presentation at Wakulla Diving Center on the need for a return of our dreaded gag strap!
He did make a convincing argument that within our emerging rebreather community, this mouth piece retainer will save lives. His data suggests that a leading cause of rebreather fatalities is unconsciousness that then, secondarily, leads to death because the mouthpiece falls out.
While there are a number of reasons why a rebreather may cause the diver to become unconscious, they mostly die because they drown. A simple head or neck strap would keep the mouthpiece in place and available breathing air functional until rescue or revival.
Apparently such a rescue has already happened.
Paul will soon publish his findings and rationale while the rest of us must grapple with decades of irrational fear of such devices. Already Travis has fabricated several versions to entice me out of my primeval revulsion of a mouthpiece bolted to my face.
Apparently childhood trauma is a hard thing to overcome, even at my age.

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May 14, 2015

The Safer Tournament.

Our community spearfishing tournament will again happen this coming Saturday. Last year’s tournament was quite popular, and this year’s may be even larger. Several categories have been expanded, which brings me to the reason for my column this week. Safety during these events is paramount.
Fish have spines, which they will use in their defense. The worst are the dorsal spines, but equally problematic are those of the pectoral (lower sides) and gill plates. Most of our sport fish have non-poisonous spines, so impalement is just painful with bleeding and little else. Wearing gloves may help reduce these injuries. Don’t forget your stringer and shafts also have sharp points that are known to impale with injury when carelessly handling fish. Ray Odor, from Tampa, reminded me last week to firmly impale your catch through the eyes before opening the stringer, then secure the fish using the lock carefully. One surge by an upset fish can add to your injury list from a misplaced shaft, stringer or fish spine.
Fish bite when upset. I routinely hear about speared fish turning on a fisherman, some more than others. Gloves come in very handy preventing bites. Many of our sport fish have very small teeth, but the bigger they are the bigger their teeth.
Spearing some fish do expand this risk, such as moray eels, barracuda and shark. Their teeth are legendary. The picture I took of one unlucky spear fisherman’s shoulder came from a disagreement between a Goliath Grouper, who demanded the person’s recently speared fish and tried to swallow his arm, right up to his neck.
Pay attention to resident Goliath Grouper that are still protected by law, and can be very demanding. Since they bite even though not provoked, don’t spearfish around Goliaths.
Sharks continue to learn that divers are a good source of food, much like the cattle egret that stalks the cow. Clearly the cow is in no danger, but the egret knows who will flush up much desired insects.
I have had sharks swim up between my legs to stealthfully pick off my fish-ladened stringer. Many spearfishing people will take their catch to the boat often to avoid such temptation. A new deterrent is the Shark Shield, an electrical device strapped to the diver’s ankle and activated when sharks visit. I have seen the effects personally.
The shark feels the electrical field generated by the capacitor, and departs the area rapidly. Of course, if you touch the antenna that trails off your foot, you are also jolted, much like the electric fence some use to keep their pets in the yard. Ouch!
Lionfish are a bigger part of this year’s tournament. Lionfish have many poisonous spines. While their venom denatures in a few hours once out of the water (in heat), they are to be treated very carefully.
To capture, we use a paralyzer (tri-prong) tip to prevent the fish from swimming up the shaft. We also use a cone fitted pipe or very thick bags to carry them back to the boat. Injuries must be treated in hot water after removing any remaining spines.
Lionfish are tasty to eat, but the spines must all be carefully removed before cooking. Like all fish, keep them on iced to preserve freshness. Mackerel, King and Mahi Mahi require iced coolers to prevent Scombroid poisoning.
We look forward to a great and safe tournament this Saturday.

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May 21, 2015

Anatomy of a spearfishing contest.

Gather enough enthusiasts together and the stories abound! What better reason to organize such a gathering than to bring attention to an invasive alien to our local waters: the Lion fish.
Spearfishing contests are designed to encourage divers to compete for recognition of their skill and luck capturing the largest individual or greatest collective weight of a group of fish. Categories vary depending upon fishing regulations, species preferences, regional focus, type of vessel or life support used, and even age of the participant. And they nearly always end with a party, food and lots of stories.
The 2nd Annual Wakulla Diving Center Spearfishing Challenge was held last Saturday, May 16, dedicated to the invasive Lion fish. Points were awarded to those who brought in the most Lion fish, and added points to other categories when included in the overall catch. Weather is always a challenge. The 80 percent chance of rain diminished throughout the previous week to a sunny day on Saturday, but the waves were troublesome for most participants. Some turned back. And mechanical trouble resulted in some boats returning under tow with little to show for their considerable preparations. This year, 39 folks remained registered, with as many as 36 weighing fish. The party had an estimated 125 people attending.
These county spearfishing contests take on a summer festival atmosphere with family attendance. One participant brought his own grill and served awesome shrimp and fish. Coastal Restaurant of Panacea cooked and served the very fresh fish collected by the participants in the tournament. Gulf Specimen brought their Touch Tank Educational System. The Organization for Artificial Reefs (OAR), had a booth to discuss their reef projects. Shark Shield, an increasingly popular shark repellent technology also had a booth and donated significantly to the prizes. Everyone enjoyed the Florida Wild Mammal Association’s live Pelican and Tortes.
Weigh-in began at 5:30 and ran for two hours. Certified scales were linked to a database designed by Rebreather Solutions. Points were assigned to categories. Grayson Sheppard won the category for most Lion fish (38), and they tasted wonderful! The largest fish went to Carl Enis. The raffle, worth nearly $1,600, was won by Mark Wheeler. An additional course in free diving, taught by local expert Matt Paarlberg, was won by Dan Sherraden. Over $11,000 in prizes were awarded. Details of each category are available upon request.
As described before, this event is the second tournament hosted by Wakulla Diving Center. They began hosting after previous regional tournaments stopped when Tallahassee’s Blue Water Diving shop went out of business. Last year Wakulla Diving Center contributed $5,000 in the effort, and was happy to host it again this year as a way to thank their community.
Last week I visited a supporting contributor to the tournament (out of Tampa). He praised the organizer as a very knowledgeable spear fisherman. Both year’s tournaments have been managed by Travis Kersting. Many of you know him as Wakulla Diving Center’s Technical Manager, but few know he does not like ocean diving, does not spearfish, supports protection of sharks and the decimation of Lion fish! His current passion is raising chickens. How cool is that?

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May 28, 2015

Stairs.

We know that everything has risk. Diving has a higher risk of injury when driving to and from the dive site than the actual dive itself.
We have always suspected that cave diving has a greater risk getting in and out of the water than actually performing the dive. As technology, training and techniques improve with time, access to the water’s edge must keep up as well.
When I was introduced to our Wakulla County windows into the karst in the late 1970s, entry into the caves was precarious. Indeed, around North Florida, entry into sinkholes and springs required challenging climbs down and later up slippery slopes made of clay and loose rocks. Falls were common.
Our dry suits required industrial boots with deep grooved soles for better traction. As a child, I often dove from beaches near Kaena Point in Hawaii that were flanked by steep slopes. One day I fell with my dive gear, all the way down from near the top, crushing my foot but saving the cylinder. Florida sinkholes stirred not so fond memories.
The cylinders we used in cave diving in the mid-1980s were huge, doubles with 104 cubic feet each, weighing four times those that I used in Hawaii. A fall would be much more disastrous. Initially, we used ropes tied to trees to let us down and pull us up. But the need for stairs was a constant item for discussion. The problem was cave diving was performed by a secret society. Our dive sites were often located on public or private land. Stairs would let the owners know these knuckle dragging, bug-eating morons were trespassing.
Many were afraid that if discovered, their employers would no longer trust them, promote them or respect them. Thus, cave divers risked injury to avoid detection.
Emerald Sink has steep slopes that I climbed often. Periodically local divers would band together and build a ladder or stairs that would get washed away at the next flood. Non-divers who swung from tree-tied ropes were pleased when the ladder was present.
At that time, Emerald Sink was part of the St. Joe Paper Company and we all got along. But then Emerald Sink was purchased by the state and was closed.
Why stairs? Erosion is a common problem with our sinkholes, exacerbated by people climbing on the steep slopes. Cherokee Sink is a good example of this damage, now better controlled by boardwalks and decks. Safely permitting people to enter and exit also reduces injuries when people slip and fall. Eagle’s Nest, some two hundred miles to our south, has a beautifully elevated walk through the marsh with a terminal deck and steps protecting shoreline habitat from damage.
Peacock Springs State Park, near Lauraville, built a robust stair a long time ago, that is still in place, expanded now to include an elevated walkway out to their parking lot, and equipped with porta-potty, picnic tables and changing rooms. Often funded by private money and labor, it soon became a State Park for cave divers. The Orange Grove site, within the same state park, had a particularly dangerous means of entry, until a complex ramp and stairs rendered the site almost magic. And soon after, Emerald Springs, a part of Wakulla Springs State Park collected private donations and built, with volunteers under the direction of Vince Ferris, an awesome flight of stairs that can withstand the expected floods of the future. Now that Emerald Sink is open to the cave diving public, just like Peacock, its stairs representsa commitment to safety by both the Park and the cave diving community.
Several other popular dive sites in our county have seen stairs quietly installed, such as Cream Sink in the National Forest, Guy Revell Sinkhole (with the owner’s permission), and recently in Harvey’s Sink.
We want to thank those who have participated in making diving these sinkholes a safer place in which the public can recreate.

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June 4, 2015

More Ocean Diving Ahead.

By Travis Kersting

Are you one of those people who eats the same thing for breakfast each day or that takes the same route to work even when there are multiple options? If so, than you are like most of the rest of our species. We are creatures of habit.
When something works why change? If it’s safe why take more risk?
For me, in the hobby of diving, cave diving is my comfort zone. Even new passage feels like driving to work these days. I enjoy it but it’s not exciting anymore.
Once in a while I like to get out of my comfort zone and dive in the saltwater just for a change of scenery. Usually I go dive the ocean to remind myself of the luxury afforded by cave diving. Sure, my usual dive comes with more equipment than the average open water adventure. It also comes with considerable travel from time to time. But I don’t have to rinse things after because most of our caves are fresh water. I also don’t grow sea legs because most of the time we walk to the water. In fact many sites are only a few feet from the back of the vehicle. Personally I see cave diving, with proper equipment and training, to be far less hazardous than the ocean. Boats, current, stinging and biting creatures; none of those hazards are found in a typical cave dive.
Sunday was my yearly adventure into salty open water. If you’ve watched the news or YouTube lately than you know the name Grayson Sheppard from a recent run-in with a great white shark in Apalachicola. After our tournament I reached out to him to go after lionfish and he was excited to take me to places he rarely visits in “deep” water.
Our first trip got canceled and the stars lined back up and I found myself on his boat with FWC’s lionfish guru Meaghan Faletti, her boyfriend Matt, and FWC’s newest lionfish expert Alex Fogg. We didn’t go deep as I would have hoped but instead visited some public numbers, the first being the Exxon Template followed by a few small wrecks.
I had with me a new weapon in the battle against lionfish. I’ve configured a Suex Joy37 DPV (Diver Propulsion Vehicle, or commonly called a “scooter”) to carry lionfish containment devices called Zoo Keepers, made right here in Florida. With the DPV I was able to easily circle the sites multiple times while carrying several cylinders for extended bottom time and decompression.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t speak up about using a scooter because my typical Spearfishing customer wouldn’t want the extra equipment or expense but I stumbled on something interesting. The Goliath Grouper and Sharks that are often harassing divers with stringers full of fish ran the other direction from the scooter.
Fish weighing many hundreds of pounds fled like mice from a cat. Yet other game fish didn’t seem to mind my motorized propulsion. The other divers with me noticed few sharks and almost no harassment from the goliaths who vacated the area when I was zooming about. I didn’t need to chase anything either, the noise of the motor was all that was required to deter the presence even with dead fish attached to myself and the scooter.
Sunday’s voyage was a learning experience for everyone involved and some exciting new tools to manage lionfish were discussed. I finally have a little hands-on experience with the spearfishing implements I’ve been selling for the past few years too.
More importantly though, I’m looking forward to more open water diving and continued testing of the DPV as a tool to combat the voracious appetite of the Goliath grouper.

