By Gregg Stanton and contributors

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January 4, 2018

Pragmatic aspect of speliogenesis.

We have presented a description of the process of creating cave passages underground underwater in a previous column. We have also described the various types of Karst openings resulting from this speliogenesis. We have yet to stress the pragmatic nature of our underground river system.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by falling rain that penetrates our lime stone strata as an acid, and slowly, over time, dissolves the rock and the air/water interface, opening water channels in the direction of water flow.
Around here, water flows to the ocean, which over time, expands these passages into large and often, many subterranean rivers.
As these passages get large, the overlying rock weakens, sometimes as a result of a drought, causing the ceiling to collapse.
If the collapse does not break through the surface of the ground, we call the event, a subsidence, sometimes contributing to the creation of our swamps, like Swirl Swamp just to the north of Route 98 and the golf course. If the collapse breaks the surface, we record the presence of a sinkhole, such as Big Dismal (recorded in recent history).
We also have springs, where the river breaks out above the surface, such as Wakulla Springs, or siphons, where the water dives back under ground, such as Swirl Sink near the Wakulla Environmental Institute.
Ultimately we record the locations of blue holes, or inundated sink holes in the river or ocean, such as Ray Hole off Apalachee Bay.
Envision a network of underground rock pipes functioning as French drains under a house, designed to remove water from the vicinity and deposit it elsewhere, in this case, in the ocean.
Decades ago, I was shown a crude drawing of such a drainage system in Wakulla County that was derived from potentiometric well pressure readings. It showed a Wakulla System flanked by a St. Marks System on the east and the Spring Creek System on the west.
Recent work by the WKPP and hydrologists have tracked drainage passage from Swirl Swamp under Route 98 moving in the direction of the seven archaehaline (ocean influenced) springs of Spring Creek.
After heavy rains, these springs display a significant surface boil. These systems flush excess rainwater to the ocean with minimal surface flooding.
Construction in Wakulla County is concerned with surface collapse due to our Karst topography. No one wants his or her pride and joy being swallowed up by a collapsing sinkhole. Filling in a swamp (a collapsed Karst feature) prior to construction, invites future surface ground collapse. Stabilizing the ground by pounding pilings or pouring concrete underground may also create unwanted consequences compromising the drainage of our lands.
The community must take advantage of available knowledge regarding underground passage before construction or we will witness increased undesired flooding.
In future columns, I will collaborate with Cal Jamison to bring you the history of our Wakulla County Karst features, of which there is in abundance of 400 from which to choose.
An induced collapsed underground feature has pragmatic consequences.
This column was conceived years ago as a public education vehicle to the consequence of our wonderful Wakulla County waters.

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January 11, 2018

The Arrow Crab.

Ever since we have been diving the K Tower, less than an hour’s run south in our fast boat into the Gulf of Mexico, Arrow Crabs have become a popular inhabitant of our aquariums.
They are abundant on our rock ledges, easily captured and hardy occupants in our tanks.
Specifically, they are kept in aquariums to keep bristle worm populations in check. They are also popular in the aquarium trade, selling for under $20 each.
Stenorhynchus seticornus is a very long legged crab with an equally long rostrum (that point sticking up from the face) with which it cultures algae for later consumption.
You can find them suspended like a chandelier, above sponges and anemones, in search of small invertebrates. They are reported to be fond of bristle worms.
They are also best known from coral reefs, but also common up here in depths down and below 60 FSW (for example, at the base of K Tower). They are commonly found on Coral reefs around the Atlantic basin, including our Gulf.
Females carry male spermatophore until she fertilizes her eggs. She then carries the eggs until hatching.
Zoea larvae then swim to the surface and feed on plankton until they sink back to the reef and assume an adult form.
We seldom find just one Arrow Crab, but rather these crabs in a collective of many sizes. They will scatter slowly when you try to capture one.
Dr. Wm. Herrnkind, Ed Conklin and I published a paper together in 1976. It was a description of commensals living with the anemone Lebrunia danae.
The Arrow Crab was just one of many to be associated on the reef. This study took us but only three days to collect all the data, because we lived underwater right next to the coral reef in Grand Bahamas.
We were out in the water for 11 hours a day, in two person teams.
I returned the next year to spend over a month with six people to duplicate the study in greater detail, diving daily from the surface. It was admittedly a much larger study validating the published preliminary data.
What we found was the very powerful mimic anemone (powerful sting cells mimicking the Dicteota algae) hosted several crabs, shrimps, brittle starts, and fish.
We plotted nine 10-by-10 meter grids laid over the reef between 60 and 90 feet deep. And we characterized every anemone as often as we could.
What, at first was seldom seen, became an abundant animal on the walls and top of the spur and groove reef.
The Arrow Crab became a beacon over-shadowing our camouflaged hosts.
From this data set, we began to partition this habitat we came to call the anemone. There was the Arrow Crab along with certain cleaner shrimp that were above the host. There were other shrimp that stayed down in the anemone’s tentacles.
And there were crabs, starfish and fish that hid under the anemone’s column.
Some were active at night, others in the day.
All were competing for space with others of their kind and predators. Many were lures for the host anemone.
And some of these associates reside on our K Tower, albeit on other anemones!

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January 18, 2018

Dry Caves in the Wakulla area.

By GREGG STANTON and CAL JAMISON

A few days ago my neighbor Cal Jamison and I had lunch at Myra Jean’s to discuss collaborating on a series of columns describing the stories of our karst features.
We decided to start with the dry caves in our area, of which there are very few to our knowledge. We will focus on Gopher Hole, Cal’s Cave also known as Moody Cave and Natural Wells Cave.
The karst feature known Gopher Hole in the Apalachicola National Forest’s Leon Sinks Geologic Area penetrates the ground at an angle, much like what the gopher tortoise digs for it’s burrow, only larger. Gopher Hole has a grotto like cavity that straddles water that provides a cool shady water hole for passing critters and travelers. There is a narrow chimney that extends from below the waters surface to the top of the rise above the cavern. We can imagine summer travelers headed to the coast, stopping by Gopher Cave for a refreshing drink or even dip in the otherwise near 100-degree F. land weather.
Cal’s Cave was named after Cal Jamison in the early 1970’s after he led a team of early cave diving explorers to it. These same explorers made the first underwater connection between Upper and Lower Riversinks and were Cal’s classmates in archaeology at FSU.
The cave, located near the old Moody homestead, is a dry cave passage that reportedly once penetrated many hundreds of yards westward above the water table. In the cave floor at the entrance some 20 feet down, is a pool of clear water with an opening through which you can see a water passage leading to the Chip’s Hole cave system, that winds its way under the intersection of U.S. 319 and Bloxham Cutoff and leads eventually to Wakulla Springs.
I have been told that back in the time of our earlier settlers, natives hid in this dry cave when landowners were trying to round them up. Cal once tried to dig the cave out after it collapsed years ago, but was able to only penetrate a few feet in to the rubble of the once long cave. Others have tried to find the way through the collapsed cave, too, but they have only managed to wiggle through a few extra feet in very tight conditions. A ground penetrating radar survey is in the works.
Sgt. Ken McDonald of the Leon County Dive Team recalled a local double homicide that ended with the bodies of two young people who were kidnapped, murdered for their car, and then deposited in the water passage of this cave.
Natural Wells Cave near Woodville is a classic grotto that has been tamed. It has a wooden staircase leading down and around the 25 foot perimeter into the cave. The owner even installed lights in the depths of the clear water.
Above the cave’s pool is an opening on to the land’s surface about 4 feet in diameter. Many local folks remember the rite of passage of jumping down through its 15-foot drop to the water depths below. Some got a little skinned up, but it was worth it to be able to claim this accomplishing this daring feat.
Natural Wells is said to be much like Devil’s Den near Williston.
Both Cal’s Cave and Natural Wells are not open for public viewing, but you can visit Gopher Hole in the Apalachicola National Forest’s Leon Sinks Geologic Area if you want to experience the sight of a clear pool of spring water in an open cavern. You will see water seeping from the limerock walls before it falls into the pool below. Don’t be surprised if you startle a few frogs as you approach the water’s edge.
It’s a peaceful and quiet place where you can take some time to reconnect with your natural surroundings. If you are hardy and daring you can then climb to the top of the overhanging hill and look down through a narrow winding shaft that leads to the depths below the surface behind the back wall of the grotto.

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January 25, 2018

An Educational Opportunity

By Gregg Stanton & Travis Kersting

Wakulla Diving Center is a retail establishment but we also think of ourselves as an educational facility. We often talk with customers for hours without selling anything at all. We also publish this discussion column each week.
Problem solving, answering questions, and prompting new discussion is something we really enjoy. After the inspiration from FSU Marine Lab, and Gregg just making a presentation to students at the University of West Florida regarding the biology of the Lionfish, we are motivated to launch a new community service.
We got to thinking and now propose hosting a guest underwater specialist speaker from around Florida on a monthly basis. As opportunity presents we may even ask someone from out of state. We will tackle a few presentations ourselves.
Early offers will include a 6 hour spearfishing workshop with Kevin Bruington, the manufacturer of Ocean Rhino spearguns, “The Economics of the Lionfish Invasion” by Dr. Bill Huth, Emergency and Prophylactic Oxygen Administration, An introduction to Nitrox, Decompression Stress, The Advantages of Freediving Training, The Use of Dive Computers, Managing Thermal Stress, The Pro’s and Cons of Rebreather Technology, Women in Diving, Basic Equipment Servicing, Shark Repelling and Defense Techniques, The benefits of Cavern Training for Open Water Divers, an Introduction to Cylinder Inspections, and anything else our diving community can drum up.
Each talk is meant to be educational, regardless of your level of experience or your participation in that segment of diving.
If you have ideas please let us know so that we can get in touch with a professional in that field and see if they are willing to speak.
Some talks will include reference materials or equipment to use later. There is potential to expand a talk into a certification – for example, Nitrox, which if you elect to complete a post discussion online course and return for a day of diving to have completed the requirements for a Basic Nitrox certification.
Though these talks are all meant for divers, they are also open to the general public who have an interest in diving-related topics.
A calendar with the specific dates and times for each talk will come out very soon; we are working on that now.
As much as we’d like to have a consistent day/time each month we have to work around the schedules of the guest speakers as well. There may also be a two month break for our summer dive/scallop season.
We are shooting for these talks to be FREE but because the speakers are traveling in excess of 4 hours, and they are charging us, we have come up with a twist to charging you for attendance.
Entrance fees will be different each month but no more than $30 (hopefully $10-20 most of the time). You pay a deposit to lock in your seat and if you attend that entrance fee rolls over into credit for future purchases at Wakulla Diving Center.
If you don’t show up then you lose the deposit as it goes to the speaker for their time.
We will include some snacks and refreshments for the shorter talks and a lunch for the 6 hour talk on spearfishing.
So long as you show up, you have nothing to lose and a wealth of knowledge to gain.
This effort is consistent with a proposal to create a future dive club at Wakulla Diving Center, with all the social components such an organization can provide. Please ask about details.

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February 1, 2018

Early History of Underwater Diving

I’m immersed in writing a chapter for a new textbook on Underwater Archaeology due to come out by the end of the year. To introduce the physiology of diving, I dug into the early history of diving and realized the story is interesting! Where to start?
A controversial theory of human evolution is that apes shifted through an aquatic phase before becoming a human form. Dr. Alister Hardy and David Attenborough support the aquatic ape theory where certain apes emerge from the water, having lost much of their fur, added subcutaneous fat, and walked on land. They then developed a descended larynx common to aquatic mammals, and larger brains. Their descent into the DHA (Omega 3) rich seafood boosted brain growth in mammals. This controversial theory has gained new traction in Europe recently.
From there we can jump millions of years later to a 900 BC Syrian wood relief depicting a masked person holding a goatskin with a tube running up to the mouth, suggesting a weighted person functioning with a gas supply doing something underwater. Just a little bit later, Greeks and Romans were known to wear goggles with polished tortiose shelled lenses to sneak up on unsuspecting vessels and cut their anchors during war times.
Greek sponge divers were documented using the same technology up through recent times. An interesting modification seen on later models included small air-filled bags attached to each eye pocket to permit compression of gases in the eyeball area without injury upon descent.
Clearly, these fishermen encountered Barotrauma, a pressure volume event, that would have damaged their eyes the deeper they went. Every novice diver today knows they must purge a small amount of air into their mask to avoid a mask squeeze.
Another ancient diving group that dates back over 2000 years ago known as the AMA Divers, are actually breath-hold divers using no special equipment at all. These are traditionally women from the region of Japan and Korea, in search of seafood, and pearl oysters. Diving physiologists studied these women to find they are often older people with more subcutaneous fat to endure the cold water. They also suffer from decompression sickness as they routinely dive relatively deep. Decompression stress can accumulate over multiple breath-hold dives to greater depths.
The Spanish new world seaman returning from the Bahamas described another diving population as pigmies. Hurricanes sank a number of their gold carrying ships that subsequently required salvage. A pigmy population of natives that were excellent divers were soon enslaved and reportedly pushed to extinction while excavating shipwrecks.
Leonardo Davinci is known to have drawn designs for fins, and other diving equipment in the late 1400s. By the 1600s, technology became more commonly available to the diver, such as the waterproof Bell. The rest is described as recent past diving history.

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February 8, 2018

Mossback divers.

Routinely we meet people who have been out of diving for a while or never certified to dive in the first place attracted to the glitter of diving again.
Certification is good for life but does need proficiency.
These folks are obvious by their stories of past accomplishments and future desires. They often conclude there is no hope for a solution, not wanting the assumed embarrassment of taking a class over or keeping up with the younger crowd.
Au contraire!
To start with: Previous divers may take a refresher class and be back in business over a single long weekend.
But better than that is to upgrade their training, since we now breathe a different gas than before, and our technology has become far more reliable and we have an abundance of new local dive sites, both onshore and offshore, that can be introduced, all for the same time commitment.
Nitrox is the breathing gas of preference for most divers in this area since improved blending practices were introduced 8 years ago.
It stands to reason: if I add a pill to your car’s gas tank (hypothetically) that nearly doubles your mileage/gallon, would you be interested?
Of course!
Even if I told you that you needed to watch the car’s temperature gauge more closely?
Probably!
Well, in principle, Nitrox does the same thing. We add oxygen to air to reduce nitrogen in the blend we breathe. The older you are, the more popular the Nitrox gas becomes these days.
NAUI requires course work to better understand how to manage the gas and some dives to practice.
The dives may be done offshore in concert with advanced diver training, such as spearfishing, photography or deep diving, or onshore with daylight cavern (not cave) overhead diving.
A popular configuration includes a Friday of Nitrox and cavern (or other topics) lectures followed by three dives a day on Saturday to Orange Grove Sink and Sunday to Jackson Blue Springs.
If offshore, two days to K Tower to visit the Goliath Grouper or one of the many artificial reefs within an hours launch offshore weather depending.
And there is a hybrid option of catching the high tides diving the Panama City Jetties. I am always amazed at the wildlife we encounter passing through the St. Andrews Bay Inlet.
But what does the Mossback hope to achieve out of all of this?
Certainly a review of the diving academics is achieved through the Nitrox lectures. A review and update of the equipment happens before and with the dives.
A confidence builder is inevitable as the person gets back on a bike not ridden for decades.
And since diving is a social activity, you meet and go diving with more people, who share your passion for this sport.
So next time you get excited about your once passion for diving, attend a seminar on diving, (next one is March 3rd), stop by a dive shop and describe what you dream of doing, and bring a friend to share in the excitement.
It is still a lot of fun being underwater here in Wakulla County!