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June 11, 2015

Brand Loyalty.

Not many people out there are a true jack-of-all-trades. Sure, you might be a computer programmer by day and do some DIY home improvements in your off hours but it’s rare to see a business called Rob’s plumbing and computer programming.
Scuba manufacturers, those that actually make dive equipment, are the same way. Most manufacturers only make one or two types of products themselves.They usually sell to companies that then rebrand the product under a different name to be able to offer a full line of equipment to their retail outlets. Some even trade for product they covet. An example is Tabata USA (Tusa), which doesn’t really make regulators, and Scubapro, which doesn’t make inexpensive BCDs. So Scubapro made the MK17 first stage regulator for Tusa, which rebranded it the R700 and Tusa made a BC for Scubapro. We see the same thing with virtually every company out there on some level. Most don’t want to admit their relationships but they all have their hands in each other’s pockets.
There are very few true manufacturers of dive computers. The big players are Suunto, Uwatec, and Pelagic Systems (which you probably have never heard of). Pelagic is part of a large company (reported to the second largest dive company) called American Underwater Products (AUP), which owns Hollis, Oceanic, and Aeris – before Aeris was recently shut down.
Logically, Pelagic made the dive computers for all of those brands BUT they also made the dive computers for Sherwood, Tusa, Dive Rite, and over a dozen other companies, all rebranded. Pelagic has stuck to what they know and offered very little innovation in the past few years. While companies like Atomic Aquatics (under Huish Outdoors), Suunto, and Shearwater Research have rolled out easy to read and easy to use dive computers with long battery life and plenty of functions. Pelagic has continued for years to make puck style dive computers with cryptic symbols on them.
Suunto, a European watch maker, does its own thing and is popular around the world. For a long time Suunto represented and imported their own products into the U.S. but at some point Aqualung signed a deal with them and began distributing the scuba portion of Suunto products.
However, Aqualung recently made an interesting move. They purchased or leased Pelagic systems. Aqualung is the largest manufacturer of diving equipment in the world and now they own/control one-third of another very large manufacturing company. No one knows what will happen to their relationship with Suunto either, but there is already talk about Suunto looking for their own sales reps and going back to their old model.
It will be interesting to see what happens to many smaller and less expensive rebranded dive computers now that Aqualung is involved with those brands. If Pelagic Systems makes most of the low end dive computers for Aqualung competitors, what will happen to brand loyalty?
I’ve got my own theories. Brand loyalty, when a person buys only one product line, such as Scubapro or Aqualung, makes little sense. At some point the customer discovers rebranded technology and begins to look for what really matters: good quality, ease of use, and reasonable prices.
We try very hard to be a jack of all trades in retail. Soon, I fear, we won’t have any dive computers from Pelagic in the store because of this latest maneuver. Fortunately, there are better alternatives.

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June 18, 2015

Regulated Culture.

Last week I was invited to serve on the next Scientist-In-The-Sea (SITS) Program ad-hoc Committee. We last offered the summer long graduate university/U.S. Navy program in 2000, 15 years ago.
Before that SITS was offered annually between 1970 and 1976 (with 1975 absent). Until now, it was offered in Florida. Texas A&M University has stepped up to reconstruct the 12 week program in Galveston, Panama City and the Florida Keys. Now begins the arduous work if we ever hope to attract the anticipated 12 best students in summer of 2016.
Of course the committee is mostly made up of past SITS graduates, now in the twilight of their careers, anxious that this program generate the insight and opportunity to the next generation that was provided them three decades previous at arguably the birth of Diving Science.
George Bond is credited with the idea that the U.S. Navy could share technology and procedures in concert with leading university faculty to aspiring graduate students at a time many were looking to study underwater. Funding came from NOAA’s Man Undersea Science & Technology (MUST) budgets, university budgets, U.S. Navy (albeit a cover for clandestine projects – see Blind Man’s Bluff), and donations from the private sector (Aqualung donated 20 complete diving rigs in 1974).
No one was formally granted certification as a result of the SITS Program. The U.S. Navy mission was to transfer their experience to the civilian sector. Students lived on the Navy base in Panama City, ate in the Navy mess, and developed cardio pulmonary fitness with traditional PT every morning in SITS jump suits with SITS emblems on their shoulders. Six days a week, 10 hours a day, SITS students were exposed to Navy diving policy, procedures and technology with no certification on anything.
Sea Lab Master Chief Wilbur Eaton was our drill master, Capt. Bond, father of Saturation Diving, our Mentor (in most of the SITS Programs).
Academic Directors (Faculty) guided students to integrate this experience into underwater research. Respected Navy and civilian photographers taught underwater photography, then provided technology to let students photo-document their research. At carefully spaced weeks, the SITS Program would shift into research mode under faculty supervision, and occupy a different support platform to give students a chance to collect data underwater, first using boats, then a production platform and finally a saturation habitat. Academic papers generated from these research weeks, became the basis of academic grades. Academic transcripts were the only certifications required.
Several seminar threads wove their way through evening lectures. Advanced diving physics and physiology was Dr. Bond’s mesmerizing contribution throughout the 1970s with Dr. Claude Harvey continuing in 2000. Both have passed away and will be difficult to replace. Dr. John Clarke taught grantsmanship, and project management in 2000, a welcome way to empower SITS students in leadership skills.
One challenge of course, is that culture changes. While searching for the guiding principle of the next noble SITS program, certifications has been proposed. IANTD, NAUI, TDI and others offer standards and procedures for the recreational community. Even the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) has refrained from using certifications by name because Science Diving is not recreational.
I am told our culture has changed to becoming more regulated. Providing a protocol with required certification with which you must subscribe in order to perform, is a solution for replacing medical doctors in the field (EMTs and Paramedics), or regulator repair technicians at our dive shop. But SITS was never envisioned to be a training ground for technicians.
Rather, SITS was to expand the imagination of the Scientist that collects his or her data in the 95 percent of this planet that is underwater.

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June 25, 2015

Lionfish, here to stay.

From the west they come on the easterly current. Just like so many other Florida intruders, such as the armadillo, coyotes, and so-called killer bees, these immigrants were first reported west of us but underwater off Cape San Blas three years ago as a single specimen.
Back then I could hardly get the attention of the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission when I reported my observation. Last week I visited similar ledges off Cape San Blas to find them covered with beautiful but large lionfish. I was accompanied by the FWC lionfish specialist Meaghan Faletti. The lionfish is here to stay. So what can we do about it?
Travis and I collected over 50 pounds of large lionfish on one structure within 27 minutes. Try as I might, I could not fit any more lionfish into the gi-normous ZooKeeper box. We left as many as we took for lack of space in our collecting box. We each used very small tri-point (paralyzer tipped) pole spears. Lionfish do not run away unless you try to capture them with a net. The pole spear is easy and fast to draw back the band, point at the target and let loose the shaft.
We next jammed the fish through a funnel at each end of the box, and pulled the shaft out. The funnel closed in around the shaft keeping the fish inside the box now pulled off the shaft. If each fish was a pound, that would make 50 fish, but many were larger than a pound. And we did not even dent the overall population.
The boat captain said that based upon the price for lionfish, an emerging delicacy in local restaurants, and the number of fish we collected in 27 minutes, would more than pay for the boat fuel for our all day trip.
Our second dive in shallower water doubled the catch for the day, providing Meaghan with specimens with which to use in her workshops around the state. I caught two live specimens for our shop aquarium, to use for educational purposes.
While at sea, Travis brought the fixings for Cheviche: lime to chemically cook raw fish, then a host of ingredients – red onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and tomatoes to make a delicious cold meal mixed in a gallon Ziploc bag. It seems everyone has a recipe, so ask around. I thought the fresh mango and pineapple made a stunning addition. And we started with the abundant lionfish!
Regulations on the collection of lionfish are like none others. There is no license, bag limit, size limit, federal or state zone limit, technology limit or seasonal limit on taking lionfish. As you can see I collected them while using a rebreather. But, there is a $50 Special Permit License (SPL), which also counts as your annual fishing license, that permits you to sell any unregulated species such as lionfish to a fish house. Be mindful that if you are collecting without following the regulations for other fish, use lionfish collecting technology, and leave the other fish alone.
It appears lionfish are currently concentrated in deeper water, 100 feet and below, and off Cape San Blas and Apalachicola. I’m sure they will be moving east over time, but so far few have been observed in the east northeastern Gulf of Mexico (Apalachee Bay). Let me know if I’m wrong, please.
We hope the extensive grass beds will be spared of this invader. If they do invade, we may see a decline in the popular harvest of scallops for fear of accidentally contacting lionfish venomous spines while swimming through the grass.

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July 2, 2015

Learn to Breath Underwater

We talk to many people who stop by with someone picking up supplies on their way to the shore. Most are not divers, but clearly interested. They have a wide variety of excuses why they have not yet ventured there: they can’t equalize their ears, they can’t see very well, claustrophobia, they fear for predicted hearing loss, they easily get cold, they are too young, they are too old, training/equipment is too expensive. All are valid reasons, that limit a person’s horizon. Diving underwater is not for everyone!
At 16 years of age, I was told all of these and more reasons for not diving, notwithstanding the “you weren’t given gills so stay out of the water”. Fortunately, I was a teenager and knew everything. At 15, I had been introduced to a reef in the Bay of Siam, spending 8 hours (and a sun burned back) discovering a new world underwater. My frustration was that I could not breath underwater. What we know as SCUBA was invented a little over a decade before, something I discovered when I moved to Hawaii a year later. With no money but a burning desire to live underwater, I found a way to get training, get my dad to join me (as I was a minor) and soon found myself diving every weekend. By the time I was 18, I was one of the club’s instructors! College became possible as a marine biologist! How did this happen?
Hawaii had, and still has dive clubs. I joined one near where I lived. They required a small membership fee but included training and more importantly, they were a social group to mentor young know-it-alls, like myself, keeping me in check. Training took six months at an afternoon a week, when the volunteer instructors were available. When I needed a regulator however, someone had one I could borrow. Another guided me to a junk yard where I could secure a CO2 cylinder, and helped me adapt it to accept a diving regulator. Others would take me diving and be sure I stayed within the dive table limits.
Of course, that was then (mid 1960s), and this is now. Commercial classes at the YMCA back then, were running $99, including equipment and breathing gas. Today, a similar class will cost 5 times that, 50 years later. The class time requirements for quality education however, have not changed, around 30 hours plus open water dives. But what is missing is the mentoring that comes with a dive club. Tallahassee Community College offers a quality 3 credit class called Introduction to Professional Diving, that includes basic certification across 16 weeks. Many past graduates have suggested a dive club would have helped mentor graduates of that program.
Within the past decade Wakulla County Dive Club worked to open dive sites in the county. At last count they had 16 sites open. More importantly, it provided mentoring and the social support to young and old divers alike. Regrettably, the club collapsed a year ago. Folks have been encouraging our dive center to revive the club idea and participate more directly, perhaps like my old Pearl Divers Club did in Hawaii. The spear fishing tournament we put on earlier this year could be a club function, slow quality training over several months a club function, and monthly social events to invigorate the passion of breathing underwater, a club objective.
Let me know your thoughts as we design a better diving future: greggstanton@wakulladiving.com

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July 9, 2015

Primitive Hunters.