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February 15, 2018

Wakulla Sinkholes

We have over 400 known sinkholes in Wakulla County, with new ones often reported. We have so many, that at one time we had a Sinkhole Ambassador Cal Jamison. Who better to tap into his enormous database of local stories. Of course, many are hearsay, while others are from the horse’s mouth.
Wakulla County sinkholes are divided into interconnected underground systems, from which they are created. Three decades ago, hydrologists drew me a map that showed three north south flow patterns they called the Wakulla (down the middle of the county), the St. Marks (along the east side of the county) and the Spring Creek (down the west side of the county). Today, cross flows may muddle such an organizational system. There’s been a lot of water gone under those bridges since then.
Archaihaline (Fresh/saltwater) sinkholes are found closer to the coast. They have several types of fauna that are divided by a halocline. Many of these are also tidal in water rise. Local rivers can also see saltwater wedges that are tidally induced.
And of course Blue Holes or sea water submerged sinkholes, the result of sea level rise, are found along our coastal margin and off shore.
Native Americans clearly used our sink holes as a source of drinking water during long journeys or as residence resources for tribal villages.

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February 22, 2018

Using Equipment Storage Bags to Protect Your Investment

By Travis Kersting

Last Monday the owners and staff from Wakulla Diving Center, as well as some contract instructors living in Panama City, attended a product Knowledge seminar from Scubapro. Our sales representative, David Rhea, hosted the event at a hotel in Fort Walton Beach. He went over some sales tips as well as new products available from Scubapro.
For me it was a way to get my questions answered and see what other stores are having success or problems with. It’s a learning experience that can pay off in unconventional ways. Perhaps other stores like a product, so that’s probably a product we should consider offering. The other side of the coin is perhaps they early adopted and didn’t like a product, then I know not to order it. We learned about manufacturing delays and voiced concerns with discontinued items and backorder problems. That might all sound negative but it’s actually really nice to be able to have a dialog with manufactures since they sometimes listen to us. We are the voice of our customers.
An example of that is from when David first visited us. We asked him to pitch a product to Scubapro, a simple mask bag. Virtually every accessory manufacture offers a handy padded bag for protecting your snorkeling mask and it also allows storage of a snorkel w/o removing it from the mask strap. We sent David with one of these bags and a year later we now have them in stock from Scubapro. These inexpensive padded bags actually work well for storing all sorts diving related items, I use them to store dive computers and when I travel I insert the second stage regulator into one for added protection.
Though that little product is a great little offering; David pointed out that divers are typically three or four bag customers. They also need a way to store their expensive air delivery system, what we call a regulator bag, as well as a mesh bag for carrying all their equipment onto the dive vessel. In addition to those three it’s common to use a dry bag for towels and clothing that you want actually to keep dry while you’re out on the water.
It’s surprising how many customers do not use equipment bags or boxes to store and transport their gear. If you spent $350-1000 on a piece of life support equipment wouldn’t you want a padded place to keep it? Many dive charter boats have rules about what size and type of mesh bags are allowed on board, because of space, and most of your small personal boats don’t have a truly dry area for the storing of things you want kept dry. Typically these bags are about 5-8% of the price of the SCUBA item it’s protecting. In the case of dry boxes, like those from Pelican Products, they can be about triple the price of a bag but are virtually indestructible.
There are specialized equipment bags for almost every piece of equipment in scuba. Some make a lot of sense and others are less useful. Take a look at your investment and think about what expense you’d face if a piece of equipment wasn’t properly protected while on a bouncing boat or when dropped accidently. I do not recommend specialty storage solutions such as computer bags molded to a specific computer model or speargun bags built to hold only a gun w/ a single shaft. The more generic a bag is the more likely it will be to work as your needs and equipment change.

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March 1, 2018

Spearfishing

Fishing underwater is not the same as fishing from above the water. I would have thought dangling a baited hook over the edge of an underwater ledge would have been somewhat productive, but it is seldom done.
The skill of spearing fish began from above the water as people tried to secure an underwater fish from above. The optical challenge of refractive distortion meant the shaft was often sent in the wrong direction, missing the desired prey.
Shaft throwing (or using a bow and arrow) brought its own issues, but are surmountable, with a measure of success when fishing in the clear waters of a river or lake.
But people ventured into the water centuries ago, mostly to capture seafood. Spearing that food brought about innovated technology and associated techniques. Sharpened spear shafts were mounted with points that captured the fish, made small enough to be easily thrust against an environment 800 times as dense as that of the atmosphere.
It was not until elastics, such as rubber, were added, that the spear became very effective. Most early spearguns were narrow shafts that were gripped against the stored energy of the elastic, and released at a nearby fish. The Hawaiian spear and today’s pole spear are effective small fish fishing tools, and a good place to start training.
Many countries, such as the Bahamas, only allow spearing fish by the use of a pole spear, and only by breath holding techniques.
Advanced spear guns use elastic bands, springs, compressed gas or bullets, to propel shafts through the water.
The most common is the use of elastic bands. Guns are usually made of either wood or metal tubing. A spear is set into a groove, or suspended between two holes, and locked in place, held against the tension of bands that are pulled back from the front end of the gun and attached to the shaft. A trigger release is pulled to release the stored energy that thrusts the shaft forward.
Aim is critical, accounting for underwater optical challenges that alter the perceived size and location of the subject prey. Knowledge of fish physiology is equally important to assure a clean kill, with minimal release of blood.
Fortunately we now have effective shark repellant technology.
The hunt for fish to spear requires careful consideration to targeted fish behavior. Fish very quickly learn that aggressive humans throwing a shaft at them must be avoided!
Many spearfishers drop down from the surface to stay in the blind spot of many fish. Their window of opportunity is lost within 10-15 minutes, resulting in many bounce dives in a day of diving. We call this Yo-Yo Diving, and discourage it for health reasons. Others, like tree hunters, choose a place to hide on the reef and wait in ambush.
Both use line shafts and free shafts, the former with a line tied to the shaft with which to recover a live fish trying to escape. More experienced fishermen make sure they stun the fish and recover the body with shaft more quickly without the use of the attached line.
Spear guns are as dangerous as gunpowder driven guns used on land. Spearguns are as or more expensive to purchase. The learning curve is important if you want to safely collect delicious fish for your table. On Saturday, March 3, Kevin Bruington, a well known spear fisherman, who builds the highly regarded Rhino Spear Gun will present a 6-[hour dry course on spearfishing techniques at Wakulla Diving Center. This is a great opportunity to learn from the best!
Contact Wakulla Diving Center at (850)745-8208 for details.

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March 8, 2018

Too Deep, Too Far, Too Soon

By Travis Kersting

When we learn to drive at age 15-16 years old, we haven’t had much experience but we are “certified” to drive. There is nothing stopping someone with their license from getting on the interstate and traveling from one coast to the other at 70 mph. Nothing that is, besides parental control. I don’t suspect too many parents would want a recently licensed teen to take such an ambitious journey without some real practical experience and ample proof of being a responsible driver.
In the scuba world it shouldn’t be any different but my recent experience has proven otherwise.
A kid as young as 10 can take a scuba course, under some agencies, though we recommend waiting until age 12 or even later for biological reasons. At these ages you earn a “Junior scuba” certification which typically implies the parent must accompany the minor and there could be depth or other restrictions as well. It is the responsibility of the parent to monitor the Junior diver throughout the dive and gradually allow more and more responsibility to be taken over by the Junior as they mature.
Often the parent will need to act in the place of an instructor, reiterating what was covered in the in actual course. If you are a parent, which I am not, I assume you wouldn’t just throw your child off the dive boat and expect everything to go perfectly on their early dives after initial training. There would surely be some rediscovery of skills and challenges covered in the course. There is room for the school of hard knocks but I’m not certain that school is best-attended 60-feet underwater at 10-18 years old.
What we often see can defy logic. Parents will sign their child up for a scuba course, some even attend at the same time, and once completed they take their own boat out for celebratory dives together. Instead of the parent and minor doing some leisurely activity together they get ambitious and opt for spearfishing. In our area spearfishing is far more common than other activities like sight seeing the reef or underwater photography. Parents could hand their minor a stringer and allow them to help by stringing and carrying speared fish. They could also leave the speargun on the boat and just make sure the minor is comfortable in the equipment they have and how to use all its components properly. But they don’t and instead they will take a speargun and in many cases allow the minor to take shots at fish.
The task loading underwater can be tremendous even on a routine dive in shallow water. You are monitoring depth, air consumption, time, your buddy, your orientation to the boat or anchor line, and the surrounding hazards such as fire coral or sharks are also kept in check. You do this while attempting to stay neutrally buoyant, meaning not on the bottom nor rocketing to the surface.
In cave diving we use the phrase “too deep, too far, too soon” to describe task loading, when describing fatalities that resulted after someone lacked the proper experience to go where they went. The same or similar phases can be applied to driving, open water diving, mountaineering, etc. Cave divers used to insist on slow progressive training, or mentoring, followed by slow progressively more complex dive plans. Advanced activities require divers to master their basic skills first, a process that takes 20 hours or more before progressing into more complex activities.
The open water community, especially those interested in spearfishing, would do themselves a huge favor by following a similar strategy. There will be less wounded fish, less damage to the reef, better overall experiences, and happier divers as a result. If you can’t have a good time, underwater, without a spear gun then this isn’t the sport for you or your children.
If you are new to diving or you’re getting your children involved please consider this. Take some time, do some fun dives together, practice buoyancy control until it’s second nature, work on air consumption until you are basically a fish, add new equipment a little at a time, use equipment that properly fits, and go to familiar dive sites for testing new gear. You’ll thank me later plus you’ll find and retain more dive buddies along the way.

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March 15, 2018

Not Summer Yet

As much as we want the cold season to end, Mother Nature appears to have an alternate plan. The latest warm spell has convinced the trees that it is springtime, but not the ocean. Water temperatures at the Panama City Jetties were a chilly 69 degrees on Saturday. And the wind was kicking, driving waves at high tide, over the rocks and breaking in the kiddie pool beach at more than a foot. Red flags were flying.
I know, because we were enticed by Instructor candidates in a NAUI program to conduct water work in the calm conditions surrounding the St Andrews Park. I had a warm pool lined up here in Tallahassee that was rejected. I call this wishful thinking. Once in the water, they called it cold and did not accomplish much. Yes, we are ramping up for an exciting summer, by hosting interns, spearfishing, and Instructor workshops, usually reserved for a questionable March weather.
Now is the time to pull those regulators out of the closet and test them out on a tank. If they have been more than a year out from their last servicing, they should be bench tested against known standards. Cylinders require annual visual inspections and hydro-testing every 5 years. I am pleased to see a lot of cylinders being brought in for inspection this preseason. And yes, we are finding the usual cylinder failings that may result in an explosion.
Boaters are doing the same thing. Engines need to be tuned, filters changed, batteries and life jackets inspected and perhaps replaced, fire extinguishers inspected for dates and charge condition, and charts updated. I found I had to pull my engine out of my sailboat, due to a leak in the oil pan. How embarrassing!
Diving and boating go hand in hand around here.We have few shore diving opportunities. Boats are outfitted with racks to hold cylinders from rolling around the deck, spearfishing guns are held upright to avoid injury and damage by gun racks, clip and tag lines are added to the inventory to help pulling divers from the water. There is room for a lively discussion on dive ladders. I have been on boats that require the diver climb the engine to get into the boat! Now is the time to consider if your ladder is adequate for your intended diving season. Did you know that the boat’s diver’s flag must be at least 20 by 24 inches? The individual in-water floating flag can be smaller. And don’t forget to bring the fishing regulations, a fishing license, and a way to measure the size of your catch.
What needs to be on board to make the diving safer? On top of what was said, WATER and plenty of it. Dehydration is the largest contributor to diving related decompression stress. OXYGEN should be carried in quantities capable of transporting a victim to shore. Use the oxygen as a post dive decompression stress reducer if there is any doubt. Dive tables or a dive COMPUTER should be on every diver and be followed to keep decompression to a minimum. Of course we recommend breathing NITROX as an even better way to reduce the deco stress.
Now is the time to get such details resolved, when conditions do not lend themselves to fun on the water.

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March 22, 2018

The Dive Boat

Boats are a natural dive platform around here as we have very few dive sites easily accessible by a swim from shore. Our county has a number of very accommodating boat ramps from which to launch with easy access to dive local sites in coastal waterways.
Years ago, I worked with the county to build the Rotary Reef, within the Ochlocknee Shoals area, just a few miles from the Mashes Sands boat ramp. But what makes a boat suited for diving?
First we start with a boat that meets all safety concerns as defined by the U.S. Coast Guard. And what better way than to get your intended dive platform inspected by the USCG Auxiliary Vessel Inspection Program. These qualified inspectors work with you to identify deficiencies and do not report failures.
Don’t forget the radio.
They have a checklist that when successfully completed provides a decal affixed to your windshield that says to all that you have met boating safety standards.
Good dive boats have a safe way to get into and out of a boat, even in bad weather. Most will fall in going backwards over the gunwales opposing an open area near the stern.
Getting back in can be the challenge. A ladder is preferred, one that may accommodate fins, and dips down far enough in the water to easily lift the diver up and out quickly. Many must be engaged before the dive and removed afterwards.
Imagine trying that procedure in high seas that may come up while you are on a dive.
I prefer an alternative approach called the lateral clip lines. I configure two 10-foot braided lines that are attached by way of a loop on stern cleats.
At the other end I attach a large bolt snap that also serves as a weight.
At the end of the dive, I approach these lines that are away from the heaving boat, and remove my rig, attaching the clip line through the shoulder harness of the cylinder. I may also inflate the BC and cast the rig astern of the boat. I am now free of the cumbersome cylinder/BC and can easily climb into the boat quickly. Once in I can pull the rig over the side and latch it into the carrier. Getting into the water with clip lines works as well, but is not as fast.
Loose cylinders on a boat are dangerous. Cylinder racks can be mounted amidships but be sure to balance them according to the trim requirements of the vessel. Set them up such that the BC can be mounted when the cylinder is in the rack. Identify one place in the rack for your oxygen cylinder. Always carry an abundance of oxygen on a dive boat. Always carry a first aid kit tucked away as well.
Placement of a speargun rack is equally important. I see dedicated racks usually at the stern with their point ends skyward facing to avoid injury in rough seas.
Never engage the bands in the boat or return them engaged at the end of the dive! Stingers and Lionfish keepers also need a stowed location to avoid injury or damage in rough water.
Don’t forget the diver down flags. The red with a white diagonal band for State waters and a blue pennant for federal waters will keep you in the good graces of law enforcement.
I also recommend proper measuring decals affixed to the stern to measure captured fish and adequate coolers to store them on ice.
Anticipate the challenges you may face while enjoying your day at sea and you will seldom be surprised.

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March 29, 2018

Wakulla Sinkholes.

By Cal Jamison

There are thousands of sinkholes in Wakulla County. They extend from our northern border with Leon County southward to the gulf and beyond the flats along our grassy coastline. Since 2002, as Wakulla Springs Ambassador, I have located, logged and photographed over 600 sinkholes and other karst features in our region. The types of sinkholes range from the dry depression and seasonally wet ones to the open karst windows like the ones that you find at Riversinks. Those windows or openings lead to the various underwater cave systems in our county, cave systems that have been mapped into Leon County and to Wakulla Spring.
The majority of the sinkholes that Cal has documented in Wakulla have been here for a long time. Humanity has been dated as being here 13,000 years ago at Wakulla Spring, which was a great sinkhole. The Riversinks are a chain of sinks along US 319 in the north part of our county that were in use as Native American campsites ] well before the Spanish ever reached Florida. Other early Native American activities have been documented at Indian Spring and the sinks at Natural Bridge and the St. Marks Refuge. Sinkholes that provided a source of fresh water were well utilized by the Spanish and other explorers as well as by the settlers that followed. In our more recent history, farms, sawmills, gristmills and stills were often set up at flowing sinkholes and spring runs.
Our karst geology is relatively stable here. It’s a rarity to hear of a large sinkhole opening locally. Lore has it that the boom from the opening of Big Dismal sink was heard 20 miles away in Tallahassee. When there is a sinkhole opening in the county I often get a call from the landowner who has reached out to the county offices and been directed to me. Over the past 15 years, I have investigated and documented about two dozen openings. Most of the ones reported have opened in yards or under a corner of a home in developed neighborhoods. Several of these have been large enough to hold a vehicle.
One hears of the catastrophic sinkhole collapses in central Florida and other parts of the state and you have to wonder about the stability of our area. Right now we are blessed with an abundance of water in our part of the Floridan Aquifer. This is what strengthens our karst geology and prevents major collapse events. The drastic lowering of the water table in central Florida caused by extensive development in that region has led to the weakening and collapse of the underlying limestone. We are not at that point yet, but that is not to say that we could not suffer some of the same fate if our aquifer is allowed to drop precipitously. It is already under threat from daily withdrawals from municipalities and large farming operations to our north. Right now if all of the permitted wells north of Wakulla Spring pumped at their permitted capacity they would exceed the average daily flow of Wakulla Spring. When asked recently about sinkhole connectivity to the aquifer in Wakulla County, a well-known state geologist specializing in our area replied that all sinks, wet or dry, should be considered connected here due to the extreme vulnerability of our limestone and its closeness to the land surface.
For an enjoyable experience at some of these ancient sinkholes and windows into the aquifer, take the time to walk or bike the Wakulla Springs State Park trails at the Riversinks Tract on the corner of US 319 and CJ Spears Road, just south of the county line. There you can see many karst features and wetlands as well as the sinkholes that follow the cave system and it’s where you can peer down into the abyss and lose yourself in wonders that you see.
Please treat sinkholes and all karst features with care and the respect that they need and deserve.
(This is a reprint to correct a column that appeared last month. – Editor)

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April 5, 2018

A day on the water.

By Travis Kersting

After a slow start this morning, Monday April 2, we made a journey about 27 miles offshore. The intention was to validate some numbers in federal waters. If time allowed we would come in to state waters to spearfish Gag grouper – the season opened yesterday. Things didn’t go as planned but that’s OK. Everyone had a great return to summer diving.
There were a lot of new things to test today. Primarily a new GPS system on the boat, which turns out to have had some settings out of whack. It was a little embarrassing to be about 10 miles off track for the first spot but eventually we did make two dives trying to find airplane wreckage. No wreckage was found, but Gregg found a very large live creature that looked much like a 18 to 24 inch diameter rock. He called it a helmet snail. The numbers were from former commercial fisherman who hadn’t dived in a decade or more, which makes me think perhaps the wreckage has fully decayed.
Since we came up empty handed from the first spot and O-Tower was nearby we just went there to complete the other two dives of the day. The tower is a beacon of hope to birds that have ventured too far from shore and it’s a habitat for all types of underwater marine life.
A small song bird landed on our boat. It was way off course but declined a ride home when we offered. Underwater, there were bait balls, mangrove snapper, red snapper, sheepshead, goliath grouper, amberjack, Lionfish and so many more animals. When you dive a tower you typically find plenty of sharks too, but today none of us saw a single one, perhaps due to Davis using a Shark Shield.
At the end of the last dive, we had FWC pull up. They saw the dive flag and asked if we had divers down, which we did, so they waited.
Once everyone was back on the boat the officers asked to board. They are there to help manage and protect a resource we all love so we welcome them aboard. It turned out that we saw them earlier in the day getting fuel just before we stopped for ice.
The officers were pleasant and inspected the vessel and fish boxes. They promptly found my lionfish ceviche, but the “evidence” was floating in the water in the form of limes and lemons so they knew to look for it.
Lionfish is perfectly legal to clean and consume when out on the water so that is my snack of choice when on the boat. The whole experience lasted perhaps 30 minutes and they let the divers break down gear and pack things away while they did their job.
In the end it was a long day but still successful. When we returned to our Carrabelle dock, the sun had set on a beautiful day. We were able to sort out some quirks and find a few lionfish for Ceviche. Each of us took home a couple mangrove and sheepshead too. The seas were calm, the water was approximately 68 degrees with a thin thermocline at the surface. The visibility was perhaps 25 to 30 feet on the bottom with a noticeable current.
And, most importantly, everyone made it back safely.

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April 12, 2018

The Helmet Shell .

While on a deep dive to 75 feet 35 miles offshore of Carrabelle last week, I spotted what appeared to be a round coral head on the sand. Surprisingly, it stuck out of the substrate, as we had found no ledges in the area, but it was something to investigate as it was big!
And then it moved.
I flipped this Army helmet sized thing over to see what was moving such a large object that reminded me of a turtle shell seen on land. The beautiful brown and gold patina coloration became exposed as the snail withdrew into its huge shell. I knew I would not take this old creature today, so I studied it’s form carefully for later identification before flipping it back over and watching it continue on it’s way. How exciting to meet a marine creature equal to my own age at this depth.
These shells are described under the sub class of Prosobranch under the class of Gastropoda that include 20,000 species of marine and a few of dry land and fresh water species.
I searched the internet to find photographs that approximated what I saw. I came closest to a Cassis cornuta on Ebay selling for $200! Other sites called it a Queen Helmet (Cassis madagascarensis), and the Yellow Helmet, (Cassis cornuta) but only offered small examples.
Our discovery looked more like the C. madagascarensis, but taxonomic keys say there are many misdescribed species of this very common group of shells.
This snail is found around the world in tropical to temperate waters down to 100 meters (330 ft) depth. It tends to bury in the sand substrate during the day and prowl for sea urchins during the night. I’m sure this critter was searching for sand dollars, a form of under-sand urchin, that are abundant off Carrabelle. Once they find an urchin, they grasp it with their foot, and puncture the urchin’s test with a secreted sulfuric acid fluid followed by rasping the test with a radula tooth.
Yummy!
It is said that Christopher Columbus brought back this shell to European scientists who named it after their presumed discovery of the Madagascar Islands off East Africa.
Historically, these giant shells were carved into cameos starting in Italy in 1820. The Filipinos use this shell, after carving, as a trumpet. When cleaned up and carved, we are told it produces a white cameo with an orange background.
When we told folks around here about our find, they begged us for the location where we saw it. We were told such an old creature would command a lot of money.
Travis and I are happy however, to know it is still looking for urchins on the sea floor.

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April 19, 2018

Diving Should be FUN

While there are many forms of compressed gas diving that are clearly work (making a living wage) that may not be much fun, the vast majority of diving is designed to be for pleasure (FUN).
That means people do it because they can enjoy it.
The term we are given is Recreational Diving. It comes with it’s own set of standards. The act of recreational diving is not regulated by federal or state agency.
Yes, FWC has fishing regulations, and the U.S. Coast Guard has boating regulations that recreational diver must follow, but no one will tell you how you must dive.
A recreational diver is on his or her own when diving for FUN.
Professional Divers, such as those who operate dive shops, training agencies and instructors, boat captains and cylinder inspectors are earning a living wage.
(Well, OK, so the common joke in professional diving is the way to make a million dollars is to start with 2 million. Witness that I am a volunteer at my own store: Wakulla Diving Center!)
Professional Divers adhere to professional standards that are designed to foster safety for our customers (that’s the recreational divers) and the industry. Thousands of dollars are invested in the maintenance of these standards, (often called industry standards) to promote the recreational diver to have FUN.
Cylinder maintenance costs up to $5,000 a year in training, equipment maintenance and testing, record keeping and inspections to meet DOT standards.
We need to inspect a lot of cylinders to make that pay off. Just ask Travis if he thinks working in the cylinder maintenance facility is FUN and get an ear full!
But he is proud of the quality he brings to that table.
New divers need training to dive safely, and that costs a lot! Instructional support exceeds $5000 a year for our shop. We must teach a lot of students to make that commitment work. This year more courses than ever before are being organized by more instructors than before and all that takes time and perseverance.
This month’s checkout dives will be completed with 11 students! Ask our instructors and they will tell you they do it for the love of teaching, seldom for the non-existence of profit. All done in an effort to help make diving FUN.
Readily available, pure breathing gases, such as air and Nitrox, make diving safer, which encourage more diving, which thus provide greater proficiency. The hazards of blending are challenging, well cared for by a dedicated and hard working staff that operate the drive-thru fill station. To build a blending station capable of supporting this demand has cost way over $5,000, but with sales policy (price per cubic foot) changes, has brought the cost down considerably, thus making diving more FUN.
A facility boat has been planned for a year, to provide more opportunity for the recreational diver to get out on the water. As weather and warmer water become available, divers will have more opportunity to practice their passion. Please sign up if interested, as space, on an available basis only, will be made available.
We intend on promoting adventure and have more FUN this summer!

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April 26, 2018

Into the Gulf and into a new world.

By Sophia Fonseca

This past Sunday, April 22, Wakulla Diving Center certified eight new divers in Basic Open Water training. After four days of learning in the classroom and practicing in the pool, students were itching for the course conclusion of two checkout dives. They completed their skills training on Saturday at Morrison Springs, and the excitement continued for their final dive on Sunday at St. Andrews State Park.
The predicted rainy weather gathered some wary feelings, but Gregg Stanton, NAUI Instructor and owner of Wakulla Diving Center, assured students, “You won’t be getting any wetter!”
The students geared up and entered the water. They snorkeled through the swimming area, out to the jetty, and descended along the rocks.
Below the surface is a whole other world.
The sky, wind, and waves all disappear with only the exhalation of CO2 bubbles reigning over the sound space. The jetty rocks are an artificial reef, colonized by aquatic plants and corals and inhabited by all sorts of fish.
New diver Kayla Torres was so enamored by the different species that she is now determined to learn their names for identification.
The wildlife observed included sheepshead, queen angelfish, tinafors, and sea urchins.
Gregg even picked up a sea cucumber and passed it around the divers although not everyone was keen on holding the strange creature.
Jarod Dollar waved his hands frantically in a NO-WAY motion when offered the echinoderm.
As the dive came to an end, students and instructors ascended to the surface. Even though they had swam together, the divers exchanged stories of what they had just experienced.
The positive chatter and smiles confirmed the dive a success.
Many students showed interest in continuing their diving education with the Advanced Diving course.
Wakulla Diving Center offers a wide range of courses from Basic Open Water all the way through becoming an instructor.
Basic open water is offered twice a month with one week-long class and another three weekend class.
The center is in the process of acquiring new instructors and expanding their employee basis to better serve Tallahassee, Crawfordville, and the surrounding areas.
The educated staff is ready for the summer and to help with any diving needs as well as supplying equipment for oyster season and spearfishing.
Let them get you started on your next underwater adventure!

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May 3, 2018

The consequence of Nitrogen in diving.