I grew up a military brat, a child of a military man of distinction, a pilot in World War II, in a family of guns, power and honor. I was guided by my parents to become a diplomat when they discovered I was a people person and not prone to conflict resolution through power. One long day, skin diving in the Gulf of Siam, convinced me my future lay underwater as an observer, something we now call a diving scientist.
On that very significant day in Siam, at the age of 14, I became a primitive hunter. I knew nothing of the underwater world, yet I swam with stingrays larger than myself, collected living mollusks (shells), some of which I was later taught were quite venomous. And I fashioned a spear with which to hunt for supper. Ever since, I have preferred the pole spear for catching food underwater.
My father built his home on the Chesapeake after he retired. I came to visit as a young man, and to hunt deer on his property. He had an arsenal of big guns, but I was attracted to climbing a tree and waiting with a 16 gauge shotgun, for the deer to pass, rather than roaming the forest. Maryland hunting rules required I shoot a large lead plug out of a shotgun, thus lobbing a projectile at the foe. I succeeded only once in many years and moved on. A few years later, I found black powder much more to my liking on land. It was more accurate, more primitive and required more skill.
When I took to the sea on a 46-foot sailboat, I took no firearms. I had an old Biller banded speargun and several pole spears. For a decade, during our summer cruises, I fed my students fish collected by hook and line and spear. And many of them learned this primitive lifestyle. Work all day, then search for supper as the sun sets. Then I retired from Florida State University.
Over the next year I began a decade evolution from that of an academic to that of a merchant. With a small pension to keep me fed, I began a search for activities that generated public interest, entrepreneurially. Rebreather training, lead to production of special breathing gases, that lead to retail supply of diving equipment, that lead to advanced maintenance of high pressure cylinders. My friends have taken me back out to sea, where I began shooting large fish using large multi-banded spear guns. I eat and share a lot more fish these days.
As you know, two plus weeks ago, I was on a lionfish expedition, where the pole spear dominated the collection technology. I was thrilled to be back in my element. Last week I was on another trip, and only took my pole spear underwater. Members of the crew were amazed when I came up with a large grouper and several hogfish using a simple pole spear. I explained that it had everything to do with primitive hunting. Several folks on the boat related that they seasonally transition between summer primitive hunting to winter primitive hunting and that I should look into it further.
Primitive hunting includes spearfishing, archery, black powder, and more, which I look forward to investigating further this winter.

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July 16, 2015

Hot summer fills.

By Travis Kersting

Most all of us have put liquid into a container and had it overflow. Perhaps you overfilled your morning coffee or overloaded the washing machine. Liquids don’t compress for the most part, so if you put more liquid into a container than it can hold the liquid must go somewhere else and that usually leads to a mess.
Breathing gas, such as the air you are breathing now, is compressible. If you use a compressor pump, you can put more of a gas into a container until either the vessel ruptures or the pump stops working. The air compressor in your workshop is usually designed to shut down at about 150 pounds per square inch. This is about 10 times the pressure of the air surrounding you now. The air in a scuba cylinder, on the other hand, is often pressurized to over 3000 psi or about 200 times the pressure around you now. Sudden release of that pressure can cause damage and injury.
The scuba cylinders used by divers are rigid, tough, containers and often called “tanks” by divers, though this is technically incorrect. We install a valve into these containers and use a compressor to pressurize the gas inside. The cylinders come stamped around the rim, with a pressure rating. This working pressure is prescribed to be valid at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1809 a scientist named Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac discovered that if you keep the volume of the container constant and the number of gas molecules in that container is also constant, then the pressure exerted on the container, by the gas, changes with its temperature. Divers know that placing a cool but full cylinder into a hot trunk of their car will result in a sudden and rapid release of its contents as the pressure rises above the burst disc safety release device.
To make the math simple I will round to 5 psi per degree of temperature change for ordinary air. If the pressure stamped into the neck of an aluminum 80 cubic foot scuba cylinder is 3000 psi at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, that means in our hot Florida summers we must fill the cylinder to a cool and stable pressure of 3100 psi at 90 degrees (if not filling the cylinder in a climate controlled space). Technically speaking this is not overfilling because as the cylinder is exposed to a cooler temperature the pressure will drop. But this also means that in the winter months, when it’s much cooler, we must fill cylinders to a pressure less than what is stamped on the neck of the cylinder. On that cold 30 degree day in February, we can only fill the cylinder to about 2800 psi or we would be exceeding its designed service pressure.
Every five years or so a cylinder is required to undergo something called hydrostatic re-qualification. This means that the cylinder is filled with incompressible water and placed into another tank of water. A special pump is used to add pressurized water into the scuba cylinder and it begins to stretch. We can measure this stretch because it displaces the water from the outer tank, the one surrounding the scuba cylinder. Once the test is completed, the pressure is reduced and the cylinder springs back to its relaxed form plus a small amount of permanent change. If the permanent expansion exceeds 10% of the total volume it expanded to under pressure, the steel of the scuba cylinder is fatiguing rapidly and must be removed from service before, like the paperclip, it breaks.
Repeatedly overfilling cylinders, beyond the service pressure at 70 degrees, can lead to premature metal failure. The very way to test for premature failure is by over-pressurizing the cylinder but doing so in a controlled way, within a proper containment device. Cylinders that have reached very high temperatures, like those in a house fire or even a hot car, can attain dangerous pressures well beyond what they were designed to handle. The only cost effective way to safely determine cylinder damage is with hydrostatic re-qualification.

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July 23, 2015

The Walking Batfish.

I spent Sunday diving with my students along the Panama City jetties, an awesome and simple dive with depths down to 70 feet.
You need to time your dive to be in the water during the slack high tide to get the best clear conditions. And Sunday was near perfect, with a slow rising to a slack tide at noon. The water temperature required no wetsuit but a skinsuit will protect from some abrasion if you can’t stay off the rocks. We began in the Kiddy Pool, adjusting our weights, rig and attitude. Once ready, we slipped between the boulders and into the St. Andrews shipping channel. A slow gradual drop down the rocks to 60 feet and through a mild thermocline is always fun. This time we saw few large fish, but plenty of wildlife.
This last day of training is always the most fun for me as I’m along to show them the marine life. I hand them an urchin all covered with shells and algae, which is used as camouflage. I find Arrow crabs and various shells as can be pulled from under the giant boulders that make up the breakwater. I also spend time showing them hydroids and other creatures they should NOT touch! We did find an Oyster Cracker Fish, which, if pestered, can take your finger off.
And this time we also encountered a walking fish on the sea floor. He (she?) is of the Family Ogcocephlidae, (think of them as ugly faced fish). Ours was the Shortnose Batfish, O. nasutus commonly found in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic. An adult is slightly larger than a man’s outstretched hand but can get up to 15 inches long. Their back is the consistency of leather which probably keeps most predators away. If they stand still, they are easily mistaken for a rock. But they do move, or rather walk on the sea floor on modified pectoral and pelvic fins. They can swim, but not very well or fast. Swimming seems laborious as they don’t have much of a tail fin structure. If you look behind their fins however, their gills vent aft like a jet engine, which can help propel them forward.
This fish feeds upon small crabs, worms, bivalves and small fish. Our fish likes to hide under the sand usually, but comes out to feed and roam. You will seldom find them in an aquarium as they need large areas in which to roam.
It seems little can be done to get them upset. They will sit there and watch you as long as you don’t poke them. Of course everyone wanted to do just that. So the fish began walking in search of a hiding place. Students quickly out swam the fish, cutting off an escape, but not causing any distress. Soon enough students lost interest and moved on to more exciting creatures and treasures. In the end, the group did a bottom cleanup exercise, collecting 35 pairs of sunglasses, five masks, one plastic alligator and several beer bottles before returning to the shore.
The Batfish found none of this entertaining and soon moved off to contemplate his next human encounter. I’m sure he entertains many of the thousands of divers that explore the Panama City jetties every year.

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July 30, 2015

Shifting Paradigms?

I am told the speed of our computer technology doubles almost every year. This exponential expansion means that very shortly, our computer technology will match that of our brain. And then each year thereafter, we will see computers expanding beyond our brain’s ability to keep up. With this computational power, our technology will provide us with a virtual reality rivaling our real reality (whatever that will mean).
Not that long ago, (1984) I personally bought an Apple II and introduced the Personal Computer to the FSU Marine Lab and our Academic Diving Program. Back then we all used dive tables to compute the amount of nitrogen that was projected to accumulate into our body’s tissues, and the time it would take to get it out. Back then Scuba Pro offered a dive computer that passed air through an Italian brick and accumulated in a balloon that displayed pressure on a gauge as the amount of presumed nitrogen contained in our body’s tissues. We called this very popular device the “Bendomatic” as no two units provided the same data. There was no electrical computer attached.
But the idea soon caught on with a primitive computer, encased in a waterproof box, that followed a predictive algorithm regarding the presumed nitrogen load in our body’s tissues. At first, hospitals listed divers treated, designated by decals on the side of their chambers – tables or computers. Dive tables way out-numbered computers on chamber walls in the early days. But slowly that ratio changed. In the last decade training agencies have moved to dropping teaching dive tables completely, requiring dive computers be purchased for basic training. Gone are the hours spent on making sense of multiple charts used to compute what is now called decompression stress.
Our basic scuba training has always been very academic and included dive tables. But very few students maintain a proficiency on dive tables, seeking instead to invest in a reliable dive computer. Dive computer prices have dropped to less than the cost of a regulator for recreational diving. And they provide much more information, such as water temperature, dive logs, even a graph of the dive. Advanced computers have a compass, track cylinder volumes and gas usage. The power of the dive computer makes it a requirement with technical diving (deep, cave and rebreathers diving).
Future dive computers will interface with our body’s physiology, measure the nitrogen in our tissues, and predict a safer way to transition between the sub aquatic and terrestrial environments. They will also monitor thermal stress, carbon dioxide and oxygen levels to alert us when they fall out of a safe range. But increasingly, such technology will only be used by the very few who actually venture into this reality. These, or similar computer technology, will provide a virtual reality that negates our need to risk exposure to the aquatic environment. Already, video cameras are so powerful, they make you feel like you are on a dive underwater, while seated in a climate controlled IMAX theater. Perhaps this effect is the reason we now see a decline in the number of new divers taking training.
Technical divers still carry dive tables for when their computer battery fails, but few know how to use them. I will still teach dive tables at the college, along with dive computers. Recreationally, I must recognize computer technology is advancing beyond my term of reference.
Our next class will require a dive computer (which is already attached to every regulator we rent). I wonder which sacred cow is next?

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August 6, 2015

Vortex.

Makapu’u Beach, on the island of Oahu, in the state of Hawaii, is well known for body surfing. People wear fins to propel themselves on to a shore break that can provide a wonderful ride. Folks sometimes wear a mask and even climb upon a small body board to better catch the wave.
Makapu’u Bay has a relatively small beach. At the end of the beach opposite Sea Life Park is an area where the current deposits all manner of items lost in the bay. This gyre or vortex circulates slowly from top to bottom, much like a food dispensary at some bakeries or restaurants. But rather than food, this gyre carries masks, fins, sunglasses, hats – in effect, the day’s losses in the surf.
As a child growing up in Hawaii, we discovered that when we lost a fin, or damaged a mask, it was worth the trip to visit Makapu’u Beach Gyre to see if a match might be found. We were seldom disappointed. It isn’t a week that goes by here in Wakulla County when a customer stops by with a tale of woe describing a lost fin, damaged mask or whatever. I always reflect on our Hawaiian solution, and lament our loss of such a place. Of course, the customer eventually purchases another product, and now carries a spare component.
Several weeks ago I described what we have come to call our treasure dive off St. Andrews Bay jetties in Panama City Beach. There we spend our second dive running through the surf line and out along the outer jetty rocks to a depth approaching 50 feet. Students get to keep what they find.
I also reported finding a few masks and 35 sunglasses. And we never reached the deeper part of the jetty before someone ran low on breathing gas and had to return to the beach.
Upon our return to the pavilion, a group of previous divers had unloaded their treasure. What they left was a pile of at least 20 masks on the picnic tables.
This got me thinking that perhaps I need to send our customers to the outer Panama City jetties to recover replacement parts for their damaged or lost skin diving equipment.
During the summer hundreds of people skin dive off the Panama City Beach area west of the jetties. The surf can easily knock off equipment that is then lost in the tussle with the wave.
Prevailing currents along the beach (called a long shore current) would relentlessly carry the bootie east depositing most of it at the base of the rocks. Then sand begins the burial process.
The loss of keys, coins and other heavy objects do not usually make it into the vortex, much to my lament and embarrassment, when 48 years ago I had to call my (now) wife’s brother to come pick up me and my date at Makapu’u Beach.
I see metal detectors along the Panama City Beaches all the time these days. I wish I could have afforded one way back then.

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August 13, 2015

Grouper.

A friend of mine told me today that he had been asked to teach high school biology this year. He liked that math and physics were very finite. Adding biology to his responsibilities perplexed him. I excitedly said biology is what physics and math were for! That got me thinking about fish.
We eat grouper weekly, captured by selective spear fishing usually in Federal waters (9 miles or more out) off our Wakulla shoreline. Yet by the time I may capture one, say a Gag Grouper longer than 22 inches, this fish has already traveled through considerable time and space. We call this a life history. Doctors Coleman and Koenig at the FSU Marine Lab have been studying this and other grouper species for many decades.
Male and female grouper migrate to the edge of our shelf in the 250-300 foot depth range, where sea level may have been at 12,000 years ago. There, from January to May they swarm, spiraling up into the water column and releasing eggs and sperm to fertilize floating eggs. Over the next 60 days, these now fertilized gametes develop into a planktonic larva that drifts in a gyre or ocean current in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This gyre returns our young grouper to inshore nursery grounds. Much like many planktonic larvae, they then drop to the sea floor and become juvenile fish.
You may see these youngsters of less than 8 inches when you collect scallops in our vast coastal grass beds. Gag grouper may reside there for up to 6 months eating plankton, and small crustaceans. The very large Goliath grouper may remain in the nursery for up to 6 years! Once large enough to compete for better resources, our intrepid predator will join adults on our shallow reefs.
At this time in their life, all grouper are females. Our Gag grouper reach maturity at 5-6 years and 26-30 inches in length. She is considered a top predator on a reef (under the shark), and a “keystone species and ecosystem engineer – species which by their very presence or behaviors enhance the complexity of the habitat and thus the diversity of the communities within which they live” (Coleman & Koenig). The invasive Lion Fish now competes for this same distinction.
Her navigational capability will eventually bring her back to specific spawning aggregations sites where she will repeat this life history cycle. At some point in this cycle, either by time or circumstance, she may transition into becoming a male. Males mature at around 8-11 years with body lengths of over 37 inches. Gag grouper can live beyond 16 years and grow to 4.75 feet and 80 pounds. Males may stay in the deeper waters while females migrate into shallower reefs.
Up here in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico we enjoy eating grouper with no fear of poison, but that is not the case in more tropic waters such as the Florida Keys or Bahamas. Ciguatera is a circumtropical problem when eating large ocean predators such as Barracuda, Moray eels, Snapper, and Grouper. It all begins when a reef is damaged by hurricane or ship grounding. The exposed reef (damaged) is colonized by a blue green algae (dinoflagellate). Feeding herbivorous fishes accumulate a toxin generated by these dinoflagellates.
Bioaccumulation increases the concentration up the food chain until we consume the top dog (uh… fish). The toxin is neurologic, causing hallucinations, general weakness, and gastrointestinal complications, more so in children than adults.
I often wondered why boaters have cats aboard until I learned cats regurgitate poisoned fish! I’m a dog person, but not so on a boat.
I need to take my friend fishing before school starts this year to discover why he is teaching biology.

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August 20, 2015

Hot Underwater!

Yes, the summer’s heat can be debilitating, especially with the high humidity. Many of us head to the beach to cool off. I recall decades ago, that in the Keys, the surface waters also exceeded 90 degrees, which made cooling off not an easy thing to do.
And I have maintained for a long time that our seasons are reversed from our northern brethren. They hide indoors (home/car/work area) with warm air conditioning during the winter while we hide indoors with cool air conditioning during the summer. Our outdoor season is winter time!
To that end I encourage rebreather, cave and deep diver training during our winter season to prevent fainting as we usually dive dry suits with warm thermals. During our summer season, the heat kept in a dry suit gets dangerously hot in August or September, before entering our “cool” fresh water.
But last Friday, I spent the day out in salt Apalachee Bay diving Federal waters (beyond 9 miles) off Taylor County in 25 feet of water in search of edible fish. What we found was 5-7 foot visibility, and a green soup along a variety of reefs stretching 10 miles perpendicular to the shore. I was on a rebreather, which admittedly was overkill, but I needed the proficiency hours. I wore a 2-3 mil wet suit to protect from the shocking affects of my Shark Shield deterrent device. I do love that thing as it takes away all fear of unwanted visitors.
The water temperature was 89.5 degrees! Yes, that’s right, higher that the predicted high air temperature of today’s prediction according to the Weather Channel. The dives were not just uncomfortable, they were distracting. The rebreather captures my exhausted CO2 and generates heat corresponding to the energy I spend swimming. The more I swam, the hotter my inhalation breathing gas became. At one point I measured 107 degrees. I had to stop! My dives were almost an hour and a half each, but mostly resting still on the sea floor.
According to the NOAA water temperature data center, the average ocean temperature for August (near surface) in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is 86 degrees. Obviously we must have found a pocket of very hot water. The tide was coming in, but conditions were not improving throughout the day. The conditions were probably encouraging an algae bloom. The fish we did encounter were small and plentiful, baitfish mostly and grunts hiding under ledges. The fish we were looking for, like Gag and Hogfish could have been absent because they could sense our presence sooner than we could see them – remember 5 foot visibility. I lost my buddy continuously. He finally found his way back to the boat using a hand held sonar tracker, with a beacon attached to the boat. Lucky him…
After three hours of bottom time, two hogfish stumbled into me. They were as surprised as I was, but I had the speargun ready. I gave one to the boat spotter and took one home for supper. My wife prepared the fish with Cajun spices (Blackened) and served it up fresh. I have never had such a mouthwatering fish, an absolute delight.
So the day was not a complete disaster, even though I was exhausted, as in heat exhausted by day’s end.

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August 27, 2015

The Search for A Winter Activity.

Many dive support facilities located north of our area often shut down during the winter months as there is little interest in diving in their local cold water sites. Many resort to Dive Travel to warmer sites in the Pacific and Caribbean. Others revert to a “click” or internet store activity. Some expand their basic scuba training in heated pools, in preparation for the anticipated summer to come. All are intriguing, but carry significant investment and high risk.
Some promote local winter diving. Local spearfishing does continue year-round off our shores, and for good reason. While the ocean does cool down into the mid 60 degrees, the water visibility clears up. Winter storms can make for rougher waves, but carefully selected calm days are plentiful. Offshore fish can be plentiful in the winter. Everyone will need thicker wet suits or training on the use of dry suits.
But with family life more focused on school-related activities, and the opening of the winter hunting season, the speargun is often replaced by the bow, rifle or black powder musket. Fair enough! The same people who spearfish in the summer, spear deer when it is cold outside. The last remaining scuba store in Tallahassee now specializes in archery, a smart move under these conditions. We have considered doing the same. Investment in archery, like scuba, requires a slow learning curve and resource management that takes time.
We have, like many in our business, struggled every winter, trying to find a way to keep our employees funded. Winters have been great for training. For the past two years we taught a credit class at TCC, but today we just lost the TCC PEN class for this fall semester, opening up an even greater loss of funds. Rebreather, cave and deep diver training is a local winter pleasure for folks visiting us from Europe and South America.
But last week saw a serious drop in the stock market – an adjustment, I’m told – resulting in a customer reluctance to invest in new technology or take extended vacations. The dollar in Colombia, for example, is over three times as expensive as it was this time last year. And the cost of doing business for us has just become more expensive, what with a required bookkeeper, and accountant, the result of an audit.
This year, we have the best staff ever and must keep them engaged or face breaking up the team yet again. Every winter, we fail and lose someone to the winter doldrums. So it is time to look at what we can do that has not yet been tried. After all, we have a state-of-the-art hydrostatic testing facility, and the only one in the county. We should search for new opportunity to work the station, and not just for scuba. And we know gases, blending everything from air to oxygen, from Nitrox to Trimix, all on tap and stored in giant flasks, perfect for all manner of diving. But there are other gases that are needed by our community, beyond scuba.
Carbon dioxide, as a liquid, is used for paintball, restaurant beer and soda, and for fire extinguishers. Recently someone asked if we could do more with CO2! After working out the numbers, we realized that providing CO2 to our community will generate a constant source of revenue that could carry our employees over the winter doldrums. The ramp up into providing this service is much faster and the demand much greater than archery.
But I like the idea of supporting archery. We now have the extra time to do more, now that the TCC class is postponed.
And I am often reminded that I am the shop’s optimist! Every shop needs one.

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September 3, 2015

How deep must we go?