Our atmosphere is primarily made of Nitrogen (79 percent) that serves as an inert gas to our body’s demands.
Oxygen is the other dominant gas (at 21 percent) in air. Our body has developed a mechanism to concentrate and transport Oxygen from the lungs to the tissues called the hemoglobin or red blood cells. If we travel up in the atmosphere for a period of time, we become light-headed for a lack of oxygen, stimulating the bone marrow to generate more red blood cells to concentrate more Oxygen. The body’s tissues consume the Oxygen and produce Carbon Dioxide that is carried by the blood plasma back to the lungs for discharge back into the atmosphere.
But the Nitrogen gas travels from the lungs to the body’s tissues in the blood plasma. We are told that our tissues are saturated at our current elevation (pressure) after 24 hours, in that the molecules of Nitrogen enter the tissues and depart the body’s tissues at the same rate.
As pressure increases, as we go deeper in the water, the gases we breathe get compacted and their molecules increase in a given space.
Thus at 33 feet of seawater, we are breathing twice as many molecules of gas than at the surface of the water. That means twice as much Nitrogen (inert gas, not used by the body) and twice as much Oxygen (used by the tissues during the dive).
The amount of Nitrogen accumulates in the tissues based upon the exposure time and the pressure (depth) until we become saturated at that depth.
Our return to the surface pressure is calculated on the off-gassing gradient of Nitrogen from many tissue types in the body. This is called an algorithm, or mathematical prediction that predicts how we may safely off-gas the Nitrogen without that gas coming out of solution and forming physical bubbles.
Physical bubbles can hurt, especially when they form in the neurological tissues of the body. On our way up to the surface our tissues are supersaturated with Nitrogen! The higher (within limits) the concentration of Oxygen in our breathing mixture, the more Nitrogen is drawn out of the body in solution. The term we use to describe this off gassing is DECOMPRESSION, and a failure to keep the Nitrogen in solution is called Decompression Sickness.
We begin this process the moment we begin to ascend from depth, and for about 24 hours later. Dive tables or a profiling computer are used to define safe dive schedules.
Nitrox, a breathing blend of gas used by divers, usually refers to an elevated mixture of Oxygen in a blend over that of AIR. Nitrox reduces the available Nitrogen by replacing a portion of the volume with Oxygen. Less available Nitrogen means less absorbed Nitrogen during the dive.
Nitrox also means an elevated content of Oxygen during Decompression, making Nitrogen off gassing more efficient. Nitrox is a win-win gas in diving. Of course good dive practices of slow ascent rates and taking a safety stop are required.
The Nitrogen in the breathing gas can also have a narcotic effect on the diver at depths, noticeable below 60 feet in the ocean. Everyone discovers their tolerance depth and takes precautions to avoid the consequence of becoming a drunken diver. The solution is a careful ascent to shallower waters.
Nitrogen is the challenge divers must learn to manage during their dive to make a dive truly wonderful.

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May 10, 2018

The Consequence of Carbon Dioxide in diving underwater.

We don’t think about Carbon Dioxide (CO2) much as terrestrial types because nature has taken care of it.
The Industrial Revolution has been dumping tons of this gas into the atmosphere, such that a recent measurement of 410 ppm (up from 300 ppm in 1958) has been recorded at key locations. While the consequences of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide are debated, underwater in our diving physiology, there is no debate.
We metabolize (burn) oxygen with carbon (food) to generate energy and a waste product called Carbon Dioxide in the cells of our body.
The harder we work, the more of it we generate. It must be removed from the cells through the blood plasma and vented out of the body through the lungs. For every 1000 ml. of oxygen that we consume, we give off 800 ml. of Carbon Dioxide. On land, if we breathe in and out of a bag, the CO2 builds up in the bag and as the flushing gradient is reduced, this gas builds up in the body’s tissues.
We use the CO2 to tell the brain to increase lung ventilation, the higher the CO2, the faster we breathe. And here you thought the brain monitored the oxygen demand! Perhaps in more subtle ways, it does. The brain will shut down if the gas we breathe has less that 10 percent Oxygen on the surface. Surface swimmers hyperventilate to help them hold their breath longer, thinking they have added oxygen to their body. They have not, but they have vented CO2 from their blood, reducing the sensation to need to breathe.
Kids do this to get attention, passing out and spontaneously breathing once unconscious. An underwater breath-hold swim may result in drowning if not revived by a buddy. Water ingested in the lungs (called near-drowning) is briefly tolerable, but will result in a later drowning if not corrected at a hospital.
Divers play in hyperbaric environments where ambient pressure is elevated above that of the surface. As long as the diver breathes deeper and slower than at the surface, off gassing CO2 works well enough.
Water is 800 times as dense as the air at the surface condition. At 33 feet of sea water the pressure doubles! The lungs have evolved to exchange gasses at 14.7 psi (surface conditions). At twice that pressure, not so easily. So we slow it down and breathe more deeply to accommodate the density.
The gases we breathe are compressed and highly filtered to remove water and many pollutants. The exhaust from an engine that gets into the intake of our compressor will poison a diver the same way the bag-breathing person is poisoned. Only the deeper you dive, the more concentrated this poison gets. That is why the State of Florida requires diver fill stations be tested every three months. Our intake pipe towers above our roof.
So why worry? Many divers have tried to save on the consumption of their breathing gas to keep up with others on a dive, by skip breathing. For each two breaths this buddy takes (s)he takes one breath. Clever, no?
No, as the consequence of inadequate breathing is the acidification of your blood, backing up CO2 in the body’s tissues and a splitting headache during and after the dive. This condition gets worse the deeper you dive. CO2 is also narcotic as it builds up in your tissues. So if you find you exit a dive with a headache, ask a dive instructor about your breathing habits and save yourself a lot of trouble.

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May 17, 2018

A different reason to go diving.

By Travis Kersting

It’s 5 a.m. when my alarm goes off Saturday, May 5. I would be picking up my dive partner and professional videographer to venture to Keaton Beach, near Perry, for an offshore adventure.
The owner of the boat we boarded offered to take us offshore to assist in the location, documentation, and recovery of items off a recently downed vessel.
About a month earlier two individuals were left stranded on their floating, now upside down, catamaran sailboat, named “Stray Cat” after it overturned in a storm.
They drifted for 27 hours before being rescued. One of the individuals contacted me for advice on who might be able to help them locate and recover the still floating boat. I put them in touch with some people I know that had the resources and time to help search but I didn’t figure they would find something that small that was adrift for now about 8-10 days.
Eventually they did track down the catamaran and attempted to tow it and potentially flip it. Their attempt failed and it sank in 85-90 feet of water about 60 miles from any Big Bend location.
The fuel bill to get that far offshore would quickly add up to more than the value of any content which could be recovered but we decided to try anyway.
We didn’t know if the boat was still upside down or if it had righted itself on descent. The sailing rigging would pose a hazard as would any buoyant coolers, cushions, bedding, propane cylinders, etc. that might dislodge while we move about the vessel.
There are other hazards such as battery acid, gasoline, and other solvents in the water, that could damage equipment over time.
The temperature on the bottom was 68-70 degrees too which would limit bottom time if a drysuit wasn’t used.
Because of entanglement hazards and only one entrance or exit in the vessel we needed equipment that could be removed without a loss of breathing gas or buoyancy control.
I used 40 percent Nitrox to minimize my decompression obligation at that depth and Heiko used a rebreather.
If the weather were to turn against us we couldn’t stay underwater or spend much time decompressing.
As a result we ran a higher than recommended exposure to oxygen, especially for a working dive, so that we could work about 2 hours at that depth and have little or no decompression obligation.
In the end we spent 117 minutes on the bottom (plus 22 minutes decompressing), recovered about half of what we were looking for but the other half was missing, and we made it home safe.
It wasn’t spearfishing, it wasn’t a pretty reef, but it was an enjoyable day on the water even for the non-divers on board. Together there were two boats, six divers, and two support persons. Two of us went inside and the other four took turns floating items to the surface.
There were a number of lessons learned: Anything that bounces around in the ocean for two weeks before sinking will be busted up pretty bad, even “indestructible” Pelican brand cases. Memory foam mattresses are impossible to move out of your way so be prepared to cut them into pieces. Your exhaust bubbles will fill up a boat and refloat it if you aren’t careful so you’ll want to drill air escape holes before going inside.

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May 24, 2018

A Dive into our recent history.

Checkout dives this month were held at Cherokee Sink, now a part of the Wakulla Springs State Park System.
This large sink was a common destination on hot summer days before the state park took control of the site. My family would bundle the kids, including dogs, and drive in the back entrance, park close by and bask on inner tubes with hundreds of other like minded county residence to the music from large boom boxes.
Over time, erosion took its toll on the banks, and an abundance of beer and soda bottles and cans completely covered the basin floor.
But out of sight means out of mind. Few people dove the site as a white bacterial surface layer developed, hiding the gems below.
Cherokee Sink represented an excellent local training site for proposed projects around the world.
We built and tested a barrel barge, surface supplied diving rig, and survey techniques at Cherokee Sink.
We discovered the trash pile, the occasional stolen car, crime scenes, and conducted trash collections.
Without a platform on the bottom, routine checkout dive training was not considered an option back then. Today may be a different story.
When the state park took the site over, they closed access and built a nice deck and steps around the area.
Control of the erosion by reduced access and other control options has protected the site by reducing the number of people.
People now must walk a mile to get to the sinkhole unless a gate code can be secured from the state park to conduct tank dives.
Yet on Saturday, a dozen cars parked a mile away and more than twice that many people were present when we were conducting our check-out dives at Cherokee Sink.
The surface temperature was an inviting 71 degrees, and the water was somewhat clear at the surface (and down 10 feet).
We found a sand sloped platform at 18 feet below one of the surface ledges just off a wooden stair path down from the entrance. There was a thermocline at 12 feet that dropped the temperature to 65 degrees!
Everyone had wet suits, some better than others.
Dive number one was dedicated to a review of the basic skills, which was successful because these students were taught that the bottom is not their friend.
Dive two was a skin dive around the perimeter of the basin.
And dive number three was a trash collection dive around the same perimeter down to 60 feet. We filled a large mesh bag with 75 cans, 25 bottles, several expensive sun-glasses, and other plastic and cloth products.
The late Sonny Cockrell, once the Underwater Archaeologist of Florida, used to say our sinks hold the last 30,000 years of our local history.
Fossils are notoriously found in our sinkholes, as are Civil War relics. But on Saturday we discovered a wallet, complete with credit cards, Sam’s Club and TCC student cards, a Movie Gallery card (remember those?), a dissolved driver’s license and a dissolved one-dollar bill. We are now looking for a Matthew Susin from the early 1990 era!
If anyone knows how to contact this not-so- young-anymore man, please let The Wakulla News know so that we can return his wallet, now a part of our cultural heritage. If unrecovered, the next stop is the Wakulla Historical Society, to join in a display of our county’s more recent cultural representations.

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May 31, 2018

Texas A&M University at Galveston Scientific Diving Training

Again, for the near 20th time, Dr. Iliffe brought his Scientific Diving Class to visit Florida waters for two weeks of dive-training and to attend the National Speleological Society’s Cave Diving Section annual conference in Marianna.
This year, the class had 24 students, down from previous classes above 34 students. For the first week, the students live on the U.S. Navy base in Panama City and tour their facilities between dive-training in the bay and Gulf of Mexico.
After the conference, they moved our way for Cavern training.
I serve as an adjunct professor to offer training to half of these students over a five day intensive schedule. Training standards require we maintain no more than a four student to one instructor ratio underwater at all times. That means Dr. Iliffe and I have to dive three sets of students twice a day.
By the end of the week I had accumulated 20 hours underwater down to depths of 100 feet. These dives are bounce dives of about 30 minutes each, back to back, causing challenging decompression stress, while providing skill training to each student. By the end of the week we were both exhausted. Skills included line exercises with eyes open and closed, mask off drills, sharing gas, eyes open and closed, buoyancy exercises, lost line and lost diver drills, tracking decompression profiles, gas management, and working with a buddy. Such an agenda would not be difficult if it weren’t for the daily thunderstorms that chased us across north Florida. We had to exit the water and stay out for 30 minutes every time thunder could be heard at the dive site.
We began at Morrison Springs just south of Ponce De Leon on Route 81. This park has a huge cavern that is 90 feet deep, and usually clear.
The river was high, but blessed us by staying out of the spring. We then went to Jackson Blue in the Merritt’s Mill Pond in Marianna. There we were kept out of the water for most of the day with reoccurring thunder (and rain). Frustrated we moved on to Peacock Springs north of Mayo for a full day of diving down to 65 feet.
Because of the expected crowds, we then moved to Ginnie Springs near High Springs for dives in three sites of mixed conditions, including high flow, black-out drills, and discovery dives, only to be chased out by a huge storm at the end of the day.
We returned to Orange Grove (another part of the Peacock Springs Park) the final day to complete the training at 100 feet and 65 feet.
Any of you divers looking at these schedules can clearly see the instructors would surely be injured with so much decompression stress. I got away with it by using my rebreather set on a high PO2 setting with many oxygen flushes in shallow water.
The students were diving 32 percent Nitrox which helped them with their permitted bottom times. Dr. Iliffe was on open circuit, which left him exhausted every day.
Why do we do this, you ask?
Because when we look back at those coming up the chain of recruitment behind us, we see way too few candidates there to replace us when we are gone.
We circulated a request for interested candidates for the 12 week intensive national Scientist In The Sea Program next summer, 20 students stepped forward.
Dr. Iliffe and I must now find the funds and horse-power to meet that interest!

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June 7, 2018

Creatures we encounter underground.

While under water, underground, we encounter many creatures, besides people. They are divided into two groups: those associated with open water with daylight, and those dedicated to the complete darkness of caves.
They can often (not always) be identified by those that have eyes and those that do not. The latter, we call Troglofidic.
One day, as I climbed up the rocks and out of a cave at Peacock Springs State Park, my hand landed on the serrated back of a large lizard like creature. It did not move, but I did! I reversed my path and came out at another location.
The alligator seemed nonetheless concerned for my transgression.
Alligators move from sinkhole to sinkhole in search of fish to eat.
They are a curious creature. I once encountered one while conducting checkout dives at Wakulla Springs State Park. It observed us throughout our dives from the ledge next to Henry’s Pole, and we kept our distance as well.
Snakes are often found at the surface waters of our popular sinkholes and springs, but seldom back in the cavern or cave.
We do find skeletal remains of lost turtles and fish that could not find their way out.
Many fish have learned to follow divers back in search of easy prey made obvious by the diver’s light. But when the light leaves and they stay, they starve.
I have seen the skeleton of a Dugong, a primitive relative of the Manatee, that existed a long time ago. Its fossilized bones were protruding from the wall of a cave.
Of course there are many disarticulated bones of extinct vertebrates in the 200 foot deep first room at Wakulla Springs that await study, a treasure trove for some future museum.
Anguilla eels are often found in caverns in North Florida. They come from the Sargasso Sea, swimming up rivers and occupy ledges and caves. In Europe, they are considered a delicacy, but here a novelty to feed and photograph.
Catfish occupy this same environment, but penetrate the black cave. Catfish have barbell sensors that serve as eyes to assist in the capture of Troglofidic creatures. There is a catfish hotel in the Devil’s Ear cavern at Ginnie Springs. Last week I counted over 100 swarming about. Similar assemblies can be seen at Manatee State Park. These creatures all have eyes. There are rare cave fish (Lucifuga) that have lost their eyes, but I have only found them in the Bahamas.
Crayfish with eyes can be found in the cavern of Jackson Blue and the Merritt’s Mill Pond in Mariannaa. They are colorful, and often collected for a popular Louisiana dish.
But further in our caves we have a blind crawfish, completely white, without eyes, that can get up to 6 inches in length. They live on the ceilings of caves and are knocked off by the bubbles of passing divers. They feed on cave amphipods, also blind, that feed on the organics that are flushed into the cave during storms.
I suspect the blind crawfish are territorial as I seldom see them as anything other than single individuals.
The Florida Blind Newt is a salamander that lives in selected caves. It is white, standing out against a darker mud floor, and has the classic gills protruding from it’s head. They swim when disturbed. I noticed that the heat of a strong cave light will disturb them. They can be found in several caves of the Merritt’s Mill Pond. There are many more creatures to be discovered and described right under our feet. Visit TAMUG.edu/CaveBiology/ for a broader perspective of underwater cave creatures.