By Travis Kersting

When your neighbor buys a new car do you then feel the need to upgrade too? Perhaps it’s faster than yours or more stylish or expensive.
Would trying to buy the same car put you into a financial bind? The term my mother used was “trying to keep up with the Jones” and typically there is little more risk than financial in these everyday cases. People who try to break world records are risking reputation, injury, and even their lives in the pursuit of one upping someone else. In the aquatic world there are numerous record options to attempt but the ones that get the most attention are from depth records.
To give you some perspective let us do a little math. Right now you are pretty close to sea level and feel no atmospheric effects but really there is pressure on your body from the atmosphere above you. This is about 14.7psi or what we call 1 atmosphere. You couldn’t breathe without this minor pressure and you are well designed to live in it. When we descend in the water to a depth of 33 feet we double the pressure our bodies are used to. Each 33 feet adds 1 atmosphere, 14.7psi, to our body.
In 1988 a company called Comex set records in diving that were only beat by the same company four years later. The projects were named Hydra 8 and hydra 10 and are still the deepest known manned dives in an open ocean environment. The 1988 Project took humans to 530 meters, about 1740 feet, almost 54 times the pressure you feel now and 13.4 times the depth recommended as safe for recreational scuba. Their project in 1992, made the 1988 dives look like a walk in the park with a dive to 701m, 2300 feet, or over 70 atmospheres!
Even with Comex making such astounding dives, the recreational scuba world has tried to carve out their own list of world records to but a fraction of those depths and many lives have been lost in the attempts. Most recently Dr. Guy Garman, an ear/nose/throat specialist, lost his life attempting to reach 1200 feet. He was attempting to surpass Ahmed Gabr, the current holder for open circuit recreational scuba, by little more than 1000 feet.
If you take an off the shelf regulator, designed for recreational scuba, and it is a budget model then it will not have some of the features designed for easy breathing in “deeper” depths. These $250 setups will meet the needs of divers within the 130 feet range without compromise and depending on your breathing rate they will usually work for a calm person down to 200 feet or so.
When Comex, the NASA of diving, did Hydra 8 and 10, there was specialized and purpose built equipment, round the clock diver monitoring by video, tether to the diver, support divers capable of going to the max project depth, and virtually every resource possible. Recreational divers have none of these resources and often venture alone and unmonitored into the deep with support capable of venturing but a fraction of the maximum depth.
Dr. Garman’s deepest support diver was at 365 feet, even in clear water they would be unable to see the light from the diver’s torch below.
When Sheck Exley dove into Zacaton attempting to break his previous record and exceed the 1000 foot depth, he was accompanied by a dive partner, on a different descent line, and the partner lost sight of him in the darkness. Sheck held a record for deepest dive on ordinary air, 465 feet and the Wikipedia page says deep air record attempting dives are no longer encouraged or recorded because of the added risk.
The diving world has lost valued and experienced divers as well as relatively inexperienced divers to these record attempts when humans have already proven we can exist for weeks at a time at well beyond what ordinary scuba can provide alone. Is time to take the stance of diving deep air and discourage these deep recreational dives?

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September 10, 2015

This column was a re-run of a column originally ran in The News in October 2013.

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September 17, 2015

Megalodon.

I was first introduced to the Megalodon many decades ago, when I studied paleontology in college, and what was then considered an extinct species of shark that lived approximately 15.9 to 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era. But like so many creatures no longer with us, I soon forgot about them until I settled in Wakulla County and began diving the north Florida Gulf Coast.
My wife landed a job working for the state underwater archaeologist mapping the contents of Warm Mineral Springs near Venice. Her team documented preserved earlier discoveries of human occupation and fossil extinct creatures, including a Megalodon tooth. This tooth was the size of my hand, which would make the creature it belonged to the size of a medium submarine. It was hard to imagine. My family soon found smaller shark teeth off the Venice Beach, making the trip south of Tampa a favorite stopover. Those fossil teeth were small but plentiful and made for nice jewelry.
After I became a cave diver, I was training one day at a favorite spring to the west of Tallahassee, when I came upon several youngsters digging underwater in the sand. They had a single cylinder and were in the shallow mouth of the spring. By midday, they had accumulated a number of fossil bones in a bucket, under which I saw a large tooth. They sold it to me for $20. Back then I had no idea what it was worth, but it was as impressive as the one I saw at Warm Mineral Springs.
My Megalodon tooth has an enamel coating with serrated edges, darkened fossilized bone and is heavy. It has a chip or two, so it is not perfect. I would argue it’s too large to wear as a necklace around the neck, but I’m not into that kind of bravado. So I display it at the shop in our small diving museum.
I have heard that Megalodon teeth are found off selective North Carolina beaches near Surf City. I am not sure why they are found concentrated in these pockets.
Dr. Deas, inventor of one of the many rebreathers we now dive, dragged his team up there to search for these teeth, but bad weather got in the way. There however, I saw rooms full of Megalodon teeth, the result of recent dive trips. But Surf City is a long drive away!
Yes, yes, I also dive a rebreather called the Megalodon, but it too may be going extinct along the lines of its namesake.
Today a student of mine came in the dive shop, all excited that his brother-in-law just went diving with him off Venice Beach and collected a perfect large Megalodon tooth. They were diving in relatively shallow water. Their dive master found two more right next to the anchor!
I got the feeling he was going back at the next opportunity to further investigate this treasure trove. I’d rather like to join him.

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September 24, 2015

Mortality Fix

Over the decades of training technical divers, those diving beyond traditional recreational limits, I have developed an attitude adjustment drill. My students call it the Mortality Fix.
Recall, recreational diving presupposes a person will respond to a problem with skills that will expeditiously return them to the surface. There, the problem is resolved or taken to the dive store. Therefore, the diver is limited to shallow depths (less than 130 FSW), short dive times, with direct and unimpeded ascent straight to the surface (no decompression required and open water), and must dive with a buddy with an abundant breathing gas supply. At least that is what we plan for.
Technical divers go beyond recreational diving. They may require extensive decompression (required stops on the way to the surface), penetrate ice or caves with no direct ascent available, and carry multiple breathing gas cylinders for better decompression content and volume. As a result, with direct access to the surface impaired, technical divers must resolve their problems at depth with diagnostics and redundancy. But all Technical divers were first trained as Recreational divers. How do we make the transition?
All of my Technical training begins by explaining the above described dichotomy. I follow up with details where their skills must be altered to accommodate the new conditions, such as gas shifting to secondary resources when faced with a faulty cylinder (O-ring, valve, contents) which may be fixed, isolated or abandoned underwater if required.
These skills are always infused with a strong dose of education. NAUI’s motto “Safety through education” is never far from my mind. Lectures on the effects of each gas consumed or generated by the diver, such as oxygen, nitrogen, helium, argon, and carbon dioxide and the depth (pressure) consequence on/by them.
Water, being 800 times as dense as our normal surface air pressure, changes our abilities underwater, usually decreasing them with depth. When I began diving in the 1960s, 100 feet was considered deep, while today 200 feet is considered shallow in the Technical community. There is a lot to learn in addition to mastering the survival skills when diving in the Technical world.
To make my point, I let my students put to the test their new found knowledge and skill in the Mortality Test. Even though they know it is coming (but not the exact dive) during the eight day training class, most will fail! It is rather simple: I require every student be prepared to resolve their problems such that they can surface safely by themselves, but always carry a dive partner configured and willing to assist. Easy to say.
In January, it was a dive to 100 meters (330 ft), where at the maximum depth, the student was told his rebreather had failed beyond in water repair. Ironically, it did, but that is another story. Last week’s CCR Cave Trimix class, was a simulated rebreather failure a half-mile back in a local cave at 185 feet depth. The stress of the event only added to a much needed attitude change. Arrogantly, the student insisted their gas consumption (SAC) was .4 cf per minute. And so he took only that amount in case he needed it. Later re-enactment of gases actually used found his gas requirement (SAC) was 1.0 cf per minute! To get out safely, he had to shift to different breathing gasses four times (and should have made a fifth), consuming 40 cubic feet of open circuit Trimix, 120 cubic feet of open circuit Nitrox, and 30 cf of open circuit 100 percent oxygen. I had specifically asked for an additional staff member to attend the dive (with extra breathing gas) to be sure we had plenty of gas for this attitude adjustment.
We recognized several painful but necessary attitude adjustments from our student during this last class. My father taught me a pilot’s perspective: “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.”
The same is true for the diver. My Mortality Fix helps transition between Recreational and Technical diving, one student at a time.

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October 1, 2015

Another Shot at Underwater Archaeology.

I was tasked at Florida State University to teach Scientific Diving in the late 1970s. By the early 1980s we had discovered that to do so we needed a comprehensive basic diver class first.
In the end we created not one but three classes. The basic scuba class eventually offered through the Oceanography Department, the Research Diving Techniques class taught through the Anthropology Department, and Applications of Diving to Research, offered through the Department of Biological Sciences.
The basic Oceanography sponsored class generated the most students, producing less than 20 students from each class that moved ahead to the second (Techniques) class. Less than 10 made it to the Applications class each cycle, more than enough over the years to feed trained diving scientists back into seven different graduate departments on campus. The Anthropology Department benefitted the most by this arrangement. They already had a working relationship with the National Park Service Southeast Archaeological Center. There I began working with George Fischer, their Father of Underwater Archaeology in the Park Service.
All classes were multidisciplined. We quickly found what was called provenience by one discipline was called interpersonal distance by another. Thus we began sharing technology and techniques, and built a shared dive locker cutting costs and increasing capability. Students were taught the basics of diving science, then the technology of science diving, then expected to put it all to good use conducting pilot projects with the assistance of their peers, regardless of their chosen discipline.
I counted over 300 student projects over several decades. Several went on to become thesis and dissertations, while others secured grants that built artificial reefs, or tow sleds.
This momentum culminated in a graduate program in Underwater Archaeology and studies in Apalachee Bay, to discover early man occupation sites in 11 feet of water.
In 1999, I was offered the opportunity to move to Panama City and begin the multidisciplimary Advanced Science Diving Program, teach the Scientist-In-The-Sea Program and ultimately secure funding to create the Underwater Crime Scene Investigations (UCSI) Program within the Criminology Department. I retired five years later.
Regrettably, I watched the Academic Diving Program I left behind slowly erode, and ultimately slither back to the Marine Lab from whence we began. Now, a decade and a half later, FSU has a visionary dive officer in residence at the Marine Lab, and the Anthropology Department is again hiring an underwater Archaeologist. At a time when Texas A&M University has recently opened a Department of Aquanautics, embarked on an ambitious plan to offer the national Scientists-In-The-Sea Program in 2016, and provide training on all of their many campuses, I wonder if we at FSU have finally returned to realize the importance of underwater studies.
I was a product of such a realization in the early 1970, when we had healthy oceans, thanks to Dr. (Captain USN) George Bond, the Father of Saturation Diving, NOAA’s Man-In-The-Sea Program, and the Florida State University System. Today I witness dysfunctional Caribbean reefs desperate for attention. Who will train and support them?
I look forward to participating again, any which way I can. These are exciting times underwater, more than ever!

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October 8, 2015

Winter’s Coming.