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June 14, 2018

Every diver rescues their buddy.

Gregg Stanton was on vacation. This was a reprint of a column that appeared in June 2017.

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June 21, 2018

Snapper season opens.

Boats across the Big Bend ramped up for the start of the 2018 Snapper Season on June 11.
We ran our boat out on Saturday just to shake it down. We visited K tower. Weather was iffy with thunderheads dissipating as the day wore on. The 1-1 door chop lates down in the afternoon.
The visibility, reported recently as very bad, was 50 feet in the morning. The tide shifted around noon and dropped the visibility to 30 feet. There was no current in the morning and current in the afternoon.
We found a lot of fish, large schools of large Amberjacks, spade fish and minnows. Good sized solitary Red Snapper and Goliaths roam the area.
Several shark sightings along the sand were made throughout the day. Lionfish were collected, but more were found later and not collected. Our second dive was to collect lead!
Our June 11 dives began on the K Tower again to collect Red Snapper, which we did. But the tide change, a strong current arose and a strong squall hit while we were down. The combination of wind and current pulled the anchor adrift.
Thanks to a policy of having surface support, the dive team was rescued at the end of the dive by a sharp surface team!
Our last dive of the day was on huge yellow sponges that had Red Snapper and Amberjacks swarming around in big schools. Visibility was terrible, at 10 feet or less. We took our limit in the 22-inch size range and called it a day.
A good day fishing ends with everyone returning safely and with fresh fish for the grill! It never hurts to have lessons learned and/or confirmed.

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June 28, 2018

World traveler.

Dive travel is one of the few expanding types of diving in the country right now. While our area has abundant reasons to go underwater, what with good fisheries, rock ledges and artificial reefs, caverns, caves and springs, few, except for the later, attract people from around the world.
We have lost our international cave travel community. Many people leave the area to go diving.
Every year we help outfit folks headed to the Florida Keys and the U.S. southeast coast as preferred destinations.
The Bahamas and the Caribbean are attractive destinations due to their clear water and abundant coral and colorful fish.
Suddenly, I was asked to travel back to my home state of Hawaii, to work teaching rebreathers. I had not visited for 20 years, even though my brother and his wife live there.
It was an impulsive trip to help an instructor to finish classes as he is investigated due to a fatality in another class.
Notwithstanding the image of a visit to “Paradise” to work, 12-hour days lent little time to eat pineapple and sunbathe on Waikiki Beach. But going home was a wonderful break from the heat of Tallahassee this time of the year.
I was gone only one week, in which I worked with six wonderful students, all veterans, seeking rebreather training for future employment.
The rebreather community is relatively new in Hawaii, and transitioning from an older open circuit community that dates back to the 1960s which I came from. Back then most marine oriented folks were divers as a natural consequence of their activities around the ocean. I grew up within that community and by my 18th birthday was an instructor for a local dive club, back before NAUI had any presence in the islands. I took the first NAUI exams in 1966 in Honolulu.
But rebreathers are a different technology, with different consequences than open circuit. NAUI does certify selected rebreathers now, but the support of that technology is more challenging than just compressed air. And Hawaii needs to step up to that challenge.
Logistics were made easy by diving from boats out of the Kiwalo Basin, next to Waikiki Beach. A few minutes after departure we were diving shallow reefs with Diamond Head in the background.
Japanese tourists dominated the clients onboard, but rebreathers were a curiosity that kept us answering questions when on deck.
For the next two days we dove on a large intake pipe along the Kiwalo channel. The water was clear down to 70 feet with evidence of surge the shallower we went. Normal diving conditions had 4 foot swells causing surge on the bottom of up to 15 feet, so beware, the bottom is not your friend! The last day of diving on a nearby ship wreck to 110 feet was awesome!
Sea turtles are protected in Hawaii now. Once below the waves, I noticed many large Green turtles associated with this wreck. They had no fear of us. I had many tasks my students needed to perform during these two dives, all while distracted by a colorful sea life. These included octopus, butterfly fish, long skinny trumpet fish, introduced grouper, Big Eye red fish, and of course the turtles.
I found one giant turtle asleep on the wreck and joined him, face to face (a few inches separated our heads). (S)he opened one eye and looked into mine briefly before closing it again. Obviously it was part of it’s dream or it did not care.
And I am called to return now, not a popular topic at home.

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July 5, 2018

The mighty scallop.

Here we go again. Scallop season opened July 1st in our area to a wet and soggy day. Continued record setting rainfall and past red tides may be altering the grass bed micro habitat that may be keeping our scallops from developing or out in deeper waters. It is still too early to tell, as the scallop season peaks in August and there is still time for conditions to improve.
The scallop is an edible bivalve, who’s shell is ribbed and shaped in the form of a small fan. Scallops swim by rapidly opening and closing their shell thus jetting water out the back near the valve hinge. They are able to move several meters, covering several body lengths per second, at a burst. I have chased large scallops under the ice pack in the Antarctica near Explorers Cove. There, they were larger than the size of my hand. No, I did not eat them – we were there to study sea life, not eat them.
Scallops have many eyes that protrude along their shell. What they see is often debated, certainly motion and light. When you reach for one resting on the sea floor, they close the shell before you touch them. They are suspected of searching for preferred habitat such as grass beds and/or dark places to hide. Scallops are filter feeders. Like oysters, they pump water into their body cavity and filter out nutrients that are abundant in our local grass beds.
The life cycle of our scallops includes spawning, veliger and adult stages. Within 10 to 14 days of spawning, they reach the pediveliger stage – the point at which scallop larvae are ready to settle out of the water and attach to sea grass blades. Once they drop off the grass blades they become known as spat, a very small scallop. Spat require time and predator avoidance to grow into collectable scallops.
Harvest areas: Franklin County through northwestern Taylor County and Levy, Citrus and Hernando counties.
Open Season: July 1 – Sept. 24.
Daily Bag Limit: 2 gallons whole bay scallops in shell, or 1 pint of bay scallop meat per person

Maximum of 10 gallons of whole bay scallops in shell, or 1/2 gallon bay scallop meat per vessel
The FWC has been conducting research on Bay Scallops throughout North Florida since 1994. Please do not interfere with their cages if you find them in the grass beds. Divers measure abundance, distribution and resilience of scallop populations and report their findings in the Florida Scallop Annual Report.
See http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/mollusc/bay-scallops/monitoring/ for more details.

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July 12, 2018

The Albatross

Excitement grew during last week as someone slipped us some new numbers on a recently discovered bomber in 60 feet of water 20 miles off shore. We were told not to release the waypoint as it represented a valued new dive site. I noticed when I entered the numbers into our chart plotter that it was close to a plane wreck that we could not find on previous searches. I also knew there was a USCG Grumman HU-16 that had gone down in our waters.
This aircraft type called an Albatross, had a worthy history beginning in the Korean War under Air Force auspices, designated as the SA-16, conducting combat rescue missions. It was later designated by the Air Force as HU-16B for combat rescue missions in the Vietnam War. Air National Guard units used this model in support of commando infiltration groups from 1956-1970. The US Navy used the same model for Search & Rescue missions across the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico. Today, there is an intact plane at the Wright Patterson AFB National Museum of the US Air Force near Dayton Ohio.
The HU-16 Albatross was also operated by the U.S. Coast Guard as both a coastal and long-range open ocean Search & Rescue aircraft for many years. They retired their planes in 1983, but the Albatross continued service around the world. Locally we remember them as the Bahamas Chalk’s International Airlines with service from Florida to the waters around many remote Islands. In 1997 Dennis and Macfie piloted a Grumman Albatross around the world, lasting 73 days including 38 stops in 21 countries.
On 5 March 1967, U.S. Coast Guard HU-16E Albatross, Coast Guard 1240, c/n G-61, out of Coast Guard Air Station St. Petersburg, Florida, deployed to drop a dewatering pump to a sinking 40-foot (12 m) yacht, “Flying Fish”, in the Gulf of Mexico off of Carrabelle, Florida. Shortly after making a low pass behind the sinking vessel to drop the pump, the flying boat crashed a short distance away, with loss of all six crew. The vessel’s crew heard a loud crash but could see nothing owing to fog. No cause for the accident is provided. The submerged wreck was not identified until 2006.
When we arrived at the numbers provided, a very small boat was right over the wreck, happily fishing. We circled them with side-scan and picked up the wreck at 62 FSW. Out of respect, we pulled off to the other numbers for the Albatross, about 500 feet away, and anchored for a dive on sand. When we came up the other boat had left, so we relocated and finished the day visiting the site.
There is a large concrete buoy anchored in the middle of the site with porcelain toilet bowls scattered about. The wings have engines attached but no propellers remain. Portions of the wings are disconnected, up ended and scattered. We did not find the fuselage but it may be in the area. The area is home to grouper, including large Goliath Groupers, Red and Grey Snappers, Bar Jacks, Hogfish, and the expected bait balls swirling above. And Travis, just back from diving it today, saw one Lionfish.

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July 19, 2018

Before it’s too late.

By Travis Kersting

The small bay scallop, a shellfish found along Florida’s coast, can have a huge economic impact on the coastal communities where scallops are found. In 1994 Pasco County had its rights to harvest these little critters removed by FWC due to overfishing. After 25 years of no harvest, Pasco County has only a 10-day season with plans to try and increase the season to align with neighboring counties.
A 25 year drop in tourism dollars would be detrimental to Wakulla, Dixie, Franklin, Gulf, Jefferson, or Taylor counties that rely heavily on the money brought in during the short summer harvest season. However, for the third year in a row we’ve heard reports that there are few scallops at all or that they are in deeper water and too difficult to harvest. Reports vary based on location but the consensus this year seems to be that Lanark doesn’t have any scallops and that St. Marks has a few but they are in deeper water. Port St. Joe has a shortened season and those who have scouted report seeing low numbers too. The customers we’ve had who went to Steinhatchee found their daily limit but said they were small, indicating the season is probably opening before the animals have grown sufficiently. The armchair observers seem to blame fresh water from all the rain in May-June for the drop in numbers. Could there be more to blame, is over-harvesting playing a part?
For an animal that typically lives only one year, only starts reproducing after the harvest season, and has a low fecundity, overharvest could be a real concern. FWC’s website claims scallops produce millions of eggs but as few as one in 12 million eggs will become an adult scallop that is capable of reproduction. FWC also states that the reproduction happens in September and October. This math doesn’t add up to a system of sustainability, based on how we are currently doing things. Unfortunately, the economic impact of scalloping can outweigh what FWRI researchers find during their pre-season scallop counts. These counts might lead to a delayed or closed season in a particular area if the FWC commissioners didn’t have pressure from economic benefactors like area businesses or county officials.
For our business, providing products to snorkelers hunting scallops, the economic impact is especially noticeable. It’s impossible to know what would be financially worse but I know a multiyear moratorium on scalloping would be crippling. Perhaps FWRI researchers need to expand their survey area into deeper waters to confirm that the scallops have truly moved into deeper waters because if not, our low numbers are indicating a potential collapse of local scallop populations. Now may be the time for community officials and FWC to revaluate the harvest, in our area before a massive moratorium becomes a requirement. In the end, reduced harvests and a reevaluation of harvest seasons makes the most ecological sense for continued enjoyment for all of us and our children.
We really do hope that the lack of scallops won’t keep folks from enjoying the water and all the ocean has to offer.

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July 26, 2018

Back again.

My second trip to Hawaii to continue training rebreathers to veterans seeking a trade through a VA job training program cut short with a fatality was as challenging as the first.
This time, however, I had more control and appreciation of the inherited limitations an inserted instructor must accommodate. I asked for more control over exposure time, and was diverted from boats to the beach.
“Throw me in that briarpatch!”
I grew up in Hawaii, learning how to dive from the beach back in the 1960s. I was a happy camper, although the students missed their boat service.
I am inserted into the VA Program to provide training on the Florida built Optima by Dive Rite out of Lake City.
Between trips to Hawaii I visited the factory to discuss upgrades that demonstrated how far our little rebreather community has come in the last decade.
Built by committee, this hybrid lightweight rig uses state-of-the-art carbon dioxide removing technology, a leading Canadian dive computer to monitor and drive the oxygen to the diver, and a Czech Republic breathing loop controlling system (called a bail-out regulator or iBOV) that is held in the mouth.
The rest of the rig is straight out of Dive Rite’s cave-diving heritage.
Not long ago, rebreathers were purebred, hybridized only by the owner, at the disgust of the manufacturer. I am pleased to see us climb out of this archaic attitude.
My dive days became 180 in-water minutes a day, providing all the proficiency I needed to get these folks comfortable on the rebreather. With clear ocean water at 79 degrees, top to bottom, three hours passed quickly.
We had our expected challenges that come with island beach diving, with long shore currents and shore waves that make entry and exit through a 2-foot wave exciting. When equipment failed, the long swim to shore is invigorating. We dove Electric Beach next to the power station and Three Table Beach on the north shore. Plenty of turtles, octopus and small fish to see while performing skills at depth such as, manually controlling your oxygen levels, bailing out in an emergency, exchanging cylinders, ditching and donning the rig, fluttering the oxygen valve to simulate failed controlling valves and using the oxygen from your Nitrox bailout cylinder.
The last day was a boat dive on a shipwreck called the Sea Tiger, sitting upright at 120 FSW. Rebreathers perform their best at deeper depths, but you must understand how to manage decompression stress at these depths. We spent almost 100 minutes in two dives, purposely bailing out to the Nitrox cylinder to simulate an emergency. Many lessons were learned as expected. After all, rebreathers are complex space age technology not mastered easily.
Upon my return I was met by the high humidity and stifling heat common to our summer.
In Hawaii, they complain of climate change elevating their temperature 2 degrees, but at 85 degrees, that is comfortable.
Most cars and homes need/have no AC, what with the Trade Winds. Their sun can be strong.
Back in Florida now, I must return to our sequestered living in conditioned space.
No worries, as my wife and I return to Hawaii in three weeks for our Golden Anniversary. We married in Hawaii 50 years ago!

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August 2, 2018

Beyond the basics.

By GS & Rusty Miller

People who venture underwater seek a progression once they have been trained in the basics of Self Contained Underwater Breathing (SCUBA).
In Europe the progression is proficiency. Their new divers are told to just go diving for 20 or more times before returning for any further training.
But Europe is based upon a strong Dive Club environment, where new students get mentored by club members. Here in the U.S., there are few dive clubs and often an abundance of dive shops that take their place. So how is it done here?
“Advanced Open Water” follows the basic class with the objective to expose new students to six or more new environments under the supervision of an instructor. Required dives include navigation, deep (70-130 feet) and night/limited visibly diving.
Optional topics to choose from range widely from wreck, to spearfishing (hunting), to photography, to boat diving and much more.
A total of six are selected and attended across a tightly scheduled weekend to get the best bang for the buck.
Three dives a day makes for long but exciting weekend! Breathing Nitrox reduces decompression stress and permits more and longer dive times.
So how did this work for us? We had eight people ask for this opportunity. We chose a new boat out of Panama City; a Newton 46 called the “Miss Jackie.” She is 46-feet in length and has a 16-foot beam,
Newton custom dive boat powered by twin turbo cummings diesels. She is certified to take 36 scuba divers along with their gear very quickly to the dive sites off Panama City Beach.
The instructor to student ration is 1:4 so this plan required two instructors. We met at the Panama City Jetties for a confined water practical to be sure all was working and brief the students about the future dive plans. We then loaded the boat at 2 p.m. and headed out to the Akika for a 100-foot dive.
During the surface interval we moved the boat to the Bart, another shipwreck for a reconnoiter dive, before the night dive.
Then another surface interval followed before the night dive followed at the same site.
A large and tame turtle was found on the deck during the day.
At night the fire worms (Homodice) came out to feed on hydrozoans (bush-like relatives to the coral).
During the second dive everyone sent Surface Marker Buoys (SMB’s) to the surface.
Between dives we feasted on watermelon and pineapple!
Day two was spent in freshwater, specifically at Morrison Springs, north of Bruce, Florida. There we completed the navigation exercise, first in the parking lot and then around the basin.
A trash cleanup dive was performed down the river. Our third dive was to visit the Angulla eels in the Morrison Cavern, a careful and short dive supervised by a full cave instructor. This introductory cavern dive stresses the need for further training prior to ever venturing into our abundant overhead environments.
All six dives were introductory exercises, carefully planned to expose students to future more detailed class options, such as Spear fishing, Deep diving, Cavern and Wreck Diving, all popular underwater activities in our area.
Everyone had a great time while moving their proficiency beyond the basics.

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August 9, 2018

The face of safety in diving.

As you know, I have spent several weeks in Hawaii helping Veterans Administration participants train on Rebreathers after the death
of a student in their program.
I brought back from that experience a desire to re-evaluate the way we treat safety in our diving community.
I return to Hawaii next week to make presentations to bring a fractured community together there again. Safe is defined as an activity without risk.
Everyone would agree that diving, like driving, is not safe as there are risks.
We can also agree that as things fall apart leading up to an incident challenges get more frequent and severe.
We also know that as humans, we multi-task¸ but only to a point. We usually can effectively manage no more than two to three issues at a time.
Because of this observation, cave divers have the three “Oh S__t” Rule that stipulates that after three challenges, they stop the dive.
To them, three mistakes means they are not ready to manage the complexities of the upcoming dive. After all, the safest dive is no dive at all.
At a recent USCG Auxiliary Joint Task Force training event this weekend in Alabama, I met with a pilot who suggested we take a look at the
topic of safety from a different perspective. He called it the reduction of options model.
Flying an airplane, is very similar in many ways to diving underwater. In the end, we agreed this model can be applied to safe boating as well. He argued we currently begin our assessment of risk as we approach our activity rationalizing
away challenges as we encounter them, a bottom up approach.
Instead, he suggested we consider the consequences of each element of our activity and list our options should conditions change, a top down approach.
As our conditions change, so do our options. Good planning would provide as many options as is reasonably possible.
One would agree that a diver, pilot or boater should carry adequate fuel (breathing gas or gasoline). Adequate would be defined by folks differently. Divers have come to appreciate the rule of thirds, but so do boaters and pilots: one
third to go out, one third to come back and one third for contingences. That extra third is an option many don’t take along. Now add the change in weather (below, on or above the water) and the extra third is invaluable.
We must begin by evaluating the consequence of various elements of our activity. What is the consequence of fuel to the activity. If not enough, we are at best adrift at sea, or forced to land in some undesirable location, or face a long swim back to the boat. Preventative maintenance may also be used in this discussion.
Regulators in diving are reliable when routinely inspected and worn out parts replaced. Boat engines also have parts that wear out with use and require periodic replacement. Airplane maintenance is mandated by federal policy for the same reasons.
Preventative maintenance suggests you don’t wait for the item to fail. Failure to do so means you have less options when this technology is stressed.
When we investigate an incident, the event is often predictable in hindsight. The conclusion is often that the incident was preventable, had we only considered he consequences of our preparations. This is what is referred to as a top down approach to safety.

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August 16, 2018

The Arrow Crabby.

Many people ask about our aquarium occupants.
Yes, we have a few, such as the Lionfish, Moray eel, spotted crab, and shovelnose lobster, all representative of our local marine community.
We visit “K” tower often enough to bring back representative creatures that live out there as well. We have white, purple and orange Sea Urchins that spend all day keeping the glass clean of algae.
Filter feeder bivalves that attach to the barge and tower, such as the Tiger’s Paw and flame oysters, Venus Ray clams in the sand, Mithrax and turbo snails, decorator and hermit crabs. But the critter that get’s the most attention in the aquarium is the Arrow Crab.
This critter is also called a spider crab as it has very long legs and chela (claws) proportional to its body size.
The front of the carapace (the body) has a long pointy extension called the rostrum (it may look like a nose). Most crabs have a rostrum, but are not so pronounced.
If you look closely, the Arrow Crab tends to its rostrum diligently, growing a garden of plant life that it will eventually eat.
What could be cooler than to carry a garden of favorite food on your nose?
I became familiar with this critter during my graduate days because the Arrow Crab was a member of my commensal family of creatures that shared a host anemone. (The term “Commensal” refers to life forms that share a host for a variety of reasons in a symbiotic relationship.)
Granted, I also found this crab straddling sponges, many different types of anemones, and the occasional rock.
Adult males are much larger than females, and sport much larger claws. I would expect they are territorial, but I have not witnessed such behavior.
Occasionally you will find a group of smaller Arrow crabs together with a dominant male, at the base of the “K” Tower barge at around 60 FSW.
This may represent a harem of females under the protection of a dominant male. They are easily collected by hand and transported in plastic bags.
Mutual commensals each gain something in the relationship; Obligate commensals are obligated to remain associated.
While studying the Anemone Lebrunia danae, I found brittle star fish below, that would come up and rob a feeding anemone.
I found shrimp that cleaned passing fish while other shrimp hid in the tentacles from predators when threatened, some even attracted unsuspecting predators into the grasp of the anemone.
I found crabs coating themselves with the anemone’s mucous to hide from it’s host stinging cells and others that just hung around for the left overs.
The Arrow Crab, I think, was a member of this latter group.
Our Arrow Crabs fit well into the aquarium as there are plenty of leftovers from the shrimp heads that we feed to everyone.
We keep them separated from the Lion Fish. I have not found local Arrow Crab predators, but I would not be surprised to find Lionfish happy to dine on Arrow Crabs.

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August 23, 2018

Immigrant.

I grew up around the world, a military brat from Boston after the Big War, to Greenland during the Korean War, Spain during the Cold War, Bangkok during the Vietnam War and Hawaii before immigrating to Florida.
I brought with me a passion for people and the ocean.
I translated that drive into Biology and Diving, completing my undergraduate work at the University of Hawaii and my Instructor rating in Honolulu, Hawaii.
My work while in college was research on Artificial Reefs, specifically on the Pokai Bay Reef.
That reef started by sinking cars that quickly dissolved dropping the attached corals into the sand. Bad idea.
Concrete pipes followed until the ferocious Kona Storms picked them up and smashed them into rubble. We determined we lost 10 percent of the reef on every storm!
But we persistently counted fish populations to justify building new reefs. My mentor, Jim McVey got his PhD. out of our adventures.
My new wife and I were forced to leave paradise when we graduated because no jobs were available for aspiring biologists at that time.
So we ended up settling in North Florida in 1974 after taking the Scientist In The Sea Program, a graduate program through the Navy Lab in Panama City and Florida State University. That lead to a graduate degree and faculty job at FSU.
And that lead to a class I taught where a student proposed surveying an old artificial tire reef.
That successful survey lead to a $64,000 grant to expand the tire reef that is now called the Rotary Reef. And that lead to the formation of the Organization For Artificial Reefs (OAR), well known for building our local reefs.
Immigrants bring a wealth of wonderful opportunities that may not have happened had we stayed in Hawaii 50 years ago.

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August 30, 2018

Hola hola.

I write this column siting on the beach at the City of Refuge near Captain Cook, Hawaii. At this very spot, 50 years ago, I was an intrepid student of Ethnobotany at the University of Hawaii, determined to recreate vegetative fish poisoning, as the ancient Hawaiians did it centuries before me.
The class began with a reference in an old book about Hawaiian fishing methods. It said young Hawaiians went out in canoes and caught big fish. Old people, taking care of children, poisoned tide pools for condiments, smaller reef fish that were dried on the hot rocks.
With that reference, I traveled to the Big Island to interview the grandparents of friends and was given a manuscript in Hawaiian called the book of medicine. From it I learned the medicinal uses of the same plant used to poison fish. I found an elder Hawaiian who suffered the ailment that told me where to find the plant: Tephrosia purpurea next to his abandoned village near an erupting volcano. We bolted into the village while watching advancing lava, and retrieved as many plants as we could carry out on our back. The village was later destroyed.
We split the catch in half and replanted them at the City of Refuge. The rest we took out onto the very spot where I am right now. I asked an elderly park ranger friend to recreate hola hola as he remembered from when his grandfather had done it with him.
He got his young grandsons and in period dress, showed up with us and our cameras. He selected the tide pool the royalty used and directed his grandchildren to set rocks around the seaward side of the pond long before low tide. He then collected Pili grass and located deep round holes that were carved out of the rocks nearby. With rounded rocks he set to grinding up the Tephrosia plants with sand and soaked it up with Pili grass.
At the low tide he gave the kids the soaked Pili grass and distributed the poison around the perimeter of the now isolated pond. Fish immediately danced out of the water, out over the rocks, and into the arms of the delighted grandchildren. The fish were then laid to dry on the surrounding rocks. Our camera men got the whole thing on film!
Soon, the tide turned and those remaining fish not collected recovered and swam into crevices. I spent the next 6 months editing Super 8 film footage to create a 30-minute documentary combining what we learned from our interviews and what this Grandfather Park Ranger remembered from a long time ago.

And the adventure continues!

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September 6, 2018

Underwater weather.

Gregg Stanton was on vacation. This was a repeat of a column that ran in August 2011.

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September 13, 2018

Honolua Bay on Maui

As you know, we are vacationing in our childhood state of Hawaii, for our Golden Anniversary. Here on Maui, we spent the day near the early capital of Hawaii, before the west docked their whaling vessels at Lahaina. We moved north along the coastline, looking for memories.
Imagine a backdrop of the islands of Lanai and Molokai on the horizon as you swim out in your favorite bay to awaiting coral reefs and colorful fish. Today, a green turtle leads the way, to a overhanging cliff under which giant corals grow.
Fifty five years ago I came to Honolua Bay to surf the near perfect 8 foot swells that crash into a cliff. I was a first year college student. Using a borrowed board I was surprised when a cave under this cliff sang out to me with a bell sound.
I returned the same day with a Scuba tank to make my first ever, cave dive. I found the source of the bell sound to be a large surfboard, striking the cave ceiling with each passing wave. The board already had several holes punched in the board. The surge was a blessing and a curse. The surge made the sounds that attracted me but now was getting in my way when extracting the board out without injury. I was motivated as I could not afford to buy a surfboard and took the cuts as the cost that I could afford!
Today, with the bell sounds clear in my memory, I took my wife in search of more adventure. We had a great time, but found no surfboard. And the surf was almost flat this day.
We have been having entirely to much fun on this vacation!!!

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September 20, 2018

Winter plans.

Past September and the summer hiatus is over.
Kids are back in school and the seas get increasingly rough as winter moves in.
Spear fishermen exchange their underwater guns for bow and arrow, in search of deer.
And our dive shop slows way down. Coming months will make reaching payroll difficult, unless we find a different path. We have known this for a while now.
Fortunately our summer employees have departed for better jobs, leaving Travis and I to hold down the fort.
The opportunity to go into the dry suit repair business was snatched from us by someone with a lot more money than we had.
Expanding into a pool remains viable. I have observed a store here in Hilo, Hawaii that has used a large plastic pool (identical to the one we have) to train children to swim and doubled their dive store revenue!
But the dive store is small and very limited. Still, a worthy option I must get on. Building a much bigger pool remains an elusive option for investment funds.
I have been working with a store on Oahu since June, helping with their rebreather training, after a fatality resulted in the loss of their rebreather instructor. Just a few days ago, I finally finished that training, even while I was on vacation with my wife.
While here I studied their Veteran Affairs job training program and was asked by many participants to start one at Wakulla Diving Center.
Then a few days ago this program here collapsed and scattered their students, now looking for a new program to transfer over to.
Necessity is the invention of opportunity. We will pursue the Wakulla Diving Academy when I return in October, a VA (not exclusive) academy for job training in Wakulla County.
We have identified four job pathways, some of which we are uniquely qualified to provide under our current setup. Others will require new instructors and investments.
At least this undertaking will fill in our winters with revenue generation activity worthy of our potential.
After all, if we are not growing, then we are dying.