North wind’s blowing, temperatures dropping, and the leaves are falling.
It seems this change in the season comes earlier each year. With scallop season ending, the last of the summer crowd have all but changed their attention to mundane activities, like school and job routines. Hunters have dusted off their guns. Those that spearfish now practice with bow and arrow. All is as it should be.
During this time, I encourage folks take a little time out of their busy schedule to pack their diving equipment away for the winter. I suggest soaking all your equipment for several hours in a large bin of fresh water. This releases the accumulation of summer salts that will fester over winter and damage your life support equipment needlessly. Let it all dry thoroughly before packing it away. If you find a problem with anything, now is a much better time to resolve it, before winter storage.
Metal, even chrome plated parts, accumulate corrosion and encrustations with use. I find the threads of the regulator tightening screw, the metal base of the hoses, and the threads of the DIN cylinder valves are particularly vulnerable to summer deterioration. If your cylinder valve is hard to open or has a small leak, now is the best time to fix it. We actually have a rather expensive ultrasonic cleaner that dissolves most corrosion problems before they can fester over winter. Of course this time of the year, we encourage rebuilding regulators, as the manufacturer schedule recommends.
Buoyancy compensators should be flushed out internally after the great fresh water soak, drained and then inflated to check the integrity of the bladder and valves. Leaks are usually easy to fix now, and replacement valves can be located with enough time. Leave them inflated at least until dry or for the storage season.
If your cylinder will drop out of its hydro date before spring, now is the time to get the test completed. There is nothing more frustrating than to rush into a spring dive to find your cylinder can not be filled until tested. And of course you know to never store an aluminum cylinder partially filled. OK, here’s why: Should your house catch on fire (heaven forbid!), the heat in the blaze can exceeds 350 degrees, the temperature when aluminum loses its ability to hold pressure. A partially filled cylinder will increase its temperature 5 PSI for every degree it heats up. If the cylinder is stored full, the increasing pressure will exceed the burst disk found on every diving cylinder, and release the pressure before it melts. Now you know.
Your speargun will need the soak as well, followed by some silicone around the trigger and over the shaft. Remove the rubber bands and store them out of the sunlight. They are very sensitive to sunshine. Of course, you cover the tip of the shaft with a cork or something to prevent accidental injury.
Store your dive equipment in a cool, dry place, away from ozone. We see a lot of rubber-rot in the spring. Wet suits and masks are particularly sensitive to ozone. Store them with a sprinkle of talcum powder and away from rodents and cockroaches. Many a fine mask has met an early demise at the mouth of these pests.
Follow these simple steps and next spring when the urge to slip beneath warm seas comes upon you, there will be nothing in the way!

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October 15, 2015

DEMA.

By Travis Kersting

In November the scuba community gets together at an event called DEMA to see what is new, take advantage of end of year discounts, and network with other professionals.
This year DEMA is in Orlando and we plan to attend. The store will be closed the week of Nov. 1 through Nov. 9.
DEMA stands for Dive Equipment Marketing Association, a deviation of its former name Dive Equipment Manufacturing Association. As such there is a trend towards marketing things like travel, equipment, clubs, and various other diving events and less emphasis on innovation or development.
Fewer and fewer start-ups and small vendors can afford to attend and many of our favorites have decided the trip isn’t worth the expense anymore.
Already I’m getting emails about what the DEMA specials are so that we don’t even have to attend in order to take advantage of the savings. I feel like this is the trend in other businesses too, they started selling Christmas products in some stores back in September for example.
In the past we have made some interesting DEMA acquisitions. Gregg’s gas booster pumps were a DEMA special and somehow we ended up with an ROV in 2012.
In 2013 we got an oxygen concentrator that denitrogenizes the air around you and makes a purer oxygen. We opted not to attend the event last year as it was in Las Vegas so no random equipment showed up for us to play with. Though I did order lots of cases from Pelican Products and we started carrying their coolers.
What will we bring home this year? What products would you like to see us offer? Perhaps a brand name or a particular item from a company we already carry. Maybe something out of left field and unrelated to scuba specifically? Your guess is as good as mine at this point but if you have ideas this is the time to make requests.
Ordinarily I miss out on the show floor in favor of taking service clinics on regulators or rebreathers but this year I’m saving money and skipping out on most of the clinics.
There hasn’t really been a major change in regulator design in probably a decade so I just don’t see a need to see the same presentations I have seen in years prior.
My favorite presentor, Jim Fox, the engineer of many regulator models has retired so I won’t even get to see him this year. A shame, he explained regulator design and function like no one else I’ve met.
We will be looking out for new products, truly innovative technology instead of just a change in color or a lighter travel version of equipment that already exists.
We will meet with friends from around the world and introduce our new staff members to them.
We will make plans for another year of serving the local diving community on whatever level the community asks us to.
Please call, email, or Facebook us about the things you want to see in the store and the services you want us to offer.

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October 22, 2015

Ocean life at 300 feet.

It took more than two weeks but we made our objective to train a new team of research rebreather divers from the University of the Andes in Bogota, Colombia to reach 90 meters (300 feet) and collect soft coral specimens and pictures within this Mesophotic environment.
The team is now made up of eight Megalodon Closed Circuit Rebreather (CCR) qualified science divers, in various stages of experience, but all with a clear vision of studies at 300+ feet. For the first week we trained up three more graduate students from scratch. They must get 25 more hours on the CCR before they can progress into trimix or cave. During this time Team 2, already trained in cave diving, went exploring for caves and began blending for normoxic (200 foot) dives.
The ocean did not cooperate, by staying windy and rough along the front of the Island, leaving shore diving off the lees shore. At least I had a chance to show off the Hawaiian shallow water entry! Those testing dives in the narcotic depths began to complain of odd feelings at depth. Research into the calibration of the rebreathers revealed the oxygen we were using, sold to us as pure, had only 88 percent oxygen. More investigation found they recover the oxygen by membrane separation, which means Argon is also concentrated with the oxygen. With the basic CCR completed in shallower water, a debate began as to if deeper diving would be possible. Assistance came from a number of sources all pointing to finding a better oxygen source.
It turns out that there is a University Hospital on the island. They have a reclamation system that claims 97 percent or better oxygen. But to be sure, they also had imported 100 percent oxygen and were willing to give us a single cylinder. Now we had two qualities of oxygen and more training. Week two began Normoxic CCR training (using Trimix 20/35 oxygen/helium blends) for other members of the team down to 200 feet. Bail out at 200 feet was accomplished using the good gas in the CCR and the poor gas in the open circuit bail out cylinders. At 190 feet we had a real bailout exercise and the student reported some (now closely monitored) argon induced narcosis (?). He reported it was like a bad narcosis.
With that training put on hold due to schedule conflicts (these folks have real administrative jobs as well), the deep team kicked in using pure oxygen and Trimix blends of 11 percent oxygen, 60 percent helium. One team member had made a small mistake earlier and not changed out his canister (policy dictated use of a fresh absorbent pack on dives below 200 feet), resulting in a CO2 breakthrough and severe narcosis hit. He and his team handled the problem well and exited safely. Early dives reached 70 then 80 meters with a planned bailout on the third dive to 90 meters (300 feet) that became quite the terminal exercise. At 10 atmospheres of pressure, technology must be able to take the abuse pressure will deliver. The displays of two CCRs cracked and one flooded. The other computer failed completely with no warning. Both divers completed a safe three-hour surfacing running the dive from a backup monitoring computer without incident. During this dive samples were collected and pictures taken by the third diver on the team. Even with an emphasis on training, much was learned from this new laboratory in the Caribbean.
We now head home to figure out what happened, share our experience with others and set new technology in play to accommodate pressures beyond 300 feet. Meanwhile, a new facility is taking shape in San Andres where banked Trimix and CO2 absorbent is accumulating for continued dives once we secure a better oxygen source.
In April scooter and more cave training will continue with team members as they all ramp up.
And in May we should see continued technical training for the facility manager/owner, all in sleepy Wakulla County, home sweet home. Cartagena is next!

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October 29, 2015

Chinese scuba cylinders.

By Travis Kersting

Today an individual walked in with a shiny new scuba cylinder that immediately looked odd to me. The markings looked original and legal but the cylinder manufacture number didn’t match anything in my reference documents and the manufacturer’s name rang a bell but I couldn’t figure out why. I’ve seen a wider variety of cylinders than most divers and we have examples of all kinds of manufacturing irregularities here at the store. This cylinder which looked shiny and proper to the layman actually had all the characteristics of being built in a garage using billet instead of forging. He claimed to have paid about $150 for it on Amazon.
After a couple of phone calls, a browse through my references, and using good ol’ Google, I learned the cylinder is legit. The M0814 (Manufacturer’s number assigned by the DOT) belongs to foreign manufacture Cyl-Tec in Shanghai, China. The cylinders are heavier than anything from American manufactures Luxfer, Catalina, or former American manufacture Hymark. When I say heavier I mean about 15 percent heavier but with no additional gas capacity. This is one of the red flags. Normally cylinders are not made heavier, engineers try to make them lighter – or when it is heavier it’s because of an increased pressure rating. For the same weight the owner could have had over 20 percent more gas in an American or Italian made cylinder.
The next red flag was the thread fit on the valve. The valve almost felt loose, a dangerous and scary feature but after comparing to European valves/cylinders with an M25 thread and using a caliper and thread gauge the cylinder also fell within standards but just barely. Any degradation to the threads will require the cylinder be removed from service. Another ding against making this Amazon purchase.
A saving grace in the threads was the shear volume of complete threads. The crown was so thick that nearly 35 to 40 threads could be cut into it. For a comparison a Thermo valve has about 12 threads to even engage in a cylinder and Luxfer specifies 10 threads in a cylinder for a 3000 psi service pressure. Over-engineering is a common feature of garage built equipment or a use of an unapproved material, something to raise one’s eyebrows yet again, and a large contributor to the increase in weight.
The company Cyl-Tec has set off alarms in the U.S. at the level of users, inspectors, retesting facilities, manufactures, and even the DOT. Their products have been rejected at the dock by importers, at the stores, and certainly by uninformed inspectors. There are cases open against them from U.S. manufacturers which you can read online. When picking a product it is best to buy things from companies that will still be around a while, I suspect this company may not last long with quality control issues and increased weight.
The final nail in this cylinder’s coffin is the price. The cylinder is actually selling on Amazon for $147 plus $20 in shipping. It ships out of state so the customer saved on tax. Our American-made aluminum cylinders with a better quality Thermo valve are $175 but there is tax so the total is $187.25 including the visual inspection and your first fill of air or nitrox.
That cylinder from the internet still clearly required inspection, in fact I spent a considerable amount of time on it and the fill is included with the inspection. After the tax, on the inspection and fill, the customer paid $184.12 for something that seemed like a really good deal – $3.13 in savings to have a cylinder that will likely raise attention at every shop it visits, supports the Chinese economy, and supports Amazon instead of a local small business.
I can’t fault the customer, in fact I thank them for the learning experience it has provided for myself and the staff here. These unique challenges are what keep the job interesting for me. However, for you, the user, it will pay off to do some real math, compare apples to apples, and if the price doesn’t seem right ask if there is a deal or price matching.