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September 27, 2018

Red Tide

Karenia brevis, responsible for the degradation of our coastal waters, is a dinoflagelate that feeds voraciously on our increasing coastal nutrients, to kill marine life.
This year’s high coastal water temperatures have boosted the bloom as it seemingly moves northward in the Gulf of Mexico.
Oddly however, northwestern Florida coastal counties have a disproportionate concentration of blooms.
According the FWC’s Red Tide Status report of Sept. 21, Escambia and Santa Rosa have no bloom, Okaloosa and Bay have low concentration, and the Gulf has spotty reports from not present to medium concentrations.
We then go back to “not present” in Franklin, Wakulla, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, and Hernando, before going back up in Pasco.
Interesting.
Discussions I have had with Bob Ballard over the past year regarding the impact that his oyster farms may have on our coastal nutrient load, came back into focus recently. I reminded him that Lake Michigan was once very nutrient rich, with blooms that rendered the visibility to just a few feet. With the accidental introduction and proliferation of the Zebra Mussel many years ago, there also came an improvement of the water quality.
A shipwreck called the Rouse Simmons or Christmas Tree Wreck that a team of us surveyed to determine how she sank was in remarkably clear water, visible almost from the surface resting in 170 feet of water. The ship was covered with Zebra Mussels, but did not inhibit the study as they are relatively small.
I argued that Ballard should begin to sample for the nutrient load surrounding his oyster farms, anticipating that since his animals filter up to 50 gallons a day, and that he now has thousands of them filtering all day, every day, he should see a reduction in the coastal nutrient load and the very growth potential that he is working with in the mid water.
He felt, however, that he had a near inexhaustible nutrient supply, and perhaps he does.
But now consider what drives the Red Tide blooms: Temperature, which we cannot seem to control, and nutrients.
Perhaps an unintended consequence of the farm’s reduction of nutrients, may be the prevention of the Red Tide locally.
I will begin to sample for the Red Tide around his farms this week and into the near future. Just by reducing the nutrient load a small fraction, may make a big difference on a Red Tide bloom.
Ballard has recognized the potential of this theory with a proposal to construct reef balls covered with oysters deployed as artificial reefs, breakwaters and nutrient reduction devices around the coastal boundary of the Gulf of Mexico.
These oysters would not be designed to eat, quite the opposite, as they would absorb heavy metals, and toxic dinoflagellates.
The reef ball itself is a proven and inexpensive artificial reef design.
Nutrient load data will need to be taken during this experiment to measure what impact the oysters will have on the environment.
Perhaps the abundance of oysters in the unaffected coastal waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico is already depressing the Red Tide blooms up here.
This will be an interesting long term study.

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October 4, 2018

Lionfish futures.

Any invasive species will go through several phases during its entry into an ecosystem. The Lionfish will be no different.
There is initial colonization as the species out-competes residents for food and shelter, is followed by geographical expansion and accelerated evolution to respond to the new conditions/opportunities. Once established they depress prey and other competitors, until they reach equilibrium, where resource limitations slow their expansion.
The Lionfish has been described as a perfect storm invader, so much is to be learned in our corner of the world.
Travis and I are in South Florida this week attending the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Summit conference on Lionfish in Coco Beach. This year we are looking at a much larger three days of presentations over last year’s conference. We expect topics from the status of the invasion to management of the resources and threat, to alternate approaches for their mitigation. The invasion has a history now, being documented from various locations, such as the Flower Gardens off Texas, to the Florida Keys to Bermuda.
The other day a juvenile Lionfish was brought in to our tanks, and was promptly consumed by a not much larger Lionfish. I noticed a paper describing density dependent conditions on growth and cannibalism of the Lionfish.
Papers on the effects of diver removal of these fish around Florida are expected, as are reports on various collecting technology. Temporal, special and habitat dynamics will shed more light on what we suspect we know at this juncture.
Papers on the puncture performance of the spines and an emerging infectious disease haunting the Lionfish will be addressed. A conundrum may exist if an infection kills the bulk of the Lionfish at a point where a commercial fishery has been established!
Whole Foods is offering to purchase all Lionfish of any size. We should get an update on how that is working. More Lionfish Rodeos are popping up around the state, encouraged by the FWC as public outreach expands. There is now a Lionfish University, which will present their findings. Various University research projects will be presented on topics like DNA Barcoding of these fish to Sea Grant participation in the support of research.
The meeting will conclude with a FWC Control Plan Update and group discussions. I hope to return with a better insight into what has been learned about this invasion to what can be done to mitigate for it. There is no eliminating it.
While in Hawaii, I noticed a request to not spear Lionfish there, as they are naturally found in Hawaiian waters. The Atlantic/Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico zeal to shoot them with wild abandon has infected divers as far away as Hawaii, where they are revered as an ornamental fish. Go figure…

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October 11, 2018

Lionfish conundrum.

Three days of Lionfish presentations and discussions saturated our enthusiasm while visiting Cocoa Beach last week. More than 25 papers and a dozen posters were presented. They were rounded out with topic specific panel discussions. This format made for an excellent conference. What became obvious in the end is what I call the Lionfish conundrum: is our mission to eradicate an invasive species, or create a sustainable fisheries. The opposing forces met in debate. I concluded, neither will succeed in the end.
After massive collections of 400,000 of recorded pounds of Lionfish since 2011, harvest is over its peak. Surveys show a dropping of population numbers with the smaller fish missing from their observations. One suggestion is that abundant food sources may have been reduced and the Lionfish is now eating its young (cannibalism). Another suggestion is environmental factors (warmer water) or infectious ulcers are depressing their numbers. Regardless of the cause, the numbers are coming down. Is the BOOM of the invasion over? Is the BUST soon to follow?
Commercial Lionfish harvesters are looking to deeper waters to sustain their market demands, which continue to out strip their supply. Larger Lionfish are known to occupy deeper reefs, which are not easily reached by the scuba diving population. Traps are proposed to meet this demand, as they are deployable to any depth. The problem is trapping in federal waters is restricted, and would require deregulation. A question of bi-catch has not been adequately resolved.
Other commercially important fish, such as the Red Snapper, appear to be affected by the Lionfish as their numbers are reduced where Lionfish are more abundant. The small Black Sea Bass, once common to our local reefs, is on the decline. I seldom see one on K tower these days, where they were once very common. Vermilion snapper may also be affected. Genetic bar coding is now used to identify what Lionfish eat. Vermillion juveniles and cannibalism was found in many guts sampled.
Some areas seem not to be as affected as others. The Flower Gardens are not as affected as the Florida Keys. Some suggested harvesting Lionfish has made the problem worse by promoting biomass replacement. Biscayne NPS found little effect on Lionfish biomass between harvested areas and controls.
As an apex predator, Lionfish are subject to regional ciguatera poisoning when eaten, but are low in mercury content. Lionfish have very few parasites, but are found with ulcers that may be related to bacterial disease. I think it looks like damage from injuries, perhaps from human predation, as the fringes of the ulcers are mending, but subject to post-injury infection.
The FWC has a very successful outreach program through their Lionfish Derbies, school interactions and support of research. FWC is currently in search of new directions for their investments. I suggested target species artificial reefs to draw Lionfish off natural reefs and concentrate them where people can more easily harvest them. Lionfish appear to favor chicken coops!
Whole Foods was criticized for their low ($5 per pound) wholesale purchase of Lionfish biomass at a time when market forces must prevail. They purchase all harvested Lionfish regardless of size, in keeping with the FWC eradication edict, while harvesters want to force the price higher to sustain their livelihood.
To elevate the price (to their customers as well) would require leaving small fish on the reef to grow up to a filet size and fetch a better price (and eat more local juvenile sport fish).
What a conundrum!

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October 18, 2018

Storm effects on our marine environment.

Hurricane Michael has had catastrophic effects on the coastal boundary, as evidenced by massive infrastructure damage, loss of homes and business, power and roads gone.
Imagine what has happened underwater along this same coastal boundary.
Yes, as on land, it depends upon where the storm struck.
Reported waves of up to 65 feet off our shore may provide a glimpse of that damage.
Underwater, the wave surge is defined as the orbital movement of water as the waves energy passes overhead. This is translated into a horizontal motion. Water, being 800 times as dense as air, this surge will pick up a shipwreck and move it.
We can expect our carefully placed artificial reefs to be greatly displaced.
We studied this effect years ago after a hurricane sat on top of a Sea Grant-funded Stone Crab research reef that was just built off Cedar Key. After the storm passed, the reef vanished! I searched the area for weeks and found no evidence it ever existed.
I then borrowed a magnetometer (used by underwater archaeology to find shipwrecks) and found the rebar markers that I had placed on each reef patch. I then dug down six feet and more to several of the anomalies and found what was left.
The rebar were polished on one side from sand abrasion of the surge. The concrete rubble was strewn in a scattered pattern, away several meters from the marker. The sand waves had eventually swallowed the reefs.
From that lesson, we rebuilt the modules to float on sand. These reefs are still in place after numerous hurricanes that followed. But the sand is in motion, passing by in large waves.
Pipes, a common building material of our artificial reefs, are like our original stone crab patch reefs, and can be moved and buried.
When I was in college in Hawaii, we studied the Pokai Bay Artificial Reefs, made of mostly concrete pipes. On a winter Kona Storm, we visited the reef (yes, I was young and immortal). Those pipes were lifted off the sediment and smashed against each other reducing the reef by an estimated 10 percent for each storm.
I would be very interested with what our OAR and FWC reef monitors find from the effects of Hurricane Michael.
We can expect the storm moved a lot of sand, not just off the beaches, but also along the coastal boundary and offshore.
This sand transport covers and uncovers rock ledges in our favorite fish/dive sites. It can relocate structures not adequately tied down. The off shore Air Force towers should have beaten a larger hole to settle into or walked away!
The other effect will be from storm runoff.
Water dropped by the hurricane will wash sediment, pollutants and nutrients into the coastal boundary waters rendering visibility to near zero for weeks to months to come.
With continued warm weather, the Red Tide may continue but a reduction in the salinity may reverse it.
A layer of silt will cover everything off shore, which smothers encrusting organisms. Fish get beat up during the storm in this surge effect when raked over structures they try to hide under.
Don’t be surprised to see scarred fish right after the storm. Sediment will cause visibility problems for months to come by poor diver fin kicking techniques.
Better practice up on those cave diving skills!

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October 25, 2018

Post Hurricane Michael

I’m certain you are no different than the rest of us. Friends in Wakulla County have described this hurricane as a “tough storm,” one that brought misery in one form or another to everyone.
Tree damage was high on everyone’s misery list. Mine took out cars, and a log splitter. Others lost homes to falling trees.
At the dive shop, the power failure killed the residents of our aquariums, but otherwise the business was opened as soon as power and the internet were restored in a few days.
A late warm season appeared to offer the promise of continue diving into the fall. But this storm brought an end to that dream.
With everyone’s attention rightly on storm recovery, little interest remains for diving. And with the waters off Wakulla stirred up, little in the way of visibility can be expected.
Rainfall has flooded the marshes that drain their tannin laden waters into the underground rivers reducing our cave environments unpopular. All proposed classes are on hold until conditions improve. The sum result is store revenue has ground to a near halt.
In years past, diving during the fall dropped off fast after school started, with the hardened spearfishermen staying active until December.
As the waters cool down, the water actually gets clearer. So we are familiar with the challenge of reduced revenue.
Travis suggested I write the column about what would happen if we closed, even for just the winter. Many dive shops up north do just that. They open back up in the late spring to offer classes in preparation for the season. Other stores shift their emphasis on a different activity, such as skiing or archery, supporting what their customers might be doing during the winter months.
Our staff usually shrinks during the winter, as we focus on infrastructure projects building for a better next season. We built the Hydro Station, the Blending Station, the Administration room, the Class/Rebreather room, the Repair Station, and so forth. That has required more investment dollars for supplies and salaries.
This fall we have accepted part-time interns learning our trade after school. This is possible because we have invested during the doldrums.
I’d rather ramp up new ideas during these doldrums – such as a swim school where our dive instructors also teach swimming. We have a 15,000 gallon pool that would need a heater to function throughout the winter months.
NAUI has a new program that I am currently investigating, once the storm dust settles. Another intriguing option is to create a Training Academy with a focus on Job Training. Our internship would become Job Training for a Dive Technologist, that leads to a Dive Instructor, which leads to a Dive Officer, three very real jobs in our community around the country.
Over the years since we opened, we have witnessed several dive stores fold within a 100 mile radius of our location. The most recent one was Cave Excursions in Lauraville.
We have participated in picking over the bones of the closed stores every time, knowing that but for a few glitches goes ourselves one day.
We have welcomed their customers and made every effort to service their needs.
Before Hurricane Michael, we thought this year would be a good one, but now, not so much. It’s been a tough storm!
To a brighter season.

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November 1, 2018

Snowbird.

Today, we closed on property on the Big Island of Hawaii, whence we began our marriage journey 50 years ago.
The property is just up slope on Mauna Kea (volcano) of the town of Honoka’a (north shore).
Our visit there just before Hurricane Michael visited us here in Wakulla County was meant to reconnect with old friends and places, but turned out to only enflame our desire to go home. We left the Islands when we could not find jobs after graduation from college.
We ended up in Florida in the early 1970s working for the State and private labs until returning to graduate school. I accepted a faculty appointment at FSU in 1979 and completed a career decades later.
We raised two children that have flown the coop, survived without divorce, leaving us retired and looking for new adventure.
While in Hawaii, I conducted a lot of rebreather training and underwater research with past students. The reefs there are vibrant with fish and corals, albeit stressed by climate change.
And did I mention my passion for surfing?
Access to these reefs is easily done from the shore or by small boat, which means interest in diving is still there.
Like Wakulla County back a decade ago, access to breathing Nitrox is the limiting factor to abundant diving in Hawaii.
Our move to the Big Island means there is the making of Wakulla Diving Center West.
A blending station is now in the works. We make our first trip back to Hawaii as snowbirds in early December for a Hawaiian Christmas.
I remain committed to the Wakulla Diving Center here, even though it is in the expected deep doldrums post Hurricane Michael.
I am maintaining our home in Wakulla as well.
Snowbirds typically fly north during the summer. We will fly east during the summer. My son will now live at my house to care for dogs, and keep the fires going over Christmas.
We can still be reached using the same phone numbers here or there.
We just checked Emerald Sink here to find 3-5 foot visibility.
Offshore may be better, but not by much. Divers have reported visibility off Live Oak at zero at 25, 50 and 80 feet depth.
Reported 40-foot waves offshore can surely stir things up. It will take months for things to settle down.
In the meantime we are busy fixing technology that broke or needs maintenance and expanding the fill station while customers and staff are focused on recovery.
One of our primary scuba instructors is out with a serious foot injury! Classes are on hold until we can find sites and conditions to dive.
I will continue to host the column, which will take a bit more global perspective at times, but will also continue to include local luminaries.
And I will return before summer to work with Travis for another great summer.
Aloha.

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November 8, 2018

Our Water Table

There is a body of water under your feet, soaking the spaces between particles of sand. It can fill up this space up to the ground level and occasionally, beyond the ground level. Where the water stops and the air between the sand begins, we call the water table. It rises up and down depending upon several factors: rain fall, tides, storm surge, drought, and the nature of its drainage. Collectively we call this body of water the Floridan Aquifer. This fresh water aquifer is found all the way up into Georgia and Alabama, and far out under the Gulf of Mexico. As a body of water, it goes down some 600 feet underground.
Drainage occurs by dissolved limestone creating underground passage-ways that, over time, are enlarged by acid rains from the surface. Cave passages move enormous amounts of water collected from the surrounding sand trapping water, and shunts it to the ocean by way of rivers (above and below the ground). The higher the level of the ground water, the more water is shunted to the ocean. When storms flood swamps, they drain into sinkholes that then flush swamp water to the coast.
A storm up-hill say north of Tallahassee, can drop enough rain to cause an underground wave of ground water that days later will elevate the ground water level locally down here. Low lying property can seemingly flood and drain in blue sky weather. When my pumps failed at my underground home days after a large storm years ago, I had a clean, clear fountain in the middle of my house! Days after a hurricane my pumps run continuously, until the wave passes down-hill. We see this effect in local sink holes. the water level in the sinkhole is the groundwater level.
I was diving at Blue Grotto near Williston mid Florida on Saturday. To my surprise, the spring was flooded up over their boardwalk floating their dock high in the air. Visibility was down perhaps 20-30 feet from where it is normally at 100 feet. It too will return down 9 -10 feet and clear up in the weeks to come.
When a hurricane comes ashore, it drives water ahead of the storm that we call the surge. We have a routine version of this in the tides, which can be measured deep in Wakulla Springs. The ground water is pushed back with the surge causing rivers (above and below the ground) to reverse their flow. Coastal springs will reverse their flow and pump sediment back up into the rivers and caves. These deposits will take time to redistribute when the flow is returned to its normal flushing drainage. In the mean time several of our rivers will seem a bit shallower than normal.
You may have noticed our wells are shallow. My Father in Law, hydrologist Jack Rosenau, directed me to sink my well to at least 80 feet for good water back in the early 1970s. I gave up after breaking the casing and hired a local well digger. In a day he dug the well to 50 feet and set the jacket. I was upset that it was too shallow. But he understood our groundwater. He gave me a letter that guaranteed that my well would work for as long as he lived! He was killed in an argument with a neighbor weeks later, but true to his word, my well has never failed to deliver sweet, pure, and abundant water.

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November 15, 2018

Our sinkholes.

By Christopher Brown

The word “sinkhole” is a common Florida term that means different things to different people.
If you just moved here or only know about them from the news, sinkhole means giant house-swallowing monsters that might even swallow you and your bedroom in the middle of the night!
It’s happened – but that’s not at all typical, even though Florida has underground rivers everywhere. The ground only collapses and forms a sinkhole when water level in the aquifer is reduced too much and the rock ceiling over the underground river down there is too thin to support the mass above – dropping rocks, sand, trees, and anything else into the water-holding spaces below.
Much more typical than a lost house is all the other stuff that sinkholes swallow – and that too is a sad thing indeed!
Because sinks swallow stuff by accident, sure – and by intention too. Many divers enjoy scuba and snorkeling in “pristine” sinks, only to have the same disappointing experience I did – to discover that some sinks are used as garbage deposits.
The unthinking, the ignorant, the careless, and the criminal see sinkholes as convenient dispose-alls and the results have negative impacts that affect everyone.
The impulse to make things disappear is strong in us, and unfortunately sinks very easily answer that impulse to get rid of what we don’t want or need anymore.
Scuba diving in a Leon County sink with a friend from Tallahassee Police Department one time, we found an opened safe, half a dozen cash drawers from convenience store robberies, a 6-foot diameter bulldozer tire, two newspaper boxes, and a motorcycle. That’s one sink – and a crime scene!
Many years ago, murderers disposed of bodies in a local sink, someone rolled a car into another, and one sink I dove included the unwanted parts of a butchered deer.
How nice for all of us. Because the water traveling through those tunnels sends everything in it to our private wells, our municipal wells, and then our kitchen sinks and bathtubs.
The “dry” sink is one where the rock, dirt, and trees fall in and self-plug the hole, preventing open access to the water below – but contaminants still soak down into our aquifer, so the car batteries, oil cans, paint thinners, and other nasty stuff illegally thrown in there still gets into the aquifer and comes to us through our spigots.
“Swallow holes” are sinks that receive entire creeks and streams of rain run-off, plunging deep into the ground where we tap it for sustenance.
In the water being swallowed by Bird Sink near Lloyd is everything that’s been washed along – all of which can flow right into our drinking water: oil, gasoline, plastics, fertilizers, pesticides, industrial cleaners, you name it, it’s all in there.
Where does it go? Vast distances.
A dye trace revealed that water going into Bird Sink near Lloyd shows up at Natural Bridge!
All sinks are treasures, in fact. Each is an amazing natural phenomenon. The beautiful ones you fish, play, scuba dive in, and with proper training, explore into the caves, are treasures and must be treated as such – protected, preserved, and maintained so that our life’s blood – the aquifer – will be clean, life-giving, and sustain us.
Let’s be very aware and never use sinkholes as garbage disposals.
Out of sight is not out of mind: it’s in your water. If you have a water-filled sink that should be checked for junk and/or other polluting materials, please contact me about a free survey to determine what problems may exist and learn what might be done to return such a place to its natural, “pristine” condition. cbchronic@gmail.com.
Whatever the size or location, a sinkhole is simply a treasure!

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November 21, 2018

The ever-evolving nature of dive technology.

I visited Blue Grotto last week and watched as many people were gaining exposure on new dive equipment that would have been unrecognized a decade ago.
Side mount is now the rage in life support dive technology.
I was told even rebreathers are taught as side mount configurations twice as often as the more traditional back mount that I am used to.
So what is SIDE MOUNT dive configuration and how is it better than Back Mount configuration?
Years ago we encouraged divers to consider carrying a side slung cylinder as an alternate supply of breathing gas.
After all, solo diving was becoming popular where an independent “Buddy Bottle” was important.
Spearfishing enthusiasts seldom stay close to their partners and should they suddenly need gas, it’s right there as a side slung cylinder.
The size was smaller as it was used as a one way trip to the surface. Early attempts at a self contained Buddy Bottle had volume restrictions. Cylinder sizes now range from 30 to 50 cubic feet and are equipped with a traditional regulator.
I like the long 40 cf aluminum cylinder as a “bail out cylinder” with plenty of breathing gas to get me to the surface.
Placement became a heated topic as different ideas from what type of gas to carry to where to attach it exploded on the internet.
Training agencies such as NAUI sought to control who and how to sling this cylinder, adding to the stress and confusion.
You can now take training on Side Mount diving.
The logical next evolution was to remove the heavy cylinder on your back and just side sling two cylinders, one on each side for balance.
No longer did you need to carry these ever-larger cylinders on your back.
The harness is light-weight out of water.
Cylinders are placed independently in the water where the diver then snaps, where more neutral buoyancy prevails.
Cave divers quickly adopted the configuration as it permits them easier (tighter) penetration in their restrictive environment. But soon thereafter the open water community jumped in because this configuration has redundancy and no more sore backs getting into and out of the water.
Each cylinder is outfitted with straps that hold bolt snaps that attach to the harness worn on your back.
Each cylinder has a pressure gauge that you monitor as you alternately breathe off each cylinder, 500 PSI at a time. That way when one system fails, you have the other to safely return to the surface.
When configured correctly, these cylinders are set out of the way, under your arms, with ready access to the regulators, valves and gauges.
We have been side slinging our bailout cylinders in this fashion when rebreather diving for a decade.
And now, we have reliable side mount rebreathers on the market that combine the benefits of open and closed circuit diving into a nice package, and at half the weight!
I am upgrading my rebreather to accommodate side mount rebreather technology and diving it in open water in Hawaii next month!

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November 29, 2018

Phobias in diving.

A phobia is a perceived threat, something that may be created in the person’s imagination. We humans carry many of these creations that affect our sense of security. We often develop phobias through experience, sometimes from early trauma long ago forgotten. The fear generated from a phobia will cause us to negatively react to environments that are otherwise benign.
Underwater is no different.
The boogeyman of the underwater world is the shark! Perhaps the film “Jaws” instilled a unrealistic fear of sharks, provoked by Hollywood’s desire to create a horror film. Shark behavior does not conform to this film’s rendition of underwater revenge. Still, many people will never pursue recreational diving because of their fear of sharks. Another common phobia is claustrophobia, the fear of enclosed spaces. Poor visibility underwater can bring out this fear, rendering the diver incapable of swimming or even breathing. While clear water reduces this fear, just the sensation of water enclosing the body can have the same effect.
What becomes clear is that phobias are in your imagination. The brain is a very powerful device that routinely fills in the perceived surrounding world with what it expects or imagines, much like a person reading words races over a sentence and adds meaning it expects rather than what is seen. People report seeing “ghosts” of familiar people once occupying space, now gone, because they saw them there often enough in the past.
The underwater world is new and unexpected. Our brain often adds to what we see with what we want to see – at least until we get comfortable with what we know is there. The job of the educator in diving is to assure the new participants that what is there – however strange – is not threatening, no matter how bizzare it may look.
A diving student takes with him/her previously accumulated phobias that haunt them while learning new underwater skills. Some of these skills can be challenging, like finding a loose regulator after it has fallen out of your mouth. On land such an event is not relevant since we breathe the environment, but we do not breathe water underwater. Anxiety awakens phobias you may not know you have!
Suddenly, you see images of your loved ones, passing in front of your eyes, as though you are about to expire. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it looks very real. And you react accordingly.
These phobias can drive you to the one thing that is very counterproductive underwater: PANIC. Panic is fear driven, a loss of rational thought, a fight or flight response, and where do you think security lies? UP! You hold your breath and swim up, exacerbating the situation by blocking the lungs’ ability to equalize pressure while its contents expand with the reduction in pressure of the ascent. Injury is emphatic and totally avoidable.
Don’t go there! STOP! Exhale, close your eyes to any distractions, and breathe. If you have lost your regulator find it or find your buddy’s regulator and breath from it. Relax, your imagination is running away with you and needs a reality check. Think, what is real and get your equilibrium back. Put your phobias back in check and proceed with your training as it is designed to teach phobia management. Soon enough you will have secured adequate muscle memory that will improve you diving skills and confidence to deal with phobias naturally.
Enjoy again.

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December 6, 2018

Change underwater.

I’m writing this column as we barrel down I-10 approaching the California border, hauling my wife’s Prius and critical elements for a new training facility on the Big Island of Hawaii.
My wife and I are returning to Hawaii from whence we came five decades ago.
But not completely.
The Wakulla Diving Center will remain the same, as I will return in the spring to work with staff for another season, our ninth.
Travis continues to hold down the fort.
One of my Hawaii rebreather students will be training up this winter at the dive center to begin a staff position when I return. And I will become a snowbird of sorts returning to Hawaii in the fall for further training there.
What changes is access to coral reef diving opportunities in diver training at Wakulla Diving Center. We attract students from around the world anyway.
Since Wakulla Springs is not available, why not Hawaii?! I already have a class booked for Jan. 5, folks who were happy to relocate their rebreather training to warm tropical reefs.
On my last week in Florida, I qualified on a new form of rebreather, now called a side- mount rebreather, and have one with me now!
Imagine a 5-8 hour underwater life support technology that fits under your shoulder with all the redundancy of the back mounted Liberty CCR!
I am truly amazed at where this is going, now available at my warm water training center.
In Hawaii, I am collaborating with past students, in the non-invasive ethology study of fish. We identify individuals by their unique color patterns, using computer recorded images for recognition.
And with rebreathers, our presence has little influence on their behavior.
Change indeed, and much needed.

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December 13, 2018

The next step underwater.

Underwater, life support means either good breath-holding skills or some sort of compressed gas cylinder strapped to your back or side from which to breathe.
Before the 1940s oxygen rebreathers prevailed, but were limited to shallow water. Hans Hass used underwater photography to open the public’s perception of the underwater world while breathing from an oxygen rebreather.
Jacques Cousteau’s first experience with rebreathers was less than successful, so he turned to compressed air regulated by an auto propane that resulted in the invention of what we know as scuba.
At first the cylinder was worn on your back. Then we added another to make doubles: twice the breathing supply and twice the bottom time.
As Technical Diving developed in the 1990s we began to carry extra cylinders on our sides, under the shoulder and strapped to the waist.
The logical progression was then to drop the back-mounted cylinders and only use side-mounted cylinders. With more than one cylinder, redundancy of gas options is assured.
The new century brought the rebirth of the rebreather, a back-mounted life support package that increased bottom time by four times and up to 10 times that of open circuit scuba.
We recovered the benefits of warm, moist, high oxygen low inert gas breathing conditions underwater.
A small group of divers have been working on the next generation of dive technology over the last decade. Yep, you got it! Side mount rebreather.
Three weeks ago I agreed to try it and was amazed at the progress these people have made. The side mount Closed Circuit Rebreather has arrived, now selling two to one over back mount.
They configure this package into a unit no larger than a 100 cf cylinder that straps into the space you have for a side mount rig.
There are two 2-liter cylinders with regulators, the rebreather head with redundant electronics, two counter lungs, a 5 hour CO2 scrubber, and hoses to and from your mouth. In the water this rig is neutrally buoyant. Currently, you would carry the bailout cylinder on the other side.
I can clearly see the day when two side-mount rigs will be worn for almost unlimited diving!
I have my Side Mount Rebreather with me with which to teach in Hawaii but I will bring it back in April.
The evolution of dive technology is always exciting!

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December 20, 2018

Safety under the sea.

Gregg Stanton was away. This was an archived column from December 2017.

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December 27, 2018

Where to begin?

Gregg Stanton was away. This was an archived column from 2015.

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