Chinese scuba cylinders. By Travis Kersting

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November 5, 2015

The air we breathe

By Travis Kersting

The air you breathe now is made of about 21percent oxygen and 79 percent nitrogen. There are some other trace elements in the air you are breathing like carbon dioxide, argon, water vapor, and fine particulates like dust.
When gas is made for diving the goal is to remove as much of this contamination as possible for various reasons.
The water vapor can cause corrosion in the scuba cylinders or regulators, the dust or particles can plug filters inside the regulator, argon can be narcotic at higher pressures, and carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide can have a variety of physiological effects.
The compressors used to make air for diving have special filter systems that work both mechanically, trapping water and particles, as well as chemically, trapping or reacting with the gases we want to remove. The composition of the filters vary from company to company and are largely based on the temperature the filters are exposed to and the flow rate of the compressor.
In order for the chemicals inside to do their job they must be kept cool, in contact with the breathing gas for a certain amount of time, and at a certain pressure.
For example, a product called Molecular Sieve will remove nitrogen and concentrate oxygen when exposed to gas at lower pressures but at high pressures it can remove carbon dioxide and will work as a drying agent.
Every few months the filters must be discarded and replaced with fresh ones, worth about $80-140 each, and then samples of the breathing gas must be taken and sent to a third party lab for analysis.
The labs can test for all sorts of things using something called gas chromatography and if there is reason for more testing they can use mass spectrometry.
The gas testing is rather expensive too, costing the average scuba store about $300 a year per compressor for quarterly analysis and depending on what grade of breathing gas they are testing for.
Stores that do technical diving will likely want better purification than businesses only catering to shallow diving.
Here in the U.S., I can have replacement filters delivered in a day as they ship from a company in Florida and gas analysis is completed within 48 hours of dropping it in the mail.
In the Caribbean, Mexico, and other small diving destinations they don’t have these luxuries. The incidence of contamination can be much higher and the ability to make repairs or have testing is more difficult.
Wakulla Diving Center has always had six chemical filters inline following a mechanical separator. Two of these filters are called “hyper filters” and are for removal of hydrocarbons that can be of concern in breathing mixes containing high concentrations of oxygen.
For our purposes there is redundancy so that there is never a risk of contaminating our banked gas supply or a diver’s cylinders.
However, I am reconfiguring things at the moment for even better filtration and working on ways of optimizing the filtration efficiency by better cooling the breathing gas prior to filtration.
There is much to learn in this process but I hope to create a system that is maintenance friendly and very efficient so that we can deliver the best breathing gas available.

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November 12, 2015

DEMA again.

We have returned again from the annual Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA) convention in search of what next year’s dive store inventory may look like. We also network with like minded store and industry shakers and sleepers are planning for the diving community in 2016.

DEMA met this year in the Orlando International Convention Center last weekend. I don’t have the statistics for this year, but nearly 1,000 companies presented in booths arranged in rows as far as the eye could see. Many times that many participants roamed the giant hall for eight hours a day. I usually can catch every booth at a slow walk in the four days of the show, but just barely. Our entire staff attends (yes, the store was closed for the week; sorry) to be able to cover the floor and many seminars presented. We return exhausted.
By far, the most common booth is engaged in diver travel. For the first time, we sent Rachel Schweers as our travel representative. She tells me she has an number of interesting opportunities under consideration. Dive destinations are local to regional to international (global).
The largest dive company in the world is Aqualung, (US Divers for you old timers), followed by American Underwater Products (AUP) that own Oceanic, Aries, Hollis. A rapid growing Mares got so big they bought their own training agencies!
Next in number represented are the consolidated store suppliers, big warehoused companies that supply all the small stuff a dive store might need, like mouth pieces, masks, fins, snorkels, booties, etc. They could be competing with the giants such as TUSA, Scuba Max, or Innovative Scuba. Others are much smaller like A-Plus Marine in Pensacola area, or Marine Teck. All out on the DEMA floor with flashy products for the next season.
Training agencies run very large multi booth presentation, such as PADI, NAUI, PSI/PCI, TDI/SDI, IANTD and our local Cave diving NACD and NSS/CDS. They presented seminars on changes in training standards, diving accidents, and hosted evening parties. And the ever present insurance agencies hung around the edges. Board meeting and debates are ongoing throughout DEMA. I know as I participate on a few. The Scientist-In-The-Sea group were planning next summer’s Program.
I counted over 20 booths dedicated to rebreather technology, with over 100 models represented. Old timers, such as KISS, Inerspace Systems Corporation (ISC), and Ambient Pressure Diving (APD) dominate, but a wealth of much appreciated newcomers, with refreshing new ideas, spot the floor. We recently embraced a fully electronic redundant rebreather from Czechoslovakia, representing a paradigm shift that has everyone talking. It’s almost like having 2 rebreather kits on your back.
We always go in search of the next diving gem. This year I found a spray product that will neutralize the sting of jelly fish, even the dreaded Portuguese Man of War. I found an innovative speargun that is beginning to look like the compound bow in archery. Underwater cameras with no extra housings, and UW cameras with wire to the surface so people restricted to the boat can see what’s going on underwater.
And the exciting list goes on. We now rebuild the store of 2016.
See you in the future!

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November 19, 2015

Women Underwater.

Women and men are equally capable of scuba diving. Both creatures come with challenging issues that are typical to the gender, but few are counter-indicative to diving.
But in the 1960s, very few women used scuba.
There are tendencies common to gender strengths. Males typically have more muscle mass and may “muscle” their way through a problem.
Females may lack that option and find more creative solutions.
Men may have larger lung capacity, which translates into a higher use of air than women, thus a greater chance of running out of gas when both use the same size cylinders.
When I began diving in the ‘60s, pregnant women were diving with little regard to injuring their fetus. We just did not understand.
Later studies, using other animals found bubbles generated during ascent, many non-symptomatic in the mother, were trapped in the fetus by the placenta. Today, pregnant women are not advised to dive.
I am hard pressed to find a similar reason why men are advised not to dive because of gender issues. Both genders get angry, rendering their behavior irrational and jeopardizing their safety. Both genders will get distracted, fatigued, disorientated, and cold. Both genders will become complacent and not take care of their gear, resulting in premature equipment failure and running out of breathing gas while underwater.
If women underwater face an extra challenge that men don’t, it is the men themselves. This male-dominated industry often underestimates or even dismisses women, including professionals, out of a gender bias. Our female staff often observe male customers pass them over in search of a male employee for assistance.
This bias is self evident in the manufacture of dive equipment. Until the mid 1980s, all dive equipment was styled and sized for men. Today, we have a few BCs that are built for women, wet suits and booties are more form fitting, and smaller masks can be found with a greater color selection. Walk through any dive store and wonder what happened to dive support for the 51 percent of our population.
Case in point: in the 1980s we dry suit divers all wore diapers. Dry suits are a water barrier that is warmer because we can wear warmer clothes that don’t get wet when the external shell is sealed.
Then the dry suit manufactures came up with the off-board urine drain, which worked well for men using a condom. But women had to wait a decade before the she-pee was invented. We don’t carry them because they are still very expensive!
When teaching a scuba class with couples taking the class together, I often find that the male tries to “help” his partner, when she is quite capable of helping herself.
This social bias is not as prevalent with younger divers, but it does track broader social norms.
There are many gutsy ladies out there who may even outperform their male companions, women like Sylvia Earle and Eugenie Clark and our local Karen Williams.
In a wider view of the world, they have had to excel in the workplace to be treated with respect.
Since this column has been hijacked by two women of my acquaintance, I offer hats off to women divers who love and thrive in the sport.

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November 25, 2015

Age and Diving

I recently attended a DEMA presentation on aging divers by Dan Orr. He used to work for me at FSU 20 some years ago, and we both have the gray hair to prove we fall in the category of his lecture.
Most of the focus on aging in diving is on when to start children in scuba. The training agencies offer a range between 8 and 12 years of age, based upon concerns with bone development and maturity. I began training my children at 10 years old, on a short surface supplied hose keeping them shallow, contained, and closely supervised.
But when should we be thinking about taking the keys away from aging divers and why? When I was just starting at age 16, the advice was to hang up my fins when I was 40. By 40, a person was expected to be over the hill physiologically, not as physically active and losing cardiovascular fitness. A lot has happened since then. We seldom dive air anymore, which was not available back in the Pliocene, dive computers encourage a more conservative profile and our diving technology is more reliable.
Before I reached 40, a more efficient breathing gas called Nitrox became the safer norm, extending the presumed age limit to 60. Before I reached 60, I was driving a much lighter life support technology, called a rebreather. I moved there because the weight of open circuit technology was getting too heavy for me to carry on land. And the computer assisted blender (rebreather) on my back provided me with idealized decompression management. Now I expect to be diving well into my 80s.
Dan spoke of the many performance expectations we can look forward as we age. None seemed very good, but are surmountable. The biggest one was that we slow down as we age. In part, this means it takes us longer to recognize a challenge, react to it and implement solutions. This also refers to the slower pace we move in general, reflecting a slowing of the cardiovascular condition. We can mitigate for this challenge by staying active when our age related opportunity provides otherwise. Becoming inactive happens when joints hurt, hands and backs loose flexibility and digestion is compromised. As we age, we pick up limitations which require more and more adjustments to stay active.
An early condition is distorted eye sight, requiring glasses or surgery. Masks come with built-in lenses, even bifocals to help see our gauges. Over breathing on open circuit is accommodated either by larger cylinders or a rebreather (breathe all you like). Decompression and thermal efficiency is lost as profusion is reduced with age. More conservative dive computers help. Thermal regulation (handling cold) is offset by better wet and dry suits.
There are people diving into their 90s. Chronological age and physiological age can differ markedly.Each individual ticks to his own genetic clock and circumstance. High blood pressure and diabetes (type II) can be managed by exercise and medicines. A variety of early illnesses may carry into old age such as smallpox into shingles or a physical bone injury into bone flaking. It is said as we age we pick up more baggage along the way.
As we become geriatric, medications perform differently. Now, add that underwater, medications react differently than on the surface, leading to a realization we divers are all heading into uncharted territory as we age underwater.
Aging divers may want to consider diving with younger partners, staying shallower and perhaps take shorter less arduous dives. I was asked yesterday if I would consider returning the Antarctic to dive under 10 feet of ice in 27 degree water. I had to think about that extreme for a moment. I said I would not. But last January I was diving in the Caribbean to 100 meters (330 feet) with no concern. If I don’t complete at least a two hour dive every two weeks, I get to feeling “old.” After such a dive, I feel 10 years younger.
Where else do you find your spouse telling you to get out of the house and go diving!?

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December 3, 2015

Warm December?

Normally, we light our wood burning stove on Halloween night and leave it burning until February. Normally, only the hardiest of divers are still going out to collect fish this time of year.
December is upon us and we are still wearing shortsleeve shirts, what with midday 75-80 degree weather.
OK, we do live underground, which means seasonal change is less noticeable six feet down under. We are tuned into the subterranean thermal mass of Wakulla County, which is 70 degrees year round.
With no added assistance, our home vacillates 10 degrees + the thermal base of Wakulla County ground/water temperature. I dehydrate the house during the summer and supplement heat using the wood stove during the winter. But climb to the surface and we, like you, must live with what the seasons deliver.
Various oyster folk are stopping by to purchase wet suits, so I know the near shore surface waters have dropped down below the 70s.
I have seen these waters reach a chilly 50 degrees in years past. Land run-off from shallow swamps and rivers will be cooler due to its exposure to the cooler, longer nights that winter brings.
At the river’s headwater, the emerging ground water will feel warm throughout the winter, but cooler as it heads to the sea. The opposite is true in the summer (feeling cool as it springs forth and warming on its trip to the sea).
The spring water is always the same temperature, but we acclimate. It takes about two weeks of exposure to the cold to adjust our tolerance. During the winter, we tolerate a lower core temperature before we shiver and more quickly vasoconstrict our blood flow to the extremities to conserve core temperature.
Spearfishing divers are also headed out to catch the last of the fishing season, ending on Dec. 4.
They tell me the fish are in shallow water, so the unusual water conditions and warm days generate a lot of excitement. All of our largest cylinders have been rented out last week! Very interesting.
Marine life creatures are temperature-sensitive as well. Manatee will move from cooler waters to warmer waters during the winter, explaining their migration up the Wakulla River to Wakulla Springs.
You may also find them attracted to power plant heat discharge basins around Florida.
We have blue holes off our coastline where freshwater discharge from the Florida Aquifer warms the Gulf of Mexico and attracts many marine species during the winter.
But the ocean appears to have taken longer to cool down this winter due to the warmer, albeit shorter days.
Grouper (with the exception of Gag), Snapper, Amberjack, Scallops, and Grey Triggerfish seasons are all closed now, even though this beautiful weather will surely lure divers out to go fishing.
Down south there’s always Permit and Lobster; Lion Fish are in abundance everywhere!
I have to wonder, being a hobbit and all, what’s happening around our marine blue holes.
Is this an example of climate change?

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December 10, 2015

Science Diving.

University Dive Officers are tasked to assure their scientists that conduct research underwater be adequately trained, or suffer the consequence of elevated participant frustration and unwanted injury. Better training is the answer, but that comes at a cost. Where do we start?
How do we train a science diver? Slowly, as there are no fast track options!
First you start with a scientist. Scientists are data collectors. Scientists usually take many years of formal study in a wide range of topics to become a specialist. Along the way a scientist (or a scientist in training) can train in supporting topics such as computers, electron microscopy, boating, driving a car, or diving. These technical fields are called supporting because they complement the scientists primary task of data collection.
Starting this endeavor with a diver is fraught with challenges. We have found it is much easier to train a scientist to dive than a diver to become a scientist. Most diving in this country is first taught as a recreational course, usually at a dive shop dedicated to selling equipment, little skill or knowledge required. These recreational classes are short, as little as 2-3 days, and portions often taught online. Major topics are designated as black boxes – which is to say, trust me and just do as the teacher says, there is no reason to know why. With so little time dedicated to pool and open water, very poor skills get imbedded into the divers skill set.
The scientist who conducts research underwater is not performing a recreational activity. When you play and adversity presents unwanted challenges, the participant quits and goes home. A scientist collecting data is much less willing to quit because (s)he will lose data when abandoning the site.
I have found over the course of five decades working with science diver training, that there are four areas needed to build the science diver. First, be on track towards a formal education in field of science. Second, get through advanced compressed gas diver training. We used to teach a 16 week Introduction to Professional Diving at TCC, where the graduate could easily hover in mid water, navigate blindly, understand decompression and use mixed gasses, just to name a few skills/knowledge. Third, become experienced in underwater research techniques, such as data collections (like UW photography), survey (like ROV or Side Scan sonar) and preservation (like specimen catalogs or sounds recordings) techniques, and meet the American Academy of Underwater Sciences 100 hour course requirements (UW First aid, CPR, use of Oxygen, Rescue, and more). Every year Texas A&M’s Dr. Iliffe, brings up to 35 students through our area, completing their preliminary science diver training course. And Fourth, Project Management, where students plan and conduct underwater pilot research projects of their own design, and with the assistance of their peers.
The Scientist-In-The-Sea Program, planned for next summer at Texas A&M, is a full time, in-residence, 10 hour a day, semester series of courses that begins with selected graduates of advanced basic training. The program culminates in a series of saturation diving and, student directed, underwater research projects.
Fifteen years ago, FSU was the leader in this field of science diving, training and servicing up to 500 people a year. Texas A&M University leads today, with a Department of Aquanautics.
Exciting times.

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December 17, 2015

The Liberty.

Rebreathers are becoming more reliable every year. Until recently, most companies sought greater automation, upgrading electronics, or downsizing to smaller units. The rise of a recreational rebreather has been promoted by many training agencies, including PADI, the largest agencies in our recreational diving community. The Explorer from Hollis for example, looks like what a Star Wars Storm Trooper would wear, is a relatively inexpensive semi-closed diving set and has a high tech (sexy) appeal. But its limited capability has relegated it to the beginner rebreather diver and resort environment.
Over the past three years, a Czech company has been quietly working on several pieces of dive technology now brought together as a rebreather that could become a paradigm change in our rebreather world. DiveSoft has had a helium analyzer on the market that uses acoustics to determine the helium content in your scuba cylinder. This clever improvement has reduced the number of galvanic sensors required to test Trimix, a gas often used to function more effectively below 150 feet without narcosis. Their Freedom dive computer rivals the popular Shearwater (out of Canada) because of its small size and powerful programs. Early this year, they exported to the USA, a fully redundant electronic closed circuit rebreather, something not seen in our diving realm.
Until now, rebreathers relied upon one or two dedicated dive computers to monitor up to three oxygen sensors that voted to determine the amount of oxygen that the diver would breathe. A single solenoid provided the gas when the controlling computer decided the oxygen was too low in the breathing loop. Divers could program the computer to maintain a desired level of oxygen, or default to a standard value, as defined by the manufacturer. Some rigs also had a profiling computer to assist in decompression management. The nagging challenge has been these oxygen sensors are consumed over time, loose their calibration and become difficulty to manage. What has been missing is an alternative strategy to this problem. The Discovery rebreather by Poseidon, did offer a constantly calibrated single sensor that is a step forward.
But what about technology with better redundancy? Boats headed off shore often have 2 engines in case one fails, you can still come home under your own power. Wearing two rebreathers has been discussed, but become rather bulky and expensive. Eventually they will be worn as side mount devices. And the diver must breathe one for say 30 minutes, and then alternate to the other for 30 minutes, throughout the dive to keep both rigs operational. DiveSoft decided to blend this redundant idea into one rig they called the Liberty.
The Liberty has two complete controlling dive computers. We have only seen something like this back in the late 1990s with AP Diving’s first rebreather, the Inspiration. It had a Master computer and a Slave computer. Both were functional until one failed, where upon the other took over. Today’s Liberty redundancy extends to the oxygen delivery solenoid (now two), dive profiling computers (now two), plus two redundant banks of oxygen sensors (for a total of four) and the helium sensors (also two), all packaged such that each electronic system monitors each other as well. Since you can tell the rebreather what your Trimix blend is in your rig, it can predict what your oxygen concentration is even when all of your oxygen sensors have failed. The Liberty still has one canister to remove CO2, but it is very efficient, permitting dives up to 8+ hours. The price for so much more, is also less than the current industry standard: the Megalodon by ISC.
Finally, we see a way back to the future and on to safer technology.

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December 24, 2015

Finding things underwater.

I received a call that a team of Oceanographers from FSU had dropped a refractometer overboard in Apalachee Bay. They had Loran coordinates and were asking if we might be able to assist in its recovery.
A refractometer measures the salinity of water by placing a drop of it on a prism glass, cover it with another glass device and hold it up to the sunlight. The refraction of light through the glass is measured against a numeric grid. The unit, back then, was not cheap for such a small tool, which was the size of a large cigar.
We agreed to try, were delivered to the coordinates a day later and an anchor was dropped. My team went down on scuba and deployed a reel commonly used in cave diving. I attached the end of the line to the anchor, and let out enough line to permit me to just see the anchor. I then swam around the anchor until I found where I had started. I placed a rock where I started the circle and let out more line, enough more line until I could just see the rock I had placed, and place another rock to mark my starting point on the second circle around the anchor.
Of course each circle was larger and took more time. My partner moved with me. Half way around the fourth circle, we discovered the refractometer, resting peacefully on the sand. No one expected finding the tool. Marine research has come to expect anything lost overboard to be lost for good.
Search and recovery underwater is both an art and a skill. We have a variety of options with which to deploy. The circle search is the most popular. I have found lost glasses, dive equipment, tools and more nefarious artifacts. All of our diving disciplines use these techniques.
Archaeology is in search of artifacts establishing their provenience, in Biology, the interpersonal distance, and with Criminology for the evidence. They all refer to the relationship between objects.
Other search techniques include the Sweep Search from shore or with a known vector, the Grid for more precise control, the Jack Line, and more. They are documented in the NOAA Diving Manual, our textbook for skill training Science Divers these days.
The art is in knowing and deploying the skill appropriately.
In search of a lost person in Lake Seneca, N.Y. our team spent days dragging remotely operated side scan sonar following a grid and tagging anomalies that were later inspected with remotely controlled camera vehicles. One anomaly after another were eliminated, until a very few were considered worthy diving targets for closer inspection.
Our growing reputation resulted in many more requests to locate lost outboard engines, fishing tackle and even lost boats.
But the worst was when the State of Florida took us out into the Gulf of Mexico to find a lost current meter array that had a sonar tag attached. Visibility was terrible! I was lowered alone into this dark abyss on a line to a depth of over 100 feet with no sea floor close by and conducted sonar circle sweeps listening for a sonar “ping”.
I have never before or since felt more like bait hanging on the end of a fisherman’s line.
And no, I heard nothing but the loud beating of my heart for the entire duration of the dive.

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December 31, 2015

Where to begin?

The lure to become an underwater person (a diver) begins at many ages. Our media routinely provides glimpses of the underwater world with abundant video and stills of marine creatures, shipwrecks, and people enjoying their undersea adventure. But do you translate that curiosity into action?
Parents are the first to expose people to diving. A mask is the first and best present followed by supervised access to water. Yes, even the bath tub is fine for the very young. My kids resisted water until provided with a mask, after which, swimming meant reaching to bottom. We would take them over the reef riding our back. They would slip off and explore a while until they got spooked and would rush back aboard. At age 10, they graduated to hose diving, a leash keeping them supervised to 15 feet. By then proficiency with fins and snorkel were required. Always in water parental supervision is required.
Parents often bring kids in for scuba training at age 10, a bit early for my taste, due to continued bone growth at that young age. I’d rather see new students no less than age 12. Water is cool, even in the summer, resulting in children being turned off by the experience. Parent – child bonding does happen in well managed classes preferably in the summer when classes don’t crowd out busy school schedules. After age 16, NAUI considers them qualified for an adult certification card after training.
As a faculty member in Biological Sciences, I was mystified why technical skills such as compressed gas diving, boating etc. were not a requirement for those interested in Marine Biology. But in reality, swimming and boating were equally ignored. Diving for adults began with a few words of caution back in the 1950s. “Never hold your breath” about summed it up. Today, the physics and physiology is better understood, and the technology is much more sophisticated, requiring a full 2-6 days of training, depending upon the level of detail you want. I prefer the latter. As an adult, the younger you are, the better, just because you body is more resilient, the brain easier to learn, skill and knowledge being the objective. But the older you get more wisdom becomes available. The elder are slower in many ways, but equally thrilled at what they find underwater. Once trained, a lifetime of experience building expands the underwater adventure. I have trained folks at all ages. They each have individual challenges, which is why I enjoy teaching.
Everyone should have idealistic goals and realistic expectations. Students have come to me expecting to be diving to 100 meters in a few months, only to realize they would be fortunate to reach 100 feet in such short notice. Once the basic training has been completed, start shallow and simple. Expand slowly to more complex dives over months. Once you find you are outside your comfort zone and anxious, seek further training from other divers. I never miss an opportunity to dive with more experienced divers. Advanced formal training is always available. I strongly support participating in a dive club since like minded folks tend to join resources that will expand your horizon. Popular dives around here include spear fishing, daylight cavern (not cave) exploration, grass bed scalloping, and river bed (fossil) diving.
Once on this path, when you go off to college, you already have an insight into careers that have underwater components such as biology, anthropology, criminology, oceanography, geology, engineering and so many more. Of course many divers carry a camera to document and share their underwater adventure, to motivate others to follow.
Happy New Adventure Year!